NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
C O VER–– Trademark label for Shaker pepper relish from I NSIDE–– “Books, Bones and Beliefs: Rethinking Resources the the E. D. Pettengill Company, who had an exclusive for Historical Interpretation” (Archival Insight, page 4); “Maine arrangement with the Shaker religious community at Memory Network: The Challenges of Digital Collaboration” Sabbathday Lake through which they distributed Shaker-made (Around and About, page 22). products for the retail market. This trademark was first used in November 1885. Contributed to the Maine Memory Network by the Maine State Archives. ❦
❦ N EW E NGLAND A RCHIVISTS 2 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
New England Archivists Massachusetts Archives 220 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125
Deadlines for submitting materials are: Massachusetts ...... 15 November 15 for January issue February 10 for April issue New Hampshire ...... 19 May 15 for July issue Vermont ...... 20 August 15 for October issue Outside New England ...... 21 Advertising Policy: There will be no fee to list position openings. Advertisements for Around and About ...... 22 archival products will be accepted as space permits. Advertising should be submitted to Jane Ward, (978) 459-2129 or Maine Memory Network: The Challenges
From the Editors
- Jason Larson
“ istory” is a fascinating discipline because there are so included here as this issue’s Archival Insight article and Hmany ways to interact with it. The theme of the reminds us in a fascinating and graphic way how the history October issue of the Newsletter emphasizes the nature of his- of "a community is recorded in the mundane features that tory, ways in which history can be interpreted, and the exist at eye level." In Around and About, Ellen Dyer resources used to create it, support it, and comprehend it. presents an informative discussion of how digital collabora- Archivists are continuously involved in how history is per- tionaffects and impacts the sources of historical research and ceived and understood, and the records we preserve and pro- the challenges digital resources present to historians and mote will someday be the determining factors in how histo- archivists. ry is written and presented. We hope you enjoy this issue of the Newsletter as much as Michael Bell's keynote speech from the Spring meeting is we do, and we look forward to new contributions. ❦ ❦
❦ N EW E NGLAND A RCHIVISTS
Reviews weaves her philosophy of historiography and the historian’s use of the residue of living. Drawing on eighteenth- and Dust: The Archive and Cultural History, Carolyn nineteenth-century records, the author presents a thought- Steedman. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University ful explanation of the battle undertaken daily in the archives Press, 2002. Hardcover, $59. Paperback, $20. 195 pp. reading room: the clamor raised among those individuals ISBN: 0813530466 whose experiences provided the impetus for the creation of the written documents, the scribes who crafted the written - Betsy Pittman, University Archivist, Curator for Political text of—but who did not directly experience—the event, and Connecticut History Collections, Archives and Special and the historian’s manipulation and extraction of the Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University “facts.” The commentary on history, historians, archives of Connecticut and the ever-changing relationship they share is revealing; the constant tension in the “double nothingness in the writ- arolyn Steedman, a professor of history at the ing of history and in the analysis of it: it is about something CUniversity of Warwick, has provided a refreshing study that never did happen in the way it comes to be represent- that effectively demonstrates the randomness of documen- ed (the happening exists in the telling or the text); and it is tation and the difficulties in attempting to create (or recre- made out of materials that aren’t there.” (p. 154) Examples ate) history through the recounting of events by those not of this dichotomy are reviewed in detail—in particular, the present, on behalf of those who were. The focus of history of rag rugs, background and interpretations of Steedman’s compilation of previously published and unpub- Middlemarch, and perceptions of Victorian England. lished articles is, as the title states, “dust”: the residue left behind, of having passed through, the last remnants of hav- A unique feature of the book is the author’s analysis of ing been. current history writing and of the historian’s interaction with the residue of the living maintained and collected in In eight brief, carefully footnoted chapters, Steedman continued on page 27 4 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
Archival Insight Books, Bones and Beliefs: Rethinking Resources for Historical Interpretation Michael E. Bell, Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission
uring the eighteenth and nine- The practice appears to have The most recent and well-docu- Dteenth centuries, New England taken hold beyond the Puritan heart- mented occurrence of the vampire was in the grips of a terrible tubercu- land of Massachusetts and contiguous practice in New England is the case of losis epidemic. By the turn of the Connecticut, in the fringe areas that Mercy Brown of Exeter, Rhode Island. nineteenth century, one of every 250 were Separatist, Tolerant or unspeci- I first encountered Mercy Brown people in the Eastern United States fied in terms of religious affiliation. through a family story told to me by was dying of this disease, accounting Historic records indicate that, in fact, Lewis Everett Peck: for nearly 25 percent of all deaths. from 85 to 90 percent of white New Tuberculosis continued to be the lead- Englanders of this era were Mercy Brown was a relative. I ing cause of death throughout the “unchurched,” many practicing vari- can’t tell you right now how we’re nineteenth century. Despite an abun- ous hybrid religions that have been related, but we are related. My dance of cures offered by an eclectic classified as “folk,” in the sense that grandmother was a Brown. And mix of practitioners, a diagnosis of they were unofficial combinations of it was told to me as a kid, consumption—as pulmonary tuber- Christian beliefs and various folk you know, from my mother. culosis was then called—was the practices of the kind often referred to Decoration Day was one of the equivalent of a death sentence. Not disparagingly as “superstitions.” big days, and Children’s Day was willing to simply watch as their one of our big days around here. family members died, one after You didn’t go very far around another, some New Englanders here, you know. And when we resorted to an old folk remedy went to the cemetery, there was whose roots surely must rest in Mercy Brown . . . just one lot or Europe. Termed “vampirism” two over from where my parents by outsiders, this remedy required are buried now. And they’d say, the family to exhume the bodies “Well, don’t go runnin’ over there. of deceased relatives and check Don’t touch the stone, because of them for signs considered to be out this awful thing that took place of the ordinary. Liquid, or so- years ago.” called “fresh,” blood in the heart, for example, was taken as a sign So, anyway, over there was this that the corpse might be responsi- stone and there’d been several in ble for the plague of consumption. the family, they had come down To stem any further spread of with some disease. Young and old! the disease, the heart—and some- All of a sudden! And everything times the liver or other organs— that they did didn’t seem to stop it. was cut from the body and burned Even those that didn’t even live to ashes. Often it was stipulated here, as far away as Ohio . . . in the that the ashes be fed to any in the same family. Brother! Comin’ family suffering from consump- down with the same sickness. So, tion. A variant of this practice was there was twelve men, as it’s told to to burn the entire corpse, some- me, of the family that was left. times having those afflicted inhale They got together and they fig- the smoke. Vampire Incidents in New England. Courtesy of Jeffrey Ward. ured it was all their turn. This is it! Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003 NEA NE WSLETTER 5
