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  To paraphrase, when one exhibit closes, another opens. Exhibit walls, cases, and cabinets are emptied as staff and students prepare to fill them with something new and exciting. Stay tuned.

I am processing CMU President Leonard E. Plachta's recently donated personal family papers. His official papers document his service as president, but offer little about him on a personal level. The personal papers fill that gap. Here is a precious, formal family photograph of a then very young Leonard probably in the mid-1930s formally posing in a special outfit for his First Holy Communion. Most of us remember him as a senior man with gray hair and wrinkles. I love processing personal family papers in the archives because I can see a person's entire life, which I find endlessly fascinating. In knickers and a jacket adorned by a boutonniere consisting of a flower, ribbon and holy medal, Leonard holds his rosary in one hand and his prayer book in the other. The prayer book title is in Polish. I love the white ribbon on his arm. His shoes are highly polished. He looks very snazzy. Leonard and his wife, Louisa, were both members of Detroit Polish-American Catholic families and at

Finally, after 11 years of the Clarke's Historic Film Project,  we bought a tape splicer to splice moving image film, mainly Channel 9 & 10 News raw film footage. We don't have to use a cement splicer anymore. This moves us into line with the rest of the film splicing and preservation community using tape splicers. My supervisor, Carrie, agreed to buy us a refurbished quality splicer, a Leo Catozzo 16 mm film tape splicer. A roll of clear splicing tape is visible in the bottom image at the bottom of the splicer. The tape splices two pieces of film or film and leader together by wrapping around the film and or leader where they meet. The wrap makes the splice stronger for when we project it to view it. The splicer punches in new sprocket holes where we cover the old ones with tape. The splicer will make film processing much faster and easier and the splices should hold up longer. My film students and I are all very excited! Here are some images-closed on top and open on bott

I recently processed a collection which documents Michigan ski trains. These passenger trains brought people to northern Michigan locations to ski and enjoy various winter festivals, 1930s-1950s.  Earl G. Kirby was the originator of the idea.  Ski trains used to take passengers to/from Alpena, Benzie, Boyne,  Cadillac, Cheboygan, from Detroit to Mackinaw or Petoskey,  Escanaba, Gaylord,  Grayling,  Ionia, Iron Mountain, Ironwood, Ishpeming,  Lake Odessa, Lansing, Ontonagon,  Paw Paw, Petoskey, Portland, Traverse City, and West Branch.  Here are two photographic postcards related to the ski trains in Grayling.  The postcard with the crowd is dated 1945 and the other two are undated. 

In September 1977 Vivian Vance, who played Lucy Ball's zany tv girlfriend, Ethel Mertz, was interviewed by Channel 9 & 10 News. We do not know which group of women stands behind her, only some of whom are in the frame. If you know, please contact me. Her visit is not recorded in CMLife.

Chase Foster recently completed typing the list of 67 boxes of CMU School of Music (SOM) recordings. This is a major accomplishment.  Back when the SOM was located in Powers Hall, I backed my little blue car to a window and loaded 29 cubic feet of mostly reel-to-reel recordings through the window and into my car and transported them, in multiple trips, to the Clarke in June 1997. I then did a quick box inventory and cataloged the collection.  Chase with 2 stack sections of the older SOM recordings The newer SOM building had a Music Resource Center (MRC), where students could listen to various recordings. Two springs ago, after the MRC ceased to exist, I took two students and we boxed and pushed carts of 37 cubic feet of cassettes, CDs, and DVDs of newer recordings to the Clarke.  Chase with the second deposit, white boxes in two stack sections, of the newer SOM recordings.  Since the second deposit of recordings is a continuation of the first set, this is archivally considered to be on