Archives and Special Collections Interest Group

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

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posted by ARC Committees at 5:12 AM

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  • ARC Archives & Special Collections Committee
    June 8, 2005 Meeting Minutes
    This committee met on June 8, 2005 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden Library, home of the Worcester County Horticultural Society at 11 French Dr., Boylston, MA starting at 10:45 am.
    In attendance:
    Lois Hamill, Assistant Archivist, College of the Holy Cross
    Suzanne [Sukey] Haney, Librarian, Tower Hill
    Karen Kilgore, Project Archivist, Massachusetts Military Archives
    Mott Linn, Coordinator of Archives & Special Collections, Clark University
    Heidi Marshall, Curator of Collections, New England Province of the Jesuits
    Rodney Obien, Archivist, WPI
    Mark Savolis, Head of Archives & Special Collections, College of the Holy Cross

    Absent: Debby Aframe, Librarian, Worcester Art Museum
    Margaret Anderson, Archives Asst., WPI
    Keith Vezeau, intern, Simmons College


    1. Mark proposed that the committee plan two meetings for the Fall, possibly in late September and November before Thanksgiving. Two program ideas were presented for consideration. Rodney said that Linda Oldack, Library Director at Mt. Wachusett College is interested in a project to document furniture making in Gardener, MA. The Library has a collection and is interested in advice. Lois was contacted by a vendor at the recent NEA meeting who does video transfer work. It would be possible to either visit a plant in Southboro, MA or have the representative come and speak to us. Lois passed around brochures from the vendor describing his company’s services.
    It was generally agreed to organize these programs.
    Mark will contact everyone in mid-summer to schedule the dates of the Fall meetings.
    2. Everyone gave a brief report of news from their organization.
    WPI * the college has purchased the Merlin software we saw demonstrated at our last meeting.
    Clark University * received a donation of fine arts press materials.
    Holy Cross * is getting involved in a digitization project for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU).
    Mass Military * is getting air conditioning to improve their environment. Karen received appointment to permanent status.
    Jesuit Province * they are working on processing records. Heidi received appointment to permanent status.
    3. Mott reported on the ARC Board meeting * which was also this morning June 8th. He reported on our committee’s activities. The primary business for the Board was the issue of the Union List of Serials. Mott left that meeting to reach our meeting.
    4. Suzanne Haney, Librarian gave an interesting presentation about Tower Hill. She spoke of its history, membership size and the New England School of Gardening which is in conjunction with Clark University. She described the Library, its holdings [showing some lovely examples] and patrons. Suzanne had several questions for the group which brought up discussion on collection and deaccessioning policies. She mentioned her paper card catalog and touched on the question of converting it to electronic.
    The formal meeting ended at 11:45. It was followed by a tour of the facility and grounds.



    Lois Hamill, C.A.
    Asst. Archivist & Special Collections Librarian
    P.O. Box 3A
    College of the Holy Cross
    Worcester, MA 01610-2395
    Ph (508) 793-2575
    Fax (508) 793-2372
    e-mail: lhamill@holycross.edu

    By Blogger ARC Committees, at 7:26 AM  

  • ARC Archives & Special Collections SIG
    March 31, 2005 Meeting Minutes
    An organizational meeting of this committee was held on March 31, 2005 at the College of the Holy Cross.
    In attendance:
    Debby Aframe, Librarian, Worcester Art Museum
    Lois Hamill, Assistant Archivist, College of the Holy Cross
    Alan Karass, Music Librarian, College of the Holy Cross
    Mott Linn, Coordinator of Archives & Special Collections, Clark
    University
    Heidi Marshall, Curator of Collections, New England Province Jesuit
    Archives
    Rodney Obien, Archivist, WPI
    Mark Savolis, Head of Archives & Special Collections, College of the
    Holy Cross
    Absent: Karen Kilgore, Project Archivist, Massachusetts Military Archives
    Tom Knoles, Curator of Manuscripts, American Antiquarian Society
    Apologies for not having posted the meeting date before hand. That responsibility delegated to the Secretary.
    1. The group discussed who would fill the positions required for ARC and agreed to the following:

    Convener * Mark Savolis, College of the Holy Cross Director Advocate * Deb
    Aframe, Worcester Art Museum Representative to the Steering Committee * Mott
    Linn, Clark University Secretary * Lois Hamill, College of the Holy Cross
    These people will hold their positions for the next 12 months.
    2. Discussion re the purpose of the committee: for members to see how other institutions or facilities accomplish things, how they handle their material, to share ideas and possible ways to collaborate and to learn from each other.
    3. Discussion re other people or organizations to contact and invite to our meetings: who is eligible to attend * attendance is not limited to ARC institutions who is in ARC * need to check the list on their website some discussion of specific places and people to invite The committee wants to be as inclusive as possible. Anyone who does something related to archives or other types of special collections is welcome, for example preservation.
    4. Topics for future meetings:
    what do we want to learn more about?
    Which organizations/institutions would we like to visit and learn
    more about?
    Merlin software used by the T&G
    Tower Hill
    The map collection at Clark University
    Fitchburg State Archives
    Agreed: Lois contact George LaBonte at the T&G, arrange for a tour to see the Merlin software, try for late April on a Thursday or Friday, but not 4/29.
    Try to schedule a meeting at Tower Hill for June
    Following meeting then to be in Sept/Oct
    Suggestion for a possible project: create a central MA archives and special collections web page. Some research was done on this previously, but the information would need to be updated.
    5. NEH grant * Deb Aframe
    Deb asked for information about NEH grants. She is interested in their preservation grant to have a survey done of the archival records at WAM. Discussion about their archival records. Some members may visit WAM to provide a professional opinion on archival records.
    Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

    Lois Hamill, C.A.
    Asst. Archivist & Special Collections Librarian P.O. Box 3A College of the
    Holy Cross Worcester, MA 01610-2395 Ph (508) 793-2575 Fax (508) 793-2372
    e-mail: lhamill@holycross.edu

    By Blogger ARC Committees, at 7:30 AM  

  • ARC Archives & Special Collections Committee

    Oct 26, 2005 Meeting Minutes

    The committee met on October 26, 2005 at High Speed Video, 150 Cordaville Rd, Southboro, starting at 9:30 am.

    In attendance:
    Lois Hamill, Assistant Archivist, College of the Holy Cross
    Suzanne [Sukey] Haney, Librarian, Tower Hill
    Alice Howe, Curator of Collections for the New England Province of Jesuits
    Rodney Obien, Archivist, WPI
    Mark Savolis, Head of Archives & Special Collections, Holy Cross
    Jim Trafidlo, representing High Speed Video


    The meeting began with a presentation by our host Jim Trafidlo about High Speed Video and its related businesses. The company manufactures CDs and DVDs at the Southboro facility. Video Transfer, in Boston, replicates materials, edits video and audio, produces multi-media products, creates files for CDs/DVDs or the web, creates menus to navigate directly to items on a CD/DVD instead of sequentially.

    Following the presentation and discussion, Jim took us on a tour of the manufacturing process. The facility creates clear discs which already have the information content imbedded in the plastic. These are bonded to a metal layer and coated with acrylic. Labels are silk screened, packaging created and designed.

    We also saw a short demonstration of a digital asset management software product (proprietary).

    After the tour, Jim answered additional questions.

    It was decided to hold the next meeting in early December if possible at the Worcester Art Museum.

    We thanked Jim for his hospitality and ended the meeting about 11:00 am.

    Respectfully Submitted,
    Lois Hamill, C.A.
    Asst. Archivist & Special Collections Librarian
    P.O. Box 3A
    College of the Holy Cross
    Worcester, MA 01610-2395
    Ph (508) 793-2575
    Fax (508) 793-2372
    e-mail: lhamill@holycross.edu

    By Blogger ARC Committees, at 12:08 PM  

  • 10 Jan 2006

    ARC Archives & Special Collections Committee

    The next committee meeting will be Tuesday Jan 31, 2006 at 10:00 am at the Worcester Art Museum. Our hostess Debbie Aframe will give us a tour of the Art Museum library and archives. Business to be discussed include topics for future meetings and the expiration of terms for the current committee leaders [convener, recorder, representative to the ARC steering committee and Director Advocate].

    The Art Museum has a lovely cafe and there are several nearby restaurants for lunch options.

    We hope that you will be able to join us. Please RSVP to the convener Mark Savolis msavolis@holycross.edu if you plan to attend.