They got together and they took a Vampire Theory/That Search for the from this account of the exhuming, vote, what to do. And they dug up Spectral Ghoul in the Exeter Graves.” but this signifies nothing. The corre- one grave. They dug up Mercy. Although I found general agreement spondent simply failed to get to the For some reason they picked her, between Peck’s family story and the bottom of the superstition.” The ‘cause there was something there newspaper descriptions, some of the newspaper then attempts to remedy that led it to that. They dug her discrepancies are remarkable and sug- this oversight by placing Mercy up and she had turned over in the gest how oral tradition can veer away Brown’s exhumation in the context of grave. Well, right away, there’s a from print sources. The newspaper European vampire traditions. The lot of problems there. So they account states that the bodies of both article quotes the Century Dictionary’s took her out and they cut her Mercy’s mother and sister (both of definition of “vampire”: “a kind of heart out. There was blood in the whom predeceased Mercy) were spectral being or ghost still possessing heart. Well, they decided they had unearthed—and there is no mention a human body, which, according to a to kill it, so they started a fire, not of Mercy having turned over in the superstition existing among the Slavic far from the grave, and they burnt grave. Peck says that Mercy’s heart and other races of the lower Danube, the heart, took the ashes and done was cut out, then, to quote Peck, “they leaves the grave during the night, and something with ‘em. I don’t burnt the heart, took the ashes and maintains a semblance of life by suck- remember that stuff there, but done something with ‘em. I don’t ing the warm blood of men and anyway. And, it seems as if that’s remember that stuff there.” women while they are asleep.” The what took care of it. According to the newspaper, both the editorial approach of the Journal (and heart and liver were removed and other sources outside of the local com- You know, years ago you didn’t burned; the article stated that “to munity in Exeter, Rhode Island) was have medicines, you didn’t have make the cure certain—the ashes of to reduce the Brown family tragedy to nothin’. You, you had to figure a war of civilization against supersti- out your own. They were self- tion. Mercy Brown’s exhumation was independent people, everybody proof that—and I’m quoting from an that lived here. There was no editorial in the Journal—in “deserted such thing as relyin’ on somebody. Exeter,” the “superstitions of a lower You did it yourself. culture” had yet to be completely abolished. My interview with Peck left me with many questions. Primarily, I In an essay on pulmonary tuber- needed to know how much of his culosis written in 1799, Thomas incredible story was factual. As an Providence Journal headline from March 19, Beddoes wrote a description of the experienced folklorist, I know that 1892, reporting the exhumation of members of consumptive that could be the very stories circulating by word-of-mouth the Brown family. Courtesy of Michael E. Bell picture of the vampire Count Orlock, tend to lose some factual details, while played by Max Schreck in the 1922 adding legendary elements. the heart and liver should be eaten by film Nosferatu: “The emaciated figure the person afflicted.” The local med- strikes one with terror; the forehead The Providence Journal intro- ical examiner—Dr. Harold Metcalf— covered with drops of sweat; the duced the Brown family to the world whom the newspaper reported as cheeks painted with a livid crimson; at large on March 19, 1892 via this being in attendance to evaluate the sit- the eyes sunk; the little fat that raised headline: “EXHUMED THE BOD- uation, did not know whether or not them in their orbits entirely wasted; IES/Testing a Horrible Superstition in Mercy’s gravely ill brother, Edwin, the pulse quick and tremulous; the the Town of Exeter/BODIES OF ingested the ashes. Later I learned nails long, bending over the ends of DEAD RELATIVES TAKEN FROM from death records that Edwin died the fingers; the palms of the hand dry THEIR GRAVES.” Two days later, on May 2, 1892. and painfully hot to the touch; the the newspaper published a more The Journal article notes that “all breath offensive, quick and laborious.” detailed account, headlined, “The mention of the vampire is omitted Viewed from inside the community, 6 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
consumption’s specific symptoms cor- and community—to take care of the that explained the transmission and relate well with this vampire descrip- problem. But he had few options. acceptance of this folk medical prac- tion. The victim suffers most at night, Apart from doing nothing, he could tice. My guiding principle in this with profuse sweating. In the morning either stick with the medical establish- endeavor was that the vitality of a there is coughing and pain in the chest ment (most likely a death sentence) or community is recorded in the mun- (sometimes described as a heavy feel- turn to folk tradition, hoping that the dane features that exist at eye level. ing, like someone has sat upon the old remedy worked. (Even if it didn’t, chest). There is a gradual loss of he would know that he had exhausted If we could see into the grave of strength, color and appetite. As the every possibility, perhaps mitigating one of these suspected vampires, what disease progresses, ulcers and cavities any guilt he might feel). Doing some- should we expect to find? Probably a develop in the lungs, creating a thing is better than doing nothing. skeleton that would have been dis- noticeably sunken chest (again, sug- rupted after death, shown evidence of gesting a weight has been placed upon During the two decades that I tuberculosis, and been found in a the victim’s chest). At night, sweating have been investigating this so-called cemetery from the same time and and coughing are worse; the sputum is vampire practice, I have found more place as other New England vampire thicker, often containing blood. than twenty cases in New England. accounts. It seems that just such a Emaciation becomes extreme. One The documentation suggests it was grave was excavated in Griswold, family member after another begins to probably not uncommon in New Connecticut, in 1991, by Nick fade away, and it appears that, during England (extending into other parts of Bellantoni, the State Archaeologist. the night, something is draining away the Northeast and Canada, as well) Bellantoni was asked to investigate an their life energy. during the late 1700s and throughout unmarked, small family cemetery that the 1800s. I believe that the handful was in jeopardy of being destroyed by A New England farmer one- to of cases I’ve uncovered represents only a nearby gravel mine. The twenty- two-hundred years ago did not know a small percentage of the exhumations seven whole or partial skeletons exca- that tuberculosis is caused by a micro- that were actually carried out. I was vated by Bellantoni’s team appeared scopic organism that invades the led to that conclusion by combining unremarkable for their time and human system. Both vampires and New Englanders’ penchant for being place—except for one. The complete germs are simultaneously tangible and close-mouthed, and their justifiable skeleton of this man, the best pre- intangible. The tangible parasite is so fear of ridicule by outsiders, with the served of the cemetery, had been small as to be invisible without special apparently substantial odds against buried in a crypt with stone slabs lin- instruments, just as the parasitic vam- encountering whatever records were ing the sides and top of the coffin. On pire moves unseen among its living preserved. While not numerous, the the lid of the hexagonal, wooden cof- victims. Did the killer abide within, resources that chronicle these events fin, an arrangement of brass tacks laboring around the clock to destroy are diverse. The local histories, town spelled out “JB-55,” presumably the its host, consuming the lungs, eating records, newspaper articles, personal initials and age at death of this indi- away flesh, leaving behind a rotting journals and unpublished letters that I vidual. When the grave was opened, mess and bright red blood, all froth utilized are standard resources for his- JB’s skull and thighbones were found and foam? Or did the killer live with- torical interpretation. My use of in a “skull and crossbones” pattern on out, visiting its prey at night to feed genealogies and gravestones may be top of his ribs and vertebrae, which on flesh and blood? The nineteenth- less conventional, in that I wanted to also were rearranged. Two adjacent century farmer did know that tuber- go beyond the questions of who, when burials appeared to be related to JB. culosis passed from one family mem- and where most often asked of these One, a 45- to 55-year-old woman, ber to another and almost always artifacts. I combined them with eye had “IB-45” spelled out in tacks on killed its victims. He was a witness as witness accounts, family stories and her coffin lid and the other, a child neighbors, close friends, and even kin local legends and, through the lens of aged 13 to 14, had “NB-13” on died without hope of cure. The head the folklore process, attempted to his/her coffin. Examination of JB’s of a consumptive family felt enormous reconstruct the social networks and remains revealed lesions of the second, pressure—a sense of duty to family commonly-held beliefs and attitudes third, and fourth ribs, indicating Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003 NEA NE WSLETTER 7
