Sometimes a manuscript collection means more as an aggregate whole than as the sum of its constituent items. To be sure, a single letter, poem or photograph, a single typescript of a scholarly paper, may have its fascinating aspects (the kind of thing we celebrate frequently in this very blog).  It may provide informational value that leads to that “Aha!” moment of discovery or confirmation. Naturally, these are experiences we savor as archivists, and enjoy seeing in our patrons. But I want to suggest another kind of value that is often at play in a personal archive. Consider, for example, the letters that Charles Woolsey Cole (AC 1927) faithfully wrote to his mother over a period of 32 years (1921-1953). These letters fill up 191 file folders in his papers. No single letter is individually all that significant. Why keep them? Because, taken as a whole, these letters present imposing evidence of something significant: the relationship of an American economist, educator and college president to his mother. Archives, whether they be administrative records or personal papers, provide us with evidential value as well as informational value; one can “read” an archive just as one can read a letter in that archive. That is, the archive itself can offer up a wealth of information about habits, customs and practices of the person or people who created it.

(In fact, it would be great fun to expand on the tremendous importance of context in archives: we appreciate a document more because of the other documents sitting in a folder with it; we appreciate that folder of documents all the more because of the series of folders it is a part of; we appreciate the significance of a collection of family papers at Amherst College more because of a related body of family papers at Mount Holyoke College… and so on. Subject for another blog post.)

This business of seeing the forest for the trees in manuscript collections is nowhere better illustrated than in the Howard R. Wolf (AC 1958) Papers. Howard has been depositing his papers with the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections since 1971, and adding to it steadily to the present day. This spring we pause to acknowledge this unusual archival enterprise as Howard celebrates his 55th college Reunion.

Howard R. Wolf (AC 1958), writer, educator, traveler

For over 40 years Howard Wolf has been a devoted teacher of English at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Above all, however, he is a writer, one who has devoted his life to literature of almost every imaginable genre — literary and cultural criticism, autobiography, short fiction, travel writing, novels, poetry, detective stories, and plays.

Howard’s undergraduate thesis, “The Conflict of Youth and Age” in medieval English literature, and his doctoral dissertation at the University of Michigan, “Forms of Abandonment in Henry James,” suggest the outlines of what was to become his enduring preoccupation with the theme of the self in its (often anguished) relations to preceding and succeeding generations. And indeed, his persistent forays into the writing of autobiography and “generational memoir” tackle issues of generational conflict, as in Forgive the Father: A Memoir of Changing Generations, 1978. Another major, and related, theme in his work is the problem of cultural displacement, as experienced in the American melting-pot as well as in the traveler’s struggles to understand foreign cultures (as in Far-Away Places: Lessons in Exile, 2007; and A Version of Home: Letters from the World: An Autobiographical Journey Through Singapore, Malaysia, India, Greece and Turkey, 1992). Even his slim book of verse, Upper Manhattan – A Family Album (1990) addresses the vulnerability of American family relationships which, to outsiders at least, appear to be in disarray. Shifting generational identities, a restless desire to come to terms with oneself, cultural displacement: the classic subject matter of American Jewish intellectuals.

Wolf’s collection includes dozens of rejection letters: documents which loom large in every writer’s life.

From out of all this, it is certainly easier to understand Howard Wolf’s other great preoccupation, the careful development of his archive of personal papers at Amherst. It is an impulse he seems to have first felt from his earliest Amherst days, when, in great foreshadowing, an English 2 assignment in the spring of 1955 asked him to imagine this: “You are selecting documents about yourself and your society which you will put in a chest and keep safely for a historian to examine at some undefined time in the future.”  As Howard recalled later, “I realized that, as a freshman, I had known I would take the assignment as part of my life’s work” (“Autobibliography, a Place in Time,” p. 214). When, in 1971, the Special Collections Librarian at Amherst invited him to begin depositing his manuscripts there alongside the papers of other alumni authors, he seized the opportunity. From that moment forward, he began to pay attention to the possible significance attached to the accumulated “stuff” of his writer’s life, and launched a steady stream of archival deposits — not just drafts of his writings in progress, as is common with a writer’s personal papers — no — but encompassing much else besides, such as personal and professional correspondence, writings by colleagues as well as students he was mentoring, and a large and varied assortment of what he calls “Cultural Miscellany”: all manner of printed material, such as concert programs, clippings, calendars, tourism brochures, blank postcards, artwork, and on and on.  (One is reminded here of the once unknown, now famous “time capsule” boxes of the late Andy Warhol.) These deposits, which Howard has customarily mailed to Amherst in large envelopes or small packages (sometimes more than once a week, with gaps only if he is traveling), are always accompanied by detailed “description letters” to the Archives and Special Collections curators (my predecessor, John Lancaster, and later myself). These letters are anything but dry, pro forma cover letters.  Here is an example from 2007:

The description letters are Howard Wolf’s attempt to provide an index to the collection, pointing up various connections to other people already represented in previous deposits.

John Lancaster, my predecessor, acknowledged some years ago at the official “opening” of the Wolf Papers that this arrangement represents something of an archival experiment. Dealing this way with a constant stream of small accretions, mailed in with detailed cover letters that often include personal reflections, is not a practice to which a manuscript curator, frankly, is accustomed. More often we receive a writer’s papers after his death, or upon his retirement, or after the completion of a major project or career  milestone. Nevertheless, this is the method of collection-building that Howard has chosen, and which we, as the keepers of the collection, have agreed to accommodate. The reason for this is that we believe that in the very method of Wolf’s collection-building lies a secondary set of meanings (or to use a fashionable phrase from a few decades ago, a “text”) that might help future historians or literary critics understand the situation of a working writer at this particular place and time.

Not surprisingly for someone so devoted to the work of autobiography and introspection, Howard himself has a keen awareness of this kind of secondary meaning inherent in his collection. He has even coined a term, “Autobibliography,” to describe it.

As biography in a traditional sense is a biography of the self; autobibliography is a history of the self as a collector and of a collection that includes one’s own written work.   As one might imagine writing a biography of a writer through his unpublished material and publications, so one might imagine writing mine as a collector of literary materials other than my own as well as my own.

Autobibliography is “writing” about the self in the act of documenting the experience of oneself and that of others too. This concept challenges traditional archival notions of appraising value in archival material.  Now that I have learned this concept and seen it applied in practice in the Wolf Papers, I’m  interested in seeing how, or if, “autobibliography” can be seen taking place in other collections of personal papers.

James Crookall was born November 7, 1887 in Preston, Lancashire, and came to Vancouver as a child. Throughout his life, Crookall was an avid amateur photographer and an enthusiastic outdoorsman. He was an active member of the Vancouver Photographic Society and regularly exhibited his photographs in international salons. He died on July 27, 1960, and his fonds was donated to the Archives by Mrs. Doris Crookall in 1979.

Self portrait, 1938. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-978.

As a young man, Crookall joined the Union Steamship Company of B.C. He served first as a Steward, then as a Clerk and was made Secretary in 1912. His photographs reflect an interest in maritime traffic and activities.

Captain Browne and Williams aboard S.S. Camosun, ~1918. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-1090.

Man on ship’s gangplank, 1939. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-1031

In 1907, he joined the 6^th Regiment, the Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles, probably in the reserve unit, as he was still working for the Union Steamship Company. We have been told that he knew Major Matthews, the first City Archivist, and it’s possible he met him as a fellow member of the D.C.O.R.

During World War I, he served for two years with the Royal Flying Corps. Over his lifetime, he took many photographs of both military and civil aircraft at airshows.

Pilot of Aero Club of B.C. biplane (CF-ANN), ~1930. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-359.

Stunt man with wingsuit, 1937. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-713.

After the war he resumed his career with Union Steamships. Crookall became Secretary Comptroller and was appointed Secretary-Treasurer in 1949. He retired in 1958 only a few months before Union Steamships ceased operations in 1959.

In addition to photography, Crookall had many recreational interests. He was an avid painter and a keen outdoorsman, regularly cycling or hiking many miles in search of subjects for his easel or his cameras. He was involved with a local group of amateur photographers called the “cycling circus”, which formed during the gas-rationing years of World War II and organized photographic trips by bicycle.

His photographs show an appreciation of geometry, light and shadow.

Architectural details of St. James Church, ca 1936. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-430.

A metal staircase attached to a tank, 1938. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-979.

His works also show a keen interest in people at work and play.

Shigeharu Nishihama repairing fishing net, Steveston, 1938. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-944.

Woman at drinking fountain at the beach, 1937. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-670.

Crookall used a variety of cameras and photographic media. He used glass plate negatives, nitrate film pack negatives and roll film in several formats including 35mm. He tried an unusual and early colour process called Dufaycolor, which was first used for motion pictures in 1932 and then for still photography from the mid-1930s. In this process, the film base was dyed with a fine pattern of red, green and blue lines which acted as filters. The result is a transparent positive image.

Rock Garden of Stanley Park, ~1930s. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-1803.

Unidentified steamship, ~1930s. Reference code AM640-: CVA 260-1819.

The filter pattern can be seen on the photograph under magnification.

Dufay filter pattern on at 200x magnification. Detail from image of steamship above, reference code AM640-: CVA 260-1819.

We have curated a set of 81 of Crookall’s images on flickr. For all the descriptions and images, as well as the other materials in his fonds, take a look in our online search.

From itv

“‘There I found Winston and Stalin, and Molotov who has joined them, sitting with a heavily-laden board between them: food of all kinds crowned by a sucking [sic] pig, and innumerable bottles. What Stalin made me drink seemed pretty savage: Winston, who by that time was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine. Everyone seemed to be as merry as a marriage bell’.”

The papers have also exposed the bugging of Edward VIII in the period before his abdications exposing a ‘serious breakdown in trust’ between himself and his ministers.

In addition, the National Archives have posted some photographs of intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke dressed as both a man and a woman taken by the Spanish police. The Lieutenant was fined by the Spanish police and hurried back to Gibraltar by Churchill.

From itv

Read more here.

It explores the life and work of Mary Medd (née Crowley 1907-2005) who was, alongside her husband and professional partner David Medd, one of the most important modernist architects of the 20th century. She devoted the major part of her career to the design of school buildings and was pioneering in this respect, drawing much inspiration from Scandinavian architecture, arts and design.

'A Life in Education and Architecture: Mary Beaumont Medd' by Dr C Burke

More than a biography, the book draws attention to the significance of relationships and networks of friendships built up over these years among individuals with a common view of the child in educational settings.

The event will be held in the Library Teaching Room from 4pm-6pm. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Rebecca Webster at rebecca.webster@ioe.ac.uk or 020 7612 6983.

Reviews of the book:

“Burke’s book offers everything from an education and practice manifesto to a compelling romance. The narrative overlays within the text capture valuable insights into the infrastructure of key design projects, including clients, creative collaborators and educators working towards a common enterprise.” The Times Higher Education Supplement (Harriet Harriss)

“Michael Gove should stop reinventing the wheel and get a history lesson on architecture and education by reading Catherine Burke’s newly published book on Mary Medd, née Crowley. In A Life in Education and Architecture, Gove will learn about the remarkable work of a socially committed Quaker family who were at the forefront of the reformation of child welfare and school building design.” Yasmin Shariff, The Architects’ Journal

1. Reclaiming

(Lisa Stead)

Carl Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan if Arc is my favourite film, pretty much bar none. Although I suspect very concept of a favourite film is in itself a bit ridiculous — clearly pinning down what you consider to be the ‘best’ is a question anyone who teaches or studies Film or English most likely dislikes being asked for all the ways in which it we feel it challenges us to say what’s expected, what intellectually defines us and pins our taste down in a single sentence open to swift judgement. So much so that I always begin seminars with any new class by asking them to admit to (and revel in) what they consider to be their most embarrassing pet love, not the obscure art house text they think will make them look widely viewed, appropriately cultured in obscurity (and thus potentially that much more attractive to the geekier members of the opposite sex…).

However, despite this — turns out, this IS my favourite film, one that I constantly circle back to and one that just kind of stays there under your skin. And the reasons why circulate further around its somewhat romantic exhibition history and status as film history artefact as much as its excessively beautiful, haunting and emotionally draining portrayal of faith on trial showcasing one of the greatest and most obscure performances in cinema.

Dreyer’s film, which focuses upon the record of Joan’s trial, was equal parts critically successful to financially disastrous upon its initial release, and its immediate history saw a series of cuts and mishaps and made the original a rare and eventually ‘lost’ commodity (the original negative was lost to a studio fire at UFA). Dreyer’s attempted restructuring from a few remaining original prints was then again lost to fire in 1929 (bad fire times all round). Since then, the original film was considered lost entire, until, bizarrely canisters containing the film were found in a cleaning cupboard mental institution in Oslo in the 1980s. After three years at the Norwegian Film Institute the reels were finally examined and found to be Dreyer’s original cut.

Reclaimed, frequently screened at film festivals, given a DVD release and now a part of numerous film syllabuses, the film really does live again in multiple forms.

What I personally want to flag up in contrast with Carrie’s response below is the influence of the contemporary score commissioned for the reclaimed film– which has a major influence upon the film is experienced in contrast to the live accomplishment you will witness with silent screenings at many festivals and events (a great number of diverse contemplate scores have been written for the film since the late 1989s, including Live accompaniments by the likes of Nick cave and Cat power). The power of Richard Einhorn’s 1994 oratorio based on the film entitled “Voices of Light” (available as an optional accompaniment on the Criterion Collection’s DVD release)  is rather difficult to put in to words, but the richness and fullness of the soundscape works in startling compositions and contrasts with the sparse nature of Dreyer’s images, the intensity of his compositions that blank all else out against the frantic eyes of Renée Falconetti in the film’s relentless succession of tight, unforgiving close ups as Joan response to each stage of her interrogation. Watch it with the score, watch it without — experience it every way you can, because this is a text that grows and changes each time it’s encountered, and one that carries with it it’s bizarre history of reclamation and restoration that remains just as oddly intoxicating in the overall experience as the film itself.

2. (Re)viewings

(Carrie Smith)

I recently attended a screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc at Birmingham Cathedral as part of the Flatpack Cinema Festival -http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/event/the-passion-of-joan-of-arc/ The film was introduced by Paul Shallcross, a pianist who had written a score to accompany it. In his introduction he chose to stress the film’s timelessness. He mentioned that the sets gesture towards medieval simplicity, yet the soldiers wear helmets which look similar to those worn in World War One. He also highlighted the brief incongruent appearance of 1920s plastic spectacles.

