The First World War left few Canadians untouched. About 8% of the country’s population served during the war. Of those, about 10% died and almost a quarter were wounded. Citizens at home worked to support those fighting overseas.

1929 Armistice Day ceremonies. The Cenotaph was erected in 1924. Stuart Thomson, photographer. Reference code AM1535-: CVA 99-2010

Home

Many organizations, societies and companies raised money to help the troops.

Women selling goods at the Seaforth Market stall to raise money for soldiers’ comforts overseas, 1917. Stuart Thomson, photographer. Reference code AM54-S4-: Mil P57.

This refreshment tent is selling sandwiches and coffee.

South Vancouver Soldiers and Sailors Mothers and Wives Association refreshment tent, 1917. Stuart Thomson, photographer. Reference code
AM54-S4-: Mil P36.

A lot of home-made clothing was contributed to the war effort. Often, people would knit in groups, encouraged by (or possibly singing) World War I knitting songs. Here’s a sewing group from this era:

The St. Andrews’ and Caledonian Society sewing group, 1913. Stuart Thomson, photographer. Reference code AM54-S4-: Ch P94

The garments, along with other “comforts” such as underwear, tobacco, books and magazines, were boxed and shipped by the Canadian Field Comforts Commission.

Soldier in front of boxes of Canadian Field Comforts at Mrs. J.Z. Hall’s residence, 2890 Point Grey Road], 1918. Commercial Photo Co., photographer. Reference code AM54-S4-: Bu P329.

Abroad

Major Matthews, the first City Archivist, served in the First World War and acquired images of troops overseas.

Soldiers rest on their way to the trenches on the Western Front. ~1916. Official Photograph Issued for Press Bureau by “Topical” . Reference code AM54-S4-: Mil P281.17.

Royal Engineers return from the trenches on the Western Front, 1916. Official Photograph issued on behalf of the Press Bureau. Reference code AM54-S4-: Mil P281.47.

Canadian soldiers on parade at the Western Front, 1916. Official Photograph issued on behalf of the Press Bureau. Reference code AM54-S4-: Mil P281.50.

The arrival of papers & letters from home, some time 1914-1918. E.T. Sampson, Raines and Company, photographer. Reference code AM54-S4-: Gr War P33.

Let us honour all their efforts this Remembrance Day.

Lise Summers
Friday, November 8, 2013 – 16:25

During electrical work at the Institute, we came across this box in an attic cupboard. It contained something left behind at the Institute by its founder, Professor Christopher Hawkes (1905-1992) (http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/history-of-the-institute.html):

We were expecting old notes, photographs, scraps of paper… but no!

Matchboxes!

It is a collection of matchboxes. On closer investigation, some of them have labels – Professor Hawkes used the boxes to store small finds from his excavations. We checked them – they are all empty.  But they make a pretty display…

How many cigarettes do you have to smoke to collect this many boxes?

There are a variety of matchbox types here – Hawkes seems to have been a phillumenist! These include Solo, Morelands, Bryant and May, The Scissors, Northland, Double Diamond, Victor, Mace, Criterion, Blue Cross, Meteor, Fire Queen, Old Castle, Camp, Wavy Line, The Ship and the Kentish Map Company.

Archival photobomb

Dateline San Francisco, March 31, 2013

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society is pleased to announce that at the end of March, we completed a project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) (http://www.archives.gov/nhprc/). The basic processing project, “Hidden from History: Accessing the GLBT Past” resulted in a survey of over 500 manuscript collections and the processing of over 500 linear feet of materials related to more than 75 years of GLBT history. We updated nearly 600 catalog records and added 81 new finding aids to the Historical Society website and/or the Online Archive of California. Finding aids from the project can be viewed here:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/institutions/Gay,+Lesbian,+Bisexual,+Transgender+Historical+Society

Researchers can also search for collections here:

http://glbthistory.org/research/index.html

We also wrote – and have implemented – a formal deaccessioning policy.

Collections that were processed or partially processed with NHPRC funds include the papers of community historians Allan Bérubé and Eric Garber, artist and curator Adrienne Fuzee, World War II veteran Helen Harder, community activist John E. Teamer and bisexual activist/sexologist Maggi Rubenstein. Newly processed organizational records include materials from Community United Against Violence, various chapters of Black and White Men/Men of All Colors Together, the Wide Open Town History Project, the Filipino Task Force on AIDS, and women-owned businesses like the Bay Brick Inn and the Oracle Feminist Bookstore.