13-year-old son or daughter, NB. As a & Margery his wife last resort—to spare the lives of the who died May 6, 1841 aged 27 years family and stop consumption from Altho’ consumption’s vampire grasp spreading into the community—JB’s Had seized thy mortal frame, body was exhumed so that his heart inquiring mind could be burned. When his body was unearthed, however, JB was found to The rest of the inscription was not be in an advanced stage of decomposi- visible. The stone appears to have been tion. Perhaps his ribs and vertebrae anchored in cement, perhaps because were in disarray as a result of the people had tried to remove it. search for the remains of his heart. Unfortunately, the cement covered Finding no heart, JB’s skull and thigh most of the third line of the inscribed bones were arranged in a “skull and verse as well as any lines that may have crossbones” pattern, a practice followed. Is this reference to “con- employed for centuries in northern sumption’s vampire grasp” merely Europe and Great Britain to keep a metaphorical, or does it suggest that corpse from returning after death. Simon or his older sister who had pre- Skull of "JB". Skull and bone placement deceased him was exhumed to try to could be evidence of vampirism. Courtesy of In my book on the New England save his younger sister, who died three National Museum of Health and Medicine, vampire tradition, I concluded that years after Simon? I hope that further Washington, D.C. those involved in the practice never research will reveal the answer. For chronic respiratory disease, most like- used the term “vampire.” In the spring now, I am still asking, “What does it ly pulmonary tuberculosis, but possi- of 2002, following a lead provided by mean?” The vampire trail continues. ❦ bly some other disease. In any event, someone involved in genealogical JB’s condition probably would have research, I visited the old part of a been interpreted as consumption. cemetery in northern Rhode Island. We Want Your Music! The researcher had advised me that During the time that this ceme- there was a broken tombstone with an The Local Arrangements tery was in use, from the late 1700s to epitaph that linked consumption and Committee is trying to organ- the early 1800s, consumption was a vampires. Since there was no evidence ize a live performance by the Holy Cross College Chamber common killer in Griswold. A few that the label “vampire” was ever used Singers for our Spring 2004 miles down the road in the same by people in New England who conference. We need your help. town, in 1854, the bodies of two exhumed their dead kin, I was natu- The focus of the program will brothers who had died of consump- rally a bit skeptical. be music from New England tion were exhumed and burned in a archives and we ask you to send along songs from your collec- desperate attempt to save a third Poking around this old, jumbled tion. We’ll consider vocal music brother, ill with the disease. In light of plot of tumbled-down tombstones in of all types as long as it is this evidence, historical as well as bio- small family lots scattered in received by January 1, 2004. medical, no other interpretation of the woods seemed like a real shot in JB’s unusual remains even approached the dark. Finally, as I walked For further information, please contact: the coherence of the following sce- slowly through the underbrush, I nario: an adult male, JB, died of pul- noticed a stone with a broken top. I Mark Savolis monary tuberculosis or a similar infec- had found it! The inscription on the
Inside NEA the campus of the University of Connecticut, archivists and allied professionals will meet to exchange information From the President with engineers, geographers, scholars, journalists, archaeol- ogists, librarians, consultants, architects, catalogers, and other archivists. At a time when all professions are moving - Rutherford W. Witthus toward a more interdisciplinary approach to solving problems, the New England Archivists program planners Dialogues are offering our members and all who are interested a chance to engage in dialogue with our colleagues in other ince its inception, New England Archivists has provided a professions. Join us in Storrs for this exciting event on Splace for professional and volunteer archivists to meet October 17 and 18. and share experiences with colleagues. Both at scheduled meetings and in more informal telephone or email conversa- tions, its members freely exchange their practical knowledge of archival matters, with particular emphasis on topics pertaining to New England. Through its Newsletter, Executive Board Meeting Report NEA members find information about new acquisitions, new colleagues in the area, professional training opportuni- - Tara Hur t ties, and job prospects. The NEA web site at
overall dues money is used. All board members agreed to stay with the current policy on membership fees. To reach NEA officers, please see contact information on the Vice President’s Discussion: Mary asked that if anyone had any ideas for possible upcoming meeting sites, that they NEA Web site at: forward the locations to her. The group listed the following as possibilities: Saco, Maine; Portsmouth, New Hampshire;
Meetings Committee Reports to the Board
2003 Spring Meeting Wrap Up: Rutherford reviewed all All members voted in favor of accepting the following of the comments that were in the Spring 2003 Program reports (no action needed). Newsletter Editors (Appendix Committee Chair’s Report: he will pursue getting the com- A), Print Coordinator (Appendix B), Membership plete group of evaluation forms from the Local Secretary (Appendix C), President (Appendix D), Web Arrangements committee. Committee Report (Appendix E), Development Coordinator’s Report (Appendix F), Secretary Report 2003 Fall (UConn) Meeting Local Arrangements (Appendix G). NOTE: With the agreed upon exception Committee (Appendix N): Kristen distributed a copy of that further clarifications were needed on the Web the meeting’s proposed budget. The budget is based upon Committee Report, Rutherford made a motion to accept a registration total of 165. A discussion followed about the above reports; Joan seconded and all board members NEA’s refund policy. It was noted that it is difficult to unanimously approved the reports. uphold the late registration policy. It was agreed by all board members that the registration form needs to specifi- Membership Committee Report (Appendix I): Beth cally state the refund policy and deadline. The group dis- Carroll-Horrocks gave the Membership Committee Report. cussed the current registration cost of $45.00. Joan made a It was reported that the Rodney Gorme Obien is success- motion to accept the current registration cost of $45.00: fully working on the NEA Listservs. Paul Carnahan pro- Paul seconded the motion. All members voted in favor of posed the motion to authorize the Membership Committee the proposed Fall 2003 meeting registration fee. to issue a low-level, photocopied directory for the fall 2003 meeting. All board members voted in favor of issuing a 2003 Fall (UConn) Meeting Program Committee print directory for the Fall 2003 meeting. (Appendix O): Gregory Sanford sent all board members a copy of the programs being offered at the conference Public Relations Coordinator Report (Appendix K): (attached). Rutherford noted if there were any comments Daniel McCormack reviewed his report: press releases were on the program to please contact Gregory directly. prepared and sent announcing Bruce and Patricia Stark’s Distinguished Service Award. Daniel asked the board if 2004 Spring (Worcester) Meeting Program / Local there are plans for an NEA event at SAA (Boston 2004). Arrangements Committee: Lois and Heidi reported on After a short discussion the board approved giving a public- behalf of the 2004 Committees. The committees are plan- ity list to SAA. The board will further discuss events and ning a “Music in Archives” set up for the Friday reception. report back to Daniel. The reservation of hotel rooms is underway. The commit- tees are working to finalize the following schedule: Friday – Hale Award Committee Report: The board discussed Tours, Workshops, Multi Choice Sessions, Board Meeting, who will be part of the Hale Award Committee: the senior Lunch, Keynote Speaker and Reception; Saturday – rep at large becomes the chair of the nominating commit- 10 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