Despite the film’s damning portrayal of the Catholic Church, to watch it in Birmingham Cathedral felt entirely appropriate. The cathedral’s high vaulted ceilings, columns, religious paintings etc made you feel that the bishops were about to enter from stage left. The image of the light through the window creating a crucifix on the floor of Joan’s cell was echoed in the stained glass window of the cathedral which was directly behind the screen. The acoustics of the cathedral meant that the score reverberated around the audience. The walls seemed to lean inwards towards Renée Maria Falconetti’s expressive face at the centre of the space.    

Too often, perhaps, films are confined to being watched in the archives and do not have the opportunity to be shown in spaces which can add new meaning and relevance. Dreyer’s film about intolerance felt like it was interacting with modern questions in a real setting and I would applaud Birmingham Cathedral for agreeing to the screening. It would be wonderful to see more silent films present beyond the archive in a living space and in doing so, able to reach larger audiences.

Affidavit of Lyman A. Cutlar Regarding Pig Shooting, September 7, 1859

(click on image to view the complete 5-page document in our Flickr photostream)

The pig belonged to the British Hudson Bay Company who demanded compensation in the amount of $100. The astonished Cutlar valued the pig at less than $10. While not the shot heard round the world, it did mark the beginning of the Pig War-a border dispute between the United States and Canada. While that was the only shot fired, twelve years of posturing on both sides which included troops and navies and some soon to be famous Civil War principals, George E. Pickett and Winfield Scott.  The Treaty of Washington between the United States and Great Britain was signed in 1871 and the San Juan Island matter referred to Kaiser Wilhelm I of German for arbitration and in October of 1872 ruled in favor of the United States.

An early commemoration of the anniversary of The Pig War was the excuse for the staff of the National Archives in Washington and our friends across the street at the Canadian Embassy to once again test public opinion-this time… [ Read all ]

Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time of year again to whip out your tissues and get ready to send our lovely seniors into the real world to make us all very proud. As they walk the Laurie Auditorium stage on May 18, 2013, they will be ending one adventure and starting a new one (cheesy…I know). One of our very own down here in Special Collections, Faith Bradham, will be starting her new life in August at Indiana University, attending graduate school to become a librarian and spreading her love of books to everyone she can. Your Special Collections family is very proud of you, Faith– now go do awesome things and never forget that we’ve always got your back!

Trinity University diploma from the Waxahachie campus

Although the beginning and ending ceremonies are held in Laurie Auditorium both freshmen and senior year, it was not always this way. Previous ceremonies on the Skyline campus were held in the Sunken Gardens, located directly across the 281 highway and walking distance from campus.

Trinity University Spring Commencement at the Sunken Gardens

Due to lack of space (and probably the unbearable Texas heat), the ceremonies were eventually moved inside. Because, lets be honest, who wants to sweat up a storm under one of those polyester graduation gowns in the 100 degree temps? Not me. However, that has never stopped friends and families from enjoying the outdoors as they take photographs outside by the Miller Fountain and the Trinity Tower to commemorate this important day.

Trinity students have been known to add a personal touch their graduation day attire

In addition to walking the stage on graduation day, graduating seniors also have the opportunity to leave their mark on Trinity, specifically on the iconic Trinity Tower. As wide-eyed first years, students climb the Trinity tower, taking photographs at the top with the University’s president. When graduating, students climb the tower once more, this time signing a brick at the top (which will cost $20.13 this year–see what they did there?). Therefore, while graduating, seniors participate in similar ceremonies as they did four years ago, this time transitioning out of college life and into a new phase in their lives.

As we creep closer and closer to graduation, seniors are getting closer to holding that much deserved diploma. Just as those who walked across the stage at the Sunken Gardens in the 1950s before their friends and family, 2013 seniors will walk (or stumble) across the Laurie Auditorium stage with the support of all their friends and family. The seniors of 2013 will be dearly missed next year, and campus will definitely not be the same without them. Congratulations friends, and never forget that your Triniland family is here cheering you on!

Oh, and try not to trip…

–Angeline Bottera ’15

Removing enclosures from a case book.

Detailed accounts of the condition and behaviour of patients prior to admission are recorded in official correspondence from doctors, parish councils and other asylums from which patients have been transferred. Extracts from the medical certificates which were completed prior to admission are also sometimes included. Occasionally the incidents that triggered admission to the asylum were reported in the local press and press cuttings of such events were often placed alongside the case notes. Evidence of the care and treatment of the patients can be seen in the various hospital forms and records which are present including temperature charts, eye-test forms and additional loose case notes.

Alongside these official records the case books also include the personal correspondence of the patients themselves, an additional layer of evidence which brings their stories alive. The letters written by patients were intended for family and friends but these handwritten messages never left the asylum, instead being added by the hospital authorities to the case notes as evidence of the patient’s state of mind. Indeed some of these letters provide vivid first-hand accounts of the delusions and hallucinations suffered by patients. Many write of being kidnapped and held against their will, or ask for help to escape their incarceration. Other letters, however, are more measured and considered, apologizing to parents or spouses for their recent behaviour and asking loved ones to come and visit.

It is heartening to note that not all patient correspondence was confined within the walls of the asylum. The enclosures also include the occasional letter written by a recovered patient to the doctors in the asylum thanking them for their treatment and providing an account of life since their return home.

The President’s Award is the highest honor that ASAP grants recognizing distinguished and sustained contributions in the furtherance of the public interest with respect to access, privacy, and fair information laws, policies, and practices.  ASAP noted Miriam’s work in FOIA at the Justice Department and then in the National Archives General Counsel’s office during the 1990’s, as legislative counsel for the American Library Association and then UNESCO in Paris.  Special recognition was focused on her work to establish and head OGIS, created by the 2007 amendments to the FOIA. In accepting the award, Miriam pointed out that she had grown up along with the FOIA and that OGIS represents the maturity of a law that is one of the hallmarks of open government… [ Read all ]

WNYC’s founder Grover A. Whalen convinced Cowan to be WNYC’s Chief Announcer, and his was the first voice heard when we went on the air July 8, 1924.  In his 1951 oral history session with Columbia University, Cowan talks about being on the air for the myriad of parades, receptions and celebrations from the 1920s through the 1950s, especially early on when athletes and aviators [1] came to town after making or breaking world records. For Charles Lindbergh in particular, he says, WNYC followed the flyer all around the city for a full day-and-a-half. [2] Cowan also recalls that WNYC’s Masterwork Hour, radio’s first regularly scheduled broadcast of recorded classical music in 1929, was a significant influence on pioneering radio engineer John V. L. Hogan, the founder of W2XR, WQXR’s predecessor.  On a visit to WNYC’s studios Cowan quotes Hogan as saying, “I’m going to found a radio station on the basis of your Masterwork Hour and present only classical music with no advertising.”[3]

Cowan was well versed in New York City history and an avid opera fan.  At one point he hosted a regular WNYC opera program called Velvet and Gold. In his New York Times obituary he was quoted as saying, “I don’t live in the past, but I do respect the fact that I came from Adam and Eve, and you have to look back once in a while.”[4] Tommy retired from WNYC in 1961. He died in November, 1969.

Cowan, ever energetic raconteur of the air, was always ready to fill any dead space with a descriptive word picture of the scene before him. To listen to more than 40 broadcasts with Tommy go to: COWAN.

[1] There is an especially wonderful New York Times photo (#3 in the slideshow) of Tommy Cowan gripping two WNYC microphones to the right of aviatrix Amelia Earhart and Mayor Jimmy Walker at City Hall in June 1932. See: EARHART.

[2] Cowan, Thomas H., Oral History, Columbia University, 1951, pg. 54.

[3] Ibid, pg. 90.

[4]“Thomas H. Cowan, First Voice of City’s Radio Station, Is Dead,” The New York Times, November 12, 1969, pg. 47.

View from the Sylvia Court Apartments, May 18, 1913. Reference code AM1376-: 2013-002.1

Here’s why we were excited. The 1900 and 2000 blocks of Beach Avenue no longer have buildings on the water side. There are very few good views of the buildings that existed there and nearly all of them were taken from the beach rather than from across the street. This is the only view we have that shows these long-gone buildings from this angle.

The photo above, showing streets and features.

This view down English Bay beach shows the direction from which the photograph must have been taken: high up in the Sylvia Court apartment building (now a hotel), facing the buildings in the distance.

English Bay beach, showing bathers and surrounding buildings, about 1913. Detail from Reference code AM54-S4-: LGN 1030

For a completely different (and not photographic) view of these buildings, we can look at Fire Insurance Plans. These detailed plans were created by fire insurance underwriters to evaluate fire risks.

This plan was created in 1893 but updated to 1901. The updates were made by gluing new pieces of paper onto the old plan. You can see that the alignment is a little off here:

Detail from Map 384, showing buildings in the same two blocks as in the photograph.

There were a few buildings on the water side. The real fun was a few blocks over.

Detail from Map 384, showing buildings further along Beach Avenue. Note the toboggan slide in the lower right corner!

The following plan is from 1912, closer to when the 1913 photograph was taken. Note that the original shoreline was outlined. This plan was annotated in pencil by Major Matthews, the first City Archivist. We don’t write on the records any more.

Detail from Plate 8 of MAP 342.

The photograph would have been taken from pink building “7” (the Sylvia), facing toward the Englesea Lodge.

Another view of these buildings from a few years later is the hand-coloured photograph we used as our first Twitter background.

English Bay Beach, 1916. Frank Gowen, photographer. Reference code AM54-S4-: Be P93.

This photograph gives a good view of the Alexandra Park bandstand and the English Bay Pier.

English Bay Pier, detail from reference code AM54-S4-: Be P93

In 1909, large boulders were removed from the beach and used for the construction of English Bay Pier, and sand was pumped from the ocean bottom to create the sandy beach. The Pier was demolished in 1939.

Alexandra Park Bandstand. It appears that these two women are moving concert equipment, probably chairs. Detail from reference code AM54-S4-: Be P93

Alexandra Park Bandstand was built in 1914 and concerts were subsequently held there instead of at the Pier bandstand. It was renamed the Haywood bandstand to acknowledge the contribution made by Haywood Securities toward its 1987 restoration. It is now a designated heritage building protected under City of Vancouver Heritage By-law No. 4837.

For more on the buildings on these blocks, especially Englesea Lodge, see this post by Eve Lazarus on her blog.

Emily Dickinson. “Soul take thy risk”

We are delighted that so many people are using the Emily Dickinson manuscripts we made available through Amherst College Digital Collections. Over the past six months we have digitized other materials from the Archives and are pleased to announce that hundreds of new digital images have been uploaded and are now available to researchers the world over.

The development of Amherst College Digital Collections — ACDC for short — is a highly collaborative process. We work closely with the good folks in the Frost Library Digital Programs and Technical Services departments, and Amherst’s Information Technology to identify materials, image them, provide useful metadata, and get them uploaded to ACDC. The latest additions come from a wide range of collections in the Archives, including some great material from Dickinson’s contemporaries Edward and Orra White Hitchcock.

Orra White Hitchcock drawing of five lines of ornithichnites fossil footprints

We are in the process of digitizing everything in the Edward and Orra White Hitchcock Papers, but it’s going to take quite a while to work through all 31 boxes so we’re making material available online as we go. Among the materials currently available are the classroom charts that Orra White Hitchcock painted for use in her husband Edward’s lectures on geology. Edward Hitchcock is responsible for building the outstanding collection of dinosaur tracks held by Amherst College in the Beneski Museum of Natural History. Now anyone with an internet connection can see Orra’s illustrations of these specimens and read Edward’s account books for the Natural History Fund. Anyone interested in nineteenth-century science, particularly geology, will find a treasure trove in the Hitchcock materials now online.

Edward Hitchcock account book for the natural history fund of Amherst College, 1853-1863

Last September, Rebecca did a post about a manuscript memoir written by Royal Cole. Now the whole of this document is freely available in ACDC.

Royal Cole. Interior Turkey Reminiscences.

In a post here last summer, Mimi wrote about “The Flight of the Eagle” by John Burroughs. This manuscript is now in ACDC.

Flight of the Eagle (title page)

Last, but not least, we have added four photo albums full of pictures of Amherst’s sister school in Kyoto — Doshisha University — from our Doshisha Collection.

Doshisha University Photo Album 1

Stay tuned for more updates about Archives & Special Collections materials being added to ACDC!

As the spring semester closes, we have have added the past year’s issues of The Carolinian to the online archive. Except for a fair number of issues from 1945, of which there are no known print copies in existence, almost the entire run of UNCG’s student newspaper is currently available online. The bulk of these were digitized in 2010 and 2011 as part of the Lyrasis Mass Digitization Collaborative. New issues are added at the end of each academic year. Since 2012, these new issues have been published as “born digital” PDF files generated directly from the Carolinian‘s publishing system, resulting in better image quality and superior text search functionality.

I read from Senate Resolution 99 which commends public servants for their dedication and continued service to the United States and acknowledging that ” … public service is a noble calling.” I also read from President Obama’s Public Service Recognition Week greetings: “In communities across our country, public servants at the Federal, state, and local levels tirelessly carry out the work of our government. Diligently serving without the expectation of fanfare, they enforce our laws, teach our children, and lay a strong foundation for our Nation’s progress. Our dedicated employees are committed to a cause greater than personal ambition, and each day, they tackle many of our most urgent challenges and help us move closer to a more perfect Union.”

Photograph of desk installed in National Archives Library, 1950. National Archives Identifier 3493214

We created a little internal fanfare yesterday by recognizing staff for protecting and recovering stolen records, for outstanding service and support of our nation’s veterans, for achievement in engaging our citizens, for developing the Presidential Memorandum and Directive on Managing Government Records, for efforts to increase National Declassification Center production, to name just a few of awards tied closely to our Transformation pillars.

We also celebrated long term… [ Read all ]

Probably should have saved this for Hannukah.

Cass Sunstein, in his book, Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge, describes the problem as information cocoons-”communications universes in which we hear only what we choose and only what comforts and pleases us.” Where we choose to get our information, what we choose to read or listen to, and the avoidance of those channels that are outside our own comfort zone. As Pariser reminds us, “Creativity is often sparked by the collision of ideas from difference disciplines and cultures.”

Don’t believe… [ Read all ]

A completely blank book?