These collections document personal relationships, professional lives and cultural phenomena. Topics covered include the homophile movement and gay liberation; transgender rights; sports; religion and spirituality; racial politics; art, music and literature; the leather community; military history; and the history of AIDS and AIDS activism. These collections contain photographs, audiovisual materials and artifacts as well as manuscript materials.

We are very excited that these collections are now more accessible for research, and we are grateful to NHPRC for their support. If you have any questions about these collections or the project, please feel free to contact the managing archivist at reference@glbthistory.org

.

I learned something new as I was poring over some 19th-century college records last week: that in 1847, and again in 1869, Amherst College briefly but seriously considered the idea of changing its name to Williston, in honor of its generous trustee and benefactor, Samuel Williston.

The Trustee minutes of July 7, 1847 record that the idea was to be formally proposed and voted on at that meeting.  However, as it came up at the end of a long, arduous agenda (actually extending over two days), such a momentous decision was deferred to the next meeting. But inexplicably, the idea wasn’t reconsidered until more than a year later.  Jump ahead to the Trustee minutes of August 8, 1848:

Voted: That in the opinion of this Board it is expedient to change the name of Amherst College & to affix to it the name of its liberal Benefactor; Samuel Williston.

Voted: That President Hitchcock, Dr. Packard & Mr. Vaill be a committee to apply to the Legislature for leave to make the alteration.

Voted: That the foregoing votes be submitted to Mr. Williston previous to their taking effect.

Samuel Williston (1795-1874), Easthampton (Mass.) button manufacturer, philanthropist, Amherst College trustee, and founder of Williston Academy.

Amherst’s debt to Samuel Williston is clearly not to be underestimated; in fact, it is no exaggeration to say that its very survival rested on his support.  When it faced serious financial difficulties in 1840, Williston pledged $1,000.  Over the next thirty years, his financial gifts to Amherst amounted to more than $220,000. (In all, his donations to various charities amounted to more than $1.5 million.)

1847 was a particularly precarious time for the College. It was deep in debt and faced the likely prospect of financial ruin. But Williston, seemingly finding faith in the financial realism and ingenuity of the new president Edward Hitchcock, came forward repeatedly with large gifts to establish several endowed professorships.

Of this critical juncture in Amherst’s history, Stanley King, in The History of the Endowment of Amherst College (1950), wrote:

Never again was the College in such desperate straits; financial problems it was to continue to have; other presidents would operate for years with mounting deficits; other treasurers would borrow money; vigorous pruning of expenses would often be necessary; but never again would there be grave doubt as to whether the College could go on. In 1847 the future of Amherst College was assured. Hitchcock saved the College from certain extinction. A new era opened. [41]

We can now see the Trustees’ reasons for wishing to offer Mr. Williston the greatest honor it could bestow: the very name of the college.  Their July 1847 meeting, when all were giddy with relief realizing such a dramatic turn-around in their finances, was described by W.S. Tyler as “the most delightful Trustee meeting I had ever attended” (History of Amherst College During Its First Half Century, 321).

And yet – to change the name? Not all were in agreement that this was a wise decision. Ebenezer S. Snell, professor of mathematics and natural philosphy and one of the first graduates of Amherst College (1822), felt dismay and was not shy about expressing it to Williston himself, as seen in this letter:

E.S. Snell (AC 1822) to Samuel Williston, August 13, 1847. [transcript] In: Early Trustee Records, box 1.

It is unknown whether Snell’s letter influenced Williston to decline the honor, but decline it he did. By the time the proposal came around again the following summer, it took no time at all for him to reject it, as seen in this news report from the Hampshire and Franklin Express, dated Aug 17, 1848:

Amherst College. We understand that the Trustees of Amherst College at their late meeting voted to apply to the Legislature for leave to change the official name of the Institution to Williston College as an expression of gratitude to its most liberal benefactor; one who has given it $50,000, who has expended more than $100,000 on Literary Institutions in New England; and who in proportion to his means, still remains the prince of benefactors to American schools and colleges. It is well known that the names of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Williams College were given for sums scarcely a tenth part as large. We learn, however, that Mr. Williston has put the matter at rest for the present, at least, by requesting that the application may not be made, chiefly, it is said, lest the public should be led to misconstrue the motive of his benefactions.

