The agenda and transcript of the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) Virtual Public Meeting held on June 5, 2020, is now available online here: PIDB Meetings – 2020.  The teleconference began an important discussion about the PIDB’s 2020 Report to the President, A Vision for the Digital Age: Modernization of the U.S. National Security Classification and Declassification System. To continue this discussion, and other topics of interest, the PIDB encourages you to post comments below, or by email to: PIDB@nara.gov.

During the virtual meeting, PIDB members addressed several questions from the public. However, time did not allow responses to all questions received.  The following are the remaining questions that were not answered during the meeting:

1. In advocating for a two-tier system (getting rid of confidential) to better align with how systems work, does the Board also advocate getting rid of SCI or SAP?

No, the Board does not advocate eliminating SCI or SAP when changing to a two-tiered classification system.  Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and special access programs (SAPs) are types of controlled access programs and not a classification level.  Information at any classification level may exist within an SCI control system or contain SAP information.

2. Why does the PIDB prefer a “cherry picked” topic-based approach to declassification as opposed to respecting records provenance and advocating for the prioritization for the review and declassification of specific “high interest” records series?

The Board sees the need to balance the declassification of “high interest” records series with topic-based prioritization which aims to target the records and information most sought-after by the public.  The Board also recognizes that while declassification of series of records is necessary for some classified textual records, declassification processes require modernization. The Board recognizes that traditional archival principles and practices for textual records no longer work in the electronic environment where metadata standards, Cloud storage, and access permissions/security are critical. Declassification processes must also modernize – moving from a textual-based analog system to one capable of dealing with large volumes of born digital classified records.

3. Is there any consideration given to enabling researcher submission of electronic MDR appeals directly to NARA on electronic media (USB drive, etc.)?

The Board sees no objection to a researcher being able to submit an MDR request or appeal electronically.  NARA and the ISCAP accepts MDR requests or appeals electronically via email. There are likely security issues for accepting requests via a USB drive.

4. Will the Public be able to learn what records are undergoing declassification reviews and the results?  Will there be changes in how the public accesses the declassified records?  The primary means of access are through the websites of agencies and presidential libraries or visiting the College Park National Archives or the presidential libraries.  Will these websites be greatly expanded?  With respect to College Park, massive numbers of permanent, classified records 25 years old and older are not even there although the retention periods have long expired.  For example, it holds very few records of the CIA, NSA, DIA, JCS, and FBI – a limited number are at the Washington National Records Center but the vast majority are at the agencies themselves.  Who will review these and how will the public access the declassified records?

The National Declassification Center at the National Archives is responsible for coordinating declassification reviews of records and currently lists record series prioritized for declassification on its website: www.archives.gov/declassification. The NDC is also responsible for reviewed classified Presidential records and materials for declassification. The National Archives is responsible for maintaining and updating its online catalog, including both series of records available for research as well as digital images for select records. The National Archives invites public comment on its blogs, including those related to public access. For records not yet in NARA’s legal custody, agencies are required to conduct declassification reviews.  In the new system we envision in our report, an Executive Committee led by the Director of National Intelligence and comprised of agencies, would offer implementation guidance for prioritizing declassification reviews that will allow improved access.

The Passing Hour, the magazine of the Stirling District Asylum which was published from 1901 up until the First World War, is a mine of information on life at the asylum. Side by side with the serialised stories written by staff and patients alike, are the reports of dances, theatre troupes and entertainers coming from all over the UK to put on a show for the patients, congratulations to staff as they pass their proficiency exams and almost unfailingly something about sport at the institution.

From The Passing Hour, we can tell that SDA had a full sporting calendar with cricket and bowling clubs which played all summer and football and the odd billiards tournament during the winter time. There’s even a passing mention of winter hockey in 1906 though it doesn’t crop up again. Did they abandon hockey? Or was The Passing Hour short of a hockey correspondent? For while we do dutifully receive a list of football fixtures and results every season there is rarely an additional comment on that sport; a billiards report might briefly dwell on handicaps and bowling tends to venture no further than an account of the annual opening of the green. But cricket. Cricket was the sport, cricket was the enthusiasm. That is, if the four page reports of the season, the team photographs and the occasional ‘cricket issue’ are anything to go by!

We can gather from the many reports and from the names of players which cannot be found in our admission registers that the teams were most often comprised of staff members. That patients were primarily spectators seems to be made clear in a report made by a patient in the April-May-June 1911 issue on the games day held in celebration of the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary:

Among the means for the amelioration of the mentally afflicted, rational, innocent amusement hold a prominent, if subordinate, place. The high pressure of modern life, its dangerous intricacies, the tendency to forget the calls of Nature in the pursuit of gold or even in one’s avocation, oft-times results in the breakdown both of bodily and mental health. To sit for a long time in a room is at least monotonous, and for the young to be compelled to sit long with only those of mature years becomes irksome. Sports, such as we enjoyed, take us for the time out of ourselves, and our very applause of successful performances affords a natural outlet for animal spirits.”

However, it would be incorrect to say that patients never took part at all. It seems from this report on batting averages from the September-October 1906 issue that patients made it onto the SDA Cricket Club team and for a most successful season.