All the pages are blank! As we have seen before on this blog, artists’ books come in all shapes and sizes. We even hold a copy of the world’s largest magazine issue. So anything is possible.

But then I saw the small accessory that accompanies the book – an ultraviolet flashlight!

The plot thickens…

The book is titled 2013 and was created by Justin James Reed. It was printed using UV-spectrum inkjet printer ink in a limited edition of 100 copies, and published by Horses Think Press. It was selected as a “best photobook” of 2012 by the British Journal of Photography.

Click to view slideshow.

View the book in a darkened room using the flashlight, and the content appears. A recent reviewer noted the theatricality of the “gestures required of the reader to illuminate the pages and to reveal the images, which begin to take on life and even volume. The time required by the process of perceiving each page is part of the intentional transformation of the passive viewer into an active agent, and the image into material to be discovered.”¹  Viewings of the book as performances have been held at the New York Art Book Fair, and at the Photobook Slam held as part of C/O Berlin Book Days on May 26, 2012. The Berlin performance was captured on video and can be viewed here.

Come visit the Archives and Special Collections and create your own personal performance of 2013.

¹Giannetti, Claudia. “2013,” PhotoBook Review 003 (supplement to Aperture Fall 2012), p. 21.

The Award of Merit 1943, one of the many spectacular works of art found in the Archives. This image consists of merged photographs of the parchment before (left) and after (right). treatment.

Upon arriving at the Archives, I immediately had the chance to familiarize myself with the holdings in a more tactile manner. I carried out a condition survey on the documentary art collection. The project involved examining the condition of the artwork and proposing the appropriate conservation treatments. Not only was a condition survey crucial in grasping an overview of the state of the collection, a proper identification of the media also helps archivists describe records with greater accuracy. Leafing through the documentary art collection was similar to taking a visual stroll down the history of the city. For example, the collection contains numerous watercolour paintings depicting recognizable Vancouver-like natural landscapes and albums of original cartoons from local newspapers satirizing the socio-political atmosphere of the city throughout time.

Through the condition survey, I was able to select a few objects that posed interesting conservation problems to treat. The opportunity to handle and treat many of these historically significant artifacts had me buzzing with excitement; I was like a kid in a candy store! One of the most challenging objects that I treated was an albumen print lined onto a cardboard support of the 1890 Vancouver Police Force.

The albumen print of the 1890 Vancouver Police before treatment. Item number CVA 252-1.

The print had suffered from severe physical damage as a result of poor handling prior to being acquired by the Archives. The physical damage was so extensive that it had mostly fragmented the print into what looked like a jig-saw puzzle. Surprisingly enough (or not so, in the world of archives), the tears through the print were not the most urgent problem. Rather, it was the attempt to fix the tears that became the most alarming problem for the overall stability of the object. At one point, a well-meaning individual had attempted to repair the tears with a very generous application of clear adhesive tape. Although the tape kept all the different fragments of the print intact, the adhesive from the tape had also deteriorated over time and inevitably affected the aesthetics of the photograph. Most of the treatment for this albumen print was to remove the tape and its residues through a combination of mechanical and chemical techniques.

Using Laponite RD as a poultice to reduce the intensity of the adhesive residues. Photograph by Rosaleen Hill.

Mentioning tape removal treatment to any conservator is most often responded to with a grimacing look paired with a sigh of agony. Tape removal is a treatment that strikes terror in many conservators, particularly ones that specialize in archival materials because tapes are plastered on nearly half of the records in most holdings and it is a time-consuming process that doesn’t often give satisfying results. To complicate matters even more, chemical ingredients are constantly changing in the composition of the adhesives found on commercially produced tapes, such that there are no standard solutions to cleanly remove tape. After countless number of hours slicing away tape carriers and reducing adhesive residues with a variety of chemical concoctions, I am pleased to say the albumen print has finally returned to a stable state with the image liberated from the tangled mess of degrading tapes.

The albumen print of the 1890 Vancouver Police after treatment.

The objective of most treatments carried out at the Archives is to stabilize deteriorating records and allow the information they contain to be used, over the need to enhance aesthetics. There are a few exceptions to this general rule, where the aesthetics of the object are important. The 1924 colour lithograph movie poster for the film Western Luck is one such instance.

The Western Luck movie poster is so big that it barely fits onto our lab bench!

As one of the Archives’ ongoing long-term projects, the bulk of the conservation treatment had already been completed when I began work on the poster. My role in the project was to reintegrate the areas of losses back with the image on the poster by in-filling and in-painting. It was such an enjoyable treatment in retouching the movie poster that it was hard to believe this was work. The movie poster is still a work in progress but it is definitely on the right track to recapturing its former glory!

A loss in the poster that has been filled, but not inpainted . . .

. . . and the same area after inpainting.

A much larger loss in the poster. It has been filled . . .

. . . and this is the same fill inpainted. Could you spot it if you didn’t know?

At the City of Vancouver Archives, I was truly immersed into every aspect of being a professional conservator. Some of those experiences were unexpectedly rewarding and I couldn’t have fully prepared myself regardless of how many hours I spent reading textbooks.

All the interns gathered around as Rosaleen talked about photo identification. Photograph by Cindy McLellan.

It is difficult to encapsulate twelve weeks worth of incredible memories into a few paragraphs, but few of the other highlights from my internship included the treatment on the hand-painted parchment of the 1943 Award of Merit; surface cleaning of glass-plate negatives; the acquisition of new records (which involved a lot more manual labour than I had anticipated!) and behind-the-scenes tours of the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.

A large part of this amazing experience was made possible through the trust and patience Sue, Rosaleen and Heather (the Archives Manager- our fearless leader!) had shown towards me; and of course, the generosity from all the staff to welcome me into the Archives for a few short months. I couldn’t have asked for a more enriching internship experience than the one I had at the City of Vancouver Archives!

The academic conference gathered government, academic and other private sector experts to discuss the legal and civil policy implications of “leaks” in the “WikiLeaks” era, examining the history of leaks over recent decades, their growing significance in Freedom of Information Act litigation, potential legislative responses on the subject, and the future that can be foreseen with continued advances in information technology.  More information about the academic conference is available here.

The National Security Archive recently highlighted a recommendation from the Board’s report on its Unredacted blog.  The post focused on an aspect of U.S. nuclear deployment history from the early years of the Cold War.  It mentioned the Board’s recommendation to allow obsolete historical nuclear information to be reviewed for declassification.  You can read the blog post here. The Board heard testimony and received extensive comments on the need to reform how agencies treat historical “Formerly Restricted Data.”  Transforming the Security Classification System offers a solution that allows the declassification review of information that is of no operational or military use so the American public can better understand the role nuclear weapons played in winning the Cold War.

Back in February we had a visit from some Fulbright scholars who began the process of transcribing the Daniel Mowry letters in our Nicholson Whaling Manuscripts Collection. We haven’t yet had a chance to digitize the letters, but we wanted to make the transcriptions available, and you can now find the text of all of them on one page. These are some pretty illuminating letters telling a great story.

You might have noticed some attractive new novels and picture books on display near the stairs on Level 4 of the library. These have recently been acquired for the Curriculum Resources collection and are the 16 shortlisted books for the 2013 CILIP  Carnegie Medal and Kate Greenaway Medal respectively.

As the website notes, the medals are the UK’s oldest and most prestigious children’s book awards. Often described by authors and illustrators as ‘the one they want to win’, they are the gold standard in children’s literature.

The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book for children and young people, whilst the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people.

The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2013 shortlist in full:

• The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan, Bloomsbury
• A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle, Marion Lloyd Books
• Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, Hot Key Books
• In Darkness by Nick Lake, Bloomsbury
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Bodley Head
• Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick, Indigo
• A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton, David Fickling Books
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Electric Monkey

The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2013 shortlist in full:

• Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb, Macmillan Children’s Books
• Again! by Emily Gravett, Macmillan Children’s Books
• Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton, Walker Books
• I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, Walker Books
• Pirates ‘n’ Pistols by Chris Mould, Hodder Children’s Books
• King Jack and the Dragon by Helen Oxenbury (illustrator) and Peter Bently (author), Puffin Books
• Black Dog by Levi Pinfold, Templar Publishing
• Just Ducks! by Salvatore Rubbino (illustrator) and Nicola Davies (author), Walker Books

You will have to hurry if you want to borrow any of these books, as some keen library users have already got there! In the meantime, why not catch up on some previous years’ winners? A full list can be found on the website above, and most are in stock in the library.

Winners of the two medals will be announced on Wednesday 19^th June 2013.

The image above is a sketch from a letter written by George Turner, a Rhode Island Civil War soldier whose correspondence has recently been scanned and transcribed by URI student Michaela Keating. The online collection (available here) includes nearly 200 letters, mostly sent by Turner to his parents at home in Rhode Island, dating from 1861 to 1864. Taken together they offer an evolving portrait of one soldier’s daily life over the years of the war and his developing attitudes toward race, the South and the purpose of the war.

Turner wrote the letter from which the image above was taken in December of 1861, not long after the Union capture of Fort Wells in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where Turner spent the majority of his time during the war. In the letter, Turner describes his entry into the fort and the circumstances of his drawing:

Soon after entering the Fort we were allowed to stroll around and look about. And during my stroll I cam across a gun carriage that was completely smashed up and while I was looking at it I picked up picked up part of a man’s ear and some teeth and while looking at it come to conclusion that this man had changed his southern views and gone to another land. And now that I think of it of will give you another drawing [sketch of two figures in a tent with "Traveller's Rest" written on the side of the tent] The picture which I bring before your view this time represents your humble servant writing a letter to his Rhode Island friends while one of his mess mates lays on the ground smoking. The name which you see marked on the tent is marked with a led pencil. But I pity the poor fellow who comes there for rest if he does not belong there. Now I have lived in just such a house as you see just four months on the 20th this month, and during that that time I have not taken off my pants olny when I change my under clothes or to wash all over. And I am just as tuff as a birch I am fat rugged and saucy. I can swallow a roast turkey at one gullup. Yesterday we had the first white bread we have had since the 23 day of Oct and when we got our loaf we went about looking at it like so many boys with a new year’s present. But after a while we came to the conclusion to eat it and the way it went down my illustrious gullet was a caution to lookers on.

The letter is typical in its attention to the daily details of camp life. Also typical is the discussion that takes place just prior to this excerpt in which Turner displays antagonism toward the “contraband” freed slaves present at the fort. It’s a theme that develops throughout the course of Turner’s letters, as he grows to despise the former slaves he feels are being better treated than the soldiers.

For more information about the George Turner correspondence, visit our online exhibition, which provides background information about Turner and some of the major themes of his letters. And visit the digital collection to read the letters yourself. As of now over 100 letters have been transcribed, with more to come. And if you’d like to take part and try transcribing some of the letters yourself, just click the “Transcribe this item” link at the bottom of an item and then click the “edit” button.

(If you’re interested in Turner you might also want to check out the Summer/Fall 2012 issue of Rhode Island History (vol. 70.2), which features an article by Kirsten Hammerstrom on Turner titled “Souvenirs of War” (pp. 74-86).

Named by the Society of American Archivists after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma struck the Gulf Coast, “MayDay” – this year and every year – is a nationwide effort whose goal is to save our archival materials, no matter which type of cultural institution in which we work.

Here are a few things we can do that day that will make a difference when and if an emergency occurs, tasks that we can accomplish in a short period of time:

• Quickly survey collections areas to insure that nothing is stored directly on the floor, where they would be vulnerable to water damage.
• Note the location of fire exits and fire extinguishers.
• Review basic emergency procedures – currently being updated – in our Reading Room behind the service desk.
• Familiarize ourselves with the evacuation plan and where emergency supplies are stored – a good chance to check that flashlights are working!
• Update the contact information in our department staff list

These are just a few suggestions; there’s probably more we can think of. And it’s important that we sustain this effort, not just on MayDay.

Computer/Laptop Readers

If you read your feeds on a computer or a laptop, the following two readers are extremely user-friendly:  The Old Reader and CommaFeed  Both are working quickly to develop Apps for mobile devices which they promise will be ready by the end of June 2013.  Instructions on how to export your RSS feeds from Google Reader to The Old Reader and to CommaFeed are attached.

Mobile RSS Apps

If you read your feeds on mobile devices such your smart phone or tablet, I can recommend a couple of apps:   Zite  and Feedly.  Both of these are available from the App Store and both have received good reviews hence my recommendation.  Feedly is also available as a reader on a browser (Firefox, Safari and Chrome).

Open source software relies on the goodwill of people in terms of time they give to developing an application and donations by individuals.  This software can very easily be available one day and not the next as open source companies may go out of business.  My advice to you is to back up your feeds on a regular basis and use more than one reader – especially if you are not able to access your feeds because the server is over capacity (this has just happened to me with Feedly which is very popular).  If you suddenly find a reader is unavailable, you certainly won’t want to have to start from scratch  if you keep updates.  We haven’t had to do this with Google as we have been given time to prpare for Google Reader’s demise.  Do also be aware that if you use RSS on a browser and your hardware develops a fault, you could also lose your feeds with your computer/laptop.  So be safe and use at least a couple of readers.  Google has taught us a valuable lesson  - not to rely on its products or on technology as this post in Forbes explains so clearly.

As the time of Google Reader’s demise draws nearer, many more software companies are announcing replacements so watch this space for more recommendations as I try new feed readers to keep current with research.

It can be found here

Richie Havens passed away a few days ago at a relatively young 72, and even just a couple of years ago, when I saw him at (le) Poisson Rouge (on the site of the old Village Gate where he undoubtedly had performed many times), his voice was as strong as ever.  On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend 1989, WNYC recorded for broadcast (or was it broadcast live?—I can’t remember almost 24 years later) New Voices in Folk, an almost four hour festival of up and coming folk musicians at the Central Park Bandshell.  Tom Rush was the host, and there were performances by the not yet famous Shawn Colvin (her first album came out that year), Greg Brown, and Canadian songwriter Connie Kaldor, among others.  But the one surprise performer was even then not a new voice—Richie Havens closed the show with one song.  Here’s that 1989 performance of Jackson Browne’s “Lives In The Balance.”

Bush Library exterior, evening. Photo courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Center

The Bush Library is the 13^th of NARA’s federally owned Presidential libraries, whose holdings span eight decades of American history.  It also increases our presence in Texas, where we already operate the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, George H.W. Bush’s library in College Station, and our regional archives and records center in Fort Worth.

