I am pleased to announce the members I have selected for the 2018-2020 term of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee. I was happy to renew the Committee’s charter for an additional two-year term (2018-2020) so that members may continue to address FOIA’s greatest challenges. In response to our call for nominations in April 2018, I was pleased to see such a high level of interest in the Committee. We received nominations for a number of highly-qualified individuals, making it that much more difficult to select Committee members for this term.

The National Archives launched the FOIA Advisory Committee to allow agency FOIA professionals and requesters to collaboratively develop recommendations to improve the administration of FOIA and chart a path for how FOIA should operate in the future. In April 2018, the 2016-2018 term of the FOIA Advisory Committee presented me with a 31-page Final Report and Recommendations, and I have directed my staff to begin to implement these recommendations.

On September 6, 2018 the FOIA Advisory Committee, chaired by the Director of the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) and supported administratively by OGIS staff, will kick off its third term with a meeting in the William G. McGowan Theater that will be open to the public. At this meeting, I anticipate that Committee members will start their work by brainstorming issues they would like to address during this term and form subcommittees. Subcommittees will be co-chaired by a government and a non-government representative, and the co-chairs will provide updates on the subcommittees’ work to fellow Committee members (and the public) during the Committee’s regular quarterly meetings. You can keep up with the Committee’s work by visiting the Committee’s webpage, or reading OGIS’s blog, FOIA Ombudsman.

The following blog post was written by Joseph, Special Collections & Archives Scholar in Residence and Guest Curator of our latest exhibit Ruffians, Scoundrels, and Buccaneers: Pirates Throughout the Ages.

My name is Joseph and I am 11 years old. I started coming to Special Collections with my mom when I was between 5 and 6 years old. My mom is a graduate student who does research and studies in Special Collections. I often come with her and read or do homework now that I am a little older. I love to read and have seen many amazing texts at Special Collections. I have even used some for research.

I have always admired the exhibits next door to Special Collections that are displayed in the exhibit room. One day earlier this year, I thought I would like to try making one. I had just finished reading a story and writing a paper about Blackbeard, so I thought, “What better than an exhibit about pirates?” I love pirates, and I’ve learned quite a bit about them, so I began working on the basics. When I had prepared some notes and drawings, I talked to Dean Katie about it. She thought that with some work, it could be a great exhibit.

That’s when the work really began. While Mr. Rory and I selected material, Ms. Hannah worked on the schedule, the jobs, and all the other basics. Then Ms. Lisa helped me with pulling books to use, while Mr. Rory and I worked on writing the captions. We also had to select material and decide what needed to be digitalized. At last, installation day arrived! Everyone worked really hard. Each person was assigned a case to assemble after deciding what part of the exhibit would be displayed in each case. Once the materials were distributed the materials had to arranged properly. Finally, the captions had to put in and Mr. Rory finished by writing the last few captions for added material.

In one of the tall cases it was decided that my Halloween pirate costume, which was handmade by my grandmother, would be displayed. Putting the exhibit together was harder than I thought it to be. It took many, many weeks of planning and lots of hard work to install, but it was well worth it. I am very happy with the results, and hope to help with many more exhibits at Special Collections.

Pirates are definitely amazing. They are known for being ruthless, dirty cutthroats that mercilessly burnt towns to the ground, driving the Royal Navy crazy. But which pirate stories are truthful, and which are fiction?

This exhibit features true accounts of historical pirates, as well as fictional stories. While fiction can be very entertaining, the truth about pirates is just as fascinating, although it’s fun to see what people imagine about pirates too! Pirates are important to Florida as well – you can learn more about the story of José Gaspar, also known as Gasparilla, who operated in the Florida waters, and Ned Buntline, who wrote pirate stories set in Florida.

We hope you now see why pirates are so awesome, and you come see all the great material in “Ruffians, Scoundrels, and Buccaneers,” selected from the holdings of FSU Special Collections & Archives and Strozier Library.

Originally published in 1999.

When I was a kid, I assumed that the music I heard coming from the radio in the kitchen was somehow being played by real musicians, right there in that little box. Admit it – you thought the same thing. But then we grew older, and wiser in the ways of the world. That’s when we realized that the musicians weren’t really in that little box. They were obviously playing this music in the radio station’s studio, where the announcer was. If it seemed odd that the announcer never actually referred to the musicians or acknowledged their presence in any way, well, that was just another example of adults being odd.

Most people don’t remember the exact moment when they learned that all the music on the radio was actually coming from records. I do remember feeling cheated, somehow. What made it even more unfair is learning, later on, that for many years people really did hear live music on the radio. Then it seemed to stop. Why? Well, from experience, I can now tell you why. It’s expensive. It’s time-consuming and labor-intensive. It’s hard to do and really hard to do well. But it’s also worth doing. Because there is an excitement and intensity to live performance that is rarely heard on recordings. And having musicians in the studio gives all of us an opportunity to meet the real people who make and play the music. These segments provide a friendly, informative entrance to the music we play on WNYC.

What is the music we play on WNYC? We are the world’s oldest classical music station, but we’ve always taken a broad view of what “classical” means. So while this CD features such classical mainstays as Mozart and Brahms, it also includes musical curios like the Modern Mandolin Quartet’s performance of a Haydn piece, and an on-the-spot composition for vocal ensemble by Bobby McFerrin.

A few of these performances were recorded for WNYC-FM’s nightly new music program, New Sounds. Started in 1982, New Sounds first presented live music in the studio in the fall of 1983, and began the ongoing New Sounds Live concert broadcast series in 1986. Others are from Around New York, which was a grand experiment in daily live performance, begun in September 1991 and running until the end of 1996. During that period, when the City of New York was divesting itself of the licenses to WNYC and harsh fiscal realities set in, Around New York was scaled back to the slightly more manageable series of weekly performances we call simply WNYC Live. This segment airs each Thursday afternoon at 2; and occasional other segments often appear elsewhere during the week.

At the same time, WNYC has begun producing more live music outside the studio than ever before. Our director, Eileen Delahunty, and our tech crew, directed by Edward Haber, maintain a grueling schedule. Fortunately, our crew is first rate, and it’s worth mentioning their names here: Michael DeMark, George Wellington, Irene Trudel, Wayne Schulmister and Paul Ruest. Live broadcasts from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, the Frick Collection, the Kosciuszko Foundation, New Sounds Live at various venues, and occasional special events do more than just keep the concert crew off the streets and out of trouble. They help to recapture, I hope, some of the magic, and sense of event that surrounded music performances during the “Golden Age of Radio.”

Richard Cobo 

Brouwer: One Day in November

A hauntingly beautiful piece of musical impressionism from Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, still unpublished. Played by a talented Columbian guitarist now residing here in NY. Recorded: April 8, 1998. Mix Engineer: Michael DeMark.

David Golub 

Brahms: Intermezzo in A, Op. 118 #2

David Golub is one of America’s premiere pianists – a renowned soloist, member of the Golub/Kaplan/Carr trio, and now a conductor as well. He performed this lovely late piece by Brahms on WNYC’s Steinway B, a vintage 1959 instrument that was rebuilt (by the same fellow, we’re told, who originally built it!) in 1995. Recorded: January 15, 1998. Mix Engineer: Michael DeMark.