Aside from team sports that played year in, year out, there were the occasional sports days where we know that both staff and patients took part in their droves. As mentioned above, one such day was in celebration of the 1911 coronation and another day which is recounted in The Passing Hour is put on in 1913 simply due to donations from ‘grateful friends of recovered patients’ making it financially possible. At both, the festivities centre around races divided into every category you could think of: Male Staff, Male Patients, Female Staff, Female Patients, Married vs Single Male Staff, Old Women Patients, Young Boys (under 10), you name it!

The variety of races is also prodigious, though our favourite has to be the Blind Wheelbarrow race from 1913 where the competitor is blindfolded and has a guide sitting in their wheelbarrow to direct their course of travel.

The fixtures lists always make for an interesting read, with SDA playing teams from other asylums (there is one fleeting mention of an inter-asylum championship) such as Royal Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth District, Woodilee and Gartloch, with whom SDA seemed to have a friendly rivalry and firmly established annual home and away games for both the cricket and the football, referred to as ‘the events of the football season’. Beyond this, it is also clear that SDA played a wide range of teams that were not comprised of asylum staff, many local names appear on the fixtures lists for both football and cricket with the SDA football team even playing the Edinburgh Civil Service and the Edinburgh University First XI in a particularly strong season in 1913 (the first and only year that the football team photo appears in The Passing Hour). Some team names suggest at being hospital teams – Stirling Victoria who play SDA at cricket was surely a team from Stirling’s Victoria Convalescent Home? Some are a little harder to place – is Haddington a local team or a team attached to Haddington District Lunatic Asylum? Or perhaps a bit of both as we do know the sometime captain of SDA’s cricket team Dr Anderson also played for Stirling County Cricket Club and even represented Scotland in International Matches against the West Indies in 1906. Undoubtedly, SDA played a broad range of opponents in both sports and all were welcome. A 1909 issue mentions a cricket match with the West of Scotland where Australian players were attempting to come over from Ireland to play.

Sadly the First World War not only eventually halts the printing of The Passing Hour in 1917 but it puts a stop to sports at SDA. Many of the fit and able male staff leave to fight for King and country while nurses and doctors leave to administer to the troops and The Passing Hour is, instead, filled with news of these men and women with letters both from the front and from staff home on leave. In 1915, it is reported that Dr Chisholm has managed to rustle up enough folk for just two teams to play each other at cricket and bowling on Saturdays but this is all that’s left in The Passing Hour of SDA’s previous enthusiasm for sports.

Nevertheless, we do have accounts of staff still playing regular matches against other hospitals in the 1980s and an oral history project conducted by Scotspeak in 1998 with patients and staff at SDA – then named Bellsdyke – shows that patients still ran in races and football and cricket were still played regularly – there’s even a mention of badminton!

But where does the fellow at wicket come in I should like to know, particularly with those fast erratic bowlers who send a ball in as if it were a shot from a gatling-gun. Take me for example. I want to play cricket, and my girl wants me to play. She says it’s such a nice, manly, athletic game. But, I give you my word, after these few weeks’ play, I am blue spots all over. As if I had been painted like one of my own early ancestors, and had only succeeded in washing it off in patches.

Vol. XIII, No. 2, April-May-June 1913

Botany was one of the first hard science majors offered at the Florida State College for Women. It was established in 1916 with Alban Stewart as the professor at the time. The classes were made up of only a few students, up to 10 a semester, due to a lack of interest in the subject.

In 1929, a club was established under the name: Primitive and Botanical Order of Ronales. Membership to this club was only available to botany majors. The club started off with only 8 members, the total of women involved in the major at that time. The Primitive and Botanical Order of Ronales was founded by Dr. Hurman Kurz who was known for his studies of traditional Native American ways of identifying and distinguishing flora and fauna.

Dr. Kurz organized a yearly field trip to the Apalachicola area. This field trip was exclusively for the senior members of the Primitive and Botanical Order of Ronales. On this trip Dr. Kurz would teach the members how to identify the flora and fauna using Native American traditions.

Under Dr. Kurz, the botany department was able to have a laboratory/greenhouse dedicated to botany. There, students were able to conduct experiments such as growing seedless tomatoes, research, and gardening. They were also able to examine fossils that were either found by students or donated to the department.

During World War 2, more job specific classes were added to the class registry, allowing for students to be more prepared to enter into the workforce after college. These classes were usually centered around jobs that were in high demand and relevant to the war effort. In 1942, more botany courses were added to the register due to the Pure Seed Law Enactment of 1939. This federal enactment required seeds to be correctly identified, pure in composition, and properly packaged. Since more classes were added, it allowed for the botany major to grow in size.

As of 2020, Botany is still a major offered in the biological sciences department. It is now referred to as “the field of Plant Sciences”. This major “broadly includes the study of photosynthetic organisms, especially plants and algae. It prepares students to make important contributions to the world in the areas of agriculture, food security, natural resource management, sustainability, policy, and many others.”

This article was written by Aya Saludo, a student worker in Heritage & University Archives.

Whether you are an advanced chef in the kitchen or a beginner just starting out, you can always use more inspiration and recipes. The Sunshine State Digital Network repository is an excellent place to go to find new inspiration. The recipes in the repository range from Spanish traditional food to stereotypical mid-century jello mold salads.

The Sunshine State Digital Network repository is an excellent resource for planning your next dinner party. Here are the recipes I would choose for hosting a multiple course dinner party.

