Monday, March 29, 2010

I've mentioned the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection on this blog before, but again, it is a collection of photographs taken by an Indiana University alumnus that has been made available as a digital collection. While Cushman generally provided good descriptions of the subjects of his photographs, people who have come across the site sometimes contact Indiana University to offer further identifying information for particular images. The University Archives is collecting this information, and it will ultimately be made available in a separate notes field on the website along with the images and Cushman's metadata.

Several of Cushman's images of Ireland in the 1960s were recently published in a Dublin magazine, and this has generated a lot of interest in the collection from people in Ireland. In addition to requests from other Irish publications and organizations to use the images, we have also received emails from several people in Ireland with more information about the locations shown in the images. In each case, we have investigated the information provided to us to make sure it is accurate and saved it for eventual inclusion on the website.

One of the emails we received today offered further information about this image of an island off the coast of Ireland. (I've also included a small version of the image at the end of this post, because this blog has been picture-less for too long.) Cushman simply identifies it as an "Islet in Irish Sea near Irish Coast," but the person who emailed us indicated that it was Lambay Island. Comparison of Cushman's image to Lambay Island on Google Earth and maps like this one confirmed its identity. The island has an interesting history, which is outlined in this Wikipedia article on the island.

***

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Today I continued entering items from the memorabilia cabinet into the accessions database. Brad and I also went through some orders for images and prints.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Today, Brad and I continued going through patron requests and he showed me how he goes about filling these requests by selecting appropriate images and informing the requester of the Archives' policies regarding the use of images. I scanned two negatives and a photograph of two Indiana University chemistry professors for an article, and tomorrow I will probably select images for a requester.

I also accessioned some more items from the memorabilia cabinet.

Monday, March 22, 2010

While I accessioned memorabilia last week, I set aside any problem items I came across that I wasn't sure how to deal with. I spent most of the morning discussing these items with Brad and entering them into the database once our conversation had clarified what I needed to do with them. Brad also showed me the original accession system in the University Archives. It was used before the archives purchased the AskSam database software and relied on assigning ranges of numbers to particular university offices or departments and keeping track of accessions on cards. Brad indicated that many of the archives I might end up working in are likely to have the remnants of such a system.

Towards the end of my shift, Brad showed me how he goes about filling photo orders. He said that people from other Indiana University offices often contact the photographs department on the behalf of someone who has contacted them with a photographs request, but that it's always best for an archivist to work directly with the person with the request rather than working through intermediaries. In the case of the Indiana University Archives photographs department, there are forms that must be tailored to the requester's situation, if he or she plans to publish the image. The questions about the intended use of the image and the related fees make it particularly important that Brad be in direct contact with the person who needs the image.

However, working directly with the requester also provides the archivist with the opportunity to clarify the request or get more detail from the requester. It seems like this interaction would be the equivalent of the "reference interview" we discussed in my SLIS Reference course, and, just like the more traditional reference questions we worked with in that class, it seems that taking the time to work directly with the person who needs images from the archives can make things much easier in the long run by avoiding potential misunderstandings and problems.

We began filling a request for photographs of two chemistry professors who were at Indiana University during the 1950s, and we will complete this request tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

[10:45 a.m.]

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

I'm at my internship right now, continuing to accession realia from the memorabilia cabinet and also working at the desk. It's pretty quiet, though, since it's spring break. No one is in the reading room at the moment.

I started accessioning items from a new box, and I've run across some interesting things. One of those things was a piece of rope used to pull the plow at the groundbreaking for the New Gymnasium at Indiana University on December 7, 1915. I would have thought the dead of winter, when the ground is frozen, wouldn't have been the best time for the groundbreaking on new construction, but I don't really know much about construction.

***

[11:30 a.m.]
I've just accessioned what is supposed to be the first touch-tone telephone installed in Monroe County. I wish I'd remembered my camera--I'd have taken a picture and posted it.

