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  I try to ensure that my students have a variety of collections, formats, and experiences during their time in the Clarke, so they have diverse skills after they graduate to help them to find jobs. Katie's interest and focus is film preservation so she mainly processes and describes Clarke film. She is also pivotal in training and leading other students processing film. To expand her skill set, she just finished processing and creating a finding aid for a physical paper-based collection of John and Ingrid Hepler's letters to author Jett Whitehead. To learn more about the collection you'll have to read the finding aid which should go online next month. Now Katie heads back to processing film.

 Whether or how you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you get a few days to relax and enjoy positive family time. Here are some historic Thanksgiving postcards. 

  Finally having finished processing the Rose Traines collection, Mitchel's processing table is empty for the first time this term. We get so used to the tables being completely covered that it is quite a shock to see them empty. Meanwhile, the pile of this term's WDs,  material withdrawn during processing, continues to literally pile up. We have about 25 cubic feet so far this term. This includes mostly massive numbers of duplicates, some out-of-scope materials which I could not transfer, and some acidic materials which we copied. Many boxes of duplicate publications were recycled. We'll probably add a bit more to the pile before Mr. Shredder comes in mid-December. I am always so happy when he comes to take my WDs. The only time I'm happier is when I get new empty boxes! All archivists can relate to this. After that we vacuum and wipe down all the tables so we are neat and clean for next term. Next term I will have more students so look forward to bigger WD piles happe...

 This is how the Rose Traines' collection looked when it arrived in the Clarke in January 2020. Her family gathered up everything and so it had no order at all. Later, we received an additional 18 cubic feet of material. We withdrew a large amount of material during rough initial processing of  duplicates, blank papers, reading materials, books and catalogs, newspapers, blank note cards, stationery, and writing pads, personal health information, and out of scope materials. We transferred a number of  her Indiana high school yearbooks and history books to institutions in Indiana, and a masonic fez and apron to the CMU Museum.   Mitchel has been processing the remaining material since October. There were still a lot of duplicates in it. He has gotten it down to about 6 cubic feet of material, papers, photographic material, recordings from UMatic videocassettes to DVDs, and oversized posters, images, a scrapbook, a portable drafting case, and some clothing. It has ...

I'm delighted to share that my LIB 197 students rated me 4.6/5 in their SOSs (Student Opinion Surveys)! This is the first term I taught LIB 197 as an all online (Web) class and I took the initiative to create and use my own interactive video lectures. I also created the homework like short quizzes so the students get them automatically graded and know immediately what points they earned. Since COVID hit I created my midterms and finals this way in LIB 197 and HST 583. I also note that we went from a top score of 4 in prior years to a top score of 5. 

Katie Higley wrote about her McNair research experience, which was prompted by her work with the Clarke's historic moving image film project. Here are some images of her article in the Michigan Archival Association newsletter.

  Smithsonian 175th Film Fest Looking at the Future:  Yesterday's Tomorrows   When:  Thursday, November 18, 5 p.m. ET Registration:  siarchives.si.edu/... What will the future hold? We can't predict it, but we do try to shape it-and so have those who came before us. As part of our ongoing Smithsonian 175th Film Fest series, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives invites you to a screening of  Yesterday's Tomorrows: Visions of the Future on Film , featured in a 1984 National Museum of American History exhibit that examined how past visions of the future continue to impact our present and inspire even further futures. Join Smithsonian Libraries and Archives conservator William Bennett on November 18 at 5 p.m. ET to explore retro-futurism and get excited for the Smithsonian's upcoming celebration of future-looking innovation in  FUTURES , the inaugural exhibition of the newly reopening historic Arts and Industries Buildin...

 SAA is offering discounted webcasts. SAA educational materials, workshops and webcasts are always very informative and well done.  Save 20% online when you register for  SAA webcasts  by November 30 with code  NOV21SAA1 ! Code is one-time use. Appraisal for Arrangement and Description (A&D) Archival Collections Management Systems (DAS) Digital Preservation of Audio and Video: Fundamentals (DAS) Disaster Planning (Management Track) Rights and Confidentiality (A&D) and many more! See the full list of SAA webinars,  here ! To add multiple courses, click the  Add Registration  button during your check out process.     DEI Webcasts for Archives Manage...

 Josie is processing an addition to the Dorothy Brooks papers. The addition focuses on her life and career teaching, researching, writing, and her creativity. She is a very creative person. The main focus of the original donation was her family's history which involved a double murder, and her efforts to research the topic and present the facts to her family and the county in which it occurred. 