We look forward to developing partnerships with the George W. Bush Presidential Center and with SMU to present joint programming, share our expertise, draw on our holdings, and bring together SMU’s academic departments and the library. These kinds of partnerships at the 12 other Presidential libraries have enriched the learning experience for students and scholars.

Without the preservation of and access to these Presidential materials, the history of our nation would be incomplete. They document the key decisions and policies and how crucial decisions were made. Also, through exhibits, educational initiatives, and public programs, the libraries perform a critical outreach mission in their communities and beyond.

The new Bush Library holds 70 million… [ Read all ]

The big change

Until now, digital objects that were under the copyright of a 3rd party (other than City of Vancouver’s copyright) could only be viewed online as a tiny thumbnail. Now they can be viewed in full resolution in our Reading Room through our online search. This works on your laptop in the Reading Room (using our wifi) as well as at our public computers.

Making it work

Come down to the Archives and

1. Connect to the Reading Room wireless network, “COV Archives”
2. Go to the login page: searcharchives.vancouver.ca/;user/login
3. Login with the email: readingroom@vancouver.ca
4. Enter the password: readingroom

If you leave the Reading Room with your laptop or log out from our network, you will no longer be able to see the copyrighted images.

Why we’re doing this

Under copyright law, we don’t have the right to publish these objects to the Web. Until now, we have only been publishing a thumbnail image, which is permitted as it is a small excerpt of a work.

We are allowed to make the objects available in the Reading Room, in the same way we can bring a copyrighted item out from storage for you to view. Making them accessible through the search system is fast and easy for both staff and researchers.

Self copying

We already allow you to make copies—with your camera, or using the microfilm printer—of materials under third-party copyright for fair dealing purposes. This also applies to the copies of digital objects we provide in our search system. You are responsible for getting the permission of the copyright holder for uses other than fair dealing.

So go ahead and email them to yourself, or copy them to a USB drive!

What’s under third-party copyright

Under the old system, you couldn’t see any materials under third-party copyright online. Now you have to be aware of which materials may be freely re-used and which ones require permission of the copyright owner.

The description for each digital object in our system will display what we know about its copyright status in the Rights Area. Here’s a quick guide to what you’ll see.

This item is in the public domain and all replication is allowed. You can use it for anything:

This item is copyrighted to the City of Vancouver and all uses are allowed without seeking permission:

This item is copyrighted to a known third party, who needs to give permission for any re-use other than fair dealing provisions:

This item is presumed to be under copyright but the owner of the copyright is unknown to us. You may be able to determine the owner with some research. It may only legally be re-used for fair dealing purposes.

Bonus for those researching at home

We received feedback that it was frustrating to be tempted by an interesting thumbnail on a list of results only to click through to find that the digital object was not viewable online. We’ve added some language to fix this.

If it says “Digital copy not on web”, then you won’t be able to view the digital object at home. You will still be able to see a more detailed description of the object if you click through to the single description.

The appearance varies with the browser and operating system. It’s yellow in Firefox on a Mac.

We hope these two changes make your research more efficient. As always, we welcome feedback.

This is a very strange portrait. It depicts two individuals (off-center and not filling the frame): Abel Roper (who published a newspaper called the Post Boy starting in 1695) and his nephew and assistant Edward King. Roper’s publications tended to make people angry (apparently angry enough to pull off his wig and beat him).

The curious emblem at the bottom of the print depicts a pillory and what appears to be another form of punishment device (leave a note in the comments if you know its proper name) with pages nailed to the bars. And the motto (“Nec lex est justior ulla”) is an abbreviated and modified form of a passage by Ovid that translates as “There is no law more just than that the plotters of death should perish by their own designs.” Often connected in biblical commentaries with Haman’s execution on the gallows he had originally built for his enemies, the lines point to the irony of being destroyed by your own schemes. Used here, beneath the portrait of a man well-known for using print as a political weapon, is it an indication that this was a hostile depiction?

So, I delved into the archives and discovered that Trinity has a thirty year history of submitting floats to the Battle of Flowers–I found several fun photos of floats we constructed, and I also found some interesting tidbits of information about Trinity student’s interest in and love of Fiesta. Last but not least, I made sure to display Trinity’s collection of Fiesta medals, since they perfectly represent Trinity’s great way of getting into the Fiesta spirit!

Make sure to stop by Special Collections this month and check out our Fiesta exhibit! 

–Faith Bradham, ’13

A large bowlder and friends

This may seem like a minor offense – it is, after all, just a rock on campus, right? But knowing the history of the College is mandatory in the archives. It’s our raison d’être. We seek to know everything about our turf, and then to make it possible for others to know it too.

So when I heard about this boulder, I immediately reached into my bag of paranoias: surely I alone was ignorant of the facts surrounding the boulder. I would have to hide my ignorance from my colleagues. My stomach churned.

But perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps other people don’t know about the rock either. On the assumption, therefore, that my reader may also be ignorant of the facts, let me set them down here with the few relevant documents that remain to us.

President Edward Hitchcock, ca. 1854

The story begins with Edward Hitchcock, as so many Amherst College stories do. The man was everywhere back in the day, and his influence on the College in those early years was unequaled, and may be still. Probably we should be called Hitchcock College. A clergyman, a geologist, a professor, and for many years a president of Amherst College, Hitchcock roamed the area in search of its geological history. Geology was his passion.

“The Geology Around Amherst College,” from Hitchcock’s “Reminiscences” (1863)”

Main Street looking east toward Pelham, ca. 1880. Dickinson family houses on the left.

One day in 1855, Hitchcock was walking along Main Street when he glimpsed a chunk of rock poking out of the ground at the edge of Edward Dickinson’s property. The road was being graded, turning up rocks previously invisible. No doubt Hitchcock was taking the opportunity to scavenge for interesting bits when he came upon this choice specimen.

In an article for The American Journal of Science and Arts,* Hitchcock described the discovery and how the students in his geology class moved the 8-ton boulder to the Octagon (here called the “Geological Cabinet”):

Clever man, that Hitchcock. One can just imagine him suggesting hopefully to his students that he “doubted their ability” to move the boulder. No doubt the Class of ’57 sought to please him and would have moved heaven and earth, let alone the boulder.

Three years later an article in the Springfield Republican about a meeting of the American Association of Science featured a colorful version of the tale, as related by President William A. Stearns. Here, Pelham is the original location of the boulder, rather than Montague, where Hitchcock had placed it in his earlier article.

Springfield Republican, Aug. 8, 1859. William Augustus Stearns was the president “out of town” when the boulder was moved.

The local Hampshire-Franklin Express also chronicled the spectacle:

Hampshire-Franklin Express, June 6, 1856

I wondered about the unnamed song mentioned in the article. Was it really possible that a song with the refrain of “Coki-chi-lunk” could be “sad, pathetic, and affecting”? Or was the reporter being funny? I wondered if I might be able to determine what the song was and looked in the files for the class of 1857. This item was in the general file for the class.

The Express article above mentioned Alvah L. Frisbie as having delivered the oration when the rock reached its destination, and a notice buried in the July, 1856 Amherst Collegiate mentions a second student, Nathan R. Morse, describing him as the marshal of the class.

Men Who Stare Down Bowlders: Members of the Class of 1857 at their Vigintennial Meeting. Morse and Frisbie are left and right of center respectively.

I’ve managed to get through this post without mentioning Emily Dickinson, but it was always my intention to bring her into it, for the rock came from in front of her house. It would have taken no effort at all to watch the proceedings from her bedroom or from one of the rooms below, and it’s hard to think she didn’t. It must’ve been something to see (literally and figuratively, in her case). There are no letters from the period, so we don’t know if she commented about the occasion anywhere, and she seems not to have mentioned it in any poems. Even so, she was very likely the hidden spectator at the event, or perhaps she even departed from what was becoming her habit of seclusion to bring water or food for the workers.

If you’ve not yet noticed the rock on the south side of the Octagon, have a look at it the next time you walk by. You can’t miss it.

********************

*American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. XXII, Nov., 1856, pp. 397-400.

‘Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner’ (CILIP 2004). The Alexandria Proclamation adds that information literacy is ‘a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion in all nations’ (UNESCO 2005). 

There is no doubt that information, digital and academic literacies are finally being taken seriously after librarians have been banging about their importance for years. In 2013, being able to find, evaluate, manage and communicate information is an essential research skill in a constantly changing information landscape and IOE librarians are keen to provide both personal and online information literacy support. In addition to face-to-face sessions and Enquiry Desk advice, LibGuides and LibAnswers are vital in ensuring that library users have useful information at any time and in any place. 

New IOE LibGuides just published include: 

• Ebooks
• IOE Staff
• Information Literacy

Three laboratory staff members in 1916: Maggie McKenzie, Ernie Abbott and R.B.  Reference code: 2011-092.1854.

The science of sugar! The refining of sugarcane or sugar beets to make the sugar products that we all know and love requires expertise and scientific precision. The science carried out at BC Sugar is well reflected in the records that were donated to the City of Vancouver Archives. I would like to share with you some of the records that show the science and scientists that worked at the company.

Alex McKelvie, first chemist, in front of BC Sugar laboratory. Reference code: 2011-092.3353.

Chemists were not the only scientists employed by BC Sugar; several agriculturists and plant geneticists were also on staff. Still, chemistry played an important role in ensuring the creation of consistent products and in researching new.

A page from the laboratory book which records the first production of Rogers’ Golden Syrup. Reference code: AM1592-1-S1-F20.

Creating Rogers’ Golden Syrup, a syrup that did not crystalize at room temperature or during storage, was difficult. In 1914, this was achieved by chief chemist Robert Boyd. The above page, from an early laboratory notebook, shows a summary of some successful experiments that lead to the development of Rogers’ Golden Syrup.

Experimental packaging of Rogers’ Golden Syrup in glass bottles. Photograph taken in the #1 Lab, 1955. Reference code: 2011-092.1659.

Many people remember the tins that Rogers’ Golden Syrup was originally sold in. Many customers found them useful for various things once empty, such as storing nails or wooden spoons. The move to glass bottles was not taken lightly. The new packaging was tested in the laboratory because it would affect many things such as the appearance of the colour of the syrup packaging and shipping procedures.

Sugar crystals during an experiment. The label reads: ‘1 Sugar C953; 750 mls; NY seed.’ June 11, 1969. Reference code: 2011-092.0221.1.

Icing sugar crystals. The label reads: Icing sugar B959-3. June 5, 1969. Reference code: 2011-092.0222.1.

The BC Sugar fonds contains many photographs and negatives of various kinds of sugars in solutions or at different stages during the refining process. In addition to these photographs of sugar samples and crystals, the BC Sugar records also contain laboratory notes, formulas and experiment results.

Camera set up for photographing sugar crystals with Linhof camera. May 1972. Reference code: 2011-092.4596.

Here is an example of the laboratory staff taking a photograph of the configuration of the camera used for taking photographs of sugar crystals. They may have also been excited about their Linhof camera.

Page from a book containing detailed, handwritten instructions and formulas for testing sugar and sugar products. This book was maintained between 1910 and 1925. Reference code: AM1592-S11-F5.-

A BC Sugar standard test used on cube sugar. 1957. Reference code: AM1592-1-S1-F27.

I have featured two sample pages from the books of tests, formulas and other instructions created at BC Sugar for use at their refineries. The fonds also contains results of daily and weekly testing at BC Sugar.

Two pages from the BC Sugar lab boy duty book. Reference code: AM1592-S11-F2.

Martin Rogers penned the above well-thumbed lab boy duty book. From the worn nature of the two lab boy duty books in the fonds, it seems likely that the lab boy referred to this manual often, or brought it with him as he carried out the assigned tasks for each day of the week. Many of the duties involved cleaning but the lab boy was entrusted with some routine experiments.

People hard at work in the No.1 Laboratory, ca. 1935. Reference code: 2011-092.0517.

The BC Sugar fonds is a rich resource that will fuel research for people of diverse interests from the history of our beautiful city to labour relations and unions, and from cultural anthropology (the culture and politics of food) and the history of science to genealogists whose family members worked at BC Sugar. Such future use of their records may not have been uppermost in the minds of these chemists as they performed their assigned tasks to ensure the daily smooth operation of refining sugarcane at BC Sugar.

Over the course of the next couple of years the textual records, photographs, moving image materials, architectural drawings, and other materials in the BC Sugar fonds will be preserved, arranged, described and made available to researchers. We look forward to providing access to and sharing more stories and highlights from this exciting fonds.

This fire occurred around the same time as the awful attack in Copley Plaza during the Boston Marathon. Our hearts go out to the victims of that terrible, terrible event. I have close ties to Boston. I have run that marathon with those people in the past and have had friends and relatives cheering for me at that finish line.  I found this incident to be particularly sad and troubling.

The Boston Police Department is investigating the cause of the fire and initial indications are that it was not connected to the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  Please remember the people affected by the tragedy in Boston on Monday, and wish for their resilience and for their healing.

Today, the work of the American people continues in Boston, and my heartfelt congratulations go out to the people who have been working hard to develop the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), which is launching online today.  Unfortunately, Monday’s tragedy occurred at the very steps of where the official gala launch was planned to be held, the Boston Public Library.… [ Read all ]

Circa 1936

Recreational reading room, April, 1938

Books arriving for a library contest, April, 1938

The Carnegie Library scrapbook and photos will be available online in a few months as part of two larger projects presenting historical photographs of UNCG and scrapbooks held in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives.

One evening recently, while I was reading Little House in the Big Woods to my six year old, he asked what a catechism is (I believe some small children had just been forced to spend all Sunday reading one). I realized that I didn’t quite know. Our friend the internet quickly clarified that catechisms are books explaining core doctrine in question and answer format, generally religious and intended to be memorized.

Things might have stopped there, except that the next day, while immersed in some nineteenth century book at the bunker, I ran across Talcott Williams’ (class of 1873) catechism and got curious about this genre that was once so ubiquitous.

Talcott Williams’ catechism

The earliest catechism we have in the archives is a 1623 Heidelberg catechism in Latin:

Next, a Westminster catechism from 1658, eleven years after it was first published. The Westminster catechism was written in both long and short form, for the more and less sophisticated religious student.

Note how the Westminster catechism was recommended “for the benefit of Masters of Families”. This Protestant catechism (and Amherst College, being the institution that it was, has no Catholic catechisms) was intended for household use; for the “Master” of the family to use in the instruction of his children and servants.