[12:00]
Finished the second box and started on a third.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Today, I continued accessioning realia from the memorabilia cabinet and finished my first box. Some of the things I added included a tie pin and key chain that belonged to Herman B. Wells. I also came across an interesting box with a lot of different things in it. I haven't added it to the database yet since I wasn't sure how to handle all the different pieces, but one of the things inside was an envelope of nineteenth century calling cards and invitations. These were some of my favorites.

Monday, March 15, 2010

This morning, Brad showed me how to enter realia into the University Archives accession database, AskSam. We brought a box from the memorabilia cabinet up to the photographs area and went through several items together.

Basically, entering the items involves searching the database to make sure the accession number they have been assigned has not already been used, creating a new record, and then entering information about the object, including a description of the item and, if available, the date it was created, the person or entity who created it, the person or entity who gave it to the University Archives, whether there are any restrictions on use or reproduction of the item, and the item's location in the archives. While I may not use the same database program in my first job, this will still be useful experience, since most archives will probably keep very similar records of their accessions.

Some of the items I accessioned today included a bag of buttons from the Little 500 race, a paperweight given to Indiana University president Herman B. Wells, and a pin commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Indiana University chapter of the fraternity Sigma Nu.

Cased Images and Opera Images

Rather than creating a new post for the opera images I scanned last week, I edited my March 8th post to include images from these productions.

I am, however,creating a new post for the cased images we looked at on March 2nd.

Here is a scan of the photographs of Madison and Lucinda Evans. These are the photographs which have the slightly mysterious text underneath them.

***

The subject of this photograph is E. Jennie Hoover. It was taken in 1855.

***

The subject of this photograph is Eliza Jane Sluss Hoover. An interesting bit of trivia: because of the photographic process used to create them, daguerreotypes are usually reversed. This reversal can often be observed by looking at the hands of the subjects of the photographs. If the person is married, his or her ring will appear to be on the right rather than the left hand. We corrected for this by flipping the scan in Photoshop, so Eliza Jane Sluss Hoover's ring appears on the correct hand. You can also see that her rings have been tinted silver.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Today, Brad explained to me how he orders supplies for the University Archives (things like negative sleeves and envelopes, acid-free folders and boxes, brushes to clean negatives, etc.) and showed me some of the suppliers he uses. It's important for me to be familiar with things like this since many of the places at which I might find employment after graduation, such as most university archives, will be small institutions or departments and I may be responsible for ordering these kinds of supplies.

We looked at some catalogs of supplies, as well as websites for those suppliers. These were the main suppliers Brad showed me:

Gaylord: http://www.gaylord.com/

Hollinger Metal Edge: http://www.hollingermetaledge.com/

Light Impressions: http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/

I also scanned some images of Indiana University gymnasts for the new sports facility. Most of the images I scanned were of a man who was known for his skills on the trampoline, so there were lots of interesting shots of him tumbling in the air.

One of the negatives I scanned had what looked like some dried liquid on it. Since it wasn't just stuck on the negative but rather seemed to be partially embedded in the negative, Brad thought it was probably a result of an error during development. I was able to clean a little of the substance off the negative using PEC-12 photographic emulsion cleaner. A product that looks similar to the one I used can be found on Amazon.com. Fortunately, the substance was not on the emulsion side of the negative, so it was not very visible in the scanned image.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Today I continued working on filling the patron request for the opera images. This time I scanned slides of the same productions from yesterday. I also continued working on transferring information from the backs the the Photoservices prints to the negative envelopes in preparation for entering the information into the new database and putting the negatives into sleeves.

Monday, March 8, 2010

I spent today scanning negatives of opera productions again, which was a nice change from scanning sports negatives. Going through these images really makes me wish I'd had the opportunity to see more operas at Indiana University during my time here--it looks like they always put on amazing productions.

I scanned images of the 1999 production of Gianni Schicchi, the 1999 production of Suor Angelica, and the 2001 production of Faust. In this post, you can see one image from Suor Angelica (the nuns) and two images from Faust.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Today, Brad and I looked at some of the oldest images in the archives--a box of cased images. The examples we looked at included daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. Brad explained how to distinguish between the three types, and showed me how to safely take apart cased images by using a suction cup to gently lift the image from its case rather than attempting to pry it or shake it out of the case, both of which can damage the case. Lifting the image from the case sometimes reveals information about the subject of the photograph or the photographer beneath, so we went through all the images and checked for this kind of information beneath.