To start the night off on the right foot, I found an excellent drink recipe. Here is a recipe for an Original Daiquiri created by Jennings Cox. The ingredients of this 6 serving recipe include 6 lemons, 6 teaspoons of sugar, 6 cups of Bacardi Rum, 2 cups of mineral water, and ice. This recipe was not provided in a cook book in the repository, but instead was alone. Make sure while you search the repository to not skip over the non-published recipes!

Now that the drinks have been served, it is time to move on to the first portion of the night. Most of the books within the repository do not break up into segments of the meal as modern day cook books do. Most books within the repository are broken up into ingredient type. That being said, I chose a soup out of the book “The American practical cookery-book, or, Housekeeping made easy, pleasant, and economical in all its departments.” The soup I chose was the lobster soup, but there are plenty of other soup options within that cook book.

The main course of any dinner party is important. The guests await it, most hosts spend much time preparing it, and it is the main dish. There are an abundance of options in the repository for a main dish, however the one I would serve if I hosted a dinner party comes from the book, “The frugal housekeeper’s kitchen companion: or, Guide to economical cookery : … dedicated to those American housewives who are not ashamed of economy.” I would choose to create a stewed beef and I believe the recipe down below is a very traditional and savory version of that.

The only way to end any dinner party is to finish off the night with a dessert. For my dessert at my fake dinner party, I would choose to make what the book“All about cookery: a collection of practical recipes arranged in alphabetical order” calls “common cake.” This book has many different cake and pudding recipes, but this is the most standard by modern standards.

Overall, there is an abundance of options you can choose from while planning a dinner party using only cook books from the repository. Most of the books I used were from the late 1800’s, however there are my more books from a more recent time period. I urge you to explore the books listed above to find more recipes than the few included in this article because you will find many more delicious recipes to serve yourself and others.

This week’s #BeConnected Explore Our Campus looks at the history of the Pathfoot Building, home to the Art Collection and the first building on the left as you enter campus.

The University of Stirling was built on 330 acres of land within the grounds of Airthrey Estate, beneath the Ochil Hills two miles from Stirling itself and close to the Bridge of Allan. The campus was the first new university to be built in Scotland for almost 400 years. This followed the Robbins Report (1963), drawn up by Lord Robbins, who recommended an expansion of universities across the UK, and became the University’s first Chancellor in 1968.

Stirling was selected from a shortlist that included Falkirk and Perth, with the Pathfoot Building being built in the first phase of a thoroughly modern development. Constructed in 1967, it was the first building to be completed on the new campus and is now a listed building.  With its wide-open spaces giving a countrified feel, the landscape surrounding the University already provided a natural canvas. Though Lord Robbins recalled he had reservations when he visited the campus during the initial building stages.

I was overcome by the beauty of the setting… the most enchanting setting for a campus anywhere in the island. But the first piles of the Pathfoot Building were being dug. There was much mud about. It was very messy and as I looked around I could not repress the thought, Can it be that I have become Chancellor of a University which is going to ruin this marvellous landscape?

No reflection could have been more inappropriate. The Pathfoot Building has won world-wide commendations as an outstanding exhibition of what the best of modern architecture can do if it pays attention to the nature of the setting.

Lord Robbins speaking at the opening of the Pathfoot Building in 1967

In keeping with the liberal sensibilities of the era, the Art Collection was initiated from the start, with the University’s founding Principal Tom Cottrell insisting that art ‘should be part of everyday life on campus.’ With work displayed in the Pathfoot building’s iconic Crush Hall and the surrounding courtyards, the Art Collection has played a vital role in University life ever since.

As well as the Crush Hall, the building itself originally housed lecture theatres, offices and classrooms, while extensions in 1979 to house a tropical aquarium and in 1987 for a virology unit saw it widen its remit. The Pathfoot building itself is a work of art, with international conservation organisation DoCoMomo recognising it in 1993 as one of sixty key Scottish monuments of the post-war era. It was also voted as one of Prospect magazine’s 100 best modern Scottish buildings, and now has Category A listed status.  

Even though the Pathfoot Building has been altered and extended over the years, the spirit of the original design remains, and is appreciated by those who visit, study and work there. Alongside the offices and lecture theatres, Pathfoot is a public art space, displaying the University’s permanent art collection as well as a series of temporary exhibitions in its main concourse and corridors, the large Crush Hall and some of its seventeen courtyards.

You can also view Stirling student Pierre Engelhard’s interactive video of the Pathfoot building and its artworks.

In the 50th anniversary year Ally Wallace was the Art Collection’s Artist in residence. Ally created films about the Pathfoot building including this one by our curator Jane Cameron.

Details of Ally’s residency and more films can be found on his website https://www.allywallace.co.uk/About

While the Pathfoot Building is closed, the Art Collection will each week focus on some objects of interest. You can also search our entire collection online here.