Tellingly, the majority of the eighteenth century book that turn up in our catalog when you search for catechisms are lectures, sermons or other explications of catechisms – apparently even the masters were somewhat perplexed.

In the nineteenth century, the balance of our holdings shifts to simplified catechisms intended for use directly by children, the earliest ones included in the various editions of the New England Primer.

New England Primer 1836

New England Primer 1822

Milk for Babes, or, a Catechism in Verse 1840

Watt’s Plain and Easy Catechism for Children 1820

What particularly fascinates me are all the secular catechisms in our collection, from botany to anti-slavery to political economy (plus one Buddhist catechism for good measure), these show the familiarity and fondness that people felt for catechism as an instructional genre in the nineteenth century.

Botanical Catechism 1819

Anti-Slavery Catechism 1839

Catechism of Political Economy 1817

A Buddhist Catechism by Henry S. Olcott 1881 – a very interesting example of a westerner reaching first for a familiar tool… and not necessarily the best suited one.

And last, my most favorite, Noah Webster’s 1798 Little Reader’s Assistant, which includes both a Federal Catechism and a Farmer’s Catechizm! To quote from the latter: “Q. Why is agriculture the most agreeable employment? A. Because it brings the fewest cares, with the greatest certainty of food and clothing…”

Little Reader’s Assistant 1798

Additional images can be found on our flickr site

Aerial View of Detroit, MI c.1978

Pick up the Can Instead of Kicking the Can….

With hidden storage areas, dusty inventories, and an accepted and resounding belief that backlogs are the reality and norm. Every profession carries with it a certain degree of accepted truths and archives are no exception. How many of us can honestly admit that we have unprocessed collections buried deep within our vaults for more than five, ten, or more years? This is not only a paralyzing opinion of archives but as professionals and the processes that we value as collective truth.

High level processing and cataloging is not a new idea nor is it a particularly revolutionary one. Being our greatest enemies, we as a profession, get bogged down in the details and wade in the weeds, where sacrificing efficiency for item level description clogs the workflow in both traditional and digital archival processing worlds. With the onset of cloud based technology and keyword searches helps to redefine traditional taxonomy structures. No longer saddled by hierarchical naming conventions, this brand of accessibility improves to reduce false hits and allows the user to decide the true value of a search. This approach allows both the archivist along with the user to decide the value of content for their purposes which supports a quicker flow of content through the pipeline.

Gather your resources to get behind a project with a project management perspective with a single minded goal, with intention, to complete it in a timely manner. Be a closer by mapping out the entire project, make key decisions up front and then send the troops in to execute the actions. Create and scope timelines, action lists matched with responsible stakeholders, and assessment tools to minimize the impact of inevitable learning curves, technology failures, funding issues, and processing adjustments. Condensing processing time will also create consistency in searchable tools like numbering systems, naming, and general organization of an entire archive. Optimizing resources with a solid roadmap maximizes success will support a shift in addressing our backlogs head on instead of stacking them in the closets to collect dust for the next generation of archivists to sort out.

Photograph of Warsaw taken by Anderson in 1966.

Anderson worked as both a theatre and film director in Warsaw in the 1960s and the archive includes material relating to his Polish projects. In 1966 he directed a production of John Osborne’s play Inadmissible Evidence at the Contemporary Theatre in Warsaw starring Tadeusz Lomnicki. Anderson kept a detailed photographic record of the production and the collection also includes theatre programmes and posters and cuttings from the Polish press relating to the play.

Anderson returned to Warsaw in 1967 to direct a short documentary film, The Singing Lesson, at the invitation of the Warsaw Documentary Studio. The film featured a class of students from the Warsaw Dramatic Academy performing traditional Polish songs inter-cut with scenes of Warsaw life. Anderson’s initial outline for the film (in both English and Polish) is present, along with correspondence, photographs and promotional material.

A scene from The Singing Lesson, a film made by Lindsay Anderson in Warsaw in 1967.

Amongst the thousands of pieces of correspondence in the archive one of Anderson’s most cherished items was a letter written by the Polish director Andrez Wajda in December 1983. The letter was written by Wajda after seeing Britannia Hospital, Anderson’s blistering satire set in the chaotic surroundings of a dysfunctional British hospital. Panned by the critics and ignored by the cinema-going public on its release in the UK in 1982 Wajda’s warm praise for the film was much appreciated by Anderson, Wajda writing:

“I very much wanted to write to you. I saw Britannia Hospital in Paris. It is the most Polish film produced anywhere in the world in recent years. Being Polish, I completely understand the way you are using the facts of contemporary life and putting them on the screen. This is really Britain – the only one that truly exists. And it is also Polish through and through, amazing in its ideas…

As in every Polish masterpiece, there is twice as much material in it as there ought to be. It’s as if you were anticipating censorship and counting on it to shape your film by cutting it. Perhaps it’s a pity you’ve no censorship in England. Though really your film would be quite uncensorable: they’d just have to write the whole thing off as a loss – as we say over here. Quite simply the film is superb, and I wholeheartedly congratulate you for it.” (ref. LA 1/9/3/16/62)

Cover of Film Vilag, a Hungarian film magazine, featuring a promotional image for Britannia Hospital (June 1983).

Tally Ho, The Florida State University, 1967

Florida State

both a university and a place in the sun

an invitation both to learn and to feel

and above all an education

an exercise of the mind and body

the spirit seeking knowledge in the fountain of life.

–Tally Ho, 1967, page 4

Using archival footage, the documentary takes us on a short trip through the rationale, promotion, and consequences of rationing, including the dark side it helped create with the appearance of black markets. Within WNYC, Mayor La Guardia offered frequent reminders in his weekly address, there were regular programs dealing with the issue, and various admonitions were often broadcast. All in all, despite the general absence of true privations for the overall U.S. population, there is no question that rationing fostered a sense of solidarity at home and abroad.

This is the celebrated brain of the notorious murderer and philologist Edward Rulloff (1819-1871). Celebrated why? For weighing in at 1,770 grams, making it one of the largest such specimens ever recorded. It is, in fact, approximately 30% larger and heavier than the average male brain. This datum may be helpful for our understanding of Rulloff’s aberrant and tragic life; or, it may not. To be sure, (pseudo-)scientific theories of the late 19th century saw a connection; phrenology, for instance (a frequent subject of our blog: here and here) would have had much to say about the relative prominence of the various “organs” of Rulloff’s brain.

Edward H. Rulloff (1819-1871)

But more about Rulloff before we get carried away. He was a man of undoubted intellectual brilliance, but also (and just as undoubtedly) a serial criminal who would be judged to be insane in any court of law today. Born in New Brunswick, Canada, he found work as a law clerk and intensely studied the law, but when he was convicted of a series of robberies he spent two years in prison. Upon release, he relocated to Tompkins County, New York, finding work as a teacher. In June 1845, his wife and infant daughter disappeared, and though Rulloff was widely suspected of their murder, no bodies were ever found, and he was convicted only of the crime of abduction, for which he spent ten years in Auburn (N.Y.) State Prison.

Shortly after release in 1856, Rulloff was again tried for the crime of abduction, this time for his infant daughter. Escaping from Tompkins County Jail, he spent a few years on the run from the law. He also began to engage feverishly with his supreme intellectual fixation: the development of a universal “method” of language which, he claimed, would provide the key to its origins. (Rulloff, though he had very little formal schooling, claimed to have mastery of Latin, Greek, German, French, and Italian, as well as a smattering of Hebrew and Sanskrit.)

In 1859 Rulloff was captured and brought back to Ithaca, N.Y., but his conviction was overturned and he went free. Throughout the 1860s he lived in New York City and continued to work on his supposed magnum opus, which was entitled “Method of the Formation of Language.” He supported himself with accomplices in periodic crime sprees throughout the state. Failing to get his scholarly work published (or even understood by philologists of the time), Rulloff sought to publish it himself with money acquired through his various crimes. But in 1870 he was involved in the robbery of a dry goods store in Binghamton, N.Y., in which a clerk was killed, another injured, and his two accomplices drowned in the river. Rulloff was charged with their murder and convicted. His trial and execution received sensational treatment in newspapers all over the country. Rulloff was hanged in Binghamton on May 18, 1871. His was the last hanging in New York State.

As I got reacquainted with Rulloff while standing in front of his milky-colored, car battery-sized brain swimming in a jar of formalin at Cornell, I recalled our own tie-in to his colorful story: in the Julius Hawley Seelye Papers in Archives & Special Collections, a series of letters Rulloff had sent to Seelye, dating from 1857 until just one day before his execution in 1871. Ten letters in all, plus assorted news clippings that Seelye collected at the end.

Professor Julius H. Seelye (AC 1849), professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, Amherst College, 1858-1890

Julius Hawley Seelye (1824-1895) probably first met Edward Rulloff when he was a young seminarian at Auburn Theological Seminary at the same time Rulloff was serving his prison sentence in the same town. However, the first letter we find from Rulloff to Seelye in the Seelye papers dates from somewhat later, 1857, when Seelye was then serving as a pastor of a church in Schenectady, N.Y. Rulloff, writing from Ithaca, wrote in answer to a letter that Seelye had written earlier, apparently expressing Christian solicitude and inquiring about his moral philosophy. Rulloff’s reply mainly said he would get back to him later. (It is fun to speculate that this letter may have been written around the same time he was plotting his escape from jail.)

Rulloff letter to Seelye, Feb. 14, 1857

In Rulloff’s  second letter of to Seelye, written 18 months later (PDF), he  lays out frankly his starkly atheistic conception of the universe: 

To me, so far as I can discover the agencies by which events are controled [sic], the universe around me has become a system governed by physical causes alone, operating with blind and indiscriminate constancy whether for good or for ill, as these words are commonly employed. [...]

I see no signs or certainty of any great moral or intellectual purpose to be ultimately worked out by the present order of things. [...]

The tendrils of affection, rudely bruised and repressed, have almost ceased to shoot and twine themselves around objects of ordinary attachment. And I live along, bearing the burden of existence, with almost passionless indifference.

As you can see from these samples, Rulloff’s writing style was grammatically precise, complex and florid — even at times poetic. But reading his philosophical disputations is like being trapped on a bus next to a slightly eccentric but charming older gentleman who  lectures to you eloquently for minutes on end until you realize that nothing he has just said made any sense to you.

In the last three months of his life, Rulloff wrote six letters to Seelye.  His murder trial was then approaching what looked to be an inevitable conclusion. In these final days, two things preoccupied Rulloff: preserving his “method” on the origins of language for generations to come, and convincing the court that his scholarly research was so valuable as to make his execution impossible to justify. Naturally, it would be necessary to win over academics like Seelye, a professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy at an esteemed New England college, so that he might be moved to step forward as an impassioned advocate for clemency. It was an outlandish defense, the product of a thoroughly delusional mind.  If Rulloff ever did possess any well-developed manuscript of his “Method of the Formation of Language,” it has not survived. But in an attempt to preserve his thoughts, his last letters to Seelye mostly comprised lengthy outlines of his etymological theories, typically running to over twelve neatly handwritten pages. Here are two samples:

Rulloff to Seelye, April 7, 1871

Rulloff to Seelye, April 7, 1871

Rulloff urging Seelye to preserve his method as sketched out in his letter.

It’s unfortunate that we don’t have Seelye’s side of the correspondence, to find out what he made of poor Rulloff and his philological theories. In the last letter (PDF) Seelye received, written the day before Rulloff’s execution, he lashed out at the injustice of his situation and the blindness of those who condemn him:

Rulloff to Seelye, May 17, 1871

In the whole history of the human race no more instance of blind and stupid malignity can any where be shown than that which closes its eyes to the value of my discovery, and denies the time necessary to place it in available form. No more striking instance of gross and utter disregard towards one whose labors have resulted in a great and permanent blessing to the whole civilized world. 

Such is my discovery and time will show it.

Defiant to the last, Rulloff was executed the next day; and also, apparently, was his “Method on the Formation of Language.” Excepting, that is, for the abstruse scribblings preserved in his letters to Seelye, here at Amherst. And — just maybe? — also locked inside that massive brain on display in a jar at Cornell’s Wilder Brain Collection…

The Chief Rabbi of Vilna and former Polish Senator, Isaac Rubinstein tells the crowd of mourners and those listening over WNYC, “A year ago, the remnant of what had been the greatest Jewish community in Europe decided to offer armed resistance to the brutal German murderers.”

Warsaw, the capitol of Poland, had been the home of nearly half a million Jews, about one third of its residents. When the Germans invaded Poland in September, 1939 and occupied Warsaw, they forced all Jews into a crowded ghetto. Eight-foot-high walls topped with broken glass and barbed wire closed off the inhabitants. Within a few years, starvation and deportations to slave labor and concentration camps reduced the number of Jews in Warsaw by more than ninety percent. After meeting with unexpected resistance from ghetto fighters, on the eve of Passover 1943, the Nazis attacked. Rabbi Rubinstein said, “Against heavy odds, they resolved to fight. Not in defense of their lives, for there was no chance to win the battle.  It was harder to save the dignity of their people and to wake the conscience of humanity.”

Jews in the Ghetto fought the Nazis with home-made bombs made with broken light bulbs and nails. In a 1993 interview partisan and survivor Vladka Mead said, “My assignment was to try to obtain, in any possible way, arms for the fighters’ organizations… buying dynamite.. smuggling out all kinds of jewelry and selling it to buy the things that were necessary for the primitive factories making Molotov cocktails.”[1] Senator Rubenstein put it this way, “For 42 days and nights, all the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto — men, women and children, old and young, fought almost with naked fists.”The Nazis systematically burned or blew up the ghetto block by block, building by building. Within a month and a half the entire ghetto was razed to the ground.

The 1944 gathering at City Hall Park was not only a memorial for the dead but also a call to action for those still alive.  The war was not over and the death camps were still in full operation. Dr. Joseph Thon, head of the General Zionist Organization of Poland and former Editor of the Polish daily Chwila of Lwow, pleaded for support.  “Mr. Mayor, at this moment we stand before you as mourners and with hearts full of pain.  In our desperation we ask your voice to be heard…Mr. Mayor, help us bring our message to places where the fate of our surviving brothers and sisters may be decided.  Help us save them! Chaim Yisrael Chai! The folk of Israel will live forever!”