The cased images are really fascinating. I especially liked the daguerreotypes--I think they're a little eerie. At certain angles their subjects become almost invisible in the mirrored surface of the photograph, and instead you see your own face reflected back at you.

Lifting out the images is fun, since you never know what you'll find underneath. One of the cased images we examined had portraits of Madison Evans and his wife, and the inscription beneath one of the photographs was a little mysterious--inside three hearts, someone had written the following information: "E&H Jan & Feb 1880," "Ring performance by L July 29, 1880," and "Lost 1880 June 9th." We're not sure what any of that means, but hopefully I'll uncover something when I start researching Evans.

We scanned some of the cased images, but I forgot to email them to myself, so I'll post about the cased images in more detail later when I can include the scans.

For some of the images, we only know the names of the subjects, so sometime within the next few weeks, Brad will have me work on researching those subjects to see if I can uncover any more information about the people pictured.

We also looked through a photo album of Charles Cushman's early work and Cushman's camera. In this post, you can see a photograph of Cushman's camera and a photograph of a page from his album. Only a few of his early black and white photographs are currently available on the Cushman website.

We also looked at some Indiana University photo albums from 1881 and 1885, one of which contained small, "carte de visite" photographs while the other included larger "cabinet cards." Brad showed me how to safely remove photographs from these types of albums, since these types of photographs often have information about the photographer on their backs.

Monday, March 1

I started today by scanning a few negatives of a football game and a football player for the Hall of Champions, another sports exhibit which is being installed on the Indiana University campus. This project will require images of all university sports rather than just basketball.

I also continued working on going through the Photoservices contact sheets and transferring the information from the contact sheets to the negative envelopes in preparation for scanning these negatives and entering them into the new photographs database.

Today I worked on images of the construction of the Herman B. Wells Library. It was really interesting to see areas I walk through every day under construction! Here you can see a photograph taken on August 3rd, 1967 of a partially completed Main Library. This is a scan of the contact sheet. Once all the negatives have been scanned, the images added to the new photographs database, and the information entered into the database, these prints will no longer be needed except for exhibit purposes.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Today I went through some binders full of sports negatives that do not have contact sheets and have not been put in negative envelopes with the rest of the collection. Most of the images were from 1993, and I found a few team photographs I hadn't found in the main collection. I scanned these, as well.

I also went through all the media guides we have for women's basketball and tried to match up the team photographs in these guides with the images I had scanned in order to determine the academic year during which each team pictured had played. I was able to identify some of the photographs I had scanned, but there were many team photographs in the media guides which I had not found by going through the contact sheets. It may take a little more digging to find those images and to identify the team photographs which I have not been able to locate in a media guide.

One resource we may be able to use are the framed team photographs belonging to the athletics department. One of the people who works for athletics has photographed the team photos they have hanging on their walls and emailed these images to Brad. By checking these images against those I have scanned, we may be able to date more of the team photographs. So far we have identified one more photograph using this method.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Today I continued scanning the negatives of the women's basketball team photographs. That's pretty much all I have to post about--the exhibit in this basketball practice facility has been a really big project for us, but we are fortunately almost done with it! It will be fun to go see the finished exhibit once it has been completed.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Today I finished going through all the sports contact sheets, which end in 1997. Once I had all the contact sheets that included photographs of IU women's basketball teams, I pulled the corresponding negative envelopes and began scanning them.

I am including in this post an image of a contact sheet like the ones I have been examining. These contact sheets reproduce the negatives in actual size, but as positive images. While these images are small, they are much easier to examine than the negatives and, unlike the negatives, they do not require careful handling since they are only reference prints.

This particular contact sheet shows a men's basketball game at Indiana University on February 5th, 1972 during which Indiana University played against Michigan State.

At the upper right corner, you can see the negative number. Both the contact sheets and the negative envelopes are arranged by these numbers.