Marianne Faithfull 

Weill: Bilbao Song

Wonderfully decadent, world-weary singing from the rock legend whose voice once inspired the Rolling Stones and now inspires visions of a… well, decadent, world-weary cabaret singer. One of our most memorable in-studio performances. Recorded: January 23, 1997. Mix Engineer: Edward Haber. Marianne Faithfull appears courtesy of BMG Entertainment.

Continuum 

Pärt: Ein Wallfahrtslied (A Song of Pilgrimage)

One of the classical world’s most popular composers, the Estonian-born, German-based Arvo Pärt often evokes the music and spirit of medieval Europe. The liturgical text and hushed accompaniment of this performance are typical of his style; the vocal part, sung by James Martin, is extraordinary in its simplicity – it uses only three notes! Easy to sing, but hard to sing well. The performance is by one of New York’s leading contemporary music groups, based at the famed Juilliard School, Recorded: October 10, 1998. Mix Engineer: Edward Haber.

Philip Glass 

Glass: Etude #2

The classical music world’s most recognized contemporary composer is a longtime friend of WNYC. This Etude is part of a set of piano etudes, one of which was written by Glass for WNYC-FM’s 50th birthday in 1994. Recorded: July 25, 1995. Mix Engineer: Michael DeMark. Philip Glass appears courtesy of Dunvagen Music Publishing.

Jocelyn Montgomery, David Lynch 

Hildegard von Bingen: O viridissima

Yes, that David Lynch. The famed film maker created the sound environment into which early music specialist Jocelyn Montgomery sings the timeless music of the 12th century abbess and composer Hildegard. Montgomery is a former member of the fine English early music group Sinfonye. This performance, from New Sounds Live at the World Financial Center, was broadcast on the Internet as well. Recorded: January 22, 1999. Mix Engineer: George Wellington with Irene Trudel. Jocelyn Montgomery appears courtesy of Mammoth Records.

James and Jeannie Galway 

J.C. Schultze: Sonata for 2 Flutes

Don’t worry, we’ve never heard of him either. Schultze, that is. Everyone knows James Galway, the “man with the golden flute.” His wife Jeannie is a fine flutist as well, and part of the trio Zephyr. The two of them introduced us to this brief but charming work by an otherwise totally obscure German Baroque composer. Recorded: November 4, 1998. Mix Engineer: Edward Haber. James Galway appears courtesy of BMG Classics.

Modern Mandolin Quartet 

Haydn: Minuet and Trio from “The Lark” Quartet

Two mandolins (played by Mike Marshall and Dana Rath), mandola (Paul Binkley), and mandocello (John Imholz) play music from the classical string quartet repertoire. An engaging but somewhat different approach to a classical favorite. Recorded: October 26, 1995. Mix Engineer: Michael DeMark.

Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs 

McFerrin: improvisation #3

The singer, hit songwriter, conductor, and opera composer leads an all-star group of vocalists in a live improvisation, conducted by McFerrin in the studio. This genial, elegant assortment of conventional and unusual vocal sounds is typical of McFerrin’s work; the fact that they’re making it up as they go along may surprise you when you hear how “composed” the piece sounds. Recorded: April 22, 1997. Mix Engineer: Michael DeMark.

Anonymous 4 

Hildegard von Bingen/Anonymous:  O rubor sanguinis/magnificat animomea.

A medley of one of Heldegard’s typically ecstatic 12th century melodies with a traditional liturgical chant of the time, by one of classical music’s most popular groups. Anonymous 4 was first heard on WNYC-FM shortly after they formed in late 1986, and were WNYC favorites well before the rest of the world caught on. Recorded: May 9, 1995. Mix Engineer: Michael DeMark.

Manuel Barrueco 

Sor: Variations on a Theme by Mozart

Barrueco is probably best-known for the TV commercial for Lexus, where he recorded an actual CD track in the back seat of the car. Off screen, he is one of the most popular classical guitarists in the world, and has had a recent series of crossover hit records as well. Recorded: February 25, 1998. Mix Engineer: George Wellington.

Ruth Laredo 

Mozart: Piano Concert #14, 2nd movement

The Manhattan School of Music Chamber Sinfonia, Glen Cortese, Conductor

From WNYC’s 1998 New Year’s Eve broadcast, a mammoth, nationally-syndicated show that involved crews at Bargemusic in Brooklyn, the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side, and the majestic Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where this recording was made. It features one of America’s pre-eminent pianists, and a gifted group of MSM students, who performed with professional aplomb despite the cold (you can hear the heating fans if you listen closely) under the able direction of Glen Cortese, one of New York’s busiest conductors. This performance courtesy of the Manhattan School of Music, in support of WNYC Radio. Recorded: December 31, 1998 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Mix Engineer: George Wellington with Wayne Shulmister.

Jerry Hadley

Carlisle Floyd: “It’s About the Way People Is Made,” from Susannah

Susannah, spotted by some of the townsfolk while bathing in the river, has become the target of lies and false accusations. She asks her brother how people can turn so cruelly on one of their own, and he answers her with this song. Simply beautiful music from an opera only now coming into its own. Jerry Hadley is one of the Met’s brightest stars, and has become one of American’s most successful operatic tenors. Recorded: February 25, 1999. Mix Engineer: George Wellington.

Producer: John Schaefer 

Mastering Engineer: Edward Haber

Project Coordinators: Ken Dinitz, Fred Child and Ted Manekin

Special thanks to Ralph Graves and Digital Chips, Inc.

Thanks to: Sara Fishko; Francois Ravard; Susan Jacobs; Glen Cortese; George Martynuk; Jim Keller; Dunvagen Music Publishing; Nancy Wellman; Jennifer Plantz; George Nicholas; Linda Goldstein; Sony Classical; Angel/EMI Records; And YOU, for supporting WNYC Radio!

ABOUT:  FERMI is the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) effort to provide a government-wide, modern, cost-effective, standardized, and interoperable set of records management solutions and services to Federal agencies. NARA has identified the common, core requirements all agencies need to support their records management programs.

VANTAGE: Federal agencies have different missions, structures, and resources, as well as lack common needs for managing their electronic records. Agencies need to manage their records in compliance with NARA’s statutes, regulations, and guidance. FERMI emerged from the Automated Electronic Records Management Plan, to support the Managing Government Records Directive (M-12-18). NARA serves as the Records Management Standards Lead for the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Unified Shared Services Management (USSM) office’s Business Standards Council.

On Monday, AUGUST 6, 2018: In conjunction with GSA, NARA held an Industry Day in the McGowan Theater and streamed the event live on NARA’s YouTube channel.  NARA and GSA publicized how vendors listed on GSA Schedule 36, Special Item Number 51-600, Electronic Records Management would have the opportunity to create demos based on the draft “Use Cases for Electronic Messages.” The Use Cases are modeled after the ERM Federal Integrated Business Framework (ERM-FIBF), and describe how to manage electronic messages.

