The Reading Room a journal of special collections Volume 1, Issue 1 Volume 1, Issue 1 The Reading Room: A Journal of Special Collections is a scholarly journal committed to providing current research and relevant discussion of practices in a special collections library setting. The Reading Room seeks submissions from practitioners and students involved with working in special collections in museums, historical societies, corporate environments, public libraries and academic libraries. Topics may include exhibits, outreach, mentorship, donor relations, teaching, reference, technical and metadata skills, social media, “Lone Arrangers”, management and digital humanities. The journal features single-blind, peer-reviewed research articles and case studies related to all aspects of current special collections work. Journal credits Editorial Board: Molly Poremski and Amy Vilz Designer: Kristopher Miller Authors: Elizabeth N. Call, Matthew Baker, Elizabeth Knazook, Michael Basinski, Marie Elia, Nancy Kuhl, James Maynard, Edric Mesmer, Anne S. K. Turkos, Jason G. Speck, Amanda K. Hawk, María E. González Marinas and Rose Sliger Krause Cover photo: Lockwood Memorial Library main reading room at the University of Buffalo, circa 1935. Designed by noted Buffalo architect E.B. Green, this was the first true library for the University of Buffalo. It was renamed Charles D. Abbott Hall in 1977 and currently houses the University’s Health Sciences Library, History of Medicine Collection, and Architecture & Planning Library. University Archives University at Buffalo 420 Capen Hall Buffalo, NY, 14260 (716) 645-7750 [email protected] © The Reading Room, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York All rights reserved. ISSN: 2375-6101 Editors Note Dear Readers, Welcome to the inaugural issue of Te Reading Room: A Journal of Special Collections! We hope you share our enjoyment in our endeavor: to provide an open access and scholarly forum for all those working in, or with, special collections. In this frst issue, we’re thrilled to bring you six articles that capture the diverse world of special collections: » Elizabeth N. Call and Matthew Baker assess the impact of American Protestant missionaries during the Armenian Genocide as documented in Te Burke Library at Columbia and other repositories. » Elizabeth Knazook illuminates why 19th century books with original photographs are under-represented in special collections. » In celebration of our frst issue, we include a roundtable discussion of fve poets and their interpretation of the art and function of curation: Michael Basinski, Marie Elia, Nancy Kuhl, James Maynard, and Edric Mesmer. » Anne S.K. Turkos, Jason G. Speck, and Amanda K. Hawk share their successes and challenges in initiating the digitization of hundreds of football flms at the University of Maryland. » Te infuence of political and historical events in Uruguay on the creation of the Simn Lucuix Río de la Plata Library and the circumstances of its accession by the University of Texas at Austin is investigated by María E. González. » Rose Sliger Krause’s case study describes eforts at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture/Eastern Washington State Historical Society to ofer research- ers unifed intellectual and physical access to archives and museum materials. Te creation and launch of a journal is no small task. Quite simply, this issue, and indeed the journal, would not exist without the eforts and support of a team of professionals. Te editors are privileged to work with and thank the almost 100 peer reviewers who contributed their expertise and time to this inaugural issue. To UB Libraries and the team at Scholastica: thank you for providing a sound basis for our fedgling venture. Without the technical skillfulness of Kristopher Miller and Don Gramlich, this online journal would still be sketched out on a legal pad. For their advice and unwavering encouragement throughout this entire process, we extend our utmost appreciation to Chris Hollister, Mike Basinski, and James Maynard. And to all of the authors who submitted articles and to you, our readers, our sincere thanks. We are actively seeking partners and contributors at Te Reading Room, and we invite you to consider submitting an article or serving as a peer reviewer. Additionally, we are soliciting images, particularly of reading rooms, for our next cover. Images should be a minimum 300 dpi and 8.5” x 11” in size. Questions and comments are always welcome. Please send all inquiries to [email protected]. Whether as an author, reviewer, or reader, we hope you enjoy this issue of Te Reading Room. In appreciation, Molly Poremski Amy Vilz Editor-in-chief Editor-in-chief