Highlights of Special Collections Activities, April 1-June 30, 2011
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Highlights of Special Collections Activities, April 1-June 30, 2011 Byrd Polar Archives Services • Laura gave a tour of Archives and presented on the Polar Archives to 12 grad students from James Madison University, as part of larger event and tour of the Byrd Center. • In the month of June alone, there were 8 commercially produced items (books/films) that used polar collection documents, images and/or films. Publishers/production houses in the UK, Australia and Germany account for 3 of the 8. • Polar, OCA and University Archives hosted HIS 398 in the Archives as research prep. Collections • Processing continued on the Peter J. Anderson collection. Anderson was an assistant director at the Byrd Center, and was instrumental in bringing the Byrd Papers to OSU. • Laura discovered rare nitrate films stored in the Byrd Center’s cold lab during a film collection assessment and is outlining next steps towards preservation and digitization. • We received a donation of a parka, mittens and lined pants worn in the 1960s in Antarctica by Richard Goldthwait, founding director of the Institute of Polar Studies (now the BPRC). • Laura is currently in contact with several potential donors of gift-in-kind materials, including Bob Breyer (Byrd’s grandson); members of the Frederick A. Cook Society; Paul Koulouris, executor of the Lockhart estate (Lockhart was a Byrd Expedition Member). Library as Place • With Lynn Lay (Goldthwait Polar Library), we installed new exhibits in the Byrd Center, in preparation for an Alumni Association tour (including Archie Griffin) of the BPRC. • Polar images in the KB were seen and captioned by a patron in Antarctica. Laura is currently working with Maureen Walsh on updating the metadata as appropriate. Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum Services • Large photocopy requests were completed for Idea and Design Works (IDW) Publishers, cartoonist Rick Kirkman, and researcher Black • Our reading room has been busy including extended research visits by Art Spiegelman (Wexner Residency recipient), Graham, and Navasky. • Jenny presented to 3 Department of Art classes: Advanced Printmaking (Massey), Intermediate Drawing (Lisbon) and Advanced Drawing (Lisbon) • Jenny lectured on Gilded Age editorial cartoons at the Smithsonian’s Teach American History workshop in Michigan. Collections • Digitization of cartoons in our collection continues steadily, including a large order of 33 Flash Gordon color tear sheets for IDW Publishing. • Two History 489 internship students entered hundreds of Billy Ireland’s The Passing Show original cartoons into the PastPerfect database. 1 • San Francisco Academy of Comic Art processing completed runs of San Francisco Call, Boston American, San Francisco Examiner Sunday sections, early Jimmy Swinnerton tear sheets, Dick Tracy, Bungle Family, and Our Boarding House. • Ann Lennon, Lucy Caswell and one of our student workers made significant progress on sorting, rehousing and describing the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection Library as Place • We hosted visits from a Japanese manga translator and 7 South Asian Cartoonists (part of the State Department’s International Visitor Program.) • We completed the move of materials in ACK 640/660 to Special Collections storage. • Plans for the new BI Cartoon Library & Museum in Sullivant Hall progressed, including decisions on gallery lighting, exhibition case design, and the Ireland stained-glass. • We mounted the exhibition Dick Tracy: Chester Gould’s Blueprint Expressionism. Infrastructure including human resources: • Staff participated in the search for an Associate Curator, including Susan Liberator, who served on the search committee that brought two candidates for interviews. • Donor relationships were cultivated at National Cartoonists Society annual convention, visits with Bill Watterson, Chester Gould’s family, Bill Winston and Sayre Graves. • Curator’s Circle letters were sent out to potential donors. • Jenny gave a presentation at the OSU Mothers Clubs luncheon and at the Friends of the Libraries Board Meeting regarding the Schulz Challenge project. Hilandar Research Library Services • The 2011 Medieval Slavic Summer Institute opened on Monday, June 27 through July 22. Ten selected graduate students from OSU, Michigan, Brown, Arizona State, and Oriental Pontifical Institute, Rome, will attend Slavic 812, “Readings in Church Slavonic,” from Daniel E. Collins (Slavic Languages and Cultures), and Slavic 814, “Practical Slavic Paleography,” from Pred, as well as guest lectures. This is the first MSSI to take place in the Special Collections reading room, and the sixth MSSI overall since 1999. Collections • Visiting researcher, Stefan Alexandru, discovered a previously non-deciphered palimpsest