Further, NARA and GSA detailed demos must express the following three scenarios from the Use Cases:

• Determine if the electronic message can be placed under records management control. (ERM.010.L1.02)
• Manage the metadata of an electronic message record throughout the lifecycle. (ERM.020.L1.02)
• Dispose of approved electronic message records. (ERM.030.L1.02)

Vendors were asked to develop demos of how their solutions could meet these three scenarios. GSA said it would work with vendors to make the demos available to agencies through the Acquisitions Gateway.  Agencies can use these demos as market research to evaluate how well solutions manage electronic messages.

The PIDB is encouraged by NARA and GSA’s combined efforts to improve the management of electronic records through smarter business practices and acquisition improvement.

The Members support NARA’s endeavor to foster solutions for access to electronic information.

The University Historian at the University of Florida recently contacted us with an interesting research request regarding Florida State College for Women. In his research, the University Historian found evidence that a woman, Mary Alexander Daiger, graduated from the University of Florida in 1920. This is odd because, in 1905, Florida passed the Buckman Act, which designated UF as the state university for male students. The same act designated FSU’s predecessor institution, Florida State College for Women, as the state university for female students. It wasn’t until 1947 that both schools became fully coeducation. Daiger was able to graduate from UF pre-coeducation because of the Summer School Act, which in 1913, brought summer courses under the control of the state university system. By design, these courses were coeducational and allowed for men and women to attend either university during the summer.

Given the shared history and similar circumstances of UF and FSU, the University Historian wondered if there was ever a male graduate of Florida State College of Women.

Heritage & University Archives staff began looking through summer issues of the student newspaper, the Florida Flambeau. While reading the articles, it became apparent that male students were definitely taking advantage of the classes offered. Staff members of the Flambeau reported on how many male students were on campus, where they were located after they were allowed to stay in the dorms and any humorous encounters that resulted from their presence. But for the most part, names of the male students weren’t listed in those articles.

During the summer issues for several years, the Flambeau listed all of the students eligible for graduation for that semester. Unfortunately, we ran into a major problem at this juncture, because the Flambeau did not list whether the student was male or female. We chose, based on name, the most likely students to be male and sent the names along to the Office of the Registrar to see if any of them did, in fact, graduate.

When the Registrar replied, we learned that our process for selecting names was as inaccurate as we thought. Some of the candidates had sorority affiliations listed on their records and so were crossed off our list. More often, the candidate for graduation did not actually graduate. However, we were able to confirm that there was at least one male graduate of Florida State College for Women: Clarence Patrick Priest. Priest earned his Masters of Arts in Education in 1938 from Florida State College for Women. He stayed on to teach at the school after his graduation.

Know of any other men who graduated from Florida State College for Women? We’d love to know about any of our other graduates. You can contact the Heritage & University Archivist at svarry@fsu.edu.

In early 2014 the University Archives was contacted by William Simpsons, a care home in Plean which provides residential care along with respite and day care facilities. William Simpsons has been providing care at this site for almost two hundred years, originally opening in 1832 as the William Simpson’s Asylum, an institution which provided care and support for former soldiers and sailors.

Building work had unearthed a collection of historical material consisting of four large metal trunks of documents and 38 volumes and ledgers. Upon inspection the material revealed itself as a comprehensive collection of nineteenth century records which provide a detailed account of the management and administration of both the William Simpson’s Asylum and the surrounding Plean Estate. The material complimented the historical records of NHS Forth Valley, held in the University Archives and it was transferred to the University Of Stirling. Today we are engaged in an exciting project which is opening up the collection for the first time. This work follows an initial survey of the material carried out with the support of the Wellcome Trust in 2016 which highlighted the value of the collection for the study of both medical and local history. The survey also revealed links between the William Simpson’s Asylum and Stirling District Asylum, with evidence being discovered of regular contact between the two institutions.

With the assistance of a team of student volunteers we are cleaning, flattening and repacking the thousands of nineteenth century documents which are crammed, in tightly packed bundles, into the four metal trunks. The contents of these trunks were examined as part of the Wellcome Trust survey which has provided us with a useful overview of the range of material present.

Our current project will enable these documents to be used by researchers in our archives reading room, while the unpacking of the bundles will allow more detailed cataloguing of their contents which will provide further information on the collection.

The project has already revealed some interesting material, including the following documents:

This list provides a detailed account of the first ‘inmates’ of the asylum, recording their names, ages, place of birth, army service and trade. Additional remarks on their character and behaviour are also recorded as are details of burials for patients who died in the asylum.

This document is one of a set of regularly revised and updated versions of the House Regulations, which would have been prominently displayed in the asylum. The 1855 version stretches to 13 rules governing all aspects of life in the asylum. Smoking was ‘not allowed within the House.’ However, ‘one bottle of beer will be allowed to each man for two days – that is, half a bottle to each per day.’

For further information and updates on this project please contact the University Archives.

Original CD liner notes published in 2002.

Writing music seems a straightforward enough proposition: you have an idea for a piece, you write it, and then some musicians play it. But few things are as simple as they seem. The birth of a piece of classical music usually requires a midwife – the person or organization who commissions the work. In the old days, this meant a local prince or wealthy patron paying a composer to write a work for his court ensemble or for a group of musicians he supported. The 20th century, with its relative paucity of princes, saw the rise of the private foundations as a leading source of commissions. In Europe, state-run radio stations often commissioned works; the BBC in particular has a notable history of requesting works from a who’s who of English composers. In American radio, however, that idea was almost completely unheard of.

WNYC has bucked that trend by trying to be proactive, instead of reactive. American classical radio stations have traditionally reacted to music, by waiting to see what is performed or recorded and then, after due consideration of the music’s timeliness and potential importance to its audience, ditching it in favor of another recording of The Four Seasons. WNYC, though, has a long heritage of supporting living composers and live music, and a wide view of what the words “classical music” might mean. And so, for the 50th anniversary of WNYC’s FM station in June of 1994, we decided to embark on a program of commissioning music from diverse American composers to celebrate the occasion. Acting on a terrific idea from composer John Corigliano, we asked the noted poet John Ashbery for a poem, and then sent it to 12 composers. Their instructions were simple: write a piece based on the poem –it did not have to be a typical voice-with-piano setting; it could use some of the text, or none of the text. 

But there’s another part to commissioning music: finding performers to premiere it. This was quite a chore when juggling twelve different pieces at once. Fortunately, the event was one the music community in New York was eager to embrace, and in the end, a splendid concert took place on June 13, 1994, when thirteen pieces by the twelve composers (the explanation for the discrepancy is below) had their world premieres at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and live on the air at WNYC 93.9 FM.

Morton Gould

Morton Gould was an obvious choice when WNYC began commissioning music. A versatile musician, a tireless champion of other American composers, and a native New York mensch, Gould was a longtime friend of WNYC: one of his most popular pieces, Spirituals For Orchestra was premiered on WNYC’s annual American Music Festival in 1941. Gould’s Anniversary Rag, for WNYC was the only one of the WNYC FM anniversary pieces that did not use the John Ashbery poem, No Longer Very Clear. It’s not that Morton Gould couldn’t follow directions: he dutifully set the poem in the classic voice/piano combo.  But weeks before our anniversary concert in June of ’94, he sent an additional work – along with a letter saying he’d written it as a sort of anniversary gift. “I hope you’ll let me play it,” he wrote; “I’ve been practicing like mad.” Well of course we let him play it. And he charmed the Lincoln Center crowd with a performance that used both hands and feet.

