Architectural Records Roundtable 2007 Meeting Minutes

2007 Architectural Records Roundtable Meeting Minutes

The meeting of the SAA Architectural Records Roundtable was called to order at 4:00 PM. Twenty-nine persons attended.

Aimee Felker, Council Liaison reported that Diane Vogt-O'Connor will be the new ARR Council Liaison. Aimee asked for support on the proposed dues increase. She also emphasized the major council initiatives for the year: advocacy, outreach, member needs (technology). She said that Council wants to continue to ensure that SAA is the voice of the archival profession.

A representative from the Program Committee encouraged members to submit 2008 program proposals by October 12, 2008. There is a revised program proposal form which spells out criteria for consideration. Endorsed programs are always given consideration. Roundtables may endorse up to two sessions. Endorsement guarantees discussion, not approval. In rare instances, the proposer is invited to work with the committee to revamp the proposal. Suggestions for preconference workshops are also invited. There is no deadline to submit these to Solvag de Sutter.

Anne Marie van Roessel spoke on behalf of the Standards Committee. She mentioned the draft Statement on Access to Original Materials and the Best Practice Guide for Minimal Level Records. She also reported that the DACs working group and SAA will make DACs available free online. The Website will feature best practices. The group is interested in working with those who are working with audiovisual materials. The committee is also working on building standards for new construction and guidelines for renovation. Work is continuing on the EAC standard. EAD is currently in the revision stages.

Beth Bilderback resigned as Visual Materials Section Liaison and was thanked for her service.

Nominations for Co-Chair for 2008 were received. David Read, Information Resources Manager for DeMille Shafer was duly elected. Mattie Sink will be the Senior Co-Chair for 2008-2009.

Session proposals were discussed. Standards for digitization of architectural records was one idea suggested.

Member contributions:

Nancy Loe, Cal Poly, reported that she is beginning an archive of student work. Copyright and ethics are issues. She is preparing a paper on the topic.
Beth Dodd is Interim Director of the Architecture Library at the University of Texas at Austin.
Nancy Hadley reported that 50,000 records have been input into the AIA biographical database. She is working on EAC standards; will want to put in holdings for the architects entered. AIA Directories have been digitized and will go online in the near future. She distributed an information sheet on the project-the AIA Historical Directory of American Architects. Access will not be limited to AIA members.
Nancy Loe reported on the Julia Morgan project. The Paris conference has asked for a paper on the project. Anne Marie van Roessel will be presenting.
Waverly Lowell reported on the Ann Whiteside SAH slide initiative and a two year grant to explore the use of ARTSTOR infrastructure for architectural slide collections. She suggested getting Ann to speak to the group or to be on a digital panel.
Maygene Daniels, National Gallery of Art, reported on ICA. They have a new website and a Section on Architectural Records. She said that colleagues abroad look to us for leadership. Maygene can provide contact information. There is no listserv yet.
Helena Zinkham, Library of Congress reported on their project to house the HABs field notes. They decided to go with new boxes and selected CMI cut and fold boxes. They are working on collections to go to storage. A Paul Rudolph exhibit is planned. They have also continued to work with Norton on their photograph books. Carol Highsmith's photographs of Federal buildings have been added to the website. These can be found in the Prints and Photographs online catalog. LC has also been working on the Charles Lamb Collection, a stained glass studio for which they have the corporate records to the 1800s plus the drawings. A symposium is planned for November. The Carnegie Survey of the South photographs are now online. LC is also working with the National Park Service on the 75th Anniversary of HABs.
Anne Marie van Roessel of the Avery Library, Columbia University, mentioned the Avery's holdings of a collection of 2000 drafting instruments. She also mentioned a collection of Tiffany drawings totaling 900 ft.
Tawny Ryan Nelb mentioned submitting a proposal for AIA Boston in May on archiving architectural records.
Ralph Coram of the Archives of Ontario, an archive of 225,000 drawings, spoke about a rehousing project which will gain computerized control of the drawings via an in-house tracking system.
Todd Kosmerick, North Carolina State University, reported on a grant project to catalog photographs and slides of historic buildings using a metadata schema mapping to the Getty architectural fields. They are partnering with a historic preservation group.
It was reported that all National Park Service drawings are now available through a public database. The database is password protected; it is possible to set up an account. Finding aids and cultural resources bibliographies are available.

Old Business:

The SAA ARR web site is now up. Thanks to Katie Pierce for the wonderful job she did with design and implementation.

New Business:

Waverly asked whether ARR should consider broadening its mission to include other types of design drawings (landscape, engineering, interiors, furniture), with perhaps a change of name to reflect the broader interests of members and potential members.
Discussion ensued and it was agreed that we might want to pursue this in the future.

The membership thanked outgoing Senior Co-Chair Laura Tatum for her excellent work during her two years of service.