of a Byzantine text relating to the Church Council in 342 in Serdica using a 1975 microfilm of a manuscript found in Zograf Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece, that was filmed by V. Rev. Dr. Mateja Matejic. Modern technology applied to microfilms of the manuscript revealed underlying textual layers. • A major gift of books from Ann Salimbene from the private library of her husband, OSU Professor of History and administrator, Michael W. Curran was received and celebrated with an event on May 12. This includes a 1779 edition of the Decrees… (Ukazes) of Empress Catherine II of Russia that catalogs of rare Russian books suggest is a great rarity. The Curran copy, which has been cataloged for Rare, is unique in WorldCat. Library as Place • The 29th issue of Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage, the newsletter of the Hilandar Research Library and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies, was published in June. 2 Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Library (TRI) Services • Course engagement was wide ranging this quarter with targeted sessions on TRI resources for: Dance 880: Research Methods; Yiddish 721: Studies in Yiddish Literature; Theatre 800.03 on dramaturgy; and Theatre 694 on Czech theatre and culture. • Nena attended the Midwest Slavic Conference, where Lauren Bush, OSU graduate costume design student gave a revised version of her Theater Research Methods paper on Czech scenographer Jan Štěpánek whose designs she studied at TRI. Collections • Grayce Burian, donor of her husband, Jarka Burian’s, research as the longtime primary English scholar on Czech theatre, visited and spoke to Theatre 694. The collection documents Czechoslovakia from the Prague Spring through the Velvet Revolution. • Coverage of the Dance Preservation Symposium in The Chronicle featured our Marcel Marceau collection-- http://chronicle.com/blogs/arts/dance-preservation-is-a-moving- target/29525. • Nena attended the Prague Quadrennial, the major international theatre design exposition, where she met with Czech designers and worked on collection development. Library as Place • Beth curated the Camouflage exhibit which accompanied the Department of Theatre’s Camouflage Project, receiving high praise from President Gee. Rita Kramer announced the gift of her camouflage collection to RBMS at the conclusion of the symposium. • Nena was an invited speaker from OSU at the Dance Preservation Symposium hosted by the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities in Washington, D.C. in April. • Nena met with Winrich Meiszies, director of the Theatermuseum and president of SIBMAS, the International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts. Infrastructure • The Dance Preservation Fund has announced a fourth year of funding for a Dance GA to work with the Dance Notation Bureau collection at TRI. • The Dance Heritage Coalition has received a CLIR Laura Bush grant which will provide a DHC fellow to TRI for processing dance collections. Ohio Congressional Archives Services • Heavier reference than usual included requests pertaining to legislation establishing inspectors general in federal departments and agencies; radiation experiments on human subjects during the 1950s and 1960s; and user fees in national parks and forests. Collections • Substantial processing of the William M. McCulloch Papers completed series and sub- series containing constituent issue mail, district subject files, department and agency files, and media relations files. • Work continues on the conversion of the John Glenn photo galleries from their current location in the CMS to the Knowledge Bank. 3 Infrastructure • In June, Speaker John Boehner appointed OCA curator Jeff Thomas to a third two-year term (2011-2012) on the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress. Rare Books and Manuscripts Services • Jose taught the Public History course (H494) which organizes internships for individuals considering careers in cultural heritage organizations. • Geoff addressed English 569: Digital Media and English Studies (Lewis Ulman) and English 590: Archival Research Methods and American Literature, 1860 – 1910 (Elizabeth Renker). Both are using digitized version of rare materials to further learning. • Geoff also worked with Stuart Hobbs who led a Scientific Revolution Institute for secondary school teachers where they investigated the history of science books. • Photographer William E. Jones wished to view the Farm Security Administration photographs as background research for a Wexner exhibit in Spring 2012. Collections • We acquired the George Bellows notebooks which feature records of sales, exhibitions and disposition of many works by the Columbus artist as well as sketches of the works. • We purchased The Mysterious Press Archives containing business records of the most important mystery publishing