    Respectfully Submitted,
    Lois Hamill, Recorder


    Lois Hamill, C.A.
    Asst. Archivist & Special Collections Librarian
    P.O. Box 3A
    College of the Holy Cross
    Worcester, MA 01610-2395
    Ph (508) 793-2575
    Fax (508) 793-2372
    e-mail: lhamill@holycross.edu

    By Blogger ARC Committees, at 1:10 PM  

  • ARC Archives & Special Collections Committee

    Jan 31, 2006 Meeting Minutes

    The committee met on January 31, 2006 at the Worcester Art Museum [WAM] Library. Our hostess was Debby Aframe, Librarian for the Art Museum.

    In attendance:
    Debby Aframe, WAM Librarian
    Lois Hamill, Assistant Archivist, College of the Holy Cross
    Alice Howe, Curator of Collections for the New England Province of Jesuits
    Mott Linn, Coordinator of Archives & Special Collections, Clark University
    Ellen More, Office of Medical History & Archives, U Mass Medical
    Rodney Obien, Archivist, WPI
    Mark Savolis, Head of Archives & Special Collections, Holy Cross
    Keith Vizeau, Anna Maria College

    The meeting started at 10:20 am with introductions as there were a few new people.

    Then people went around the room in turn and gave an update of what was happening at their institutions.

    Debby mentioned the library had successfully been awarded an NEH grant for a preservation survey, the MA Board of Library Commissioners had approved funding for development of a long range plan. The Art Museum had purchased new collection management software and the library purchased TMS Lite also for collection management. TMS will be compatible with the Museum’s software.
    She also gave a brief history of the relationship between the Holy Cross Library and the Art Museum Library. Holy Cross manages the WAM art library and their staff are college employees. This arrangement is now about 5 years old. Debby also mentioned some upcoming events and their dates.

    Mark mentioned the new major exhibit on baseball at Holy Cross. Our child size mummy has just returned after a 6 year absence for conservation treatment and an appearance in the Art Museum’s exhibit on Egyptomania. The Archives has just started efforts to archive the college website through the use of software called Teleport Ultra.

    Rodney said he had received funding for preservation of their Charles Dickens Collection. The next phase for the collection is to digitize some items. WPI has a new major in video game design so Rodney has been trying to assemble an archives of video game history. It is challenging to try to figure out how to document this topic. He has been working with donors for material for this collection.

    Lois announced that a new on-line web exhibit had just gone live on the dept website. Also that Archives was collaborating with the AV dept regarding transferring video recordings and digital images taken by the AV dept to Archives. Currently digital material created on campus is not coming to Archives.

    Mott announced that Clark had received a donation of fine arts prints from the former AAS Director Marcus A. McCorison. The Clark library will be undergoing renovations, which are currently in the planning stages. Each dept has spoken with the architects individually.

    Alice discussed an oral history project the Province has begun. There was discussion on who was providing the transcription of the interviews.

    Ellen said hello and explained her position a little. She has taught college level courses in medicine, but does not have an archival background. There is a desire to document the history of medicine and U MA Medical. She also mentioned upcoming events.

    Business:

    Those people serving as Convenor, Recorder, Liaison, etc are coming to the end of their 1 year term. There was discussion about when was a good time to select new officers and transition. The conclusion was that May, being the end of the academic year, would also be a good time to change officers.

    It was proposed the next meeting be at the Princeton Historical Society. Margaret, Rodney’s assistant, would present a program on the Gardner Furniture Company. The meeting may be in March, no date was selected.

    The formal meeting concluded at 11:30 am. Debby then gave a tour of the library with a brief overview of the archival records and volunteer efforts to identify photos.

    Respectfully Submitted
    Lois Hamill, Recorder

    Lois Hamill, C.A.
    Asst. Archivist & Special Collections Librarian
    P.O. Box 3A
    College of the Holy Cross
    Worcester, MA 01610-2395
    Ph (508) 793-2575
    Fax (508) 793-2372
    e-mail: lhamill@holycross.edu

    By Blogger ARC Committees, at 12:05 PM  

  • It appears that the best time for our meeting will be on Wednesday, May 10 at 10 AM. We will be meeting at the Princeton Historical Society, located in the lower level of the Princeton Public Library in Princeton, MA. We will be getting a look at the Historical Society's collections and Margaret Anderson will talk about the Gardner Area Furniture Documentary Project.

    I will send directions before the meeting. As is our habit, we will continue our discussions at lunch.