tee. Peter will be in touch with all members in order to 1) raised: for the past 5 to 10 years NEA has had a special establish procedures for selecting recipients, 2) draft a reception for all NEA members attending SAA. It was release for the Newsletter and Web page and 3) work with agreed that Mary will pursue a morning session option for the existing procedures in order to make the committee NEA members to attend. active and successful. By-Laws Revisions (21st Century Additions): A Outreach Committee Report (Appendix L): Susan rewording and review of the by-laws has been prompted by reported that the NEA Bookmarks are underway. The the fact many of the words and phrases do not reflect Committee is in the process of getting the six photos (one the current technology and communication means now for each state) and this set of bookmarks will not have the available to NEA and its members. Rutherford proposed dates of Archives Week but reflect Archives Week as the first that a Task Force be created: the new Task Force would be week in November. Discussion followed on how the book created in order to review the current by-laws and to submit marks are supposed to be officially distributed. It was any suggested changes to the board. It is the sense of the agreed that the letter that the committee sends with the board that a Task Force to Review the By-Laws should bookmarks will be more clear and specify any particular be convened. locations (libraries, town halls, bookstores, craft shops, photo shops) the bookmarks should be distributed to. Archives Week Directory: The Outreach Committee will be working with the State Historical Records Haas Award Report: Joan suggested NEA have more activ- Advisory Boards in order to get NEA’s information into the ity with the Haas Award group: Rutherford agreed and he directory. will work with Lois to see how NEA can have more of a presence. Hartford Convention Center Proposal: The Hartford Convention Center approached the NEA President: the Education Committee Report (Appendix M): The convention center is networking to see what local area Board reviewed the report and agreed to co-sponsor a groups would be interested in having an event at the new NELINET workshop with minimal monetary cost to us: convention center. The Board agreed that Rutherford the set up outlined by the committee (NEA is able to should stay in contact with the Center and Rutherford will give membership brochures and bookmarks to all partici- keep the board posted of any new information. pants and in turn NEA finds a speaker to conduct the work- shop) is acceptable to the board. Once the committee The next Board Meeting will take place Friday after- has more details the board will meet to approve the work- noon October 17, 2003 at Storrs. shop sponsorship issue. Joan motioned to adjourn the meeting: Peter seconded. E-mail Coordinator Discussion: Bridget asked the board Meeting adjourned at 2:00 PM. what part of the Newsletter will be included in NEAannounce. Bridget has spoken with Ellen Doon about the information that is available. Bridget Annual Meeting has the approval of the Board to work with Ellen to post material to the list that follows the NEAannouce President Joan Krizack welcomed all of the participants and content guidelines. thanked the many people that have helped the organization over the past year. (Appendix A). Liz Andrews, NEA Treasurer, reported that NEA will close the year with a New Business balance (not a shortfall) and that in the upcoming year she will work with the Board to keep NEA on stable ground. A NEA Presence at SAA: Several NEA members will be vote for a dues increase was conducted and the NEA attending SAA. The members will help to man an NEA Membership voted in favor of the coming year’s dues table: thank you to all those who are helping. The issue of increase; $20.00 to $30.00 Individual Membership; $30.00 whether NEA will have a formal social meeting at SAA was to $40.00 Institutional Membership. Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003 NEA NE WSLETTER 11
New Members Please visit us on-line at
Lee Appelbaum Janet Lexow Simmons College - GSLIS Camden Public Library Lanesboro, MA Camden, ME Nanette K. Balliot Gail Roy Roger Williams University Danbury Hospital Bristol, RI Danbury, CT Kathleen L. Burns Diane Shepard Yale University, Beinecke Lynn Historical Society Library Lynn, MA New Haven, CT Johanna J. Smith Arthur Dooley Council of Nova Scotia St. Sebastian’s School Archives Needham, MA Halifax, NS Canada Marie-Anne Grenier Deborah H. Wiswesser Notre Dame College Red Lion Inn Manchester, NH Stockbridge, MA ❦ Abby Lester MARC formats Conversion • MARC-to-XML Columbia University Conversion • TEI and TEI Lite Tagging Archives EAD Finding Aids • Electronic File Conversion New York, NY High-Volume and Archival Imaging Conversion of Handwritten Data, Non-Standard Character Sets, Latin, Greek, Gothic, Russian, President Joan Krizack presented Daniel McCormick other Cyrillics and Diacritics • PDF Document with NEA’s Hale Award. McCormick was given the award Conversion • Data Entry and OCR Services for his survey of Regional Municipal Archives. Immediate SGML and XML Transformation Past President Bill Ross presented Representative Steve Content Architecture, DTD, Schema, XSL, and Fontana with NEA’s Archival Advocacy Award. Steve Taxonomy Development • Indexing, Abstracting, Fontana was chosen for the award for his work within Content Categorization and Hyperlinking Connecticut and Steve Fontana addressed the participants Services • Conversion of Complex at the conference. Immediate Past President Bill Ross pre- Source Material from hard copy, microfilm or digital files • E-Book Development sented Bruce and Patty Stark with NEA’s Distinguished Data Mining, Content Aggregation, Filtering, Service Award. Bruce and Patty Stark were chosen for their and Repository Creation many years of service to the archival community and they addressed the participants at the conference. Serving Libraries Around the Immediate Past President Bill Ross announced this World for more than Twenty Years year’s election results: Mary Ide – Vice President /President Elect, Elizabeth Andrews – Treasurer, and Anne Sauer – Representative-at-Large. SPI Content Sciences LLC 345 West 10th Avenue President Joan Krizack introduced NEA’s newly- Eugene OR 97401 appointed President, Rutherford Witthus. Both individuals Tel: 1-888-8CONTENT (826-6836) addressed the participants about the transition, their thanks Fax: 541 343 8726 and visions for the future. NEA’s new President addressed the participants and shared his enthusiasm for the www.spitech.com upcoming year.❦ 12 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
Internet Tidbits suggestions for both printed and on-line sources.
- Megan Friedel Harvard Law School Library aims to complete the Nuremberg Trials Project within the next ten years. ❦ Documents from the Nuremberg Trials Online at the Harvard Law School Library ecently, the Harvard Law School Library launched Job Announcements R a significant new Web site, the “Nuremberg Trials Project: A Digital Document Collection” For more job announcements, visit the NEA Web site
• Understanding of evolving issues in higher education, scholarly communication, electronic applications, and Workshop: Fundamentals of Archival management of electronic records. Acquisition and Appraisal Co-sponsored by NELINET and NEA See complete on-line description at:
Date: Thursday, December 4, 9:00-4:00, lunch included Location: NELINET Office, 153 Cordaville Road, Southborough, MA Pricing: $125 - NELINET Full Member/NEA Member; $140 - NELINET Affiliate Member; $190 - Non-member Registration:
(Please indicate NEA membership by entering “SPEC-NEA” in the OCLC Symbol box on the registration form.) 14 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
News and Notes NEMA Conference Explores “The Passionate Life of Museums” CONNECTICUT he New England Museum Association announces its Yale Archivists Initiate IT Training for Mid- T2003 Annual Conference, to be held November 12-14, Career Archivists 2003, at the Mystic Marriott Hotel and Spa in Mystic, Connecticut. The conference will be held in collaboration n a groundbreaking project funded by the Delmas with the Museum Association of New York. This year’s IFoundation, Yale University and Simmons Graduate theme is “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: The Passionate Life School of Library and Information Science are collaborating of Museums.” An unusual title for a Museum Association to develop information technology training for mid-career conference? Join NEMA for a serious and comprehensive archivists. Because many of these archivists entered the pro- look at the role of museums in today’s world and our con- fession prior to the technological revolution and the evolu- nections with contemporary audiences. tion of the Web, they need additional training to fully uti- lize information technology in their institutions. Join museum professionals from New England and New York at this three-day event. With more than sixty-five The funding will support a pilot project to produce, sessions, the conference offers both nuts-and-bolts pro- deliver, and evaluate a program that highlights key areas in gramming and more philosophical discussions. Sessions basic information technology. These include networking, include: Secrets of the Passionate Trustee with the Museum telecommunications, the Internet, Web technology, data- Tr ustee Association, Registrar Legal Issues, Teaching bases, and digitization, all of which enable, and in some cases force, archivists to reconsider how their institutions perform even the most basic core archival functions. The areas will be covered in a series of nine workshops, devel- oped and taught by experts in the New England area. A group of fifteen archivists, representing four New England states and a variety of archival institutions, have agreed to take and evaluate the workshops.
Christine Weideman and Diane Kaplan, senior archivists in Manuscripts and Archives in the Yale University Library, originated the idea for the training. They solicited assistance from professors at the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science and formed a planning group of representatives from Yale, Simmons, and the Massachusetts Historical Society to develop the project.