From his chair on the podium, Mayor La Guardia may have heard these cries for help more acutely than the crowd knew.  Mayor La Guardia’s mother was Jewish, and his biographer Thomas Kessner writes that, “although La Guardia did not think of himself as a Jew, his estranged sister was in Europe and he was aware that she had been taken away by the Nazis.”[2] The Mayor calls the event “one of the most impressive ceremonies that has ever taken place at this historic spot…”Every man and woman here assembled is mourning the death of some dear one who was brutally and cruelly murdered by the armed forces of the Nazi government.”

Warsaw Ghetto photo from Jürgen Stroop Report to Heinrich Himmler, May 1943. The original German caption reads: “Forcibly pulled out of dug-outs”. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum via Wikimedia Commons)

Confirmed reports about the extermination camps had reached the public as early as November 1942. CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow read this copy over the air only a month later. “What is happening is this: Millions of human beings, most of them Jews, are being gathered up with ruthless efficiency and murdered… Since the middle of July, these deportations from the Warsaw ghetto have been going on.  Those who survived the journey were dumped out at one of three camps, where they were killed. The Jews are being systematically exterminated throughout all Poland… The phrase ‘concentration camps’ is obsolete, as out of date as ‘economic sanctions’ or ‘non-recognition.’  It is now possible to speak only of extermination camps.”[3]

Mayor La Guardia told his audience of survivors and mourners their voices would be heard. “The American people understand the plight of the people of Jewish faith in Europe.  The need to go to their rescue is high on the list of the military actions that are to take place before long.”

Although the Mayor was optimistic, little changed. On the home front, U.S. immigration laws were so zealously enforced that even official quotas for Jews were not filled. Many who were turned away were sent to concentration camps. Long after the war ended, crowds continued to attend memorials in the hopes of finding friends and family they had lost.

It was a day of tributes and remembrance in New York City. In addition to City Hall, the Jewish partisans of Warsaw were also celebrated at a mass meeting at Carnegie Hall, and around the city (except war plants) by Jewish workers who stopped what they there doing for a two-minute silent prayer at 11 a.m. followed by eight minutes recalling the actions of those resisting the Nazis.[4]

[5]

[1] Mead, Vladka interview conducted by Andy Lanset, March 15, 1993.

[2] Kessner, Thomas, Fiorello H. La Guardia and the Making of Modern New York, McGraw-Hill, 1989, pg. 525.

[3] Murrow, Edward R., In Search of Light: The Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow, 1938-1961, Knopf, 1967, pg. 56.

[4] “Jews Here Acclaim Heroes of Warsaw,” The New York Times, April 20, 1944, pg. 10.

[5] This feature piece was originally broadcast on WNYC, April 19, 2001.

Kaitlin at UBC holding her B.A.

After being accepted to several archival and library schools across Canada, Kaitlin chose the program farthest from this coast, Halifax. She will be earning a Master of Library and Information Studies at Dalhousie starting in 2014. Her choice to defer for a year will allow her to continue working for the UN as a flight attendant. Between stints in Africa, which she is currently visiting, we hope Kaitlin will find some down time to visit us before she goes jetting off again!

Our former glass plate negative storage cabinets. Photo by Cindy Mclellan.

Along with Kristine and some other wonderful volunteers, Kaitlin spent many hours rehousing our glass plate negatives. This was a big job, the second step of an even bigger job.

Glass plate negatives come in all shapes and sizes; everything from cute little 5 x 5 cm ones to 21 x 27 cm and many sizes in between. The Archives even has some gigantic glass panorama negatives that require custom boxes.

Three standard box sizes and some examples of glass negatives with their four-flap enclosures open.

In Major Matthews’ time, these negatives had been housed as a jumble of different sizes of glass plates which leaned dangerously against each other and were housed in acidic envelopes. Many years ago, we rehoused them in special 4-flap envelopes for glass negatives and supported them upright, on edge, with negatives of similar size in cushioned file cabinet drawers. The 4-flap design allows the item to be laid flat while the envelope is opened, rather than being tipped or pulled out of an envelope. While this was an improvement, the negatives were still at risk should there be damage to a single cabinet (for example, in an earthquake) and the cabinets were so heavy it was impossible to move them, should the need arise.

In this second step, more than 8000 negatives have been rehoused in special boxes that stand the plates on edge and allow a cushion of air around each group of plates. In addition to rehousing, this project required careful updating of a tracking spreadsheet.

The inside of a glass negative box for standard-sized negatives. Photograph by Cindy Mclellan.

Depending on the thickness and style of the plate, between 20 and 25 fit in each box making the boxes easy to lift and safely move. Soon we hope to extend the shelving to create more storage space and use all that air space that was wasted above the filing cabinets.

The Archives purchased three standard sizes of box which worked for most, but we had to alter a few boxes to accommodate some of the sizes. This was done by adding foam to the bottom of the box or making extra dividers to prevent the plates from being loose. While supporting the plates snugly, the boxes must allow enough room that they can be easily removed without getting damaged.

Cute little glass plate negative that is too small to properly store in the standard boxes. Photograph by Cindy Mclellan.

Glass negatives stored neatly in their special modified box. Photo by Cindy McLellan.

Digitization is the best way to give access to these breakable materials. Thanks to the spreadsheet created by the volunteers, we have a list of those glass negatives that have not yet been digitized.

Boxes of glass plate negatives stored neatly on shelves.

We gave Kaitlin a break from working with the glass plates to work on another project. This was also with special formats: maps, architectural plans and technical drawings all produced by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Game (VANOC). As the buildings that these records show are still standing and in use, access to these plans will be restricted for quite a few years. The work Kaitlin did to record, dates, titles, measurements, exact locations and other basic metadata will help the Archives make these materials available with ease in the future.

Thank you Kaitlin for your dedication to the Archives! We wish you all the best in your travels and studies at Dalhousie.

On 8 April 1933, a referendum was held on the issue of Western Australia seceding from the Commonwealth of Australia. Two questions were posed; the first asking whether the voter was in favour “the State of Western Australia withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth”, and the second asking voters if they were in favour of a Federal Convention of all the Australian States to propose alterations to the Australian constitution to allow for WA’s secession from the Commonwealth.

Held on the same day as the State election, the first referendum question received a two to one majority vote in favour of WA’s secession from the Commonwealth; the second question failing to gain the approval of voters. Ironically this vote for WA’s secession occurred on the same day Western Australians threw out the government of Sir James Mitchell (also removing Mitchell from his own parliamentary seat), which sponsored the referendum and campaigned for the secessionist cause. A State Labor Government was elected, led by Philip Collier who had actively opposed secession during the election and referendum campaigns.

Given the resounding nature of the vote, Philip Collier’s government, though not in favour, still pursued the referendum outcome. State Archives reveal the State government’s moves to prepare and present the case for WA’s secession from the rest of Australia, to the UK Parliament at Westminster, detailed in a Premier’s Department file titled “Secession – Preparation of Case for submission to the Imperial Parliament”, and also the appointment of the delegation that was sent to London to pursue the case and present the secession petition in a file titled “Secession – App’t of delegation to submit case to the Imperial authorities”.

Eventually the case for secession was rejected by the UK Parliament and the Western Australian secession movement died away, certainly overtaken by the events of World War 2. But since the 1933 referendum murmurings about Western Australian secession occur from time to time, especially when there are perceptions that WA may be getting a ‘raw deal’ from the Federal government in Canberra.

Historians investigate and debate the reasons for the resounding vote in favour of secession in 1933, citing, in the main, economic factors, most obviously the Great Depression. But State Archives held by the SRO, reveal a great deal of detail about the blooming secession movement during the 1920s and 1930s, and also government and community responses to the results of the 1933 referendum. A search of the SRO’s online catalogue AEON, using the term ‘secession’, reveals 40 archived files. Some of these are files of press clippings of Western Australian and British newspapers, outlining the development of the secession movement from the 1920s (e.g. Consignment 1496, item 1926/0017).

One particular file (Consignment 1496, item 1933/0129) is about the visit of a Federal delegation, headed by the then Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, campaignining against secession. It contains a report on a “riotous meeting” at Perth’s Theatre Royal, where the Prime Minister and his delegation was shouted down by the crowd with chants of “Poor Old Joe”, coins also being tossed onto the stage, with one hitting the PM’s wife, who withdrew from the meeting. 10 years later Mrs (later Dame) Enid Lyons became the first woman elected to the Australian House of Representatives.

Another set of files are those compiled by the Agent General, Sir Hal Colebatch, who was heavily involved in presenting the case for WA’s Secession in London. These include a ‘confidential’ file (Consignment 1150, item 2313.1) with correspondence from the chief secessionist group, the Dominion League of WA, to the UK Prime Minister lobbying for secession as late as 1938.

A particular file full of lively secessionist promotional material is Consignment 1496, item 1931/0102. Containing much correspondence it also includes photographs, pamphlets, posters and the program of the Dominion League of WA’s “Grand Victory Festival” held in Perth on 10 May 1933, to celebrate their success in the Referendum.

This program includes a Toast List, a poem by “Dryblower” Murphy, and the lyrics for a victory song – the first stanza being:

Demonstrating the magic of the soft focus photograph.

From the cover of Genii magazine, August 1940:

A Happy Easter! Front view. Reference code: AM1052-: AM1052 P-878

This little gem was sent to Elsie from her husband Ted sometime between 1914 and 1918. This embroidered postcard belongs to a type known as “silks,” which were made in France and bought by Allied soldiers during the First World War.

A Happy Easter! Back view. Reference code: AM1052-: AM1052 P-878

“Oh Helen – it happened at 7 o’clock tonight – it burst forth like a torrent – a perfect welter and wealth of hot ideas and arrangement and everything – in fact the complete film just gushed from my subconscious mind in great detail – gee its marvelous – our new film…”

Examples of the letters and postcards sent by Norman McLaren to Helen Biggar.

The film McLaren and Helen Biggar made was a stinging attack on the re-armament of Europe and consequent rush towards conflict. The film was as experimental as it was political mixing various styles and techniques – animation, archive footage, graphs and titles, and acted scenes – culminating in a rallying call for the audience to take direct action and demonstrate against the war. The film made a great impact in the febrile political climate of the time and was widely screened (McLaren’s letters detailing their arrangements with Kino Films, a left-wing film distributor).

A still from Hell Unltd made by Norman McLaren and Helen Biggar in 1936.

 The letters cover a key point in the development of McLaren’s filmmaking career. In the autumn of 1936 McLaren took up his first post as a professional filmmaker joining the team of young talent that John Grierson assembled at the GPO Film Unit. McLaren writes about his work at the GPO, comparing the methods and techniques to those he had previously employed in his amateur work. He still however had ambitions to make his own films outside the GPO Film Unit and discusses various planned project with Helen Biggar. McLaren also writes about his visit to Spain in November 1936 to shoot footage for the film The Defense of Madrid, which documented the resistance of the Republican forces fighting Franco’s Nationalist army.

Norman McLaren and Helen Biggar playing croquet at McLaren’s home in Stirling c 1936.

Following their collaboration on Hell Unltd McLaren and Biggar’s career paths diverged. In 1939 McLaren moved to New York and in 1941 he took up an invitation from John Grierson to join the newly established National Film Board of Canada. Helen Biggar became a stage designer for the Glasgow Worker’s Theatre Group and the Glasgow Unity Theatre, while continuing her work as a sculptor. In 1945 she moved to London, later becoming wardrobe mistress and costume designer for Ballet Rambert.

My name is Colin Behrens, a freshman here at FSU.  I am a work study student working for Eddie Woodward in Heritage Protocol, a part of Special Collections and Archives. The reason why I pursued this job is because of my love for historical research: more experience in an archival setting can only help me in my ambition to become a historical scholar.

Today, I have met the first milestone in my goal to be a historian. Strozier Library hosted the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, a symposium dedicated to undergraduates at FSU who are pursuing either independent research or are aiding faculty members in their own research. I am, in addition to being an assistant at the Heritage Protocol, the research assistant to Dr. Jennifer Koslow in the History Department. Dr. Koslow is working on reconstructing data from the lost community of Smokey Hollow, located here in Tallahassee.

Smokey Hollow was an African-American Community located in what is now Cascades Park. It was founded in 1893 and was eventually wiped off the map in the 1960s. During the 1960s, a movement called ‘urban renewal’, which aimed to replace poorer areas of urban settings with more affluent commercial and residential zones, spread to cities all across the country. This movement spread to Tallahassee and led to the death of Smokey Hollow.

We do know some things about life in Smokey Hollow. The federal government has recognized Smokey Hollow as a historical heritage site due to its unique architecture. One of the most famous residents of Smokey Hollow was “Famous” Amos, of Famous Amos cookies. In addition, we know that the community valued education and that it was an extremely tight-knit community. Everyone was either related to each other or was at least treated as family if no blood-ties between two members actually existed. One of the more prevalent stories tells of how if a poor member of the community was jailed, whether rightfully or wrongly, an affluent member of Smokey Hollow would bail that poorer member out, no questions asked. This kind of loyalty was prevalent throughout the community and was one of its signature qualities.

Despite this knowledge, there’s quite a lot that is unknown about Smokey Hollow. We don’t have numbers on things like employment, education level, and ages. In order to solve this problem, Dr. Koslow aims to use the 1940 census to gain the data and then use statistics to glean insights into Smokey Hollow’s demographic makeup. My role in the project is first to transcribe the census records into Excel spreadsheets and then to begin the statistical analysis of the census data. It should be noted that white people lived in Smokey Hollow’s boundaries and are therefore included in the census, but because Smokey Hollow is by definition an African-American community, they will not be included in the study.

I have not yet finished transcription; it will be completed this weekend. I have, however, been able to eyeball the data available to us and make some general observations. Despite the fact that, in 1940, the Great Depression still plagued the country and that Smokey Hollow was an African-American community (which typically have lower employment than comparable white neighborhoods), employment was high. This can be ascribed to a myriad of factors.  First is the fact that there was a coal plant nearby, which would have hired the workers (and indeed, did). Secondly are New Deal programs, such as the PWA, the WPA, and the CCC, that employed a significant number of workers (though not near a majority by any means). Finally are the bonds of kinship and solidarity that the community held dear to their hearts. With such a vibrant community, with every member loyal to the others, it can easily be seen how the community would pull together in order to help everyone keep themselves employed in order to keep food on the table.