    We will also need to elect new officers. We need a convener, a recorder and a board liaison.

    See you there!




    Mark W. Savolis
    Head of Archives and Special Collections

    By Blogger ARC Committees, at 1:56 PM  

  • ARC Archives & Special Collections Interest Group

    May 10, 2006 Meeting Minutes

    The committee met on May 10, 2006 at the Princeton, MA Public Library. Our hostesses were Margaret Anderson, Project Archivist for a grant to document the furniture industry in the Gardner, MA area; and Mary Cadwallader of the Princeton Historical Society.

    In attendance:
    Debby Aframe, Worcester Art Museum Library Director
    Lois Hamill, Assistant Archivist, College of the Holy Cross
    (Suzanne) Sukey Haney, Tower Hill Librarian
    Alice Howe, Curator of Collections for the New England Province of Jesuits
    Mott Linn, Coordinator of Archives & Special Collections, Clark University
    Ellen More, Office of Medical History & Archives, U Mass Medical
    Rodney Obien, Archivist, WPI
    Mark Savolis, Head of Archives & Special Collections, Holy Cross
    Keith Vezeau, MA Military Archives & Anna Maria College

    The meeting started at 10:10 am with introductions.

    1. Updates
    People went around the room in turn and gave an update of what was happening at their institution.
    • Mott: The renovation process of the library is continuing, students done, catching up on regular work.
    • Alice: Continues to process.
    • Ellen: meeting with school founders, directors to collect information; she is developing a history of medicine book collection; just opened an exhibit on women in medicine; acquiring collections.
    • Debby: they received the NEDCC report for the NEH preservation grant; recently received the graphic designer’s records from the 1950’s – 1970’s.
    • Lois: working on processing, photo identification, new accessions particularly on CD/DVD coming in.
    • Margaret: working on processing, reference, links from their website to finding aids.
    • Sukey: is in the midst of getting their catalog on line, funding from a grant for this. They are scanning a large quantity of slides.
    • Keith: is working on physical control of the collection at MA Military, heavy old shelving being replaced with lighter shelving; also inventory lists, hopes to put finding aids on the web over the summer.
    • Rodney: received an NEH preservation grant for their Charles Dickens Collection; also a MHRAB grant for documenting the printing industry in Worcester, post 1870 [similar to Margaret’s project on furniture in the Gardner area]. He is seeking grant money to digitize the Theo Brown diaries [65 vols, 23,000+ pgs]. Brown was an engineer who designed agricultural equipment, worked for John Deere. He is looking at CCO [Cataloging Cultural Objects] to catalog some of their items, also investigating working with LC to document video gaming.
    • Mark: planning for the next major exhibit on aerial views; processing of the Jesuit community records; the painting of the college founder which was being conserved by WAM conservators is finished; has been working with a student on her project to identify art in Dinand Library.

    2. Change of Officers
    As our Director Advocate, Debby briefed us on Standing Committees and Interest Groups, and the officers for each. Our group – Archives & Special Collections – is an Interest Group [IG], however we have been functioning as a Standing Committee. We have been the most active IG and what we are doing is working for us. IGs are only required to have a Convener and a secretary for each meeting [not necessarily the same one]. Someone also needs to represent the IG to the ARC Directors meetings [6x/yr]. This could be the Convener or someone else.
    The group considered this information and decided to continue as we have been doing, ie the same person will take minutes for 1 year, someone other than the Convener will represent the IG.
    The new leadership for 2006 -2007 is:
    Convener – Rodney Obien
    Secretary – Margaret Anderson
    Rep to the Directors – Mott Linn

    3. Program
    Margaret Anderson spoke as the Project Archivist for an MHRAB grant to document the furniture industry in the Gardner, MA area. Mt. Wachusett College received a collection of material from a major area furniture company. This project grew out of receipt of that donation. Margaret has been identifying who holds original material on this subject. The project does not include making oral histories or locating published books. The product for this grant will be a listing of the places with information, their hours, contact information, the type and quantity of materials they hold, for which companies. This will be accessed through the web. Margaret was debating making more detailed information on the collections available and how.
    Mary shared examples of material held by the Princeton Historical Society. This was followed by a tour of their office in the basement of the library.

    The meeting adjourned about 11:50 am.

    Respectfully Submitted
    Lois Hamill, Recorder

    By Blogger ARC Committees, at 7:44 AM  

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