On 4th July the Library and Archives will be holding a reception to mark the publication of ‘A Life in Education and Architecture: Mary Beaumont Medd’ by Dr Catherine Burke.  Drawing on the archive of David and Mary Medd, held here at the IOE, the book
provides a detailed exploration of the relationships between individual architects, educators, artists and designers that laid the foundation and shaped the approach to designing new school buildings in post-war Britain.

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

On the 15th of June in 1859, Lyman Cutlar, an American recently settled on San Juan Island, shot a pig which ” … having been at several times a great annoyance and that morning destroyed a portion of his garden … ”

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

As our project team continues to clean and prepare for use the case books of Stirling District Asylum we are discovering a wealth of additional information in the enclosures which are pinned, fastened or interleaved throughout the volumes. The case notes written in the pages of the case books record the initial personal and medical information collected at the time of admission and go on to provide regular updates on the treatment and condition of patients during their stay in the asylum. The enclosures, which are being carefully removed and catalogued, provide further medical and personal information relating to the patients.

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.

This week the American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP) honored the National Archives with its two highest awards. The President’s Award for Distinguished Public Service was awarded to Miriam Nisbet, Director of our Office of Government Information Services (OGIS). And the Director’s Award for Superior Public Service was awarded to the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB).  PIDB is an advisory board created by Congress to promote access to national security decisions and activities.  Our Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) Director serves as the PIDB Executive Secretary and ISOO staff support the work of the board.

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 ]

Beginning as an office boy for The World, Tommy Cowan went on to be Thomas Edison’s receptionist, greeting important visitors to the inventor’s laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey. From there he was the first announcer on the air in the New York metropolitan area when WJZ Newark started broadcasting in 1921. He announced the first World Series broadcast based on descriptions phoned into him from the game, as well as covering the June, 1924 Democratic National Convention from Madison Square Garden.

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.

Earlier this year, Harry Swain of Victoria donated a photograph to us and it caused great excitement. Here it is:

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.

Yesterday we celebrated the accomplishments of National Archives staff across the country in our annual Archivist’s Awards Ceremony.

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 ]

In early December 2009, Google announced on their blog titled “Personalized Search for Everyone” that they would be using 57 “signals” derived from your previous searching behavior in order to predict the sites you were most likely to choose in your search. Netflix, Yahoo, Facebook, and YouTube, to mention just a few, use similar predictive Internet filters based on who you are, past searching behavior, and limiting hits to what fits your profile. Eli Pariser in his book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You, describes the result as “invisible autopropaganda-indoctrinating us with our own ideas, amplifying our desires for things that are familiar and leaving us oblivious to the dangers lurking in the dark territory of the unknown.” A space outside our own comfort zone where there is less room for those chance encounters that bring insight and learning.

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 ]

When I first saw the latest addition to our artists’ book collection, I thought “Now I’ve seen everything!”

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.

My summer internship at the City of Vancouver Archives was filled with wonderful experiences along with the occasional adventure, so much so that it has taken me a while to catch my breath and finally write about it. As a student in the Master of Art Conservation program at Queen’s University, the Archives fostered an ideal learning environment for a conservator-in-training to reinforce the skills acquired through the past academic year. I was fortunate to learn from not one but two experienced conservators. Working under the supervision of Sue Bigelow and Rosaleen Hill, the Digital Conservators at the Archives, I had the privilege of taking in a double dose of valuable knowledge.

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.

Continue reading →

The Public Interest Declassification Board received recognition at a recent academic conference titled The Legal and Civil Policy Implications of “Leaks” at the American University Washington College of Law.  A panel focusing on the legislative response to “leaks” discussed what impact over-classification and the current state of the security classification system have on the prevalence of leaks.  Panelist John B. Dickas, the Legislative Counsel to Senator Ron Wyden on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, cited the Board’s Report to the President on Transforming the Security Classification System. He agreed that over-classification is a pervasive problem among system users and that the declassification process does not keep pace with user demand.  Moderator Sharon Bradford Franklin, Senior Counsel at the Constitution Project, noted the Board’s report prompted 31 organizations concerned with the Government’s classification activity to send a letter to the President urging him to establish a steering committee as recommended in the Board’s report.

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.

If the George Turner letters mentioned yesterday aren’t enough for you, you can now also read the text of a 19th-century whaler who abandoned his ship.

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.

Here at Trinity University, all anticipate the end of the semester, and student and faculty life is abuzz as projects and papers are due, and seniors wrap up their undergraduate life.  The digital collections contain two sets of photographs that represent Reverend Black’s own time as a student at Andover Newton Theological Seminary (as it was called in those days) in Newton, Massachusetts, which he attended from 1940 to 1943.  The photographs are candid snapshots, primarily of Reverend Black and his fellow students studying, or enjoying leisure time and each others company in their residential dormitory.
Over the years of his life, Reverend Black often remarked that his time at the school was the first time he had ever lived in a non-segregated society. The experience was no doubt similar for other African Americans from the South attending Andover Newton Theological Seminary in the years before desegregation of the South. As is seen in the second photo, Samuel H. James, Jr. was also at the school at the time. He became Reverend S.H. James of the Second Baptist Church in San Antonio, was the first African American elected as councilman to the San Antonio city council, and was a founding civil rights leader in San Antonio in his own right.
Others who went on to become influential ministers also appear in some of the photographs, such as Alfonso Leon Lowry and Edward McCreary. The Trinity Digital Collections provides access to the thesis Reverend Black wrote to gain his degree, Communism as a Religion, made available by kind permission of the Franklin Trask Library at Andover Newton Theological School.

Claude W. Black, Jr. at study
Andover photos, part one 

Samuel H. James, Jr.

Andover photos, part one

Playing chess

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).

As Special Collections staff, next Wednesday, May 1^st is our opportunity to truly become aware of our role in preserving our unique collections and protecting the environment in which they’re stored.

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.

From 1^st July 2013, Google Reader will no longer be available.  If you have been using Google Reader to save your RSS feeds (to keep current with research), you can export the feeds to other readers.  This post suggests a few that I have tried and which I think are almost as good as Google’s Reader.  However, the suggestions come with a warning – we didn’t expect the plug to be pulled on Reader as it is popular and has a large following; this could also happen to the readers I am suggesting below so I would recommend that you save your feeds on a regular basis (by exporting them – see below for instructions) and using two readers just in case one dies a sudden death like Reader.

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.

The Beyond the Text Symposium at the The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library sounded brilliant and I was grateful to everyone live tweeting the papers. I have put together a selection of the tweets on Storify, adding in the titles of the papers where possible.

It can be found here

WNYC’s Chief Concert Engineer Edward Haber recorded Richie Havens for WNYC and had this recollection.

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.”

This week, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will dedicate the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas.  The facility will open to the public on May 1.

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 ]

When we first told you about our new search system, we said that it was on a rapid development cycle and that there would be improvements. We’re pleased to tell you about one upgrade that gives you on-site access to thousands more digital objects and another that makes it easier to do research at home. Developed for us by Artefactual Systems, these open source enhancements could be adapted by other institutions using the same database software.

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

I really need to get out more. I mean out around campus. Despite having worked at Amherst for over a decade, I somehow never heard about boulder sitting on the south side of the Octagon until recently. On the occasions I’ve gone past it, I’m sure I didn’t notice it.

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