The project will run from September, 2003 to May, 2004. The planning group will evaluate the results, after which Kaplan and Weideman will report on them in the professional literature and review them with the Society of American Archivists. The Society is planning to offer the workshops to other archivists around the country. Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003 NEA NE WSLETTER 15
History to Teens, Developing and Planning Exhibitions, those Van Vechten took of women. Van Vechten’s subjects Getting the Most Out of Your Advertising Dollar, Signature included dancers, actresses, writers, artists, activists, singers, Objects, and much more. Wednesday offers special costumiers, photographers, social critics, educators, journal- programs for Directors and Trustees. This year’s conference ists, socialites, and aesthetes. The exhibit includes portraits features an enhanced program for Children’s, Art, and of some fifty women of achievement photographed between Science museums. 1932-1964, including Billie Holiday, Zora Neale Hurston, and Marianne Moore, to name a few of his most well Special speakers include: National Geographic-featured known subjects—and some now-forgotten women who explorer Bob Ballard; educator John Falk; historian Harvey made significant contributions to the Broadway theater Green; Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts “Dangerous Curves” community, the Harlem Renaissance, the early Hollywood curator Darcy Kuronen; and curator Grady Turner, former- film industry, and the 1920s and ‘30s expatriate communi- ly of the Museum of Sex, NYC. Off-site programs will be ties in Paris and London. Through these images, the exhi- hosted by Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium, the Florence bition also reveals something of the photographer’s unique Griswold Museum, and the Mashantucket Pequot life. Born in 1880, Van Vechten was a leading opera and Museum. For more information, phone (617) 2424-2283 music critic in the early twentieth century and by many or visit
Elisabeth Kaplan’s paper was titled “Electronic Brains, Websites to Document their Functions and Activities at the Archival Minds: Technology and the Shaping of Archival University of Michigan.” Deromedi showed through the Professional Identity, 1945-1970.” Kaplan reviewed analysis of Web site content, context, and structure that per- archivists’ relationship with early computer and electronic sonal faculty Web sites have archival value. She found that technologies saying that the rapid technological expansion faculty Web sites are a form of scholarly communication that characterized the mid-twentieth century coincided that function as a tool to reach audiences both locally and with what has been called the “coming of age” of the globally. The content on faculty Web sites is not limited to American archival profession. Writings in the American traditional scholarly outputs such as correspondence, syl- Archivist and in the archival records of the SAA indicate that labi, lecture notes, and research papers, but includes new the emerging technologies were very much on the radar of forms of documentation that capture aspects of the research the leaders of the profession, but that their almost exclusive process that have been difficult to document and other focus on establishing a clearly delineated professional iden- forms such as the Web log that are currently being discussed tity was at odds with the possibility of responding to tech- in scholarly circles as a possible new form of community nology as opportunity. Kaplan’s research suggests that the service. Lastly, Deromedi’s study showed that faculty Web legacy of these coincidences and decisions continue to sites can provide a rich source of documentation yet; the plague our profession today. collection of faculty Web sites will require a number of proactive steps by the archivist. Richard Hollinger’s research involved a detailed exami- nation of the use of electronic communications and reten- Symposium keynote speaker David Levy reflected on tion the digital documents created by these modes of com- the place of archives in the digital age. Levy, a former com- munication in several organizations. He found that elec- puter scientist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and now tronic modalities were used for many routine office com- munications but not for those requiring either formality or nuanced interactions; that digital documents, especially e- mails, tended to be retained for a shorter period of time than paper documents; and that retention policies, legal requirements, and professional standards each had a signif- icant impact on the retention of documents in a digital environment.
Richard Pearce-Moses research project was to update the 1992 Bellardo and Bellardo glossary. In his paper “The Language of Archives: Essence and Identity,” Pearce-Moses said the rise of electronic records has had a profound impact on the language of archives. Archives—the word most essential to our identity—has been appropriated to mean backup. Records used to accumulate as persistent paper by- products; now in electronic format, every time a document is revised and saved, we suffer incremental amnesia unless we make a conscious decision to preserve the original. While the basic functions of archivy—appraisal, descrip- tion, reference, and preservation—may stay the same, how we do those functions will change. A careful attention to the language of archives can help us better understand the nature of that change.
The title of Nancy Deromedi’s paper was “Wired Faculty: Research to Assess the Archival Value of Faculty Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003 NEA NE WSLETTER 17
professor at the University of Washington, is the author of Records, $6,000.00); Bedford Historical Society Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital (Understanding Bedford of 1729, $3,400); Town of Age. Levy’s keynote address concerned the balance between Lexington (The Revolution & Beyond: Documenting the abstraction of information and the grounded nature of Lexington’s Heritage, $4,500); Hadley Historical materials, particularly the “disembodiedness” we face in the Commission (Documenting Hadley’s History, $6,900); digital environment. According to Levy, we are still trying Mount Wachusetts Community College (The Gardner to begin to understand the “materiality” of how digital Furniture Industry Project, $4,900); Wilbraham Public objects work for us. Library (Wilbraham & Hampden: A Shared History, $4,800); Forbush Memorial Library, Westminster (Primary The NHPRC Archival Research Fellowship Program is Sources related to General Nelson Appleton Miles, $3,000); administered by the Massachusetts Historical Society and Morrill Memorial Library, Norwood (Norwood Heritage managed by an Executive Board consisting of: Brenda Collaborative, $4,400); Hardwick Historical Society (Plan Lawson of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Joan for Hardwick Historical Society, $3,300); Bay State Krizack of Northeastern University, Elizabeth Andrews of Historical League (New Strategies for Archives & Access, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Megan Sniffin- $4,535); New England Small Farm Institute (Belchertown Marinoff of the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Agriculture & Community History, $6,000); and the Institute, and Mary Ide of the WGBH Educational preservation of Scituate’s Heritage, Inc. (A Salute to Foundation. Scituate Veterans of World War II, $4,900.00).