Anniversary Rag, for WNYC. Morton Gould, piano and foot stomps. World premiere June 13, 1994, Alice Tully Hall, Engineers: Edward Haber (technical director & mix engineer), Christine Bronder, George Wellington, Miles B. Smith.

Philip Glass

Philip Glass is arguably the most popular composer alive today. And we knew him way back when… Glass’s music has long been part of WNYC’s programming- sometimes a very controversial part, especially in the late 1970s/early 80’s, when we began playing his works frequently. Now So Long After That Time is a piano solo whose title comes from the John Ashbery poem, No Longer Very Clear. A New York Times review of the piece at its world premiere performance in June of 1994 likened it to the piano music of Rachmanioff – an unusual comparison, to be sure; but not, surprisingly, as crazy as it might seem… Pianist Christopher O’Riley’s effortless performance convinced us to commission a bigger work from him later; the result was the Ralph Towner piece listed below. This piece, by the way, has gone on to a second life as the Etude #6 for Solo Piano, part of Glass’s two decade long process of composing two books of piano etudes. It has been recorded under that title numerous times.

Now So Long After That Time. Christopher O’Riley, piano. World premiere June 13, 1994, Alice Tully Hall, Engineers: Edward Haber (technical director & mix engineer), Christine Bronder, Goerge Wellington, Miles B. Smith.

Richard Einhorn

Richard Einhorn took over two years to write A Carnival of Miracles, and if the group Anonymous 4 had taken another two years to learn it, you could hardly blame them. The piece, scored for four female voices and two cellos, uses texts in English, German, French, Polish, Italian, and ancient Coptic. In Richard Einhorn’s marvelous oratorio, Voices of Light, written to accompany the classic silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, the “voice” of Joan is sung collectively by Anonymous 4, so when we began exploring composers to work with, Einhorn seemed a good choice. His piece, the longest WNYC has yet commissioned, is in six parts, each dealing with a specific kind of freedom. Einhorn provided the following notes:

Enigma (religious freedoms) is extracted from an extremely strange incantation found in the Nag Hammadi codices from the 3rd century.

The Scientist (scientific freedoms) is a single sentence which Galileo is said to have murmured after he was forced by Church authorities to deny that the Earth traveled around the Sun.

The Genius (artistic freedoms) is drawn from Beethoven’s asinine response to criticism of his string writing.

The Court (freedom of speech) is taken from writings by Supreme Court justices, and tries to answer the hoary question, “Does freedom of speech give anyone the right to shout ‘Fire!’ in public?”

Mrs. Satan and the Divine Marquis (sexual freedoms) combines texts by Victoria Woodhull, a 19th century feminist, with some remarkably similar (and characteristic) excerpts from the 18th century libertine, the Marquis de Sade.

Miracle Fair is taken from the 1986 poem of the same name by the Nobel Laureate Wizslawa Szymborska.

The texts often drive the music; Galileo’s “and yet, it moves” is sung in unison at first, but then the four voices steadily move away from each other while repeating the line. The text for The Court is a collage of words from various important Supreme Court decisions, and coincidentally, one of those words is “fire,” given great prominence in the music. “Eloquence may set fire to reason, but we have staked upon it our all,” wrote the Court. It’s a sentiment worth remembering, and it’s the only complete sentence to emerge from this particular text collage. (Complete texts at www.richardeinhorn.com.)

Carnival of Miracles. Anonymous 4, vocals; Christine Gummere and Julie Green, cellos. World premiere November 19, 1999, The Arts At St. Ann’s. This recording, revised version, June 26, 2001, Corpus Christi Church, Engiineers: George Wellington (technical director and mix engineer), Scott Strickland.

Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson was perhaps the most unconventional composer in our 50th anniversary concert. Her works are as much stories as songs, and those stories revolve around her own texts. In this case, though, she was working with the John Ashbery poem, No Longer Very Clear. Like Philip Glass, she took a line from the poem for her title; unlike Glass, though, she set the entire text, delivering it in her unmistakable style. Ashbery’s work is an oblique, evocative meditation on memory, perception, and darkness. But it is shot through with color, and that provided the inspiration for Anderson’s This House of Blues. It is a tape piece: the accompanying music consists of instrumental tracks produced by Laurie Anderson and Brian Eno.

This House of Blues. Laurie Anderson, vocals and keyboards; Cyro Baptista, percussion; Joey Baron; drums; Greg Cohen, bass; Brian Eno, drum treatments. World premiere June 13, 1994, Alice Tully Hall. Recorded by Laurie Anderson.

Ralph Towner

Ralph Towner has amassed a worldwide following over the past 30-plus years. He is best-known for his work with the group Oregon, which began blurring the borders between classical, jazz, and non-Western music in the early 1970s. He also wrote the Paul Winter Consort’s most famous song, Icarus; has made dozens of solo recordings as a guitarist and occasionally as pianist; and has worked with jazz greats and symphony orchestra. Simulacrum is essentially a one-movement piano sonata, with a rhapsodic, almost improvised sound (it is, however, fully notated), and a modal flight in the third section that gives Christopher O’Riley ample opportunity to display his keyboard chops.

Simulacrum. Christopher O’Riley, piano. World premiere May 20, 1999, Miller Theatre. Engineers: Edward Haber (technical director and mix engineer), Irene Trudel, George Wellington, Wayne Shulmister.

Steve Reich

Steve Reich is not only one of the most important and influential composers of our time, he’s also a neighbor. Living literally a block away from the WNYC studios, he has been a regular visitor. Anonymous 4, whose albums of medieval music have all been best-sellers, has been performing in the WNYC studios almost since its inception. As a result, this commission practically fell into our laps. Know What is Above You is a short piece, a setting of the old admonition to “know what is above you: an eye that sees, an ear that hears, and all your deeds recorded in a book.” Far from the Big Brother aspect that one might read into this statement, Reich interprets it as a reminder that someone is watching over us, and that our actions, however, insignificant they might seem, have repercussions that are noted. As with his larger piece called Proverb, this work augments the sounds of the four voices with two of Reich’s own percussionists.

Know What Is Above You. Anonymous 4, vocals; Thad Wheeler and Jim Preiss, percussion. World premiere November 19, 1999. The Arts At St. Ann’s. Engineers: Edward Haber (technical director), George Wellington (mix engineer), Irene Trudel.