Jump ahead twenty years, and add a new character in the form of Alpheus Hardy, who became an Amherst trustee in 1855 (so some time after Amherst’s initial offer to change its name to Williston). Hardy, a wealthy Boston businessman, wrote the following letter to President W.A. Stearns on May 11, 1869, urging the very same idea, which he intended to bring before the board at its next meeting:

We’ll never know whether Alpheus Hardy actually got to the point of presenting his (unbeknownst to him) not so original proposal to the Board: a great fire in Walker Hall in March 1882 destroyed almost all of the minutes for meetings held between 1868 and 1881. But it’s a fair bet that President Stearns nipped it in the bud. In any case, we do know how the story ended – Amherst retained its name. Aside from an endowed professorship and a prize, all that bears the name of Amherst’s greatest benefactor is a dormitory on the freshman quad, Williston Hall, built in 1858.

The John Grierson Archive has been held at the University Archives since the early 1970s and continues to be one of our most popular collections. This reflects Grierson’s importance in cinema history, often being described as ‘the father of documentary film.’

A bust of John Grierson by the sculptor Kenny Munro  at Stirling Train Station.

There seems to be a renewed interest in Grierson in the ether at the moment. His bust now stands proudly in Stirling Train Station, placed there as part of the great efforts of the Stirling Rotary Club to improve the building. The choice of the station is apt as one of Grierson’s best known films is Nightmail, the 1936 documentary tracing the journey of the post train from London to Scotland made by the GPO Film Unit. The film has also recently been the inspiration for a new track by Public Service Broadcasting, a musical project inspired by old public information films:

Nightmail – Public Service Broadcasting

Another musical response to Grierson’s work was recently created by the band Field Music who composed a new live score to accompany Drifters, Grierson’s 1929 documentary about North Sea fishermen. The band premiered this new soundtrack at the Berwick Film Festival and plan further performances in the coming months.

Scene from Drifters, 1929.

Drifters was originally a silent film, but Grierson was aware of the potential of music to heighten the dramatic intensity of the heroic struggles of the fishermen he recorded. He laid out very clear instructions for his suggested musical accompaniment to the film, choosing pieces of stirring classical music such as Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave to accompany the action.

Just in case last week’s Halloween treats weren’t enough… some Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night recipes from the archive collection of the British Families Education Service / School Children’s Education (BFES/SCE) Association. I promise to now take a (temporary) break from posting calendars and recipes!

Guy Fawkes
(Document Reference: BFE/B/3/16)

Bonfire Night Recipes
(Document Reference: BFE/B/3/16)

Tagged: archive collection, Bonfire Night, Guy Fawkes, recipes, the British Families Education Service

55 years ago, the Seahawk released its first monthly issue, becoming Wilmington College's monthly student newspaper after a period of sporadic publication.

read more

From the March, 1942 WQXR Program Guide:

Irwin Edman, Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and author of Philosopher’s Holiday, Fountainheads of Freedom, and other books, has on various occasions spoken over WQXR and is, as the following indicates, one of its devotees.

I only realized last summer how much the schedule of WQXR had become what philosophers might call the frame of reference of my day. For I was in one of those “pockets” of the New England mountains where even the increased power of my beloved station did not enable its programs to reach me. Only a giant neighboring chain station came in and that —! But I am writing about WQXR and of my discovery, during my excommunication from it, of how much it had got tangled into my being.

I would wake up on a sunny August morning at seven and tune in, forgetting where I was. At 7:30 I would turn from force of habit to the program booklet I had brought with me, just in case. Perhaps after dark, I should be able to get the station. It was maddening to think that right at this moment, in the summer morning light, I could have been, had I been in a decent radio neighborhood, listening to the Piano Concerto, Koechel 466. The divinely concentrated beauty of the second movement began to hum in my mind. There isn’t, I had found by experience, any time of the day I can’t listen to Mozart. Before breakfast (and most of the Breakfast Symphony is before my breakfast) is a little early for the Good Friday music from “Parsifal”, but not for Mozart. And Mozart was not there. WQXR was not there. They weren’t there at lunch time– lunch-time of a summer day in the country–just the moment to listen to the Request Program, with a leisurely tolerance for what other people had asked to hear. I could have done even with Liszt’s “Les Préludes.”