Night Sky: Magda
Jon Schueler (1916-1992)
Oil on canvas, 1973

Jon Schueler painted a series of ‘women in the sky’ works, which related to significant women from the artist’s life. The ‘Magda’ in the title of this painting is Magda Salvesen whom Schueler had first met in Edinburgh in 1970. She was to become his partner for the rest of his life. Another work in this series, ‘Night Sky: Bunty’, also in the collection, is shown below. These two works are of a significant size, and are a permanent feature in the Pathfoot Building, hanging high up in the Crush Hall.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jon Schueler came rather late to art, working first as a journalist, and after WWII as a teacher of literature. During the war he was with the US Airforce and the experience of extreme danger while navigating a B17 flying fortress, sitting in the clear plexiglas nose of the plane, surrounded by sky, was to have a powerful hold over Schueler for the rest of his life. Vivid descriptions of the Scottish Highlands too, related to him by Bunty Challis with whom he had an affair in wartime London (and whose name he used in the title of the painting above), similarly fired his imagination. After the war, he started part time art classes while working in San Francisco and he was influenced by Clyfford Still who was pivotal in Schueler’s decision to move to New York in 1951. Here he established himself as one of the ‘second generation’ of Abstract Expressionists (following on from Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock etc). In 1957-8 he fulfilled his long-held dream to visit Scotland, staying in Mallaig for the winter and from 1970 onwards he kept a permanent base there, at Romasaig, visiting regularly, and exhibiting successfully in Edinburgh and in the US.

An extremely prolific artist, who also continued to write throughout his life, Schueler’s main passions, reflected in his work, were for women and nature:
‘When I speak of nature, I’m speaking of the sky…and when I think of the sky, I think of the Scottish sky over Mallaig’.

The following one-hour film conversation unfortunately has poor sound quality, but it is worth trying, as the discussion about the life and creative process of this important artist is an interesting one.

This was filmed during the 2016 Jon Schueler centenary celebrations in Scotland, in which the University of Stirling Art Collection took part, hosting a major exhibition entitled ‘Speaking of the Sky’.

All images © Jon Schueler Estate

Top 5 Musicians’ Union leaflets

5. Dancers! Protest! (undated)

The 1930s were a challenging time for members of the MU. The arrival of the ‘talkies’ had removed cinema orchestras as a dependable source of employment almost overnight. Many of the union’s orchestral members were forced instead to adapt to playing music for dancing in the growing ‘dance band’ scene which provided entertainment in cafes, restaurants and ballrooms. However they found themselves facing competition from both foreign musicians and non-union bands. The union mobilised its members on many occasions to protest against non-union entertainment on offer in venues across the country. The impact of leaflets such as this example on the dancing public is not recorded.

4. The MU can help you break out of your bedroom (1992)

The MU has often had a troubled relationship with technology and its impact of the livelihood of musicians. From gramophone records in the 1920s to increasingly sophisticated synthesisers in the 1970s new ways of producing and playing music were generally perceived as threats. By the start of the 1990s however the union was embracing the musical potential of technology. Dance music and DJ culture had become a firmly established element of the music industry and the MU was keen to support emerging talent as it had done in the 1960s when it shifted its focus to supporting rock & roll bands. This leaflet brings together an impressive line-up of artists to promote the union to a whole new audience of potential members.

3. Join the Musicians’ Union (1930)

The 1920s were a period of crisis for the union which had to deal with a variety of threats to its members livelihoods including technological change, the decline of silent cinema which required live musical accompaniment, and increasing competition from military bands and foreign musicians. The 1930s saw a renewed membership drive focusing in particular on the dance bands which were providing a lucrative new opportunity for musicians. This four page leaflet strikes an optimistic tone, noting that opportunities of employment are increasing and pointing out that ‘those who argued that the Modern Dance Combination was just a passing phase have lived to see it rise to financial heights undreamt of in the old days.’

2. Dr Feelgood says… (1976)

Over the years a range of popular musicians have lent their support to the MU’s promotional campaigns. From the 1960s onwards leaflets have featured an eclectic selection of performers including Spencer Davis, The Hollies, Sting, Nik Kershaw, Stereo MCs and The Shamen. In 1976 the union’s poster boys were Canvey Island’s own R&B rockers Dr Feelgood. The striking leaflet provides a statement of the union’s strength: ‘There are 40,000 musicians in over 120 branches nationwide who are members of the Musicians’ Union. Why aren’t you?’ with Dr Feelgood warning ‘there are so many people out there waiting to rip you off in rock music.’

1. Keep Music Live (1966)

With its striking badges, bumper stickers and banners the Keep Music Live campaign has been a core part of its union’s activities for over 50 years. A slogan which encapsulates the union’s support for the live music sector, it initially appeared on the cover of its members diary for 1959. By the mid 1960s the campaign was fully developed, this leaflet providing a key element of the promotional activity. The four page leaflet features the BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Hollies and Ronnie Scott highlighting the range of live music the union was supporting across orchestras, pop and jazz. An article in the January 1966 provides full details of the launch of the Keep Music Live campaign – a digitised copy is available to view on our new website.

The ephemeral nature of leaflets means we have many gaps in our collection. There are tantalising mentions in the archive to other leaflets such as those handed out to cinema goers in the late 1920s opposing the introduction of the ‘talkies’ – we would love to add some examples of these items to the collection.

On July 1, 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed John F. Tierney to a new three-year term on the Public Interest Declassification Board (Board). He previously was appointed by Minority Leader of the House of representatives, Nancy Pelosi on July 11, 2017, for a three-year term that was extended to June 29, 2021, in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.  He resigned his position on the Board on June 30, 2020, to realign the House of Representatives appointments. His current three-year term will end on June 30, 2023.

As authorized by Congress, the Board consists of nine members, five appointed by the President, and one each by the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House, and by the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate. Mr. Tierney’s appointment by the Speaker now opens a vacancy appointment for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to fill.