The Documentary Heritage Grant program is spon- Collaborative Action for Historical Records sored by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the Massachusetts Historical Records n July 1, 2003, William Francis Galvin, Secretary of Advisory Board and, is made possible through a grant from Othe Commonwealth, announced the awards for the the National Historical Publications and Records 2003 Documentary Heritage Grant program. The compet- Commission, a division of the National Archives and itive grant program funds projects that educate the public to Records Administration. value historical records and archives, promote collaboration to achieve common goals, plan for adequate documentation of Massachusetts history, and improve the accessibility and Ada L. Comstock Papers Available for Research preservation of historical records. The total award for the grant program is $100,000. he Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for TAdvanced Study announces the opening of Ada L. The twenty-one projects meeting the funding criteria Comstock’s papers. A native of Moorhead, Minnesota, include: Rueben Hoar Library, Littleton (Preserving Comstock was the third president of Radcliffe College and Littleton’s Legacy, $4,150); Martha’s Vinyard Historical a champion of higher education for women. This collection Society (Marthas Vineyard Historical Society Archive focuses primarily on her life before and after her tenure as Assessment and Master Plan, $5,000); Winchester president of Radcliffe College and includes correspondence, Historical Society (Collaborative for Documenting household material including financial and medical records, Winchester’s History, $5,000); Institute for Asian American clippings, photographs, and speeches from her presidency at Studies, UMass Boston (Documentation Planning for Asian Radcliffe. The extensive correspondence is primarily American History & Culture in Massachusetts, $6,000); between Comstock and her family, especially her father S. Boston Police Department (The Boston Police Media G. Comstock, and with her husband, Wallace Notestein, Project, $5,125); Somerville Public Library (Somerville including letters from the thirty-five years prior to their Latino Heritage Archive Project, $5,000); Egremont marriage in 1943. Additional correspondence is between Historical Commission (Discovering Local Resources, Comstock and her large circle of friends and business $4,000); Beverly Public Library (Beverly Archives Project, colleagues. The bulk of her professional material covers $4,800); City of Cambridge (Describing Documentation of Comstock’s work after she had retired from Radcliffe Cambridge, $4,290); Millis Public Library (Millis Archival College. 18 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
One of the founding members of the American Now Open for Research: Theater Offensive Association of University Women, Comstock also served on Records the Wickersham Committee and the Institute for Pacific Relations. She was active in several clubs including the he Northeastern University Libraries Archives and Chilton Club, Cosmopolitan Club, and Our Society. TSpecial Collections Department is pleased to announce While there is some Radcliffe College material, particularly that the records of the Theater Offensive, a Boston-based, her speeches, Comstock’s presidential papers are at the cutting-edge, queer theater group, is now available to Radcliffe College Archives. Additional Comstock family researchers. collections are at Moorhead State University and the Comstock House, part of the Minnesota Historical Society. The Theater Offensive was founded in 1989 by Abe Wallace Notestein’s papers are at Yale University. The Rybeck, “to form and present the diverse realities of queer finding aid for the Ada L. Comstock papers is available lives in art so bold it breaks through personal isolation and online at
State Library of Massachusetts Receives Grant The collection is of particular interest to researchers studying the development of theater as a forum for political he State Library of Massachusetts has received a grant activism and personal expression, especially in the queer Tfrom the Institute of Museum and Library Services in community. The collection contains a mix of publicity the amount of $19,985 to fund the Alexander Parris Digital materials, programs, scripts, art work, photographs, grant Project. Grant funds are provided through the federal gov- files, and administrative records that document the Theater ernment’s Library Services and Technology Act and admin- Offensive’s productions and festivals, education and out- istered by the Massachusetts Board of Library reach programs, and the relationships to the queer perform- Commissioners. Alexander Parris was one of the most ance community. A guide to the collection is available prominent architect-engineers of Massachusetts in the first on the Archives Web site:
MIT Returns John Hancocks to State continued, “The bounty warrants indicate efforts made by the state government to revive the whaling industry after n late 2001, MIT Museum curator Kurt Hasselbalch the Revolution, at a time when the British industry had Icame upon a cache of late eighteenth-century profited by the war and soared ahead. […] These docu- Massachusetts state documents—most of them emblazoned ments have been loaned to the Institute [MIT] by the office with the signature of John Hancock. The documents were of the honorable Frederic W. Cook, Secretary of the in an envelope labeled “Property of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, through the courtesy of Mr. Donald H. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1942.” Clearly, the Fassett, Director of Corporation Records.” museum was in possession of an old loan that had to be returned to its original owner, the Commonwealth of Because no records could be found relating to this Massachusetts. loan, the curator and state archivist can only speculate about why the loan was made, the reasons the loan may The museum contacted the Massachusetts Archives have been forgotten, and why the documents were filed in about the documents and plans were initiated for their repa- an archival box in a remote corner of the museum for more triation. On June 25, 2003, MIT Associate Provost for the than sixty years. Arts Alan Brody and Chancellor Phillip Clay presented the twenty-two bounty warrants, dated 1786-96, to Secretary “Our presumption is that the documents were loaned of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin at a special event in 1941 to the then Hart Nautical Museum to augment the at the museum. Galvin’s agency includes the Massachusetts inaugural exhibition of the Forbes Whaling Collection, Archives, which will make the warrants available to which had been recently donated by Alan Forbes, Sr.,” said researchers and historians. Hasselbalch. “After Pearl Harbor was attacked, MIT went into war emergency mode, the exhibit came down, the doc- The bounty warrants are essentially receipts for whale uments were filed away and the loan forgotten.” [Source: oil, cotton duck (for sails), hemp (for ship rigging) and MIT News Office, June 26, 2003] sheet glass. Almost all are signed by the governor, secretary of state and treasurer; Hancock, Massachusetts’ first gover- nor, validated sixteen receipts as a Boston selectman. NEW HAMPSHIRE Hasselbalch, curator of the Hart Nautical Collections, con- tacted colleagues at New Bedford Whaling Museum to Manchester Historic Association Under inquire about their experience with such documents. They Renovation indicated that the documents appear not to have been stud- ied by whaling researchers and constitute a new source for he Manchester Historic Association Research Library the economic history of whaling. Tis temporarily closed to the public to allow the staff to prepare for an upcoming renovation project. The library, “These warrants might provide a more detailed view of along with offices, exhibit space and museum storage, is the complex business relationships between whale oil mer- housed in the Association’s headquarters building at 129 chants and brokers and insight into the subtle ways in Amherst Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. As part of which they tried to manipulate the markets or navigate the Association’s long-range plan, which included opening domestic and international embargoes,” said Michael A. the new Millyard Museum in 2001, the headquarters build- Jehle, director of curatorial affairs at the New Bedford ing is undergoing a transformation to a Research Center Whaling Museum. that will house an expanded library, a research room for studying the museum collection, improved storage areas, Hasselbalch discovered the envelope containing the and a small exhibit space and meeting room. Plans include documents while cataloging some old files in the Hart installing an elevator and climate control system as well as Collections. A typewritten notation, appearing to be an replacing windows and rewiring. Because of the extent of exhibit label, opened with the following words, construction the entire library and museum collection will “Documents of the late 18th century, showing aspects of be moved off site until the work is complete. To accommo- the mercantile life in Massachusetts.” The exhibit label date researchers some reference service will still be available 20 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
via voice mail (603-622-7531 x226), e-mail (library@man- race in Laconia. The exhibition also portrays moments of chesterhistoric.org), and fax (603-622-0822). Extensive gritty reality faced by candidates: Mario Cuomo is pictured research will not be possible but every manageable request in Concord announcing his withdrawal from the will be addressed. Also the MHA photograph collection will Presidential race in 1988. Campaign advertising materials, be available at the Millyard Museum through the posters, and pins round out the display. PastPerfect photo database, and in January 2004 a satellite library will be opened on a limited basis at the Millyard First Stop explores the image of the New Hampshire Museum. It will include the book collection, microfilm and primary, both here and across America. It looks at the atlases that have been available in the library reading room. impact our primary has on national political issues and tackles the tough question of whether New Hampshire While the library is closed publicly there will be much serves well as a mirror of the country at large. The exhibit activity going on behind the scenes. The staff will take this encompasses the origins of the primary, the stories of long- opportunity to reorganize parts of the collection and rescue shot candidates who did well here, and the history of the items that have been tucked in corners or on tops of shelves political industry in New Hampshire and incorporates a because of lack of space. The goal is to inventory and look at the 2000 Presidential election, emphasizing that process the collections so that when they return to the every vote counts. The colorful retrospective adds to our newly renovated space there will be better access for appreciation for the state’s special role in selecting American those interested in researching Manchester’s history. Also presidents, at the same time reinforcing the importance of the MHA’s project archivist, Chris Steele, continues to our own participation in the political process. Sponsored work on adding to the photo database. Thanks to the gen- by Orr & Reno, P.A., Public Service of New Hampshire, the erosity of the Samuel P. Hunt Foundation, The Trust Grappone Companies, the Concord Comfort Inn, Family Foundation, and the Norwin S. Bean Foundation, Fleet, the New Hampshire Humanities Council, and Chris is in his third year of the project and has cataloged WMUR-TV, the exhibit is a “must see” during the upcom- over 5,500 images. ing political season.
