The school year has started, and that means that we’ve all entered fall full throttle: students and researchers are back and we’re getting busy in our repositories, classrooms, and libraries. Our organizations are hosting presenters, welcoming visitors, and preparing outreach or educational opportunities. We’re preparing presentations for SAA 2007, we’re preparing for regional conferences, and we’re preparing for holidays... We’re all in a flurry of activity before the coming of the winter.
The Section Meeting, held in Washington DC on August 4, also generated a flurry of ideas, and a promise of ongoing activity in the Section. In addition to an excellent presentation by Brenda Gunn and Jim Cartwright on archives response to disaster, the members of the Steering Committee facilitated a discussion seeking guidance from our membership about what you want to see the Section accomplish in the coming year.
The ensuing discussion was both educational and inspirational, and we got a lot of feedback. The membership mentioned concerns about electronic records and electronic manuscripts; suggested collaboration with other SAA Sections on abandoned property laws and the use of visual materials in exhibits; suggested new additions to the website and a expressed the opinion that some areas of the website were no longer working. We found that most of you DO read the newsletter, that few of you knew there was an "activities" section to the website, and that all of you think there can be new ways that we communicate with you. We want to write a section history (anyone who is interested in assisting can contact me directly at
) and we want to create new opportunities for members to participate in Section activities.
We also approved a change to the Section bylaws that allow for the inclusion of the position of Web Liaison as a formal position within the Section. This change, communicated in earlier newsletters and via the Listserv, was approved overwhelmingly, and Paul Atwood now serves in the position, having worked with Karen Spicher during 2005-2006.
All of the issues that were raised during our meeting discussion are now in the hands of the incoming leadership. Beth Bensman takes the helm as Section Chair, and Karen Spicher (who served us as web liaison so ably and well) is our new Vice-Chair/Chair Elect. New Steering Committee members are Steve Mielke, Tara Laver, and Kate Colligan. Members of the Steering Committee who continue to serve for one more year are Mat Darby, Sammie Morris, and Morna Gerard. We all should thank the outgoing members of the Steering Committee, Jill Severn, Fernanda Perrone, and Maria Estorino for their exceptional service to the Section, and I want to personally thank outgoing Past Chair Cynthia Pease Miller for her gentle guidance and admirable tolerance of my constant questions. I remain on the Steering Committee for one more year as Past Chair and Chair of the Nominating Committee (so if you’re interested in serving the Section as a part of the Steering Committee, let me know!), but my "regular" appearance in your mailboxes -- first as Vice-chair and Newsletter editor, and then as Chair -- has come to an end.
As the Section leadership continues to work on issues raised by the membership, I want to encourage everyone to get involved in the work that we have to do. We will post the Annual Report of the Section to our website, making the results of our discussion available to all 800+ members of the Section. Of course, the fall flurry of activity will pass, and move into the winter flurry, the spring flurry, then the summer flurry ... but to successfully achieve the goals of the Section will take consistent attention on the part of many Section members and the Steering Committee -- and with such talented leadership, I’m sure those goals will be met.
It’s been an honor to serve the Section. I’d like to thank the Steering Committee members for their support, and to thank all members for having me serve as your Chair. I truly look forward to being a part of the ongoing work as a member of this Section for a long time to come!
Manuscript Repositories Section, Steering Committee meeting, August 4, 2006
Submitted by Beth Bensman
Present: Beth Bensman (Chair), Amy Cooper Cary, Mat Darby, Tara Laver, Steve Mielke, Sammie Morris, and Karen Spicher.
2007 Session Proposals
This year, sections and roundtables are only allowed two endorsements. In order to make the selection process consistent, the Committee devised the following endorsement criteria. (For more information about the endorsement process, see the July/August 2006 Archival Outlook article by Danna Bell-Russell and Becky Tousey.)
Does the proposal apply to the needs of the section?
If yes, use High, Medium, or Low and rank each proposal on the criteria below.
Quality
Is the proposal complete?
Are all the speakers confirmed?
Diversity
Does the proposal include speakers from different geographic areas?
Do the speakers represent a variety of repositories?