Prior to joining the Board, Mr. Tierney served nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Massachusetts, where he served on the House Intelligence Committee and chaired the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee. In Congress, he participated in oversight of the Government Accountability Office’s annual assessment of the Department of Defense Weapons Selection Programs and reform of overall Defense spending. He currently serves as the Executive Director at the Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation, and The Council for a Livable World.

Hello! My name is Gino Romero.

I am a queer non-binary artist, researcher, and the Rare Books Assistant in Special Collections and Archives. My research deals with queerness, highlighting the erasure of queer history, primarily focusing on people of color. As an undergrad, trying to do research in this topic with no formal training in research proved to be next to impossible. I leaned on my professors for resources, but these results were not so fruitful. Later that year, we went to Special Collections and Archives to look at artists’ books and before the class started, a librarian helped us look through the catalog and find topics we were interested in. I shouted out “LGBTQ+ History!”: no results. We tried just “LGBT”: no results! We tried dozens of configurations until we found results, but even then, it wasn’t guaranteed that they would actually be of use to my research. 

As a student, it was comforting to know that it wasn’t just me, that the institution was also struggling to find these histories. But as a researcher, I was frustrated beyond reason. I wondered why it’s so hard to find these histories. Now I work in Special Collections and Archives, and I wonder what my fellow coworkers and I can do to fix this? I began asking these questions to my colleagues and decided to make it into a project.

We often think that libraries are neutral, that they are solely a source of information for people to come and formulate their own opinions on the matter. Librarians are human; personal biases always creep into the work, often to the detriment of marginalized populations. Libraries are sites of power, organizing, labeling, and delivering information in ways that affect cultural beliefs and understanding on institutional, national, and even global scales. It is important that we take the time to acknowledge that power and privilege, and that the discipline evolves out of (perhaps comfortable) old practices that contribute to systems of bigotry, oppression, and white supremacy. 

Librarians are tasked with the role of making information discoverable and available. They have the ability to place subject headings and search terms on materials, are involved in the acquisition of materials, and even contribute to what is taught in the classroom. These factors, among many others, put libraries in a unique position of power, as gatekeepers of information. 

The project – asking my colleagues to engage with queer histories in archives

For Pride month, I tasked my fellow coworkers with taking a moment to reflect on our role in the distribution and accessibility of information relating to LGBTQ+ history. I asked them to look into our catalogs in order to find materials, to experience what it’s like to be a queer researcher in our institution. The rules for the search were to prioritize the following: 

• LGBTQ+ people of color
• Materials outside of the Pride Student Union collection (These institutional records don’t represent intentional acquisition, and while valuable records of queer life on campus, don’t tell the story of underrepresentation on a larger scale.)
• Stories that do not relate to LGBTQ+ struggles/hardships (Look for stories that highlight queer joy/culture!)

I asked my colleagues to submit a write up of their findings, describing why they chose that object, and what their experience was like in the shoes of a queer researcher. I will curate these submissions and blog about them on a biweekly basis, in hopes that this conversation will continue past Pride month and help create sustainable change.

I’m happy that this Pride Month work is turning into a blog series! In addition to sharing my colleagues’ findings, I hope to interview librarians and scholars who study representation in the archives. Be sure to check out the next post (hoping for a biweekly schedule), where I plan to include some of the discovered materials and describe the challenges my colleagues reported in their search process. 

In addition to this prompt, I also sent my colleagues some LGBTQ+ resources that I would like to share here as well:

• https://www.glitsinc.org/
• https://time.com/4327915/gender-neutral-pronouns/
• https://www.glaad.org/transgender/allies
• https://www.glaad.org/resources/ally/2
• https://www.glaad.org/
• https://marshap.org/about-mpji/
• https://www.hrc.org/resources/glossary-of-term

Other institutions have been researching and working towards a solution for this issue as well. UNC has created a conscious editing initiative to repair and fix any harmful/outdated language in their catalog. 

Whether we follow the lead of other institutions or create a new program entirely just for FSU, it is important to take the time to acknowledge the power information holds and to make sure that we are doing our part to make it accurate, available, and equitable.

This week’s #BeConnected Explore Our Campus blog looks at some of the University portraits which hang in the Court Room Building.

The new University of Stirling began to commission portraits right from the start. Eminent Scottish artist Alberto Morrocco was chosen to paint first Vice Chancellor and Principal Tom Cottrell in 1968, and we know from archive notes that this picture was originally hung in the first University Court Room, which was situated in the modernist Pathfoot Building. The mood of the portrait – relaxed and informal – is very much in keeping with the spirit of the age, as this new university embraced the egalitarian approach of the late ’60s.

The immediate massive expansion of the modern university system in Britain in the 1960s had been advocated by eminent British economist Lord Robbins in the ‘Robbins Report’ (1964), which led directly to Stirling’s founding in 1967. As a result, Lord Robbins was invited to become first Chancellor of the University. Here he is portrayed in a plain suit on a simple wooden chair, with no gown in sight, and this certainly seems to have been the conscious style of choice for portraits throughout the 1970s, with a relaxed Lord Wheatley sitting comfortably against a striking Holbein-esque turquoise backdrop, shown below.

By the eighties however, the portrait style had clearly gained a new formality. Alberto Morrocco, who had painted Tom Cottrell in the late 60s, went on to paint the next three Principals during the 1980s and 90s, and these are notably all much more traditional than the three above. Now, the subjects are wearing their robes of office, and sit on much grander chairs.

