-
Managing University Archives in a Digital World
By Eira Tansey, Digital Archivist/Records Manager, Archives and Rare Books Library “What College-Conservatory of Music musicals were staged in 1986?” “When did the university begin offering a dental insurance plan?” “What dorms have served as polling places?” These are just a handful of the university-history related questions I’ve encountered since starting work at the Archives and Rare Books (ARB) Library nearly five years ago. The questions we receive concern events at all times in campus history – from the earliest days of UC’s predecessor colleges to events that took place just a couple years ago. ARB is the official home for University Archives, making us the obvious place to go…
-
Streamlined Searching and Management of Archival Collections Implemented at UC Libraries
By Suzanne Reller, Reference/Collections Librarian in the Archives and Rare Books Library. What do the polio vaccine, animated film music, folklore, the Heimlich maneuver and labor unions have in common? They are all subjects of archival collections in the Archives and Rare Books Library and at the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions. Archival collections are papers or records of a person, family or organization and includes things like correspondence, photographs, meeting minutes and reports. Archives can be digital or hard copy, and they can encompass just few folders to hundreds of boxes or a few megabytes to terabytes of data. Since these collections are…
-
Preserving Taft
The mission of the Preservation Lab is to preserve and conserve the collections of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and the University of Cincinnati Libraries – a collaboration begun in January 2012 to provide conservation and preservation treatments in an equally managed, staffed and equipped preservation lab on the University of Cincinnati’s campus. A recent collaboration with the Archives and Rare Books Library on a collection of letters and artifacts pertaining to William Howard Taft demonstrates the valuable role the Lab takes in both preserving a collection for posterity while also making it available for study today. The work of the Preservation Lab varies depending on the…
-
The E.B. White Collection
By Kevin Grace, University Archivist and Head of the Archives and Rare Books Library So you want to be a writer? Whatever for?? Has someone unduly directed you toward that endeavor? Author Flannery O’Connor once offered her own opinion on budding writers: “Everywhere I go, I’m asked if the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them.” A bit harsh, that, but there was encouragement of a sort from Dorothy Parker, known more for her witticisms today than her short stories and poetry: “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present…
-
Dr. Mont Rogers Reid Surgical Films Digitized
By Gino Pasi, Archivist and Curator for the Winkler Center The Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions concluded a year-long project funded by the National Film Preservation Foundation. Partnering with Colorlab, a full-service motion picture film lab in Rockville, Maryland, the Winkler Center digitized three rare 16-mm films depicting surgeries performed by renowned surgeon Dr. Mont Rogers Reid in the mid-1930s. In addition to their digitization, the films were cleaned, restored, re-plasticized and rehoused by Colorlab. Thirteen films of Reid’s were found in UC’s Department of Surgery, but only three were salvageable as many were on Kodacolor acetate, a film type known for its rapid…
-
UC Libraries Launches New Adopt-A-Book Program
Do you love libraries? Do you love books? We need your help! UC Libraries has launched an exciting new Adopt-A-Book program, providing alumni and library friends the opportunity to help support the preservation of some of our most precious books. These are true treasures for our collection, deeply valued by our faculty and students for their content and scholarly value. The program has started with items from UC Libraries’ Archives & Rare Books Library and the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions. Please consider adopting one of these rare items for preservation for future generations. Adopted items will receive an electronic bookplate honoring the adopter…
-
Marge & Charles J. Schott Foundation Endows UC Libraries’ German-Americana Collection
Cincinnati has a rich German heritage. At one time, about 75 percent of people living in Over-the-Rhine were of German descent. This fascinating local history is available to the community, students and scholars through the University of Cincinnati Libraries. The German-Americana Special Collection within UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library located in Blegen Library chronicles local, as well as national, German heritage. Thanks to a generous $250,000 endowment from the Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation, this gift will be named the Charlotte and Edward Unnewehr Fund for the German-Americana Special Collection. The Unnewehrs, parents to the late Marge Schott, were active in the vibrant German community and their early…
-
Legacy Gift to UC Libraries Honors Mother through Improved Musical Collections
When Sandra Cohan and her late husband, Robert, carefully considered a gift to honor their parents, they established an endowed fund at the University of Cincinnati Libraries. The purpose of the Cohan family’s gift is to create “The Robert and Sandra Cohan Endowment in Memory of Frances Bejach Cohan to Benefit the Albino Gorno Memorial Library.” This fund will enhance the library’s musical collections to benefit both students and faculty with collections that are electronic, digital, paper, hardbound or in any other form that would respect the highest traditions in serious music established by Albino Gorno and his student, Frances Bejach Cohan. Mrs. Cohan had this to say about the…