Do the speakers represent a variety of professional positions?
Topic
Is it new or a different twist?
Is it timely?
Does it present new a technology or standard?
Is it an issue of concern?
As I receive proposals, I’ll forward on to the all committee members for review and ranking. In order to meet the October 9 deadline to the Program Committee, we decided that we’d begin review (actually will not accept any proposals after this date) on September 25 and notify the applicants of our endorsements by October 2.
After everyone sends me their rankings, I’ll compile and see if we have two "winners." If we don’t have two clear cut top choices, we’ll do a run-off ranking of the top proposals.
2007 Session Proposal from the Section
The committee discussed the idea of submitting a proposal for the 2007 meeting. Although still loose, our proposal would follow the panel format and focus on archival collections with public controversies. Speakers would discuss the view from those using (patrons) and those managing (archivists) the materials.
2007 Section Meeting Program
Those working on the program include Beth, Mat, Morna, and Sammie
After a discussion of the various topics raised at the 2006 Section meeting, the committee settled on a program focusing on electric manuscript collections. This would include a speaker (or two) followed by breakout sessions where members could discuss institutional practices, problems, and solutions. The committee also discussed working with the Electronic Records Section.
2006 Section Meeting Discussion
The following are brief notes (divided into topics) from the discussion at the end of the Section meeting along with action decided by the committee.
What Can the Section Do for You?
Electronic records vs. electronic manuscripts
What guidelines are out there? (Check with College/ University Archives Section for information about faculty personal papers and Business Archives Section)
Need to develop standards
Section could pressure SAA to address the issue of electronic ms when discussing electronic records
[Action: our Section meeting program will focus on this topic]
Property Laws
Acquisition and Appraisal Section is working on abandoned property laws. Can the Manuscripts Section collaborate and focus on manuscripts?
[Action: Tara is working on this for the Acquisition section and will keep the Steering Committee posted on progress and how we might participate. She will also check to see if we can link to what they put up on their site.]
Images
Manuscript Section to partner with RAO or other section about other types of materials (more visual) related to display.
Information about use fees for film, graphic images, etc. and how to defend these charges.
Guidelines for other departments in an institution that handle manuscript items (when reproducing).
[Jill Severn mentioned as a good person to follow up on this area.]
What can members do for the Section?
Fill gaps in the Section archives -- who has what?
Need guidelines on what to keep and how
Section history
[Action: Amy is checking if any retention guidelines exist. Amy and Sammie will work on a history.]
Communication
Website and Newsletter
People do read the newsletter (Next deadline, October 1)
Members urged other members to contribute articles
No one realized the website had an activities section
Best practices section suggested for the website
Have a section on the website to list educational opportunities/workshops
Website
The committee suggested the following changes to the website:
Delete Section Activities
Move information currently under the Section Activities to Resources section
Add a Best Practices section
Add an Annual Meeting section
Add Brenda and Jim’s presentations to the Annual Meeting section
[Action: Beth will check with Brenda and Jim about adding their PowerPoint presentations to the Section website.]
Electronic Voting
Mat received two suggestions about using Survey Monkey instead of voting in person at the annual meeting. SAA is not ready yet, although Brian Doyle is working on the process.
Clarke Exhibit Showcases 150 years of Cookbooks
Marian Matyn, Archivist, Clarke Historical Library
Such Great Lakes State delicacies as apple butter and Michigan bean salad, as well as more obscure dishes -- and perhaps less tantalizing -- like duck blood soup and pork cake, will be on the menu when 70 cookbooks dating back to Michigan’s early years are displayed at Central Michigan University.
"Michigan Cookbooks: 150 Years of Mostly Good Meals," an exhibition featuring books from the Maureen Hathaway Michigan Culinary Archive, runs from Aug. 28 through December 21, 2006 at the Clarke Historical Library. The 1,500-book archive is named for Hathaway, a friend of CMU, who contributed her collection of Michigan-related cookbooks – both classic and contemporary - to the university in 2004, more than doubling the Clarke’s collection of cookbooks.