In this last one, painted in 1994, Professor Forty sits on a carved throne, wearing one gown, and leaning on another. It is also the first portrait to feature some background detail – the beautiful expanse of campus, loch and snowy Ochils.

Professor Forty’s successor, Professor Andrew Miller, is similarly portrayed with a scenic background. This portrait was painted by Juliet Wood who at around the same time was commissioned also to paint Lord Balfour of Burleigh. At the turn of the millennium there seems to have been a move away again from the gowned portrait towards a more informal feel, with the subjects in relaxed poses, and with more interest created in the foreground by hints at the subject’s area of research.

The artist says:’ I painted Robert Balfour in his engineer’s overall, with working tools at hand. This was more expressive of his lively and individual character than the wearing of a gown’. The gown is shown hanging in the background.

A particularly relaxed portrait, also by Juliet Wood (Oil on canvas, 2007), is this one of Dr Littlejohn CBE who was Chairman of the University Court, and was the first female chair in the UK of the Industrial Tribunal (Scotland). “Painted [at her] home in Bridge of Allan in the unusually sunny autumn of 2007” (Juliet Wood)

These two photographic portraits were taken at the request of the two individuals.  Colin Bell (above) was adamant that he did not want a painted portrait of himself and preferred a photographic medium, but he tragically died in post before one could be commissioned. Tricia Malley and Ross Gillespie, known together as ‘broad daylight’, had earlier been commissioned by the University of Edinburgh however to take official portraits of their staff, so we were able to select this one of Colin as our official portrait.  He’s looking a little serious for a man who laughed a lot and loved jazz, music and art. Christine Hallett (shown below) similarly preferred the option of a photographic portrait and Tricia and Ross were commissioned.  This portrait was taken in the University library.

The University recently benefitted from a generous gift from an anonymous donor, which enabled the painting of the portrait of James Naughtie, shown below.
The artist (Guy Kinder) gives an interesting insight into the creation of this painting:
‘During my preliminary meeting with James Naughtie, I established that he was keen for me to reveal in the portrait his passion for books, politics, music and Scotland. Much of this has been conveyed through the titles depicted in the bookcase. His years as Chancellor of Stirling University are represented by the carefully placed mortar board and the gown draped over his piano. Also during our conversation, James talked about his piano lessons as a boy, and of a statuette of Mozart belonging to his teacher, which he had always admired. The statuette was bequeathed to James when his teacher died. I decided that the inclusion of the statuette was a personal touch that would also lend an intermediate interest between the figure and gown in the foreground and the backdrop of the bookcase’.

The double portrait featured at the top is:
Portrait of Dr. R. G. Bomont and Dr. Angus Mitchell
by Anne H Mackintosh
(OIl, 1995)
Bob Bomont was University Secretary for 22 years, retiring in 1995. His book “The University of Stirling: Beginnings and Today” is in the foreground. Dr Angus Mitchell was Chairman of the University Court. He is painted with Penguin books at his elbow as he collected a complete set of Penguins which he later donated to the University Archive. The campus can be seen from the window in the background.

While the Pathfoot Building is closed, the Art Collection will each week focus on some objects of interest. You can also search our entire collection online here.

Floating Stones
Lotte Glob
(Ceramic, 2008)

Originally from Denmark, Lotte Glob arrived in Scotland during the 1960s. Living and working as she does in the remote far north of Scotland, her ceramics are imbued with the beauty of the natural landscape. These floating stones were part of a project which involved releasing three ceramic stones into 111 lochans in the Scottish Highlands. In the following film, Lotte talks about the development of this idea.

The Art Collection is fortunate to have some other objects created by this artist.

‘Fragment of the Land’, seen above, is described by the artist as ‘an important piece in my ceramic and installation work’. And the work shown below is ‘Birdbath’ which was also featured in our blog piece a few weeks ago about the Oystercatcher courtyard where it is situated.

Here is another short film in which Lotte talks in 2018 about her recent work.

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to adopt a resolution of independence, declaring the United States independent from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved. 

While John Adams originally recognized July 2, 1776 as “the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America,” he envisioned future celebrations of the event. In a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, he wrote:  “It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward for ever more.”

The National Archives celebrates Independence Day with musical performances, a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence, and history-related family activities on July 4th, 2019 in Washington, DC. NARA Photo by Ted Chaffman.

As the trustee of our nation’s founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights—the National Archives and Records Administration has a long tradition of celebrating this national holiday in a special way. This year, with museums in Washington, DC, and at the Presidential Libraries closed, the National Archives celebrates the 244th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in a new way—online.

Join us as we host a virtual Independence Day celebration on July 4, 2020, in partnership with the National Archives Foundation. The event will take place at 4 p.m. on @USNatArchives Facebook page and YouTube channel.  Several hours of additional educational programming will be offered throughout the day.

The virtual July 4th Schedule will be as follows: 

• 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST July 4th family programming including welcome remarks from Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero, a discussion with Thomas Jefferson and other historical reenactors, including Abigail Adams, John Dunlap, and Dorothy Hancock. author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Chris Eliopoulos will talk about their Ordinary People Change the World book series. Register here . 
• 4:00 p.m. EST July 4th ceremony airs on @USNatArchives Facebook page and YouTube page. Tune in for the traditional reading ceremony, hosted and narrated by journalist Soledad O’Brien.