For information on the Manchester Historic In conjunction with the exhibition, the New Association and Millyard Museum, and updates on Hampshire Historical Society and the New Hampshire the schedule for reopening the Research Center in Political Library have teamed up to present a five-part lec- early 2005, check the Association’s Web page at ture series, beginning October 5, at the New Hampshire
he history of New Hampshire’s unique role in choos- Ting the U.S. President will be explored in an upcoming VERMONT exhibition, First Stop: The New Hampshire Primary, at the Museum of New Hampshire History in Eagle Square VMG Alliance Disaster Camp in Concord. The exhibition is presented jointly by the New Hampshire Historical Society and the New he Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance (VMGA) Hampshire Political Library. It will remain on view through Tconducted a “disaster camp” at the Grand Isle Lake March 28, 2004. House, Grand Isle, Vermont, on September 18 and 19, 2003. The camp was a two-day workshop focused on train- First Stop captures memorable moments of the New ing a fifteen-member “Emergency Response Team for Hampshire primary with photographs ranging from Cultural Institutions,” comprised of staff from Vermont Dwight D. Eisenhower waving from an open car in museums, historical societies, galleries, libraries, archives Concord, to John F. Kennedy greeting voters at a dogsled and town clerks. Emergency managers and first responders Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003 NEA NE WSLETTER 21 from around the state were also encouraged to attend, in OUTSIDE NEW ENGLAND hopes of creating a coalition of cultural heritage leaders and emergency management professionals to protect local cul- GERA Releases “The Quality Electronic tural and historic resources more effectively through team Records Practices” building and information sharing. The project is funded by a grant from Vermont Emergency Management. he Global Electronic Records Association (GERA) is Tpleased to release for feedback “The Quality Electronic The VMGA is also working with the Rutland County Records Practices,” which focus on designing, validating, Municipal Clerks Association to develop a collaborative dis- and legal defense of electronic evidence in documentary aster risk analysis. This project is also funded by Vermont form. GERA’s focus is on the entire lifespan of electronic Emergency Management. Both projects build upon earlier records and their long-term preservation and access for collaboration between the VMGA and the Vermont many decades, centuries, or perhaps “permanently.” The Historical Records Advisory Board under a regrant from the National Historical Publications & Records Commission National Historical Publications and Records Commission. (NHPRC) and the Collaborative Electronic Notebook Systems Association (CENSA) have jointly funded the Quality Electronic Records Practices (QERPs) standard News from the Vermont State Archives specifications and guides.
he 2003 legislature added three new exemptions to The first three QERPs Specifications and Guidelines TVermont’s Right to Know/Public Records Act. The are now available for your input and feedback: “The exemptions reflect national trends. One exemption relates Electronic Records Lifecycle Specification,” which identifies to statewide voter checklists created under the national and defines all required design elements in an organization- Help America Vote Act and is designed to protect voter al program to capture and manage electronic records over identification numbers. Another exemption is modeled on their entire lifespan; “Litigators Guide to Electronic Homeland Security legislation and exempts certain building Records,” which draws upon CENSA’s Legal Acceptability and infrastructure plans from public inspection. The third Guide for Electronic Records, and will be helpful for taking is associated with new legislation allowing credit card pay- your e-records to court; and lastly the “Validation Guide for ments and protects credit card information. The building Electronic Records Programs and Systems,” which is plan exemption generated public discussion of security ver- designed to help any government or industrial organization sus right-to-know tensions. The State Archives is develop- validate and verify all required elements of a Quality ing an overview of the Right to Know/Public Records Act Electronic Records Program, its organizational compo- to provide a broader understanding of current record nents, and its technology systems and components. statutes. The project should be available on the Archives Web site this fall. The guides are now available on GERA’s Web site with no obligation to register:
Around and About Maine Memory Network: The Challenges of Digital Collaboration Ellen Dyer, Outreach Consultant, Maine Memory Network
ave you checked out the Maine the efforts of the Maine Cultural cooperative appropriations request to HMemory Network yet? If you Affairs Council, a unique public-pri- the state legislature. In 1999 the leg- have not, direct your browser to vate partnership of seven statewide islature responded with an appropria-
incorporate the ability for any reposi- were able to make provisions for the by the U.S. Department of tory with collections related to Maine distributed input and holding pen Commerce, provided the funding for history to contribute their own histor- that Maine Memory Network an outreach program in the fall of ical images to the database. The required. The result was an agreement 2001. The mission of the outreach intent behind the New Century to license the software from A & Q for program was to recruit and train con- Program was for projects to have a much less than it would cost to tributing partners as well as raise gen- statewide impact. While the Maine develop it from scratch. Then work eral awareness about the Maine Historical Society has a rich and var- began on building the initial Maine Memory Network. Kathy Amoroso ied collection that covers much of the Memory Network site. The Maine was brought on board to act as out- state, everyone realized that the con- Historical Society became the test case reach coordinator, helping to develop tent of the Maine Memory Network for working out the processes and the standards for submissions to would be exponentially deeper if other identifying the bugs. When Maine MMN, the manual that would historical societies and muse- become the contributing ums could contribute images partners’ guidebook and from their own collections. making initial contact Furthermore, it would allow with potential contribu- smaller, volunteer-run organi- tors. She then turned her zations to have access to tech- sights toward hiring two nology they would probably other outreach consultants have not have been able to to increase MMN’s pres- afford on their own. ence throughout the state. Knowing the Maine tempera- Maine is, after all, a large ment (we can be pretty inde- state—to drive from pendent), another priority Portland to Fort Kent was to ensure that those con- can take nine hours. tributing partners would be Fortunately, Rick Asam, in able to participate with a Presque Isle, works with great deal of autonomy. organizations in the Within certain standards, northern part of the state. contributing partners should Based out of Warren, I be able to choose, upload, work with organizations and catalog their images with in eastern and central minimal dependence on Maine. MMN staff. This is one of the features that sets the The easy part of the Maine Memory Network outreach job is getting apart from other similar digi- people excited about using tal projects. Map of Maine for the United States Gazetteer by Joseph Scott, 1795. the Web site. One can Contributed to the Maine Memory Network by the Maine Historical Society. search the database in a After reviewing many variety of ways—by key- Web sites, and investigating software, Memory Network went live, all of its word, by county, by time period, by Kaplan determined that stock photo images were from the Maine theme, or by person. A “browse” tool Web sites were already doing a lot of Historical Society. Obviously the is slated to go live in early fall 2003, a the things Maine Memory Network database needed more depth, which is way for researchers to narrow down a wanted to do. He approached Aurora where the outreach team comes in. group of images through hierarchical and Quanta to see if they could adapt subject categories. Once a user identi- a stock photo application to satisfy A grant from the Technology fies an image they would like to take a MMN requirements. Happily, they Opportunities Program, administered closer look at, they proceed to a detail 24 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