"This increase in the Clarke’s holding occurred at a time when scholarly opinion about cookbooks was changing dramatically." said Frank Boles. "Scholars have begun to use cookbooks as windows allowing them to view social history that is otherwise difficult to see. Cookbooks are more than simply a means to a good meal. In between the tablespoons of butter and cups of flour, the careful reader can discern a great deal about nutrition, ethnicity, changes in American culture and other subjects of great historical interest. The answers to simple questions such as 'when does a taco first appear in a cookbook not written by the Latino community?’ or 'What is the first known reference to corn flakes in a cookbook featuring Middle Eastern recipes?’ tell us a great deal about the American experience as it has been lived in Michigan over the last 150 years." Said Boles.
Admission to the exhibit is free and open to the public, Mon.-Fri. 8-5 and 9-1 on most Saturdays from September through the first weekend of December. To view an introduction to the cookbook collection, and a list of cookbooks either by author or title, please go to http://clarke.cmich.edu/cookbooks/intro.htm. For further information, please call the Clarke at 989-774-3352.
University of Arkansas Special Collections Publishes Work on Ozarks Novelist
Tom Dillard, University of Arkansas Special Collections
The University Libraries Special Collections Department announces the publication of Donald Harington and His Stay More Novels: A Celebration of 35 Years. Special Collections held a "Stay More Reunion" on December 2, 2005 in honor of the 35th anniversary of the publication of Lightening Bug, the first of Donald Harington’s novels set in the mythical town of Stay More, Newton County, Arkansas.
Bob Razer, a veteran librarian at the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock and an authority on Arkansas literature, gave the keynote address at the celebration. His remarks are published in full in the booklet and provide a humorous tribute to and evaluation of Harington’s life and work.
The booklet also features an introduction by Tom Dillard, head of Special Collections, and a bibliography of Harington’s work and secondary sources compiled by Andrea Cantrell of the Special Collections staff. Illustrations, such as Harington’s hand-drawn map of Stay More and photos of the Stay More reunion, enliven the text. The booklet concludes with the full text of the Stay Moron’s Oath, as sworn by attendees of the reunion before being declared official Stay Morons by Harington.
Copies of the booklet may be obtained free of charge by contacting Special Collections by mail at 365 N. McIlroy Avenue Fayetteville, AR 72701-4002, or by telephone at (479) 575-5577, or by email at
.
Yale Team Completes Processing of the Eero Saarinen Collection Laura Tatum, Yale University Library
The Eero Saarinen Collection in the Manuscripts and Archives department, Yale University Library, is the largest extant collection of this important mid-century American architect’s drawings, photographs, and project records. In May 2006, project archivist Laura Tatum and archives assistant Christine Connolly completed the processing of the collection, funded by the Getty Grant Program. The collection contains 384 tubes of drawings and sixty-nine linear feet of manuscript material, including construction photographs, sketches, correspondence, writings about architecture and fellow architects, and publicity materials.
The collection remained open during processing due to intense patron interest and remains one of the most-requested collections in Manuscripts and Archives. Many of the early researchers were selecting images and writing for the exhibition catalogue, to be published by Yale University Press, for the forthcoming international exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, which will open to the public in Helsinki, Finland, in October. Students and faculty of the Yale School of Architecture continue to make extensive use of Yale's Saarinen holdings, which contributed to a symposium on Saarinen at the School in April 2005, as well as several graduate studios and undergraduate seminars.
Final Addition to Carl and Anne Braden Papers Jonathan Nelson, Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society’s Library-Archives has long been known for its Social Action Archives, which collects in the areas of economic justice; civil rights and civil liberties; the Vietnam War, New Left, and student activism; and current peace and justice activism. One of the Historical Society’s oldest and most important civil rights collections is the Carl and Anne Braden Papers. The Bradens were white Southerners who engaged in civil rights activism, which at one point resulted in the indictment of Carl Braden for sedition under Kentucky law because he helped purchase a home for a black family in a white neighborhood. While Carl Braden died in 1975, Anne Braden continued her activism on a variety of fronts until her death in March 2006. In April 2006, the Historical Society acquired the last installment of the collection, which documents the last decade and a half of Anne Braden’s life and career. Work is currently underway to improve access to this important collection.