All July 4th activities are free and open to the public, but registration is required. See the July 4th schedule to register for a program and download activities and resources.

Wherever you are on July 4th, share your celebrations on social media using the hashtag #ArchivesJuly4. See more on National Archives News.

Engrossed Declaration of Independence. National Archives Identifier 1419123 

Two hundred forty-four years ago, our founding fathers declared our independence and mutually pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.  Today, as in 1776, we face fear, uncertainty, and challenges to our lives, economy, and general welfare. Throughout our history, as a nation united, we have confronted and overcome such threats. Let us continue to stay united as we strive for a more perfect – and more healthy – union.

We can often take for granted our founding documents. 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!

The Florida State College for Women, in addition to being the predecessor institution of modern-day FSU, was once one of the largest all-female centers of higher learning in the United States. From 1905 to 1947, thousands of young women from the American South attended and graduated from FSCW. These women were, generally, from affluent Southern families and were, exclusively, White. The liberal arts and professional education curricula offered by FSCW appealed to many of the ideals of the so-called “Progressive Era” of United States history, but also existed in tandem with the intense racial oppression and inequalities found throughout the post-Reconstruction South. The institution was also steeped in highly-regulated gender roles that ascribed White women a narrow set of areas in which they could study and explore professional lives beyond being wives, mothers, and “Southern belles.” As noted by the scholar Shira Birnbaum, FSCW offered new educational opportunities for women and “credentialed white women [sic] for participation in modern life” but did so “inside repressive Southern conventions of female subordination and racism” (p. 239).

This complex lattice of gendered and racial hierarchies undergirded the formation and development of FSCW, its student population, and the kinds of scholarship its students undertook. The historical records associated with FSCW, in particular the scholarly publications produced by its students, offer us a window into this world where certain classes of White women were given limited agency to pursue academic and professional development within a deeply segregated, patriarchal society.

In an effort to make this rich history more accessible to researchers, instructors, and students, FSU Libraries has begun the process of digitizing and electronically publishing theses and other academic writing produced by FSCW students. These fragile, original documents are currently held by Heritage & University Archives, and this effort is the first comprehensive, cross-departmental initiative to provide unprecedented digital access to these materials via FSU’s institutional repository, Diginole.

While progress on this project (and many others across the University) has been hampered by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, FSU Libraries has completed the first batch of 55 theses produced by FSCW students, written between 1908 to 1935. You can access these materials directly here and can sort by date to see this particular set of theses. These represent a broad array of subjects and research areas, some which do suggest deviations from the restrictive academic environment described by Birnbaum. Topics explored range from analyses of Renaissance poets to studies in entomology to sociological investigations of racial relations in early 20th century Florida. Through these works, we are offered a tremendous amount of insight into both the history of FSU as an educational institution and the greater cultural and societal roles of women in the American South. Below are a few highlights and excerpts from this initial batch of theses. We invite you to explore this fascinating collection and look forward to making more of these historic records available to all.

The University is fortunate to have access to the books and manuscripts of the Leighton Library in Dunblane. The books are included in Stirling University Library’s online library catalogue. But did you know that other, earlier catalogues of the Leighton collection also exist?

In 1683 or 1684 Archbishop Robert Leighton drew up a list of the books he intended to bequeath to Dunblane Cathedral. After his death, his nephew, Edward Lightmaker, added to the list. The original document is in the National Library of Scotland, but we now have a transcription on our website.

Another catalogue was created in 1691 by Bishop Robert Douglas, once the books were installed in the library building. The original catalogue is a manuscript in the Leighton collection, but we now have a transcription available from our website.

Bishop Douglas also listed pamphlet publications, or “sticht Peeces, viz single sermons, Litle treatisis and other Pamphlets”. We now also have a transcription of this list on our website.

These three catalogues are particularly useful for identifying Robert Leighton’s own books.

After the Leighton Library opened in 1688, the collection was augmented substantially. Later catalogues are also available. William Smellie’s 1793 catalogue is available online as a Google Book. The 1843 catalogue is a book in the Leighton Library, while the 1940 catalogue of Cameron Dinwoodie is available in Stirling University Library.

We are grateful to Gordon Willis for transcribing the three early catalogues.

See all the catalogues on our website .

Helen Beardsley

This week’s #BeConnected Explore Our Campus blog looks at the Garden of Time.

The Garden of Time is a beautiful haven where all are welcome to enjoy a peaceful moment surrounded by nature, history and art.

As part of the University of Stirling’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2017, the University redeveloped an existing garden to create a new concept: a Garden of Time. Located to the east of the campus, the Garden enjoys spectacular views of Airthrey Castle, the Wallace Monument, the Ochil Hills and the prominent peak of Dumyat.

Reflecting the youthful vibrancy of the University, the Garden of Time is a place where nature meets art, whilst exploring time and memory. It’s a tranquil and inspirational place, which like the four seasons, will continually change and remain a place where everyone can visit, relax, imagine and dream new possibilities.

Landscape architects, designers and university curators have created a place of natural beauty within the campus’ historic parkland setting. The Garden features floral meadows, specimen trees, mowed lawn walkways, a walking labyrinth and unique sculptures.

