T. M. Berry Project: Progress Report

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

Service Note: Internet Service Interruptions Sept. 2-4

To meet the university’s needs for increased Internet bandwidth, UCIT will perform an upgrade to the Cincinnati Education Research Fiber-loop (CERF) ring during Labor Day weekend. The CERF ring is the backbone providing Internet and Internet2 connectivity for UC, Xavier, and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. The upgrade will begin at 6:00 p.m., Friday, September 2 and is expected to be complete by 1:00 a.m. Sunday, September 4. Users should expect intermittent service interruption to the Internet during this window, however there is a possibility for intermittent Internet outages during the entire maintenance period.

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Extra! Extra! UC Student Newspapers in the University of Cincinnati Libraries

A new exhibit on display on the 4th floor of Blegen Library traces the development of student newspapers at the University of Cincinnati from the publication of the first paper in 1880 to today. 

The exhibit features a timeline of events in the history of student newspaper production, highlighting the run dates, a short description, and the groups behind the various publications. Examples of each newspaper are displayed.

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The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Reports from a Scientific Meeting

Attendees of the Second International Conference on Live Poliovirus Vaccines pose for a group photograph.

Another photograph from our collection can be seen here. It was taken during the Second International Conference on Live (Attenuated) Poliovirus Vaccines, which was held in June 1960 at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization, and the Sister Elizabeth Kenny Foundation. According to the back of the photo, participants came together “to discuss [the live polio vaccine’s] present status, trends and possibilities for use of this type of vaccine to delineate guidelines for conduct of further work and field programs.” Dr. Sabin was in attendance. Can you spot him in the crowd? Continue reading

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Another Honor

What do Betty White, George Bush, Pope John Paul II and Whoopi Goldberg all have in common with Dr. Albert Bruce Sabin? They were all named Kentucky Colonels!

Card given to Dr. Sabin by the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, 1963

In Dr. Sabin’s archives is a letter and membership card from the Honorable Order of the Kentucky Colonels. I found these documents to be interesting, especially since one of my colleagues working on the Sabin grant, Linda Newman, is also a Kentucky Colonel. The mission statement of this exclusive organization is “[t]he Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, Inc. is irrevocably dedicated to and is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes…” The Colonels support many different causes, such as purchasing wheelchairs and books for children, in order to support their mission. Continue reading

T. M. Berry Project: Proportional Representation in Cincinnati

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

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

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