From the American College of Surgeons Archives: The Franklin H. and Isabelle H. Martin Papers
Susan Rishworth, American College of Surgeons
Franklin Martin, William Mayo and other surgeon friends enjoying an outing on William Mayo's boat.
The American College of Surgeons Archives has recently processed most of the papers of the founder of the College, Franklin H. Martin and his wife Isabelle H. Martin. Found in quite brittle condition, the papers have undergone de-acidification treatment and can now be accessed by researchers. The papers have yielded some valuable research materials dealing not only with the history of the ACS, but Chicago hospital history and much more. Those interested in visiting the ACS Archives, contact Susan Rishworth, Archivist, 312-202-5270 or
.
The Voices of Feminism Oral History Project
Kelly Anderson, Smith College
The Voices of Feminism Oral History Project at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, documents the persistence and diversity of organizing for women in the U.S. Spanning the years from the 1940s to the present, the project documents labor, peace, and anti-racism activists, artists and writers, lesbian rights advocates, grassroots anti-violence and anti-poverty organizers, and women of color reproductive justice leaders. The videotaped interviews average 5-6 hours and cover childhood, personal life, and political work. Most of the 50+ interviews in this collection are open to researchers and are available in audio or videotape form or as edited transcripts. Approximately half of those interviewed have also committed to placing their papers at Smith.
For a list of the narrators, see the SSC's website at http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/ohlist.html. At press time, the online list includes 25 of the interviews. The remaining names will be posted by year’s end. For more information contact Sherrill Redmon at 413-585-2970 or
.
Reavis Papers on Waco Siege Now Available
Joel Minor, Texas State University
The library’s Southwestern Writers Collection (SWWC) is proud to announce the opening of the Dick J. Reavis Papers for research. An award-winning Texas journalist and a former Senior Editor at Texas Monthly, Dick Reavis was already a veteran agitator for social justice by his mid-twenties. In the early 1970s, searching for adventure and honesty, he turned to a career in journalism.
The archival materials Reavis has donated to Texas State contain highlights of his storied career, including his first-hand reports on illegal immigrants, peasant guerillas in Latin America, and an outlaw motorcycle gang in Fort Worth, to name a few. His writing has given voice to traditionally under-documented and misrepresented groups in Texas and Mexico.
Most prominent in the papers are the research materials for his in-depth investigation into the 1993 Branch Davidian stand-off near Waco. The result of this research was the book, The Ashes of Waco, one of the few unbiased accounts of the siege, what led up to it, and what immediately resulted. Reavis’ papers provide the most complete and open collection of materials on the Waco incident available to researchers, and they have already been used as sources for two documentaries, including Assault on Waco, recently aired on the Discovery Channel.
SWWC research hours are Monday/Tuesday/Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and Wednesday/Thursday 8:00 am to 7:00 pm. For more information on Reavis or other research topics, call 245-2313, email
, or stop by the SWWC on the library’s seventh floor.
Preserving the Image Archives at the University of Rhode Island, Special Collections
Sarina Wyant, University of Rhode Island
Early arrivals at Camp Edwards, 1925.
All but one of the 15 members of the class of 1897--twelve men and three women--stare intently into the camera. There is one maverick who stares off in the horizon across his right shoulder. The glass plate is positioned in the camera as the graduates sit still. By today’s "web cam" standards, sitting motionlessly for the few moments needed to capture their image may have seemed a lifetime. The image captured that day in 1897 has lasted for more than a lifetime. It remains along with 1,000 others, testimony to the origins of what began as a cutting edge agricultural school -- Rhode Island State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
These late 19th and early 20th glass plate and film negatives are carefully stored in the University’s Archives and Special Collections Unit on the second floor of the Library. Now, thanks to a $6,000 grant from the R.I. Committee for the Humanities and $2,500 from the URI Foundation, these access copies and preservation negatives are being made of these images so they will last several lifetimes. The successful grants have allowed the Unit to provide access to and preserve 1,000 glass plates from 1889 through the early 1940s. The production of preservation film negatives and contact prints from the plates is being done at the Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover MA.