Derek Bermel

Derek Bermel is the youngest composer we’ve commissioned. He was thirty when this piece was premiered; and shortly after said premiere, it was announced that Bermel had won the coveted Rome Prize. This meant that he had to give up his regular weekend gigs with his jazz/funk band in the clubs of downtown Manhattan for a while. See, Bermel is not just a composer: he’s also a singer, bandleader, and a songwriter who moves easily between pop, funk, jazz, and classical music. In addition, he’s a fine clarinetist (he takes a solo here), and plays keyboards. This piece is written for an unusual band in residence at The Kitchen, one of New York’s most important new music venues. The group, called Kitchen House Blend, was the brainchild of composer/guitarist John King and includes players who are adept at both composed and improvised works. It seemed perfect for Bermel, and he responded with Three Rivers, which refers to the three rivers that meet in Pittsburgh as well as the three independent streams of music that meet and blend in this piece. It’s a fiendishly difficult piece to play, and draws on a typically electic range of sources like Thelonius Monk, R&B (the opening passage is marked “Lugubrious funk”), and American postmodernism.

Three Rivers. Kitchen House Blend; Derek Bermel, conductor. World premiere March 1, 2001, The Kitchen. Engineers: George Wellington (technical director and mix engineer), Wayne Shulmister, Scott Strickland, Edward Haber, James Williamson.

In addition to providing services that help Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesters and Federal agencies in resolving disputes, one of the goals of the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) is to prevent FOIA disputes from arising in the first place. In line with this goal, OGIS recently issued its first advisory opinion, providing agencies with useful advice on effective communication with requesters to help them navigate through the FOIA process and the resources available to them.

OGIS is the Federal FOIA Ombudsman. The office, created within the National Archives, opened its doors in 2009 to educate the public about FOIA, resolve FOIA disputes, and assess agency compliance with the statute. OGIS’s advisory opinion is based on its observations through its now robust mediation program. OGIS’s mediation program brings the office into contact with a broad range of Federal agencies and requesters at various points throughout the FOIA process. This unique lens enables OGIS to identify common causes of FOIA disputes and identify practices that can help avoid disputes.

The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires that agencies let requesters know about the availability of dispute resolution services from agency FOIA Public Liaisons and OGIS at several points in the FOIA process. After the law’s enactment OGIS’ caseload increased significantly.  A common trend noted among several cases was the need for better communication between the agency and the requester.

OGIS’s first advisory opinion takes the communication issues OGIS noted in its individual cases and gathers it together to provides agencies with advice to help better communicate with requesters about the FOIA process: how to preserve their administrative rights to challenge an agency’s decisions, the kinds of assistance they can expect from an agency FOIA Public Liaison and OGIS, and the next steps to take if they need additional assistance with a request. The advisory opinion also provides agencies with specific examples of language and format.

This advisory opinion is a starting point. OGIS intends to use its authority to issue advisory opinions to address the most common disputes, complaints, and trends it sees in its dispute resolution practice that are likely to lead to litigation. Over time, OGIS intends to build a body of advisory opinions, available for online consultation by both requesters and agencies that OGIS believes will help head off disputes before they fester or lead to litigation.

On a sunny afternoon in June the University Of Stirling presented the writer Patrick McGrath with an honorary degree in recognition of his outstanding support for research and learning at Stirling. In 2015 Patrick deposited his literary papers with the University Archives, a fantastic resource for researchers of contemporary fiction, and in particular the students of the university’s MLitt course on The Gothic Imagination.

The University Archives was delighted to welcome Patrick on the morning of his graduation and show him how his papers are being cared for at the university, the visit captured in this lovely video.

Later, at the afternoon’s graduation ceremony Patrick’s laureation was given by our University Archivist, Karl Magee. The speech, reproduced below, provides further information on Patrick’s work as an acclaimed novelist and the importance of his literary archive:

Laureation presenting Patrick McGrath for the award of Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University Of Stirling (28 June 2018):

Chancellor, Principal, Members of the University, Graduands, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is an honour to introduce Patrick McGrath today, a critically acclaimed novelist whose work consistently stages and interrogates both psychopathology and psychiatry. His novels include The Grotesque, Spider and Asylum. His most recent novel The Wardrobe Mistress was published last year. Patrick grew up in the grounds of Broadmoor Hospital where his father was the medical superintendent. Well-versed in theories of psychiatry and psychoanalysis Patrick’s works are often narrated by psychiatrists, or those suffering from mental ill health themselves. He is a writer who is fascinated by the human mind and by those spaces where both trauma and healing may take place such as the institutionalized asylum, the analyst’s office, or even the family home.

In 2015 Patrick deposited his literary archive with the University of Stirling Archives. The University runs a highly regarded MLitt course on ‘The Gothic Imagination’ which teaches his work and Patrick was keen for his archive to go to an institution where the material would be of direct benefit to academics and students.

The archive provides a comprehensive record of the author’s creative process from rough writing notebooks, to early drafts of novels, to proofs and published editions and on through promotional material, press cuttings of reviews, correspondence with publishers and material relating to film adaptations of his work. The collection will continue to grow as Patrick is committed to continuing his relationship with the University of Stirling. Indeed the manuscripts and drafts of his most recent novel have already been transferred to the archive.

The deposit by Patrick of his literary archive with the University is an act of great generosity and commitment to academic research. In doing so Patrick has chosen to support a university which teaches Gothic fiction – the critical field in which his work is often read and considered – at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Over the last few years our students have gained a unique opportunity to work with the archives of a contemporary writer. They have assisted the archives team in the sorting, arrangement and cataloguing of the collection, with a number of students going on to use the archive as the subject of their academic research. Throughout this process the University Archives has benefited from Patrick’s continued support and engagement, creating a stimulating research environment for everyone involved in the project.

This award of an Honorary Degree recognises Patrick’s support for the inclusive and ambitious academic aims of the University of Stirling. He is a writer whose outlook particularly suits Stirling’s principles and goals as he strives endlessly to understand the human mind and the human condition. This is evident in his many meditations upon Broadmoor Hospital in London, this work complementing our NHS Forth Valley Archive which includes the historical records of a number of local institutions including the old Stirling District Asylum.

Patrick’s work is of global importance, as can be seen in the international editions of his work which have been translated into many languages present in the collection, and his standing amongst contemporary critics of Gothic literature is of the very highest calibre.

Patrick’s mother Helen dreamed of opening a bookshop in Stirling. While she never fulfilled this dream I am delighted that we have welcomed her son to the city to formally recognise his most generous gift to the university.

In the name and by the authority of the Academic Council, I present to you for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University, Patrick McGrath.

On June 21, the White House published “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21^st Century,” endorsing goals in the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to stop accepting paper records by the end of 2022, and to achieve fully electronic records management and public access across the federal government.

David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States (AOTUS), writes in his blog (AOTUS Blog):  “The result is a reform plan that complements our Strategic Plan, puts records management at the forefront of other agencies’ reform agendas, and will help drive greater efficiency and effectiveness while making the Federal government more responsive to the American people.”

As incorporated by the White House, the recommended “Transition to Digital Government” seeks to reduce the costs and inefficiencies of paper-based records management and public-access services by:

• Ending NARA’s acceptance of paper records by December 31, 2022, to force agency resources into implementing the fully electronic environment;
• Coordinating between NARA and executive-branch agencies to develop guidance, technical assistance, and services required for the digital transition;
• Engaging the General Services Administration (GSA) to support implementation by connecting agencies with commercial digitization services available in the private sector.

