Author Archives: Suzanne Reller

College of Music Historical Collection in ARB

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By Lauren Fink

Cover of Concert Program, 1901In the Archives and Rare Books Library, we recently processed a collection containing historical records of the College of Music of Cincinnati. This collection spans 1878-1967 and contains commencement bulletins, programs, student rosters, and minutes of executive, financial, and stockholder’s committee meetings. Illustrating the historical and biographical nature of this collection, the 1926 commencement bulletin entitled “College Comments,” contains articles on the College’s faculty, graduating students, clubs, and ensembles. Further, meeting minutes provide details of all of the College’s major educational and financial concerns and Minutes of the Finance Committee, 1896decisions, such as how to create more space for radio labs or the necessity of hiring certain faculty for certain departments. The minutes also contain outlines of correspondence between the College and the Conservatory of Music on having a connection with each other. To view the contents of this new collection, see the finding aid online (http://rave.ohiolink.edu/archives/ead/OhCiUAR0287). Continue reading →

Records Management Workshops Scheduled

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By Janice Schulz

The next Introduction to Records Management workshops will be held October 11 and October 13.

During this workshop we will discuss the benefits you will receive from efficiently managing your records, UC’s records program, your role as a keeper of public records, the definition of a “record,” how to perform records inventories, the development of records retention schedules and proper means of records disposal.

Both sessions will be held in Blegen Library’s Marge Schott Seminar Room from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The workshops are free, but registration is required. You only need to register for one session; the same information will be presented at both.

Register here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XQRF9CR. When you see SurveyMonkey’s “Thank you for taking this survey” page your registration has been sent.

Who should attend?
These workshops are for new records officers who have not been introduced to records management at UC and existing records officers who need a refresher as well as anyone responsible for managing University records.

Would you like these workshops presented in your office? Please contact Janice Schulz to schedule a custom workshop geared to the needs of your staff.

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Taft the Party Animal

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By Kevin Grace

Statue of William Howard TaftIs there a Taft fashion cult lurking about campus?  This morning saw the William Howard Taft statue outside the College of Law decked out like he was going to a Jimmy Buffet concert.  Replete with hula skirt, tee shirt, shades, and beanie, Big Bill definitely looked like he was ready for an end-of-summer blowout.

The Taft statue was erected on the east side of the law school in 1992.  Sculpted by William T. Moore III, the statue shows Taft in his judicial robes and clasping a law book in his hand.  A graduate of Woodward High School, Yale, and the Cincinnati Law School, William Howard Taft served as dean of his law alma mater from 1896 to 1900.  The Cincinnati Law School was the last remnant of the original Cincinnati College founded in 1819.  As dean, Taft assisted with the 1897 merger of his school with the Law Department of the University of Cincinnati and served as dean of the combined programs, called the College of Law.  Continue reading →

T. M. Berry Project: Progress Report

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By Laura Laugle

A total of 223 boxes of the Theodore M. Berry Manuscript Collection have now been processed, leaving just six remaining.  In the final collection there will be approximately 180 linear feet with around 475,000 total documents and about 1,000 photographs dating from the 1910s though 2000. The inventory in progress includes a detailed list of the titles and contents of folders, along with series and sub-series for the boxes in which each of the folders is stored. This list will be used for a final Encoded Archival Description finding aid that will be available on OhioLINK and the Internet for researchers using the collection.  The completion date for the project is set for February 2012. Continue reading →

T. M. Berry Project: Proportional Representation in Cincinnati

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By Laura Laugle

A large part of Theodore M. Berry’s work in obtaining equality for African Americans in Ohio and especially in Cincinnati centered on the electoral process. The “Berry Backers” frequently ran “Get out the Vote” type events throughout the 1940s and 1950s, using the lure of bowling tournaments and visiting speakers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to encourage blacks to work with the systems in place and become involved in the political process. It should then come as no surprise that Berry spent many years fighting for what he believed to be the fairest system of voting – proportional representation.