Contents 7 Philanthropy, Faith, and Influence: Documenting Protestant Missionary Activism during the Armenian Genocide Elizabeth N. Call and Matthew Baker 19 Collecting Nineteenth-Century Books with Photographs Elizabeth Knazook 38 Acts of Curation: The Curating of Poetry & The Poetics of Curating Michael Basinski, Marie Elia, Nancy Kuhl, James Maynard, Edric Mesmer 59 Throwing a Hail Mary! The University of Maryland Football Film Project Anne S. K. Turkos, Jason G. Speck and Amanda K. Hawk 71 The Simn S. Lucuix Río de la Plata Library María E. González Marinas 90 Objects in the Reading Room: Centralizing Museum Collection Access through the Library, Archives, and Special Collections Rose Sliger Krause Philanthropy, Faith, and Influence: Documenting Protestant Missionary Activism during the Armenian Genocide Elizabeth N. Call and Matthew Baker, Columbia University Author Note: Elizabeth N. Call, Public Services Librarian, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York; Matthew Baker, Collection Services Librarian, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elizabeth Call The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary 3041 Broadway New York, NY 10027 Contact: [email protected] Philanthropy, Faith, and Influence | The Reading Room | Volume 1, Issue 1 7 Abstract American Protestant missionaries played important political and cultural roles in the late Ottoman Empire in the period before, during, and after the Armenian genocide. Tey reported on events as they unfolded and were instrumental coordinating and executing relief eforts by Western governments and charities. Te Burke Library’s Missionary Research Library, along with several other important collections at Columbia and other nearby research repositories, holds a uniquely rich and comprehensive body of primary and secondary source materials for understanding the genocide through the lens of the missionaries’ attempts to document and respond to the massacres. Keywords: Armenian genocide, Turkey, missionaries, Near East, WWI, Middle East Christianity Philanthropy, Faith, and Influence | The Reading Room | Volume 1, Issue 1 8 Philanthropy, Faith, and Influence: Documenting Protestant Missionary Activism during the Armenian Genocide Elizabeth N. Call and Matthew Baker, Columbia University April 2015 marks the centenary of the beginning of the Armenian genocide, in which an estimated 1 to 1.5 million members of the indigenous and ancient Christian minority in what is now eastern Turkey, along with many co-religionists from the Assyrian and Greek Orthodox communities, perished through forced deportation or execution (Kevorkian, 2011). American Protestant missionaries had been present in the Ottoman Empire since the early nineteenth century and were instrumental in shaping Western awareness and response to both the Hamidian massacres of the mid-1890s, in which an estimated 200,000 were killed, as well as the genocide of 1915-1923 (Kevorkian, 2011, p.11). Inspired by the evangelistic and millenarian zeal of the Second Great Awakening, the role and legacy of these missionaries is complex and contested, and a number of recent works have explored and tried to holistically understand their presence and signifcance (Makdisi, 2008; Nielssen et al., 2011; Stanley, 2003). In addition to their proselytizing labors, they reported, lobbied, authored books and pamphlets, and were key agents in an extraordinarily successful wartime fundraising efort in the aftermath of the genocide. Indeed, historian Suzanne E. Moranian has argued the Protestant missionaries were “the most critical fgures in the relationship between the United States and the Armenians during the genocide era. Tey were unmatched in exerting infuence and expertise in the Turkish feld and on the American home front, as well as in the American policy, intellectual, and cultural circles” (Moranian, 2004, p. 185). Philanthropy, Faith, and Influence | The Reading Room | Volume 1, Issue 1 9 ..1'/JR¥1N -------- . .. :J;: . HELr.t NOW MILLIONS ARE STARVING IN BIBLE LANDJ! ARMENIA ' • J" Y F~ IA • CAUC A .J'UJ EGYPT • PE F<,J' , A • PALE J TI NE/ Chas.R.Ctdne,70 FifthAve.Treasur<.=>r, Armen~cm, Syrian R@l~ef Committ@e1 [“Starving Armenia” poster], ca. 1915, Mission Research Library Pamphlet I Collection, Armenian and Syrian Relief, RELIEFWORK NOT JTOPPED BY WAR.' folder 1894. Image courtesy of Te Burke Library at Union Teological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York. Te Burke Library at Union Teological Seminary, one of Columbia University’s Libraries, is home to the Missionary Research Library (MRL), an extensive and rich group of collections of primary and secondary source materials integral to understanding