In addition to input from NARA, the White House reform plan supports expanding the implementation of e-records management processes begun by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The PIDB looks forward to any next steps that NARA must take to implement digital solutions affirmed by the White House reform plan, as costs and inefficiencies mount, and outmoded analog systems struggle with the unrelenting deluge of electronic records at every executive-branch agency.

Florida State: Traditions through the Eras is an exhibit that traces back some of Florida State University’s most well-known traditions through the institution’s long history. What we now know as FSU has gone through many changes over the years: beginning as the Seminary West of the Suwannee River, then the Florida State College, Florida State College for Women, and finally Florida State University. Many of the symbols and practices we know today, like the school colors or the university seal, have been carried over through these iterations, evolving with the institution itself.

The exhibit is divided into four main categories: Seals, Torches, and Owls; School Colors & Honors Societies; Music & Marching; and Camp Flastacowo & the FSU Reservation. The digital exhibit further separates the School Colors and Honors Societies into two groups. More information regarding each category can be found on their respective digital exhibit pages.

The materials in this exhibit were curated in collaboration with Women for FSU. As part of their Backstage Pass program, members get a behind-the-scenes look at how things are done at FSU. Because of this collaboration, the process of putting the exhibit together was somewhat unique: instead of researching a wide number of potential materials and only gathering a select few, we gathered a wide number of materials, from which the members would be able to pick and choose their favorites. The exhibit you see today is made up of those choices. Gathering dozens of items from all over Special Collections and Archives was quite an undertaking, but getting a glimpse into the development of FSU over its existence made it a worthwhile one.

After the event, the time came to put together a digital version of the exhibit. While the physical version is ultimately limited by space, the digital exhibit could incorporate basically every item that we had initially gathered. That being said, incorporating all of those items digitally meant a lot of digitization. Through a combination of scanning and photography, the digital exhibit now contains approximately fifty of the items gathered to reflect FSU traditions past and present.

Florida State: Traditions through the Eras is currently on display in the Florida State University Heritage Museum in Dodd Hall and accessible online here. If you have any questions regarding the exhibits or the museum, visit the Special Collections & Archives website or feel free to contact us at lib-specialcollections@fsu.edu.

Post was written by Dylan Dunn, Special Collections & Archives Graduate Assistant 2017-2018.

Here at the Amherst College Archives, we love sharing with our readers all the fascinating (and sometimes hidden) stories we find in the archives. But we also love sharing with you how we make it possible for researchers to find those stories themselves. It’s important to take our researchers behind the scenes to understand how the archives profession works. The department has been working on a strategic plan to better improve access to our archival material, and we’d like to share a small but crucial section of that plan. In short, our processing team is preparing to take stock of our entire collection and ensure that any hidden collections are made visible to the public.

What’s a hidden collection? Basically, any collection that the researcher does not know of – because there is no online presence to signal that it exists. Because of past professional practices emphasizing highly detailed archival processing, institutions often accumulate extensive backlogs of material to be processed.

Archival practice has moved steadily away from the practice of describing collections in exhaustive detail. Greene and Meissner’s seminal article “More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing” appeared in 2005, issuing a challenge to “many of the assumptions archivists make about the importance of preservation activities in processing and the arrangement and description activities necessary to allow researchers to access collections effectively.” Ten years later, Daniel Santamaria published Extensible Processing for Archives and Special Collections: Reducing Processing Backlogs (ALA, 2015), taking the More Product Less Process (MPLP) approach even further: “Extensible processing offers an alternative, allowing collection managers to first establish a baseline level of access to all holdings, then conduct additional processing based on user demand and ongoing assessment. Adhering to archival principles and standards, this flexible approach emphasizes decision-making and prioritization.” What both of these approaches have in common is a focus on users and access, rather than descriptive work by archives staff. Continue reading →

David Behrman, New Sounds, March, 7, 1985

Minimalist composer David Behrman is in town this week, playing  ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn on July 20 and 21 with the Sonic Arts Union. On March 7, 1985, Behrman visited New Sounds to discuss his work with host John Schaefer. At the time, the composer was working on a piece for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, “Interspecies Smalltalk,” with violinist Takehisa Kosugi, himself an important composer and the leader of the Japanese experimental ensemble Taj Mahal Travellers.

For Behrman, writing music is less about putting notes onto paper than it is about designing systems that allow sounds — timbres, tones, and sonorities — to emerge from improvised and chance interactions between acoustic and electronic instruments. As the composer says of “Interspecies Smalltalk,” “That’s really the idea of the piece: to stress the acoustic character of an instrument in relationship to an electronic system.” The personality and attitude of the performer is a crucial element of the composition. For all the emphasis on the “system,” the music itself is warm, expressive and conversational, a chat across a digital language barrier.

Schaefer and Behrman also chat (with no apparent language barrier) about the composer’s role in the Sonic Arts Union (SAU), a collective of heavyweight minimalists who came together in the late 1960s as part of the scene surrounding the legendary ONCE festival. Comprised of the late Robert Ashley, Gordon Mumma, Alvin Lucier, and Behrman himself, the SAU were known for their anarchic and occasionally abrasive performances, each composer presenting a piece, with the others providing for technical and musical support. Describing his music from that period, Behrman tells Schaefer that “it was more in the noise family of things. I was interested in interactive systems, but in those days, I remember using little flashlights that would make sounds and whirl around in space, and analog electronics that weren’t so involved with steady pitches … It was the discovery of those electronic sounds that hadn’t been used much by composers, but were available with the transistors in those days — it was kind of a fresh resource.”

The conversation also touches on Behrman’s time as a producer for the “Music of Our Time” series at Columbia Masterworks — where he worked on the legendary first recording of Terry Riley’s In C — as well as a “collaborative installation” he’d been working on with composer George Lewis. This project, which would later be called “All Thumbs,” was recently included on an archival release from Alga Marghen records titled Music With Memory. The piece resembled an interactive video game, with participants using a kalimba, or thumb piano, to interface with an electronic system. Like Behrman’s other work, “All Thumbs” is playful, but there’s also something radical and even transgressive about the way it erases distinctions between professional and amateur performers. Schaefer notes: “It seems almost as if the performer is the machine. You have a person standing up there playing an instrument, but once you set the process in motion, it just sort of creates the music itself.” To which Behrman replies: “Part of the idea is to make sort of game-like situations for the performers. They might be experts or they might novices.”

The two Brooklyn shows this week are being billed are as a reunion of the three surviving members of SAU, and as a tribute to the late, great Robert Ashley. Mumma, Lucier, and Behrman will all be performing, with support by like-minded musicians including Stephen O’Malley, Oren Ambarchi, Cleek Shrey, and others. Listeners will have an opportunity to experience the playful, transgressive, and possibly flashlight-induced music of David Behrman and the Sonic Arts Union.

Special Collections & Archives Research Center Reading Room, the Claude Pepper Library, and the Norwood Reading Room will be available by appointment only during the dates of August 6-17. Our faculty and staff will use this “downtime” during FSU’s intersession to complete projects and prepare for the upcoming semester (as well as spruce up our spaces!).