 I recently finished processing and describing a folder of information about the Johnie D. Smith Memorial Scholarship Endowment. He was an African American Vietnam veteran and CMU Professor of History. The organization that helped create the scholarship was the Association of Faculty and Staff of Color at Central Michigan University. So we have some good documentation of the man, the scholarship and the association, all in this one collection. The scholarship provides funding for two students.  For more detail see the catalog record at https://cmich.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991015955686503781&context=L&vid=01CMICH_INST:01CMICH&lang=en&search_scope=CLARKE&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=CLARKE&query=any,contains,johnie%20d%20smith&offset=0

  Fri after work I picked up a Red Adair hardhat. We normally do not collect artifacts, but this is connected to Michigan and one of our collections.  Dick Bolton (1944-2010) was the editor of the Michigan Oil and Gas News , 1973-1981, during which time he heard about the blowout [natural gas well fire] east of I-75 near Waters and Gaylord, Michigan, in June 1976. He drove to the fire to photograph and write about the blowout, and returned numerous times during the month the fire raged to report and photograph new information about the challenges Red Adair and his team faced there. (To learn more about Bolton and his collection, see his collection catalog record in the Clarke at https://cmich.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991015695169303781&context=L&vid=01CMICH_INST:01CMICH&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,dick%20bolton&offset=0.) Red Adair (June ...

This topic of conversation arose last week so I thought I'd share it in my blog. The Clarke has a number of traveling exhibits that are available  to be borrowed generally without direct cost. The borrower is responsible for pick up and return, insurance, and proper preservation and security. Why consider using them? They are helpful if your exhibit budget is reduced or zero, if you need additional materials to support a theme or event, or suddenly the exhibit you had planned is no longer possible, maybe you find this out shortly before opening night.  Traveling exhibit topics that the Clarke has include: Native Treaties - shared rights; Ernest Hemingway's years in Michigan; the History of Michigan newspapers; the History of photography; and 19th c. Native American images created by J.O. Lewis. For more information see:  https://www.cmich.edu/library/clarke/PublicPrograms/Current_Exhibit/Pages/Traveling.aspx 

Thrs and Fri of this week I am fortunate enough to attend the Symposium of the Midwest Archives Conference, my regional, professional organization.  I'm learning about all kinds of digital projects and outreach!  Some of digital projects I saw are listed below. Some of you or your friends or relatives may find them interesting. Bethel AME Indianapolis Virtual tour of the first African American church which is now owned by a hotel was digitally scanned and a website was made incorporating their history with primary sources and oral histories https://showcase.avl.iu.edu/projects/5ddc1b2eba355 Eight days in April: the story of the 1968 uprising in Kansas City, MO https://library.umkc.edu/news-events/eight-days-exhibit African American heritage trail in Kansas City https://aahtkc.org/  a community informed, ongoing list of historic sites, some of which no longer exist, people, and events linked w GPS locations Indianapolis Public Library Black history site website...

  I just processed a donation of Albion, MI, postcards. Some were your typical views of streets, major buildings, parks, and bridges.  The postage for postcards was less than a letter required, so they were an affordable option when writing was the main form of communication. Postcards were also popular as a  vacation and travel visual keepsake before most people could afford a family camera in the 1950s. And they were a cheap form of tourism and economic development advertising. By showcasing how lovely a town was with images of its parks or beaches for relaxation, and its quality of life with images of public buildings, schools, and churches, towns and centers of tourism were able to advertise themselves as a good place to live and work or relax, attracting professionals and families and vacationers, all of whom spent money there, contributing economically to a town's growth or survival. The person who bought and mailed and the recipient saw a town's charms and possibil...

For comparison here is a 1950 CMU student ID card and my current card.  Differences between the card:  Rose Traines' black and white paper ID card included her birthdate and signature, cost 50 cents to replace, and the Dean of Students was the contact if someone found her lost card. There is no ID number on her card. It looks like when she was photographed that her signature and birthdate were written on a board that is attached to a string hanging around her neck. The back of her card is blank. I'm sure she presented it to register for classes and check out books. My card is in color, has my ID #, a magnetic strip and a chip. As staff, the strip allows me touchless access into locked areas of the building. The last time I had to replace my card because the strip wore off it cost me $12 and today you notify the ID card office. You can add funds to your card to buy food in CMU buildings like cafeterias, bagel or coffee shop or at the CMU grocery store. If students buy books in ...

  Crowdfunding for Preservation Historic Climate Record Books - Funding Needed     The Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center in Milton, Massachusetts USA, has been awarded a prestigious  Save America's Treasure s (SAT) grant to preserve many of their historic climate resources. The grant is sponsored by the National Park Service and administered by the Institutue of Museum and Library Services. In support of this project, the Observatory is seeking funds to fulfill the obligation to raise matching funds for their SAT grant to completely digitize, conserve, and properly store their remarkable hand-written climate record books, which date from 1885 to the 1950’s.  This grant requires a 1:1 match for the project. ...