In the long summer afternoon the half-hour Opera House would have been pleasant or perfect in the shadows on the lawn, a Symphonic Matinee over the long drinks. But alas, nothing! I knew by this time there would be nothing, not until after the very late sunset, when it would be nearly ten, when one would yawn a little and turn in. It was a big mistake to come so far from auditory civilization, from the fountainhead of harmony, from the music which, now that I was cut off from it, I found had for years been giving the melodious contour to my days.

WQXR has twined itself to the context of my life in an almost obsessive way. There are, of course (though my friends disbelieve me) times when I actually don’t listen to the station. When I am lecturing on philosophy at Columbia, for instance– though sometimes in the midst of expounding Plato some morning I realize that on the Composer Corner there is being played something by Manuel de Falla that I have long wanted to hear. Often in a committee meeting at four in the afternoon it occurs to me that it would be far more instructive to be listening to Miss Harriett Johnson-Norville expound the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto. I have been tempted once or twice to bring along a portable radio and suggest to my colleagues that a little music might clarify our minds and stimulate discussion, or, better, take its place. Just as over the coffee at a dinner party, when the Grand Strategy is being discussed, it has been all I can do not to interrupt my host and tell him that it’s just nine o’clock now and Quincy Howe makes everything clear. Sometimes I have not refrained.

Frankly, mornings and afternoons I don’t get much chance to listen to WQXR though I am by no means unfamiliar (from the program book) with the schedule. And there was that germ-sent opportunity during a week of the grippe last autumn when, save for the times I dozed off, I could listen through two delightful days, from the Preludes at 7 to the signing-off at midnight. One hopes occasionally for a day purified and free from dross; as a music lover occasionally for a long day of uninterrupted musical pleasure. Well, where on earth in any part of the world could you have in one day seven or eight hours of pure music and several hours more of intelligent discourse? Orchestra, chamber music, opera, madrigals, and massed choirs, Latin-American songs, and, late at night the unidentified easy fluencies of Just Music.

One does not have the grippe every day, and I cannot say I should like to have it, even to be able to listen to our Station uninterrupted. But it is something to remember in the midst of busyness that WQXR is always there. To tune in after dinner to Bach or Beethoven, and to know that, when one is bored or perplexed or tired or preoccupied or simply suddenly avid for great sound, there it is, if one wants it — the available heaven of music, high fidelity, crisp, accurate announcements and all. I don’t mind sleeping through the night. Until 7:00 a.m. at 1560 on the dial, I know I shall not be missing much.

Here endeth my bread-and-butter letter.

Every professional “tribe” co-opts language to describe their world. The use of this accepted and known language is the inherent truth that you are a credible source that can “talk the talk” especially when faced with colleagues or even better non-tribe professional members. Having been raised on a healthy academic dialect and later shifting into a corporate professional career, I am fascinated by the corporate world of communicating and now made more aware of my previous tribal language. Instead of learning Spanish or Chinese, I now consider myself professionally bi-lingual in both academe and corporate speak.

In order to “learn the ropes,” I too, have adopted this brand of communicating and always encourage my interns to do the same. Now I don’t mean to suggest that embracing a language does not bring value or meaning to the profession, because I strongly believe that a common language is a critical foundation in creating collective professionalism authentic and unique to itself. However, what is equally true is that the language can stifle and limit our ability to grow as a profession. No more true that in the information world where formats, systems, processes, and technologies become obsolete within a year’s time. I am thrilled when I hear/read of new words/phases, as we continue to stay professional fresh and progressive.

In the corporate information corner of the professional world, much of what we say draws from both business and information science. Many of these catch phrases are likely recognizable across professions but their meaning will likely take on a slightly different shade because of their context. Here are some phrases and/words that we share around the “water cooler.”