If you need to access our collections during this time, please contact us at lib-specialcollections@fsu.edu or (850) 644-3271 to schedule an appointment. We will resume our normal hours on Monday, August 20, 2018.

We were honored to partner with our friends of the State Records Management and Archives Department of Vietnam in the creation of the exhibit “Paris Peace Accords: The Way to Peace” which opened today in Hanoi. The exhibit uses textual records, film, photographs, and artifacts to tell the story leading to the negotiations which ended a war that divided the peoples of both countries.

We contributed facsimiles from the records of the State and Defense Departments and the Presidential Libraries of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford, including film footage.  A poignant letter to President Nixon by a child in 1970 urged him to “stop the war in Vietnam my cousin is in.  And I want the United States to settle down.”

As a veteran of the war myself, this was also a personal pilgrimage. It is my first time back in the country since early 1971 when I left Da Nang as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman. In my year there I came to appreciate the beauty of the country and the kindness of the people.  And the common desire to end the fighting. So, for me, it was an emotional and joyful return.

After almost 50 years I am tremendously proud of our new friends in Vietnam as we explore collaborative opportunities beyond this exhibit.  We have much to learn from each other as we share access to our records; we are in the same business–collecting and protecting the records of our countries and, most importantly, encouraging the use of those records to learn from our past.

Today, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) released its 2017 Annual Report to the President on security classification and implementation of the Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) program.  ISOO’s report highlights the high cost and inefficiency of using outmoded systems to protect America’s classified information, and recommends that the President implement a Government-wide technology strategy for the management of classified information to combat inaccurate classification and promote more timely declassification.

Based on data collected from executive agencies, the call for a common technology solution and risk management strategy to coordinate necessary improvements in the classification system complements additional findings, recommendations and judgments in the ISOO report.

ISOO also prescribes that the Office of Management and Budget consider reforming the budget process to include security classification as a line-item, as well as to prioritize dedicated funds for research and development activities and to transform acquisition practices.

ISOO’s report notes that CUI program implementation remains challenging, with too many agencies providing only limited support.  ISOO believes that robust agency implementation of compliant CUI policies designed to better protect and facilitate the sharing of sensitive information would further advance the President’s management initiatives.  However, the sluggish rate of agency progress toward this goal requires immediate White House intervention.

See ISOO’s Annual Report to the President for FY 2017, for the complete set of findings, recommendations, and judgments, based on quantitative data gathered from executive branch agencies, as required under Executive Order 13526.

Special Collections & Archives, along with Strozier Library, the Claude Pepper Library and the Heritage Museum are closed in observance of Independence Day. All our spaces will resume normal hours on Thursday, July 5, 2018. We wish you a safe and happy Fourth of July!

This year, the National Archives celebrates the 242nd anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence with special events in Washington, DC, and at Presidential Libraries nationwide.

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence, declaring the United States independent of Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved. On August 2, 1776, delegates began to sign the engrossed Declaration of Independence penned by Timothy Matlack. For a detailed history of the founding document, be sure to read “The Declaration of Independence: A History” on Archives.gov.

As the trustees of our nation’s founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights—the National Archives and Records Administration is a natural place to celebrate this national holiday.

For those of you in Washington, DC this July 4, stop by Constitution Avenue at 10 a.m. for a Declaration of Independence Reading Ceremony, then head inside for family activities from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can also join us for celebrations at our Presidential Libraries around the nation, or join the Washington festivities through Facebook Live, which will broadcast the events live. Watch last year’s celebration for a taste of the festivities.

Learn more and find a celebration near you on our July 4 Celebration events page. Wherever you are on July 4th, share your celebrations on social media using the hashtag #ArchivesJuly4.

 Independence Day Records at NARA

We can often take our founding documents for granted. I encourage all of us to take time during our Independence Day celebrations to read these documents and to pause and remember the difficult choices our nation’s Founders made and the meaning of these documents today.

• Engrossed Declaration of Independence
• Constitution of the United States
• Bill of Rights
• Film of the transfer of the Charters of Freedom from the Library of Congress to NARA
• Public Resolution directing the distribution of certain copies of the Declaration of Independence
• Papers of the Continental Congress

I wish you all a safe and happy Independence Day!

You could see them coming from miles away. By car, by plane, by automobile—hundreds of music producers, engineers, librarians, and archivists were descending on a small town in the Virginia hills. They met at the airport, hugged at the train depot and waved at each other on the street. For three days at the end of June, the town of Culpeper, Virginia (pop.17,000) surely had the highest concentration of Grammy®-award winners in the world.

The location was not arbitrary: many of the original recordings responsible for those awards are lovingly stored nearby, at the Library of Congress’ National Audiovisual Conservation Center (NAVCC), a state-of-the-art facility where the nation’s most prized recordings are kept, distributed, and promoted. That building was where the Audio Engineering Society was holding its second-ever International Conference on Audio Archiving, Preservation & Restoration—a subject that deeply concerns many passionate souls, from content creators to those in charge of preserving the content for future generations1. They descended on the town, coming from near and far, to hear talks and exchange ideas on everything from tape chemistry to metadata displays on smartphones.

This is where those of us lucky enough to attend witnessed keynote speaker Bob Ludwig (27 Grammy Nominations) speak about the audio formats he has encountered in his storied career; the Library of Congress’ Andrew Davis show amazing microscopic pictures of magnetic tape; Jamie Howarth demonstrate his astonishing Plangent Processes on music which you thought already sounded pretty darn good; European experts present advances in retrieving sound from analog records with light, not styli; engineers from Indiana and elsewhere expound on making wax cylinders sound (much) better than ever; and iZotope’s Alexey Lukin give a taste of what may be coming for sound restoration (hint: it involves big data). Among many others, stirring panels on multitrack archiving (where George Massenburg and Toby Seay dissected the supreme craft of recording engineers such as Joe Tarsia and musicians such as Stevie Wonder, and Steve Rosenthal highlighted some of his excellent reissues) and sobering accounts of the challenges posed by a lack of standards across several aspects of the music industry contributed to a rich experience for all those who attended, who could also take tours of this facility which excels not only in its physical plant but, more importantly, in its committed and passionate staff.

While at the Conference, it transpired that Nadja Wallaszkowits, long term audio preservation champion, will become the Audio Engineering Society’s next president. We applaud that step, and are confident that the audio legacy of our culture will continue to gain exposure through efforts such as this conference.

1 The first Audio Engineering Society Conference on Audio Archiving, Restoration & New Methods of Recording was held in Budapest in 2001.

Those of you who follow us on Facebook or Twitter have already heard, but for blog-reading purists: PPL is beginning a major building renovation this week! We’re excited for all the changes this will bring, and the ways in which it will improve how we serve the public.

The 12-18 month renovation will affect our general circulation, as well as access to Special Collections. Notably: we are no longer holding weekly open hours, but Special Collections is still open to researchers by appointment. This Building Transformation page on the PPL website will have up-to-date information throughout the renovation. (It also has cool architect’s renderings of the new space.)