Leave a memory

For anyone who has loved the University of Stirling and its beautiful setting there are opportunities to remember an event, a friend or a loved one, whilst also supporting student projects and the further development of the Garden of Time:

• engraving a Caithness path stone
• adopting a specimen tree
• supporting the purchase of original sculptural artworks

Find out more about recognition opportunities and how to make a donation.

Kathleen Jamie, award winning poet and Professor of Poetry at the University of Stirling, was commissioned to write a poem which captures the spirit of the Garden of Time and the surrounding ancient landscape. The poem’s title is Sun to the stone

How to find the Garden of Time

Follow Hermitage Road and you’ll find the Garden of Time next to Alexander Court and opposite the Airthrey Golf Course club house. Find out more on getting around campus.

In this second installment of Library History with Heritage & University archives, we’ll be looking at the trajectory of the Library School since its reorganization in 1947. We’ll also be exploring how Special Collections & Archives has grown since its establishment in 1956.

As mentioned in our previous library history post, the School of Library Training and Service was restructured in 1947 and began offering a master’s degree. In 1967 and 1968 respectively, the school began offering doctor of philosophy degrees and advanced master’s degrees.

In 1981, the new library school building, the Louis Shores Building, was opened and the name of the program was once again changed to the School of Information. The school’s name was changed once more in 2004 to the College of Information. In 2009, the College of Information merged with the College of Communication to become the College of Communication & Information. The college now consists of three schools, the School of Information, the School of Communication, and the School of Communication Science & Disorders, offering both undergraduate and graduate courses on campus and online. The School of Information is an international leader in the iSchool movement and is the only iSchool in the state of Florida. The school offers graduate and specialist degree programs entirely online.

The department of Special Collections grew rapidly after 1953 with Louise Richardson as the head of the department, a role she would hold until her retirement in 1960. As early as 1962 Special Collections was curating and hosting exhibits using their holdings. By 1964, Special Collections holdings included the McGregor Collection of Early Americana, the Crown Collection of documents, pictures, and manuscripts, an archival collection of photographs of Florida and Floridians, an extensive rare book collection, and the Shaw “Childhood in Poetry” Collection. By this time the library was also a depository for federal documents (Report to the Director of the Libraries, 1960; Florida State University Bulletin, 1964).

By 1973, Strozier library contained 1,150,000 volumes, 500,000 government documents, 93,000 maps, and a collection of micromaterials exceeding 700,000. In 1985, the Claude Pepper library was established as the official repository for the Claude Pepper Papers.

Between 1995 and 1996, Special Collections was relocated to its current location on the first floor of Strozier library. The Heritage Protocol program, now known as Heritage & University Archives, was established in 2001 to gather university history related documents and memorabilia.

According to the Special Collections Annual Report for 2003, Special Collections, along with the Digital Initiatives? Center, was already providing digital access to rare Florida materials. The extensive Photographic Archives collection was being used by departments all across campus. 

The last installment of Library History with HUA will be focused on the satellite libraries of Florida State University: the Dirac Science Library, the Maguire Medical Library, the College of Engineering Library, the Law Research Center, the Library and Learning Center at the FSU Panama City Campus, and the Allen Music Library.

This article was written by Kacee Reguera, a student worker in Heritage & University Archives.

While the Pathfoot Building is closed, the Art Collection will each week focus on some objects of interest. You can also search our entire collection online here.

Farnell
James Morrison RSA RSW
(Oil, 1972)

The first curator of the Art Collection, Matilda Mitchell, tells the story that in May 1973, Tom Cottrell, first Principal of the University of Stirling,
‘came back from a visit to the RSA [Open Exhibition], all excited about this picture and died a week later so we just went and got it.’*
It was the first of four by this artist to be acquired by the Art Collection.

James Morrison‘s main working areas are the lush farmland around his home in Angus (as above) and the rugged wildness of the west coast (below). His restrained palette and distinctive huge skies, usually filled with majestically shaped broad brush clouds, convey the wide spaciousness of the Scottish landscape in a particularly unmistakable style.

This painting, entitled ‘An Teallach between Ristol and Mullagragh’ (Oil on board, 1997), was donated to the Collection by the artist to mark the reconvening of the Parliament of Scotland in May 1999. An Teallach is the name of a Scottish mountain. It comes from the Gaelic “the forge”, thought to refer to the colour of the mountain, which is mainly Torridonian sandstone. Watch a short film about Morrison in the Art Collection (made as part of ‘Corridor of Dreams‘ in 2013) here.

‘Rhum and Eigg’ (Oil on board, 1983) was also generously donated to the Art Collection by the artist, and according to the date accompanying the signature – 24/vi/83 – was painted thirty seven years ago this week. It evokes very clearly the mood of a quiet, mild, cloudy June day on Scotland’s west coast.

The fourth work by James Morrison in the Collection is actually his earliest, painted not long after he finished his studies at Glasgow School of Art (1950-54) and when he was still resident in that city. ‘Winter Trees, Glasgow’ (Oil on canvas, 1956) is quite different from the three shown above. Morrison did not move over to the East coast until the 1960s, and this early work has the feel of the city with its geometric trees, undergrowth, and the suggestion of a built environment, with only a sliver of pale sky. The work came to the Collection in 1998 by way of the Scottish Arts Council bequest.

* This story was retold in the Times Ed Supplement ‘ Scottish Diary’ Friday 21st June 1974.