Leverage….data wrangling….kicking the can….harvesting….mining……ROBUST….best practices….scalable solutions….trying to fill the ocean with a garden hose……from 30,000 feet…..pawing through content….staying in your own lane…….empower…..strategic planning……peeling the onion…..hard stop…..moving target…….bandwidth….let’s huddle up on this…..right sized……plug and play…..reach out…circle up…..putting a stake in the ground….due diligence….money on the table……silo operations…final deliverables…..value added…..close the loop….low hanging fruit…..push back…..and many, many more……

Admittedly, guilty as charged!

As of today, 335 titles of the approximately 1,500 books in the Kim-Wait/Eisenberg Native American Literature Collection have been fully cataloged. I have enjoyed getting to know the collection by placing the cataloged items on the shelves in LC call number order. We are integrating these books into our general special collections shelving, rather than maintaining them as a physically separate collection, so it has been interesting seeing where they end up and what books are next to them on the shelves. Many of the books are ending up in the Library of Congress Call number range E51 through E99, as shown in the picture above. We are doing a lot of shifting to make room for these books in that range.

Other books receive call numbers that separate them from the bulk of the collection, but have resulted in some interesting juxtapositions, such as this copy of Vine Deloria, Jr.’s book We Talk, You Listen:

Library classification schemes are a fascinating subject for post-colonial study. In this instance, these books fall into the range for “United States — Elements in the population”

One of the Charles Eastman books that recently reached the shelves ended up in the SK 600s with other books on the subject of Hunting sports and wildlife-related recreation:

Amherst College already holds a substantial angling collection, which includes some general works on camping out, including the two shown here on either side of Eastman’s book.

I’m always keeping my eyes peeled for interesting cloth bindings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so a different Eastman book caught my eye. When I was searching for its place on our shelves, I spied a similarly bound item from about the same period:

It might not be immediately apparent from this photo, but on both covers, the central illustration was printed separately and pasted onto the cloth cover.

Another example of book cover illustrations worthy of study are these two Canadian books shelved in the PR 9199.2 range:

Annie Foster’s The Mohawk Princess (1931) is part of the Kim-Wait/Eisenberg collection; Three Boys in the Wild North Land (1896) is not.

In some cases, we are adding books classed in a part of the LC system for which we previously had nothing on our shelves, such as these volumes in the PM 101-2711 range: American Languages (Aboriginal)

One of the more scarce items in this range is the copy of New familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues by Joseph Laurent published in 1884 (PM 551 .L3 1884).

The PM range is for works specifically about Aboriginal languages, so an item like Genesis, or, The first book of Moses translated into Cherokee is classed into the BS range, which is the Library of Congress class for “The Bible”.

The special bonus with this copy of Genesis in Cherokee — which we purchased for the collection long before we acquired the Kim-Wait/Eisenberg collection — is that it is completely uncut. Shown here is one signature of the book resting on top of one of the other signatures completely unfolded. It’s a great tool for teaching book history.

Every time a truck of freshly cataloged Kim-Wait/Eisenberg books comes back from cataloging, I grab my digital camera and head for the stacks. I’m sure there will be many more blog posts like this one in the weeks ahead.

I’ll close with a couple of particularly interesting items from my latest shelving adventures:

Seeing this copy of Indian Melodies (1845) made me glad we still have a keyboard with headphones set up in our reading room.

This copy of Legends, Traditions and Laws, of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians (1881) caught my eye with it’s gilt cover illustration. This book landed on the shelf in the middle of the E99 range.

The Public Interest Declassification Board will host an open meeting on Thursday, November 21, 2013 to discuss its recommendations to the President on Transforming the Security Classification System.  The meeting will focus more specifically on declassification prioritization.  Press and media are welcome to attend.

When: November 21, 2013 from 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Doors Open: 9:15 a.m.

Where: The Archivist’s Reception Room, Room 105 in the National Archives Building

Address: 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

(Note:  Attendees must enter through the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance.)

Space is limited.  You must confirm via Eventbrite in order to attend.   Please note we require one form of Government-issued photo identification (e.g. driver’s license) to gain admittance.

In anticipation of the public meeting, the Board will re-engage its followers through its blog, Transforming Classification, where it will post its ideas of some of the most important topics for prioritized declassification review and requests members of the public join in the conversation online.  Be sure to stay connected to the Board’s activities and look for more information about the Board on its website: http://www.archives.gov/declassification/pidb.