page that gives descriptive informa- be somehow related to Maine and of through the use of an on-line, pass- tion about the item and contact infor- historic interest. Since items are dis- word-protected form whose fields mation for the organization that con- played at a standard 600-pixel width, roughly correspond to MARC record tributed it to the Maine Memory whether the original is a slide or an 8 fields. MMN staff double check every Network. From there the user can x 10 print, we require that the final submission to ensure everything is in “zoom” into the image. For select scan be a certain file size instead of a order and our intrepid cataloger, Fran images the user can rotate the item, certain resolution. This ensures that Pollitt, adds Library of Congress sub- getting either a 360° view of three- they both will display at roughly the ject headings before a finished submis- dimensional items or the ability to see same resolution at a 600-pixel width. sion goes on-line. the writing on the back of a postcard We encourage contributing partners (for an example of the rotate tool, type to scan at a very high quality, resulting One of the hardest challenges of 6034 in the search field and view the in a 40 MB jpg file when opened. the outreach mission is getting con- Robinson pitcher). This captures a lot of detail, enables tributing partners through the initial the zoom tool to function well, and training and making sure they have The album feature allows the user allows the contributing partner to the tools they need to participate. to group specific images together, add make that image available for sale if MMN has made a real effort to make text, and view it as a slide show, with they choose. If file sizes are a real con- the process of scanning, uploading its own URL. This allows a school cern for them, they may choose to and cataloging as simple as possible. A child to put together a project and submit 2.5-3.5 MB files instead (for number of contributing partners have e-mail it to his or her teacher, or more details about our scanning stan- the equipment readily available and for a small historical society to put dards, please see our Contributing are comfortable enough with technol- together a virtual exhibit and link to it Partners Manual, available on the Web ogy that all they have to do is skim the from their own Web site. A signifi- site). The cataloging for each image is Contributing Partners Manual and cant part of MMN is dedicated to standardized as much as possible they are ready to go. But not everyone educators, and the schools is that fortunate. Many of section provides access to Maine’s historical societies primary documents that are small, volunteer-run support teachers and stu- organizations with a high dents using the new Maine percentage of volunteers Studies textbook, Finding who are not comfortable Katahdin: An Exploration with technology. If they of Maine’s Past (University have a computer and scan- of Maine Press, 2001). ner, it may be an ancient There is also a section of one someone donated when on-line features that they upgraded their home explore different historical system (have you ever tried themes in detail. opening a 40 MB file on a seven-year-old computer?) Because contributing They may not even have a partners run the gamut of phone line in their building professionalism, resources, for Internet access. Or they and comfort with technol- may not have the time to do ogy, MMN has simple the work, especially for standards in place to ensure manuscripts, which require a consistent level of quality a full transcription. The across the database. To outreach consultants doing 18th-century document describing herbal prescriptions to relieve complaints keep the collection focused called 'Gravel' and 'Stone'. Contibuted to the Maine Memory Network by the the training must be able to we require that submissions Maine Historical Society. decipher a variety of scan- Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003 NEA NE WSLETTER 25
person were have discovered there is a real thirst for funded by this information about proper archival and grant, and all are museum methods, especially in the available at the rural areas. In addition to advising on Lewiston Public gift agreements, we have frequently Library for any found ourselves advising contributing contributing partners on where to find grant money partner without for archival supplies, connecting them equipment or a with experts on exhibit mounts for good Internet museum objects, telling them where connection to to find information on creating disas- use. ter plans, pointing them in the direc- tion of places they can purchase Another collection managment software or challenge has informing them about archival classes Fragment of chinoiserie wallpaper from the Thomaston, Maine mansion been educating available to them. This is a service built by Major General Henry Knox. Probably purchased from Moses Grant of Boston, ca. 1795. Submitted to the Maine Memory Network by Montpelier, contributing not originally envisioned by MMN, the General Henry Knox Museum. partners about but it is one that our contributing the issues partners have appreciated, and one ning and imaging software to ensure involved in making images available that makes them stronger organiza- that we can help the contributing on the Web. Attitudes range from the tions. The stronger they are as a partner meet MMN standards. desire to scan everything without repository, the stronger they are as regard to privacy or copyright issues to contributing partners. Maine Memory Network has faced the fear that putting an image on the this challenge in a variety of ways, Web will mean it will show up mass- The Maine Memory Network has from the simple to the innovative. We marketed on t-shirts next week. covered a lot of ground and faced a lot have helped connect organizations to MMN provides each contributing of challenges in the course of recruit- grant resources to get equipment, and partner with a primer on copyright ing and training contributing part- have even located an intern or two to law, and talks them through the grey ners, but we have many more ahead of help with their scanning and cata- areas so that they can make an us. We are currently working on loging. In Skowhegan, director of informed decision about what their expanding the number of museum education, Steve Bromage, managed risks are in putting certain images on objects and over-sized documents to facilitate a collaboration between the Web. We have helped them devel- available on the Web site, which two middle school teachers and the op better gift agreements that assign requires the use of digital cameras Skowhegan History House. The copyright as part of the gift, and pro- instead of scanners. We are in the curator provided access and insight vided sample photo releases to get per- process of making audio clips available into the students’ local history, and in mission to post images of people still to researchers as well. Video clips are return the students provided the man- living. To help allay fears about wide- also part of our future plans. A newly- power to scan, and the school provid- spread dissemination of an image, hired historian, Candace Kanes, is ed access to equipment and a high- each submission is watermarked, and helping to identify gaps in the data- speed Internet connection. Their users do not have direct access to high base, and locating possible material to efforts have resulted in over eighty quality images except through the fill them. A lot of new things will be images on-line. Last fall the Maine zoom tool, which does not allow easy happening. By the time this newslet- Memory Network partnered with the copying. ter reaches your mailbox, the Maine Lewiston Public Library in a New Memory Network should have over Century grant to create a scanning Beyond all the information direct- seventy contributing partners. For an center for local contributing partners. ly related to Maine Memory Network outreach consultant, that’s the most A computer, scanner and trained staff the outreach team disseminates, we exciting thing of all. ❦ 26 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 30, Number 4 ¥ October 2003
Calendar October 26-28, 2003. The New England Library Association Annual Conference. Worcester, MA.
November 2-8, 2003. Archives Week in the NEA region. Press releases and other announcements of upcoming activities to be published in the Newsletter should be sent to NEA, c/o Massachusetts Archives, 220 November 6-9, 2003. New England Regional Genealogical Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125, or sent via Conference, “New England: America’s Melting Pot.” e-mail to
October 8-12, 2003. Oral History Association Annual November 12-14, 2003. “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: Meeting, Bethesda, MD. “Creating Communities: the Passionate Life of Museums,” New England Museum Cultures, Neighborhoods, Institutions.” For additional Association Annual Conference. Mystic, CT. information, contact Roger Horowitz, OHA Program
March 25-28, 2004. Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting. Boston, MA.
March 26-27, 2004. NEA Spring Meeting. Worcester, MA.
Through March 28, 2004. Exhibit: “First Stop: The New Hampshire Primary,” at the Museum of New Hampshire History in Eagle Square in Concord, NH.
June 20-24, 2004. Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (ALA) Pre-conference at Yale University, New Haven, CT.
June 24-30, 2004. American Library Association Annual Conference, Orlando, FL.
August 2-8, 2004. Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting and Conference, Boston, MA.
October 20-22, 2004. New England Library Association Meeting, Manchester, NH.
November 8-13, 2004. Archives Week in the NEA region. ❦
Reviews...from page 3 archival institutions. Steedman focuses not so much on the straightforward—the who, what, where, when and why of history—but studies how historians analyze historical events and effectively use archives.
Just as the materials found in archives were not created for the sole purpose of becoming “history,” it is unlikely that Steedman’s intended audience is only the archival pro- fessional. However, there is pleasure to be found for the archivist in its pages, an alternative to the nuts and bolts of accepted practice and new uses of technology. For this archivist, Dust is a pleasant intellectual stroll through the experiences of the patron, the “voice on the other side of the reference desk.” It is also a realistic and understanding presentation and awareness of those “brought face to face with the ordinariness, the unremark- able nature of archives and the everyday disappointments that historians know they will find there” (p. 9). Lastly, it presents a compassionate understanding and awareness that “Nothing goes away,” (p. 163) but all that may be left is—Dust. ❦ NEW ENGLAND ARCHIVISTS Non-profit Organization Massachusetts Archives U.S. Postage 220 Morrissey Boulevard PAID Boston, MA 02125 Boston, Massachusetts 02205 Permit Number 56006
Simon Whipple's headstone, linking consumption and vampirism. Courtesy of Cyril Place. (Archival Insight, page 4)