For the last three months, I have been a Wikipedian-In-Residence at the University of Stirling Archives. The last few weeks of the project have flown in, and I have been continuing to edit and create new articles for the collections in the archive.

In the last few weeks, my focus has been on Sam Black, Peter Mackay and the William Simpson Asylum which each now have an article on Wikipedia dedicated to them. The Peter Heatly and Norman McLaren articles had time dedicated to adding more information to them as well.

I have been uploading images from the Peter Mackay Collection on to Wikimedia Commons, it has been fascinating looking through the photos of Peter’s life in Africa, and I hope other people will enjoy looking at them as well. I also uploaded images from the University of Stirling Collection, an image of Forsyth Hardy and some images for Howietoun Fishery.

I worked on a #DYK (Did You Know) on Twitter to show the wonderful programs from the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) that the archive holds, but also give some interesting facts about the EIFF.

It has been a wonderful experience working with the archive, I have enjoyed learning how to add articles to Wikipedia and hope to continue to add or edit pages in the future.

Lucy Rodger is completing a Masters in Environment, Heritage and Policy at the University of Stirling.

The Archives’ on-going inventory project has revealed some gems, including records that would be well served with enriched metadata in our AtoM database. This blog post focuses on one such body of records: appropriation and demolition files from the City’s Strathcona redevelopment projects of the 1960s. These records form part of the Property Division series COV-S305 Redevelopment files subsequent to the 1957 Vancouver Redevelopment Study.

City of Vancouver redevelopment : project 2, part of area “A”. Reference code: COV-S305: LEG1353.03

The above key plan shows the various redevelopment sub-areas in Project 2 and Project 1, which were spread across Strathcona. The bounded and numbered areas on the map above denote the various sub-areas for Project 2; the shaded areas are the sub-areas for Project 1. The detail below shows the pre-demolition land configuration of Project 2, sub-area 6, and Project 1 sub-area 3 as of August 1963. These properties were purchased or appropriated, and the buildings demolished, in order to construct the Maclean Park housing project.

Detail from City of Vancouver redevelopment : project 2, part of area “A”

The appropriation files document, by individual property, the acquisition and demolition of approximately 300 residences, commercial and industrial buildings on over 200 properties across Strathcona for Project 1, sub-area 1; and Project 2 sub-areas 5, 6 and 7. Some files document more than one property, if they were adjacent and had the same owner.

Exterior photos, site plan, and site usage notes from file 308 East Georgia Street/734 Gore Avenue. Photo: Sharon Walz

The files include pre-demolition photographs of the exteriors (and sometimes the interiors) of the properties and information about site usage for non-residential buildings. For residential properties occupied at the time of acquisition, the file also contains information about the residents and owner (if different).

Some of the appraisal and acquisition documentation from file 308 East Georgia Street/734 Gore Avenue. Photo: Sharon Walz

Many of the properties had multiple structures on site, and the files relating to them often contain a sketched site plan of the buildings.

Photographs and a site plan from file 918-930 Keefer Street, part of project sub-area 1; photo: Sharon Walz

Previously, these files had been described collectively, by sub-area. We felt that enriching the metadata about these records would make them more accessible to researchers, who most frequently search for property information by address or legal land description. So we re-described the files by address, as the records were originally created by the Properties Division.

Please note that some of the files are restricted in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, as they contain non-published personal information about the residents of the properties. Researchers wishing to review these files must c0mplete the Archives’ Access to Restricted Records form.  Files that contain personal information otherwise available (such as names and occupations of residents already available in published City directories) have not been restricted.

We hope that easier access helps you make use of these records, which uniquely document the past of one of Vancouver’s most interesting and altered neighbourhoods.

Another four weeks in the life of a Wikipedian-in-residence…

For three months there will be a new addition to the University of Stirling Archives, a Wikipedian-In-Residence. The second month went just as quickly as the first; I have been editing and creating new articles for the collections in the archive.

In the second month, my focus has been driven by how many people view certain collections on the archive website. The Royal Scottish National Hospital, Forsyth Hardy and Howietoun Fishery now have an article on Wikipedia dedicated to them. Lindsay Anderson, Innerpeffray Library and the Musicians Union have all had time dedicated to adding more information to their Wiki articles.

I attended a Wiki training course on the 24^th of May, and while there I edited the pages of two Scottish suffragettes Arabella Scott and Ethel Moorhead.

It is scary how quickly the weeks have flown in; however, in my last few weeks, I will be focusing on Sam Black, Peter Mackay and the William Simpson Asylum.

Lucy Rodger is completing a Masters in Environment, Heritage and Policy at the University of Stirling, her residency will run until the end of June 2018.

The proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) records schedule for records related to detainees held in ICE detention facilities (DAA-0567-2015-0013) has received significant attention in the media and by concerned individuals. Because of the ongoing interest in this schedule, NARA is providing this update on the status of the review.  The draft schedule includes files documenting cases of sexual abuse and assault of detainees, as well as detainee death investigation files. This schedule was proposed to NARA in October 2015 and posted to the Federal Register on July 14, 2017. The proposed schedule was a new request for disposition authority for unscheduled records, not a request to revise an existing records schedule.

All federal agencies propose series of records to NARA for review by NARA staff and approval by the Archivist of the United States. NARA considers each submission, or records schedule, carefully, typically meeting with agency subject matter experts, before recommending which records created are permanent and which are temporary. This determination is made by NARA through the records schedule review process. During this review, NARA determines whether records warrant preservation in the National Archives (permanent retention) and whether records lack permanent historical or other research value (temporary retention) in accordance with NARA’s appraisal policy.

NARA also reviews the retention periods proposed for temporary records to ensure the period protects the legal rights of the Government and private parties. Identified permanent records will be transferred to NARA and temporary records may be legally destroyed by agencies after a specified period of time. The opportunity for public input is mandated by law through the Federal register and is integral to the scheduling and appraisal process.

As part of the regular process of reviewing the submission from ICE, NARA received an unprecedented number of comments. Comments under review by NARA include three congressional letters with a total of 36 signatures (29 house members, 7 senators); a petition from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) with 23,758 comments, a petition from UltraViolet with 1,475 signatures; written comments from 187 individuals and six organizations; and phone calls from seven individuals. Comments were received via request.schedule@nara.gov and postal mail, and gathered from other sources such as the main National Archives email address inquire@nara.gov, web inquiry forms, the National Archives Office of Inspector General, and from NARA employees who received comments directly from concerned citizens.

NARA staff have been reviewing these comments and working with ICE to address them and revise the schedule accordingly. In addition, the Archivist of the United States has directed NARA subject matter experts to conduct a comprehensive review of all ICE schedules that relate to deaths and assaults of detainees in ICE facilities.

After the public comments have been assessed and the comprehensive review is complete, NARA will require ICE to make all changes to the proposed schedule. Our plan is to publish a public notice via the Federal Register responding to all comments. We will make all reasonable efforts to notify interested individuals, such as media outlets that previously contacted us, the ACLU, and commenters who directly provided substantive comments.