Bowling Team

The “Berry Backers” bowling team at one of their many events

Continue reading →

A Life in Music and Education: The Eleanor M. Allen Papers

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By Lauren Fink

The Archives and Rare Books Library recently processed a collection containing artifacts of and relating to Eleanor Moore Allen.

Eleanor Allen, originally from Linneas, Missouri, was a student at the Cincinnati College of Music in the 1930s.  She was also a staff singer at WLW Radio in Cincinnati and a record producer at the Victor Record Division of RCA in New York City. In the 1950s, Allen returned to the College-Conservatory of Music, working as an administrator, Dean of Women, and Director of the Preparatory Department. She was a member of the Alumni Board of Governors and the Mu Phi Epsilon Professional Music Sorority. After retirement from CCM in 1980, Allen worked as an assistant to David McLain, Cincinnati Ballet’s artistic director, for four years.  She died in 2003 at the age of 93. Continue reading →

T. M. Berry Project: An Update on the Tuskegee Airmen Court Martial of 1945

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By Laura Laugle

I recently came across a transcription of a deposition which Theodore M. Berry gave after being subpoenaed for the school desegregation case Bronson v. Board of Education of Cincinnati. During that deposition and much to Berry’s annoyance at what he called the “terrific waste” of everyone’s time and money, lawyers from all sides of the case had Berry go into great detail about many aspects of his life. He told of his time at the Stowe School, he told of his work as a young lawyer and he told of the Tuskegee Airman case.

General Daniel “Chappie” James, photo courtesy of the United States Air Force Museum

“There were occasions in the early days during the period of Thurgood Marshall, when he was the special counsel, this goes back before the war, when I have been consulted, but never was a counsel of record in any case, except a very celebrated court-martial, in which I served as chief counsel in representation of a group of Negro officers who were being court-martialed because they protested against the segregated officers’ quarters. I was chief counsel, Lieutenant William T. Coleman, who more recently was Secretary of Transportation, was military counsel associated with me, and one of the defendants who were acquitted became one of the first black Air Force generals, General Chappie Jones (James), he was one of the officers. He later acknowledged had he not been acquitted at that court-martial, he might not have become a general.” Continue reading →

Another Alma Mater Moment

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By Kevin Grace

Following up on the 1935 postcard of the last days of UC’s original building in last week’s ARB blogs, here are a couple more ephemeral treasures.  In this age of various tobacco prohibitions in our culture, we’re a bit surprised when we chance upon the reminders of commonplace tobacco use from a century ago.  For most of its history, the UC community treated smoking as just another part of campus life.  In our not-so-distant past there were “butt huts” scattered around campus where smokers could stand sheltered from the rain and snow, but certainly not from the cold and gloom. Continue reading →

The Ohio Electronic Records Committee

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By Janice Schulz

The Ohio Electronic Records Committee (OhioERC) is a statewide group of records managers, archivists, legal professionals, and information technology professionals devoted to providing guidance for the management of electronic records in Ohio’s state agencies. There are currently twenty members, including representatives from state, county, and local government and Ohio’s public universities. University of Cincinnati Records Manager Janice Schulz has served on the OhioERC since 2006 and was elected as Secretary in 2008. Continue reading →

University Architect Records

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By Janice Schulz

The Archives & Rare Books Library has numerous collections from the Office of the University Architect with records of capital construction, renovation, and special projects dating from 1944 to 2003. The University Architect oversees all aspects of UC’s physical space, and manages the divisions of Planning+Design+Construction, Renovations, Special Projects, Real Estate, Sustainability, Environmental Graphics, and Space Management. The records in our collections document dealings with architects, construction companies, utilities, regulators, and internal planning committees. Included are copies of contracts, proposals, correspondence, meeting minutes, working designs, plans, specifications and drawings, photographs, test and inspection reports, and status reports. Continue reading →