By: Sydney Vollmer, ARB Intern
Happy National Poetry Month! In 1996, the Academy of American Poet designated April as the month to officially celebrate poetry. Here at ARB, we celebrate poetry all year round, but figured we would take this opportunity to talk some about Shakespearean sonnets. Continue reading
Just in time for Preservation Week (April 23-29), a new exhibit, “Preserving the Past… for the Future,” showcases the services and mission of the Preservation Lab.
Beginning in January of 2012, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCH) and University of Cincinnati Libraries (UCL) began a long-term collaboration to provide conservation and preservation treatments in an equally-managed, staffed, and equipped preservation lab situated in UC’s Walter C. Langsam Library. Employees from both PLCH and UCL work on the general circulating and rare/special collections of each institution.
The exhibit, located on the 4th floor of Langsam Library, showcases the work of the lab as well as educates about the difference between preservation and conservation, what makes an item a “special collection,” and the techniques and tools used in the care of collections. The exhibit also features both before and after images of the treatment done to the objects and explains the process. The exhibit was curated by Holly Prochaska, preservation librarian, Ashleigh Schieszer, lab conservator, and Jessica Ebert, conservation technician, and was designed by Jessica Burhans, communications co-op design student. Continue reading
In order to keep interlibrary loan information as private as possible, we are purging all transactions from our ILLiad database that were submitted prior to January 1, 2013.
Currently, you could find a list of everything you ever requested through ILL by logging into your ILLiad account and clicking on View > All Requests (which includes items currently checked out) or View > History Requests. While this can serve as a useful record, in the future, if you want to keep a copy of your request history, you will need to download your requests using the instructions below. We will keep a rolling history of four complete calendar years and the current year. At this time we need to remove several years of records and future removal of records will occur in January of each year. Continue reading
The spring meeting of my Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC) focused on the fourth pillar of UC Libraries’ Strategic Plan: Data to Information to Knowledge. The heart of this pillar is library collections and new forms of scholarship. In order to provide a holistic view of the multi-faceted work we do at UC Libraries curating, preserving, and digitizing our collections, I invited three UCL librarians to come discuss their work with the council: Eira Tansey, digital archivist and records manager; Gino Pasi, archivist and curator for the Winkler Center of the Health Professions; and Sally Moffitt, reference librarian and bibliographer. Our fourth presenter was the new director of the University of Cincinnati Press, Liz Scarpelli.
Old Print, Medical College of Ohio, c. 1852
Huh?
A researcher recently asked if we had any images of the first building to house the Medical College of Ohio. Turns out we do not. Or if we do, we’re not sure where to find them. That said, we did find a beautiful image of the Medical College when it was on Sixth Street near Vine in downtown Cincinnati.
Daniel Drake founded the Medical College of Ohio in 1819 in Cincinnati and it has the distinction of being the oldest medical college west of the Allegheny Mountains. In addition, it is the second-oldest public college of medicine in the United States. The first classes at the college were held above a pharmacy reportedly owned by Drake himself. Drake left the school in 1823 and a series of different locations for the college followed.
In 1852, the college built on property it had purchased on Sixth Street and it would stay at this new address for the next forty-four years. As many already know, the Medical College of Ohio eventually became, along with the Miami Medical College, the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati.
So that ‘s the very brief story of the school depicted in the photograph, but what about the image itself. At least for us at the Winkler Center it is rare to come across a photograph this old with so much color. Unfortunately the image is in a very nice frame along with two other images pertaining to Drake. Since we are unaware of the item’s provenance we are reluctant to remove the images from the frame. If we could, it would be easy to see what kind of image specifically it is.
As the Archivist/Curator here, I am by no means an expert on photographic processes of the 19th century, so I consulted with some friends who are. The answers I have been given are:
A) If the photo is post-1880s, it could be a hand-colored silver gelatin print. Under a microscope I would see no paper fibers in the photo. For more info on silver gelatin prints see http://www.graphicsatlas.org/guidedtour/?process_id=337.
If it was done prior to 1880, say during the 1870s, it could be a printing process that was hand colored. Under magnification perhaps we would see the worm like pattern of the collotype print. http://www.graphicsatlas.org/guidedtour/?process_id=168? Or maybe a letterpress halftone checkered pattern.(http://www.graphicsatlas.org/guidedtour/?process_id=102)?
Regardless, it looks like we won’t find out until we remove it from the frame and put it under a microscope. In the meantime we’ll just enjoy it for what it is, a great, colorful piece of history. We’ll keep you posted.
Registration is now open for THATCamp University of Cincinnati 2017, scheduled for May 1-3 in the Walter C. Langsam Library Digital Commons space on the 4th floor.
THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) is an unconference – an open meeting where humanists and technologists of all skill levels and interests gather to learn and to build together in sessions proposed on the spot. THATCamp University of Cincinnati 2017 is free and open to all, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff as well as scholars, archivists, museum professionals, developers and programmers, K-12 teachers and administrators from within and outside UC who have an involvement or interest in digital humanities. THATCamp’s are open and online. Participants make sure to share their notes, documents, pictures and other materials from discussions before and after the event on the web and via social media. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about UC’s first Digital Scholarship Center, a newly launched partnership with UC Libraries and the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), with co-directors Arlene Johnson and James Lee. Continue reading
The University of Cincinnati Press has been accepted as an introductory member of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) effectively immediately.
Founded in 1937, the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) is a membership organization of nonprofit scholarly publishers located around the world. The mission of the AAUP is to “assist its members through professional education, cooperative services, and public advocacy.” AAUP advocates for university presses on matters of free speech, academic freedom, copyright, and other core issues.
“The publishing industry continues to change as supply chain and user needs become increasingly varied. Having a resource as specialized as AAUP will provide the University of Cincinnati Press with unparalleled support as we move forward with our publishing program,” said Elizabeth Scarpelli, press director. “The network of directors and press staff that we join provide a level of professional support and expertise that surpasses even the largest publishing organizations today.” Continue reading
The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions and the Cecil Striker Society for the History of Medicine will host the Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture from 5-7:30 p.m. on Thurs, May 4, in the Kresge Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, 231 Albert Sabin Way.
This year’s lecture will consist of a panel discussion by prominent African American physicians and is titled “African American Physicians in Cincinnati: Past, Present and Future.” Moderated by Dr. Elbert Nelson, the panelists will include Drs. Chester Pryor, Charles Dillard, Camille C. Graham and Christopher Lewis.
The evening will include the talk from 5-6 p.m., followed by Q&A and a reception at 6:30 p.m. In addition, an exhibit of the same name will be on display in the Lucas Board Room in the Winkler Center.
The Cecil Striker Lecture is free and open to the public, but RSVP’s are requested to (513) 558-5120 or chhp@uc.edu. Continue reading
From the Archives and Rare Books Library
A new exhibit on display on the 5th floor lobby of Langsam Library features original pieces of flash fiction describing historic images from the collections of UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library.
Flash fiction is a term to describe writing that is extremely brief, typically only a few hundred words or fewer in its entirety. The three pieces in the exhibit average only 300 words but are rich in content. Continue reading
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