As a freshman at FSU, it is an odd thing for me to involved in a project of such high caliber. The reason why I am involved at all is due to my luck at being accepted into the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), which is in its pilot run this year. UROP aims to teach undergraduates how to perform academic research, and part of that process is assigning each and every student to a research assistantship, so that we may learn from successful members of our fields. That’s how I met Dr. Koslow and how I got the chance to work on such a wonderful project.

It’s important to note that research is one of the fundamental goals of FSU, and one that Special Collections fulfills very well. While my assistantship has not required the use of Special Collections, I have frequently seen my friend John Handel in the Special Collections room, performing research on his own. It is my hope that other undergraduates will follow our examples and participate in FSU’s undergraduate research community, as well as using Special Collections to the maximum benefit.

Although news trickled slowly out of tightly-censored Germany, the Nazi attack on Jews  was already well in motion: indeed, the boycott of Jewish businesses (the first official nationwide action of the anti-Semitic campaign) would begin five days after this broadcast, on April 1 of that year.  WNYC covered an early anti-Nazi rally from Battery Park on May 10th. A little over two years later, the Nuremberg ‘race laws’ would be instituted.

The News Parade, like The March of Time and The News in Review, was a ‘radio newsreel‘ production that dramatized the week’s leading news stories, Hollywood gossip and crimes of passion. The original newsreel genre was created in 1908 for movie theaters and it included real film footage of people and events. But for radio these were the days before portable recording equipment would allow news reporters to easily use sound bytes or actualities to illustrate their work. Thus, for a good portion of the 1930s dramatists and actors were the ones interpreting current events for radio listeners, with the addition of commentators like H.V. Kaltenborn, Gabriel Heatter and Raymond Gram Swing. The aesthetics may sound dated and the facts were not always precise, but in their day radio newsreels were popular.

Because this transcription disc is a pressing rather than an original cutting, we know that multiple copies of the program were made and distributed to radio stations for broadcast.  We know The News Parade was broadcast by independent stations WMCA in New York and KUOA of Fayetteville, Arkansas, but others in the syndication chain remain a mystery. We welcome any information regarding the series and its producer, The Marben Advertising Company.

Special thanks to James Knee and Elayne Flamm.

(Drum roll, please…) and those enlightened celebrities are:

• Dick van Dyke
• William F. Buckley
• Jacques d’Amboise
• Robert Moog
• Cheryl Tiegs
• Benny Goodman
• Rudolph Giuliani
• Garrison Keillor
• Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan
• Richard Adler
• Lucy Irvine
• Dick Francis
• Judith Jamison
• Rosemary Harris
• George Rose
• Father Andrew Greeley
• Robert McNeil
• Uta Hagen
• Maxine Marx

The event will take place at the John Carter Brown Library, starting at 5:30 PM. Refreshments will be provided.

Visit www.facebook.com/bartlettsociety/events for more information.

There is plenty of information available about the actual Lord Amherst and his military career in North America during the eighteenth century. This article is one that I find particularly useful since it specifically addresses the question of smallpox-infected blankets: “The British, the Indians, and Smallpox: What Actually Happened at Fort Pitt in 1763?” by Philip Ranlet in volume 67, number 3, summer 2000 of Pennsylvania History, which is available through JSTOR. But that’s not the point of this post. 

I want to explore how Lord Jeffery Amherst, one time Governor-General of British North America, became “Lord Jeff,” the mascot of a small liberal arts college in bucolic Western Mass. The story begins with this guy, James Shelley Hamilton:

James Shelley Hamilton (AC 1906)

Hamilton was an active member of the Amherst College Glee Club and wrote several songs for the group to sing including “Good Days,” “High Upon Her Living Throne,” and “In This Blessed World.” He also wrote the song “Lord Jeffery Amherst” — or, as it was originally titled “Lord Geoffrey Amherst” — the original manuscript of which is held in the Archives.

“Lord Geoffrey Amherst” manuscript

In addition to the original manuscript from 1905, we also hold a letter from 1934 in which Hamilton explains how he wrote the song. He wanted to write something the Glee Club could sing to open their concerts, “…rather vaguely I wanted something a bit gay, like “Here’s to Johnny Harvard” and the song about Eph Williams “who founded a school in Billville”. No such thing existed for Amherst. Lord Amherst wasn’t a particularly familiar figure to us then except as a picture we saw every day in chapel; we certainly didn’t make light of his name by calling him “Lord Jeffery”.” You can read the full text of Hamilton’s letter here: Hamilton Letter.

Hamilton explains that his information and inspiration about Lord Amherst came from some verses published in the Amherst Literary Monthly in February 1903. This issue also includes a short biographical sketch of Lord Amherst that begins by asking “How many of us, for instance, ever stopped to inquire about the portrait of Lord Amherst which hangs before our eyes every morning that we attend chapel? Who was Lord Amherst, anyway? How did this fair college town ever receive his name? And where did this portrait come from?” (277).  The portrait, now part of the collections of the Mead Art Museum, was presented to the college by Herbert B. Adams (AC 1872):

“Lord Jeffery Amherst” Didier, Charles Peale; Reynolds, Joshua, after American (19th century); British (1723-1792)

The rest of the article gives a very brief account of Lord Amherst’s military career and includes a long quotation from The Gentleman’s Magazine (September 1797) that describes him thus: “He was a firm disciplinarian, but he was the soldier’s friend, a man of strict economy, always sober, and ready at all times to hear and redress the complaints of the army in general. No ostentation of heroism marked any of his actions; but the whole of his conduct evinced the firm simplicity of a brave mind, animated by the consciousness of what was due to himself and his country.” The only mention of Lord Amherst and Native Americans in this piece is a single paragraph about his actions in Pontiac’s War (1763): “Sir Jeffrey Amherst being unaccustomed to Indian warfare was not successful.” (279)

Hamilton himself was not particularly pleased with the song he wrote, but his classmates liked it and helped finish the last couple of lines. Hamilton says “The whole thing had been frivolously conceived and carelessly done, without any reference to historical justification or fact and even with Jeffery’s name mis-spelled. But it went well enough, though without causing any noticeable enthusiasm and was kept on the Glee Club programs.”

Amherst College Songs (1906)

The song was first published in 1906 in the anthology Amherst College Songs, which includes a total of 14 songs either composed or arranged by J. H. Hamilton. Lord Amherst’s name is mis-spelled in this edition, as it was when the sheet music was published in 1907.

“Lord Geoffrey Amherst” (1907)

In 1926 Hamilton generously donated copyright in the song to Amherst College, and it has been reprinted many times since. One mark of its rising status at the college is that it is the first song in the 1926 edition of Amherst College Songs (it was on page 82 in the first edition). Also notable is that someone took the time to correct the spelling of Lord Amherst’s name. A new edition of the sheet music was also published in 1926:

“Lord Jeffery Amherst” (1926)

But the song is not the only way in which the college embraced Lord Jeffery Amherst in the early decades of the twentieth century. In 1913 alumni made an attempt to erect an equestrian statue of Lord Amherst on campus, going so far as to commission a model from famed sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt.

Model for Lord Jeffery Amherst statue. Bela Lyon Pratt ca.1913.

Although the sculpture was never completed, it is telling that the process got as far as creating a model.

The good feelings between England and the United States that developed during the course of the first World War resulted in a wave of anglophilia in popular culture in the 1920s. Hamilton’s song grew in popularity throughout the 1920s, and Lord Jeffery Amherst’s name was borrowed for both a college magazine and a college inn.

“Lord Jeff” June 1920

The first issue of the student humor magazine Lord Jeff appeared in June 1920 to coincide with college Commencement. While Amherst College had many student publications come and go over the years, Lord Jeff was the first to take full advantage of color printing and the ability to publish photographs. It also had the same size and shape as many popular magazines in America at the time, and its bold graphic design made it stand out from all previous literary efforts on campus.

“Lord Jeff” February 1921

More of the beautiful covers of Lord Jeff can be viewed in our Filckr site. Unlike Hamilton, the editors of the Lord Jeff had no qualms about being casual with Lord Amherst’s name, even shortening it to the now familiar “Lord Jeff.” But there may be another angle to this nickname.

“Lord Jeff” May 1921

This cover from May 1921 portrays Lord Jeffery Amherst as a laughable character with a very Betty Boop-ish prom date, not as a noble, sober soldier for the King. For a comic historian such as myself, this image immediately reminded me of another cartoon character with a moustache who also happens to be named Jeff:

Mutt & Jeff

“Mutt & Jeff” was one of the first daily newspaper comic strips, created by “Bud” Fisher in 1907. Once you see the 1920s “Lord Jeff” next to his namesake, it’s difficult to deny the similarity. Although he did not appear on the cover of every issue of Lord Jeff, he appears inside most issues and makes regular cover appearances:

“Lord Jeff” June 1923

“Lord Jeff” February 1925

I could go on and on about the contents of this magazine and its place within the wider context of college humor during the 1920s (including the crossword puzzle craze of 1924-25), but I’ll save that for another time. I will also save a little space by simply linking back to a previous post on this blog about the history of the Lord Jeffery Inn, which opened for business in 1926 — the same year Hamilton’s song was given such a prominent position in the new edition of Amherst College Songs. Exactly why the Lord Jeff ceased publication in 1935 would take a bit more research than I have time for right now, but the history of this magazine within the context of changing youth culture in the 1920s would make a fine research project.

While there is clearly much more to be said about the history of this mascot, I will wrap up this post with a stop in the 1940s. During the second World War, publication of The Amherst Student was suspended. In its place came a temporary replacement that abbreviated Lord Amherst’s name even further: The Jeff

The Jeff (June 1944)

The Jeff was a far cry from the humor magazine of the 1920s. This 4-page paper was the result of war time shortages of both paper and manpower. It was meant to maintain some college spirit in a rather dark time in history. The Jeff ceased publication after the war ended and The Amherst Student resumed.

The cartoonish Lord Jeff of the magazine seems to disappear completely after the magazine stopped publishing, but the figure of Lord Jeffery remains a constant presence.  Another source of portrayals of Lord Jeff throughout college history is programs from athletic events, such as this one from 1946:

Amherst vs. Williams 1946

As with the Lord Jeff magazine, many athletics programs feature a caricature of Lord Jeff but the majority of them do not. A wide range of graphic styles and themes can be found on our programs, another potential source of data for anyone interested in quantifying the frequency of our mascot’s appearances.

Many questions about Lord Jeff as the Amherst College mascot remain. Who made the giant head and when? Who was the first student to dress up like Lord Jeff for a sporting event? A survey of back issues of The Olio might help answer that question, as would a careful study of back issues of The Amherst Student. All of these materials and more are available for research in the Archives & Special Collections on the A-Level of Frost Library.

This is a formal studio portrait of a three-year-old boy. Perhaps the cat helped to calm him and keep him still, although at this early date the child might have been tied to the chair or held in a clamp.

George Allan Velton and cat, July 29, 1867. Reference code AM336-S3-2-: CVA 677-292

Noel Robinson arrived in Vancouver in 1908 and worked as a journalist for several daily newspapers. Here he is in military uniform, with friends.

Noel Robinson and Bill Reed with cats, 1915. Reference code CVA 677-423

One of a group of photographs taken by local pharmacist Erwin Gordon, these might be his children. And his cat.

Man with baby, girl and cat, 1921. Reference code AM336-S3-1-: CVA 677-1061

Jack Lindsay worked in Vancouver as a news photographer, photojournalist and commercial photographer. He took this for the Vancouver News-Herald.

Cat on a desk, ca. 1940 Jack Lindsay, Photographer. Reference code AM1184-S3-: CVA 1184-1084

He also took this image of a child in a ship’s wheelhouse.

Girl holding cat in wheelhouse, 1942 Jack Lindsay, Photographer. Reference code AM1184-S3-: CVA 1184-1488

Former City Alderman John Bennett relaxes with his cat, in the same year he was awarded the Freedom of the City.

John Bennett with his cat, 1947. Reference code AM54-S4-: Port P1812.3

Frederick Seymour was Governor of the Colony of British Columbia from 1864-1869. Mount Seymour, and Seymour Street are named for him. The photographer, Frederick Dally, arrived in Victoria in 1862 and was known for his photographs of British Columbia. He returned to England in 1870 to work as a dental surgeon.

Governor Seymour and cat, 186-? Reference code AM54-S4-1-: A-6-111

Sergeant James Sperring and others of the 121st Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force are in a training camp in Vernon, B.C.

Members of the 121st Battalion with cat, 1916. Reference code AM54-S4-2-: CVA 371-245

William Sumner was a member of the Home Guard in Winnipeg, men who patrolled the streets every night to be on the alert for attack during the North-West Rebellion. He worked as a bricklayer after he moved to Vancouver, laying the first brick in the old Hotel Vancouver.  A singer, he reportedly grew a beard at doctor’s advice in order to protect his throat. He died in 1947 at age 95.

William Sumner and cat, Nov. 29, 1946. Reference code AM54-S4-2-: CVA 371-1838

We heard about the need to reform the secrecy system:  too much information is needlessly classified and classified information remains inaccessible for too long.  We heard that the classification system is too old, too complicated and is not suited for the post-Cold War information age. We heard that the era of “Big Data” threatens to overwhelm the system and that the current declassification processes will not work in an age of petabytes of information creation.

The panelists’ comments underscored the challenges of the cultural perspectives ingrained in system users and reinforced the Board’s view that only leadership from the White House will drive real reform.  This is precisely why the Board’s first recommendation in our report calls for establishing a Steering Committee accountable to the President to energize and direct agencies to work together to reform the classification system.

The Secrecy & Security forum sparked a serious conversation about the limits of secrecy and offered perspectives on how to transform the security classification system to one that meets the demands of all users in the digital age.  As part of my remarks, I emphasized the need for the President to establish a Steering Committee.  It is essential that membership includes officials with expertise in technology, records and information management, and officials who can drive reform and change existing policies.  Cultural bias in favor of secrecy is perhaps the largest impediment to true reform across Government, a sentiment echoed by fellow panelists and attendees at events throughout the week.  Only through strong leadership will attitudes and opinions about secrecy and openness change.

At the conclusion of Sunshine Week, we reaffirm our commitment to an Open Government.  We invite you to continue the discussion about open government and freedom of information by commenting on our recommendations on our blog.

Cue the pipe organ.

The brothers Georg and Johann were engravers working in London in the late 18th and early 19 centuries. A little research could probably determine which of the two is depicted here, so if you have any guesses, please leave them in the comments.

“A state of enthusiasm or exaltation arising from the exhaustive study of a topic or period of history; the delightful but dangerous condition of becoming repeatedly sidetracked in following intriguing threads of information, or constantly searching for one more elusive fact.”