Access to these photographs will provide historic context for future generations, revealing pictorially early academic activities, social events and an era of college and rural life that has passed into history, preserved now for future generations to discover.
Yale and Tufts Complete Collaborative Preservation Project
Amanda Patrick, Yale University Library
The Manuscripts and Archives department at the Yale University Library, and Digital Collections and Archives at Tufts University are pleased to announce the completion of the "Fedora and the Preservation of University Records Project." Funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the project combined electronic records preservation research and theory with digital library practice to investigate three areas of research: requirements for trustworthy recordkeeping systems and preservation activities, ingesting records into a preservation system, and maintaining records in a preservation system. While the Tufts-Yale Project is aimed at university archivists and focuses primarily on university records, the findings are not university-specific and are easily applicable to the management and preservation of electronic records in most industries.
The project is releasing twelve reports and an ingest prototype tool. The reports fall into four groups: introduction, ingest, maintain, and findings. All reports and the ingest prototype tool are available through the project website at: http://dca.tufts.edu/features/nhprc/index.html.
The co-principal investigators for the project were Kevin L. Glick, Yale University, and Eliot Wilczek, Tufts University.
Huntington Library acquires papers of Charles Bukowski
Sue Hodson, The Huntington Library
The papers of poet and author Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) have been acquired by The Huntington Library. In an extraordinarily generous gesture, Bukowski’s widow, Linda Lee Bukowski, is donating a large and important archive of his books and papers to the library. The collection includes corrected drafts of novels and poems, fan letters, photographs, and audio-visual material, as well as rare editions of his books and scarce, ephemeral printings from small presses.
Bukowski’s first book of poetry, Flower, Fist, and Bestial Wail, appeared in 1959. In the decade following, his work was discovered by John Martin, proprietor of the Black Sparrow Press, and the Santa Rosa-based publisher issued nearly all of his subsequent 40-plus books. In addition to such volumes of poetry as Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems, 1955-1973, Bukowski wrote short stories, and such novels as Post Office (1971), Factotum (1975), Women (1978), Ham on Rye (1982), Hollywood (1989), and Pulp (1994, the year of his death). His screenplay, Barfly, based on his own life, was produced as a theatrical release in 1987, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. Currently, Matt Dillon stars in a film adaptation of Bukowski’s novel Factotum that just opened in August.
Digital Access to "Doc" Horrell Photographic Collection Joseph Ripp, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) in Morris Library, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) is pleased to announce that it can now offer digital access to the "Doc" Horrell Photo Collection. SCRC has held the work of photographer C. William "Doc" Horrell since his death in 1989. A long time faculty member in the university’s Department of Cinema and Photography, Horrell’s images of "the land between the rivers" helped strengthen and preserve the regional identity of Southern Illinois. As a freelance photographer, he recorded the life and work of coal miners and provided important documentation of the coal industry in Southern Illinois.
In 2005, Morris Library considered the aesthetic and research value of Horrell’s photographic legacy and dedicated the resources necessary to make this significant record more broadly available to the public. The result was a dual project to present a selection of outstanding images in the form of a small electronic exhibition while simultaneously providing comprehensive access to the entire collection through the creation of a searchable digital archive. For this project SCRC partnered with SIUC's Coal Research Center, Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Dr. John Richardson, emeritus professor of photography and a protégé of Horrell’s, and Instructional Support Services (ISS).
The exhibition portion of the project is now available at http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/~horrell/. Access to the complete archive, meanwhile, will follow in October, 2006. This comprehensive database will be hosted by the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) as a service for the people of Illinois and as a resource for interested researchers and scholars around the world.
The Provost of the University of Rhode Island has appointed University Archivist and Head of Special Collections Prof. David C. Maslyn as Interim Dean, University Libraries for the 2006-2007 academic year. Assistant Archivist Sarina Rodrigues Wyant will serve as Acting Head of the Special Collections Unit for the duration of Maslyn’s interim appointment