Pidgeon’s column triggered many rapture memories from my days as a research librarian. The opportunity and challenge of engaging in the research of faculty and students over the years has been one of the joys of my professional life. Some of my favorites: the archaeologist tracing the history of turpentine from the Middle East to Europe by analysis of Renaissance painting paint fragments; an Abigail Adams quote from a letter to her husband inscribed on the fireplace mantle in the East Room of the White House; details of Pablo Neruda’s life; details of a Congolese form of voodoo practices in Cuba; and, who said “We are surrounded by insurmountable opportunities,” Yogi Berra or Pogo?

In each case, except the last, the search for an answer resulted in lots of sidetracks and lots of new related information—some for the researcher, but all for me!

Central Research Room, April 5, 1938. Records of the National Archives (RG 64). The Central Research Room is located on the 2nd floor of

… [ Read all ]

Eleanor S. Fischer’s original lead into the interview:

“Redistricting political zones has become an almost yearly ritual with the New York State Legislature. As the City of New York loses population to the suburbs, congressional lines are redrawn to take account of the population movement. Since the legislature is controlled by Republicans, redistricters have an almost uncanny way of making certain that if anyone is to lose a seat, it’s a Democrat. The latest representative to fall victim to Albany’s geographical whims is Congresswoman Bella Abzug. And anyone who has followed Bella’s fledgling career in Washington knows that the lady is not going to take the situation lying down. On the contrary, she’s been standing up screaming her head off, perhaps sufficiently so to embarrass the line drawers into saving the district.  I held an informal conversation with Congresswoman Abzug in her New York office the other day. The purpose? To find out how secure she believes her political future to be. But as always, when one talks to Bella, the conversation starts out in a women’s lib vein as it did with us when I stumbled over the word “congresswoman” and asked whether she might not prefer being called M.S. or Ms., the feminist designation for women married or unmarried.”

The bid to eliminate Bella’s Abzug’s 19th congressional district through redistricting was successful and she chose to run against William Fitts Ryan, who also represented part of the West Side, in the Democratic primary. Although seriously ill, Ryan defeated Abzug. However, Ryan died before the general election and Abzug defeated his widow, Priscilla, in a party convention to choose the new Democratic nominee. In the general election Priscilla Ryan challenged Abzug on the Liberal Party line but was unsuccessful.   In the general election of 1974, Abzug was easily reelected. For more on Bella Abzug’s extraordinary career listen to Sara Fishko’s 2008 profile, Bella.

Special thanks to Elizabeth Starkey.

From Ruby Diamond Family Papers, 2007-037, Box 1, Folder 11.

Ruby Diamond was born in Tallahassee on September 1, 1886. She was one of thirteen members of the Florida State College’s 1905 graduating class and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Chemistry. Ms. Diamond preferred that her wealth help those in need, and she contributed to many charities in Tallahassee and across Florida and was a generous donor to more than thirty-seven organizations.

Ms. Diamond was also a political activist and fought for lower taxes and racial equality. She and  her brother Sydney, along  with other members of the Jewish community, founded Temple Israel in 1937.

Ms. Diamond and her collection of snuff bottles. Ruby Diamond Family Papers, 2007-037, Box 1, Folder 11.

 
 
Ms. Diamond was a generous benefactor to Florida State University and established two scholarships for disadvantaged scholars. She supported the Alumni Association and the Department of Educational Research, Development, and Foundations.

In 1970, for her contributions to the university, Florida State University expressed its appreciation to Ms. Diamond by naming its largest auditorium, located inside the Westcott Building, in her honor. In 1971, she donated property in Tallahassee worth $100,000 to the university, and at age 95 in 1981, she donated downtown property assessed at more than $100,000 to partially fund an endowed chair of  “national excellence” in the College of Education. In 2010,  the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall was reopened after a $38 million renovation.

Ms. Diamond was 93 when this picture was taken. From Ruby Diamond Family Papers, 2007-037, Box 1, Folder 14.

The Ruby Diamond Family Papers in our collection include  family photographs, correspondence between Ms. Diamond and her friends and cousins, genealogical materials, news clippings about the Diamond family, and her eulogy. The materials in the collection also contain information about the history of Tallahassee and Florida State University.

The programme talked about how a Japanese photography company are travelling to areas affected by the 2011 tsunami. The company are voluntarily taking photographs of families who lost everything. The really important part is that they are using an instant film camera. After the picture is taken, they hand it over, and leave with nothing. The programme mentions how the people feel that many people have come and taken pictures of the devastation, leaving the them in the same position as before. This way they are given back something that noone else has. There are no copies, it is the true archival record in the traditional sense.

Having recently spent half a week talking about digital preservation, where storing copies of material in multiple places makes sure it will still be accessible in the future, it was interesting to think about the importance of documentation to the individual, and how the truly unique still holds such weight.

Photographs as objects are very important to me. If my house was burning down and I could save one thing, I think it would probably be the small box of photographs I have, rather than my laptop which contains thousands. How about you?

The sweet flypaper of life by Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes, Simon and Schuster, 1955, page 58. Words by Langston Hughes; photographs by Roy DeCarava.

I have a feeling a few people might look a bit like these two on the day after the parade.

(This item can be found in our Williams & Potter Collection on Irish Culture, in case you’d like to celebrate the holiday in a primary-source kind of way.)

The following message has been circulated, but in case you’ve missed it, here it is again:

John Jardin and Simon Litt from Swets, who represent Mendeley Institutional in the UK, will come and give us a demo of this software on  Thursday 14^th March at 3.15 p.m.  The free version of this software is installed on the student machines and in the Library Teaching Room.

In case you’re asking what this is all about, here’s a brief explanation of what Mendeley can do …

Mendeley is often referred to as the ‘iTunes for Researchers’ – it is an all-singing, all-dancing bibliographic software management system and an academic social networking tool which allows researchers to share their references and find and collaborate with other researchers.  The Mendeley database now has 30M+ bibliographic references and so is a useful searching tool.

Like EndNote (which we support here at the IOE) and Zotero (another free bibliographic management software system), Mendeley can be an extremely valuable tool when doing research and composing papers. The program stores bibliographic references, figures, and PDFs all in one place on a computer, which makes retrieving these items easy.  Mendeley also works with Microsoft Word and Open Office to insert in-text citations and compose bibliographies with just a few mouse clicks. 

If you’re interested in attending this demo, please contact Nazlin Bhimani (n.bhimani@ioe.ac.uk),  Research Support & Special Collections Librarian as spaces are limited.

So special thanks to Susan Newkirk, Alice Beckwith, Phoebe Bean and Louise Moulton. (And thanks as well to Nancy Christy, who isn’t pictured here.)

One of the noticeable gaps in the OAIS is the ingest of digital material, so I’m pleased that I have been having a wee look a the descriptive  metadata requirements from depositors mentioned in Sarah’s last post. I took a one-to-one session with one of our IT training staff in order to create a spreadsheet that we can give to depositors of digital records.

We are aware there will be no one size fits all approach, but due to previous experience I’m convinced that we can pare down the descriptive metadata we have asked of depositors previously. Firstly, I don’t feel that learning ISAD(G) is a good use of time for depositors. Secondly, receiving such standardised descriptions from them, while not unhelpful, does not appear to be the best way to proceed. A lack of standards for the description of born-digital archives may be part of the problem here, but that is another story. 

My aim now is to create an easy to fill in spreadsheet with as few fields as possible which we can then enhance at ingest stage for easy import into Calm/Eprints. I think I’m about there in terms of how the spreadsheet works (locked and unlocked areas, protecting the sheet etc.), but terminology continues to be a problem.

So far I have identified three minimum fields

Title [name]
Date
Does it contain any sensitive personal information? [Y/N]

Ideally the field names will not require further explanation, as this is where things can get confused when more  than one person is working on the transfer of material. These fields of course also lack the context of a file structure, if that is how people work. So that’s the next thing to consider, while the days of “Pink folder series 1″ may soon be over, the days of “New folder” are probably here to stay, which will cause some headaches…

(Note: if your device or browser doesn’t display the video, view it directly at http://www.flickr.com/photos/amherst_college_archives/8548671802/ )

The practice of decorating the fore-edge of a book with a hidden painting was “popularised in the 18th [century] by John Brindley and (in particular) Edwards of Halifax, whereby the fore-edge of the book, very slightly fanned out and then held fast, is decorated with painted views or conversation pieces.¹ The edges are then squared up and gilded in the ordinary way, so that the painting remains concealed (and protected) while the book is closed; fan out the edges and it reappears.”²

The Archives and Special Collections holds eight examples of hidden fore-edge paintings. Below are pictures of three of them, showing the edge both closed and fanned.

Pleasures of Imagination by Mark Akenside (London : Cadell and Davies, 1796) – A handwritten note inside the book identifies the scene as “Belsay Castle, Northumberland.” [PR3312.P5 1796]

The Poetical Works of George Herbert (London : James Nisbet and Co., 1856) – The gilt edges are also “gauffered” in a fleur-de-lis pattern. The landscape looks like the Tower of London on the Thames. [PR3507.A1 1856]

Poems by Samuel Rogers (London : Cadell, 1834) – all three images are of the same book: this one has a double fore-edge painting, one visible when fanned front-to-back, and a second when fanned back-to-front! [PR5234.A1 1834 c.3]

Our last two examples are multi-volume works. When closed, the edges are plain gilt, just like Poems above, so I have left that out and show only the fanned images:

The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell (London : Henry Colburn, 1828) – in two volumes, each with a hunting scene. [PR4410.A2 1828]

The Works of Lord Byron (London : Murray, 1819) – in three volumes, with scenes of the Eurotas river in Greece, Chillon Castle in Switzerland, and a view of Mont Blanc and the Chamonix valley. [PR4350.E19]

If you want to learn more about this astonishing form of book decoration, I highly recommend the following:

• this great online resource from the Boston Public Library includes background articles and many videos and images of the 200+ examples of fore-edge paintings in their collection
• a blog post from the Folger Shakespeare Library on the subject
• an online exhibit from the Lilly Library
• an online exhibit including an extensive bibliography from Marist College Archives and Special Collections

¹ You can see pictures of how the book is clamped in position, without damage, on this page from Johns Hopkins University.

² Carter, John, and Nicolas Barker, ABC for Book Collectors (New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 2006), 8th ed., corr., 108.

As we commemorate Sunshine Week, we reaffirm the principle of an Open Government.  The Public Interest Declassification Board believes that our democratic principles require an appropriate balance between public access and limited secrecy.  In November, we issued our report to the President on the need to transform the current security classification system.  Our report provided fourteen core recommendations on how best to modernize classification and declassification to meet the needs of all users in the digital age, including both our citizens and those entrusted to keep us safe.

We believe the current classification and declassification systems are outdated and incapable of dealing adequately with the large volumes of classified information generated in an era of digital communications and information systems.  The Government’s management of classified information must change to match the realities and demands of the 21st century.  A transformed classification system must be able to better manage the exponential growth of electronic records agencies are creating across Government.

Currently, classification and declassification policies remain mired in a Cold War culture of caution and risk avoidance and these outdated policies do not facilitate rapid and agile information sharing required to fully sup­port today’s national security mission.  The classification system exists to protect national security, but its outdated design and implementation often hinders that mission.  The system is compromised by over-classification and, not coincidentally, by increasing instances of unau­thorized disclosures.  This undermines the credibility of the classification system, blurs the focus on what truly requires protection, and fails to serve the public interest.  Put simply, the current system is outmoded and unsustainable; transformation is not simply advisable but imperative.

Declassification performs a service crucial to open government, informing citizens and promoting responsible dialogue between the public and Government.  There are also significant policy benefits from declassification that can aid national security decisions and diplomacy.  It is a valuable information sharing tool, particularly when information holders must work with stakeholders outside the intelligence and defense communities.  Information access may be the newest and most important policy tool of the modern era; nonetheless, often declassification review is perceived by agen­cies as an historical exercise with very limited relevance to today’s national security mission.  As a result, declassifica­tion is a significantly under-resourced and under-appreci­ated function.

Democratic values are very much part of national security.  The new realities of the digital age require agencies modernize information management and declassification practices.  Our first recommendation – that the President appoint a high level steering committee to review our recommendations – is an important first step.  Appointees must recognize that the existing system is collapsing and is unable to handle both the volume of information being generated and support the needs of users.  Transforming the system will undoubtedly be difficult as new policies are needed to overcome sixty years of Cold War culture and think anew about how best to protect our nation’s security in the Information Age.  We invite you to continue the discussion about open government and freedom of information by commenting on our recommendations on our blog.

From Florida Collection, F316.2 J3

In honor of  Women’s History Month, I wanted to feature this author since The Other Florida, is a favorite book of mine. I read it before I lived in North Florida but read it again after I moved here, which made it all the more interesting. We have books written by her in our Florida Collection, and we also have  manuscript collections that have been either donated by her or by her husband. Included in the manuscript collections are biographical information, family and personal papers, correspondence, writings, photographs, galley proofs, and original book jacket designs.

Earlier book jacket design, Gloria Jahoda Papers, Box 317

Ms. Jahoda was president of the Tallahassee Historical Society and was elected as a registrar of the Creek Indian nation. In 1973, the Florida Senate passed a resolution honoring her for her works depicting the history and culture of Florida. In 1975, she was presented with the D.B. McKay Award by the Tampa Historical Society for her contributions to Florida history.

The last paragraph of The Other Florida ends with this: “The Other Florida’s pines will survive too, I think. Often among them I remember the person I was before I came to them and what I thought was important then, and the landscapes I have since known, and the history I have since learned, and the friends I have since made. Whatever the fates may take me in the years to come, I shall not be the same again”.

Reblogged from balkancelts:

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One of the most interesting Celtic artifacts to have ‘wandered’ into the Varna Museum in northeastern Bulgaria is a bronze zoomorphic head. Recently published by Vincent ‘Disney’ Megaw and the Thracologists Mircheva and Anasstassov, this bronze mount is executed in the Celtic ‘Plastic Metamorphosis’ style common across Europe in the La Têne B1 – C2 period. The plastic metamorphosis style in Celtic art is characterized by the blending of human, animal, plant, and abstract forms; complex compositions incorporating various forms of symmetry, resulting in stylized, often grotesque, images.

Read more… 742 more words

Preserving records in the cloud