Brooklyn Museum

Here is a very interesting site:

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/exhibitions/

and the archivist’s comment about it:

We’re really excited to have a new, beautiful, Web 2.0 presence for our 9,000+ exhibition installation views. This was a long term scanning project of the Museum archives. If you take a look at our IS manager’s blog post about the launch,

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/bloggers

you’ll see a link to the really basic HTML pages that I coded back in the dark ages — with many thanks to Bart Ryckbosch, whose exhibition list I used as a jumping off place. When we had no place to put our images, we starting linking them to the exhibition list and storing them on the library’s OPAC server. Now they’re all safely on the server and pushed out to the Web from our Luna Insight DAMS. Althea Morin, who used to create the metadata and export it into HTML pages from Access, would tell you that this is a great leap into the 21st century.

Take a look!

Deborah Wythe

Head, Digital Collections and Services

Brooklyn Museum

200 Eastern Parkway

Brooklyn, NY 11238

tel: 718 501 6311

fax: 718 501 6145

deborah.wythe@brooklynmuseum.org

Very Pleasant Website

This doesn’t really have anything to do with history, but I think it is a website that is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eye but easy to understand and navigate, so thought I would pass it along. What do you think?

http://www.viennachoralsociety.org/VCS.cfm

Preliminary Website Sketch

byline Gayle

Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard but here is a preliminary sketch of what my project website will look like and the items it will contain. It will be refined, of course, and I’m sure I will change the colors, but you get the idea:

http://www.diggingdc.com/index.html

Readings 9/26

When you see projects like The Quilt Index, H-Net, and Encyclopedia of Life you realize the infinite possibilities of the Internet. It makes me think of all the many subjects that can be addressed in this way on the Web through the collaboration of many reliable sources. I’m sure that day will come in the future when students do all of their research on the Internet (I know some are doing it now!) and forego books and libraries altogether–for good or bad, only time will tell.

Rosenzweig’s article on Wikipedia addressed problems that I’ve thought of. I remember when Wikipedia first started (or at least when I first found out about it), you couldn’t really trust what was on there to be accurate. When I was doing my article on Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) I noticed some misinformation. For example (and this is still up there), Wikipedia calls him a “Civil War soldier.” From my readings, Cody was never an “official” soldier. He was a “civilian” scout for the Army on several occasions through his lifetime, but I’m not sure that qualifies him as a “soldier” per se. This is from my article:

“In 1862, he joined the Ninth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry as a civilian guide and scout. He later became one of the Red Legged Scouts (the name coming from the red leggings they wore), an informal (some say vigilante) militia acting on the side of the Union. In 1863, he joined the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, also as a civilian scout.”

You may say I’m being picky but I believe that small bits of misinformation like what is on Wikipedia is how history gets jumbled as it meanders through the years.

Here is an example of sources used by contributors to Wikipedia and then the sources I used below.

(ABC-CLIO, the publisherss of my article, would only allow me to list a certain number of sources, but I used more than is indicated there. Very helpful were original newspaper accounts of Buffalo Bill and his family of which there were many, many, but which is not listed in the ABC-CLIO publication.)

(Wikipedia) References

• Cody, Col. William F: “The Adventures of Buffalo Bill Cody”, 1st ed. page viii. New York and London: Harper & Brother, 1904
• Cody, Col. William F: “The Adventures of Buffalo Bill Cody”, 1st ed. page viii. New York and London: Harper & Brother, 1904
• Cody, Col. William F: “The Adventures of Buffalo Bill Cody”, 1st ed. page viii. New York and London: Harper & Brother, 1904
• http://www.buffalobill.org/history.htm Retrived on 2008-06-07
• http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbuffalo.html Retrieved on 2008-06-07
• Could Building Site be burial ground of the lost warrior from Buffalo Bill’s show? Retrieved on 2008-04-25
• Kensel, W. Hudson. Pahaska Tepee, Buffalo Bill’s Old Hunting Lodge and Hotel, A History, 1901-1946. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 1987.
• Lloyd, J & Mitchinson, J: “The Book of General Ignorance”. Faber & Faber, 2006.
• Larry McMurtry: “Sacagawea’s Nickname”. New York Review of Books, 2001.
• Colorado Transcript, May 17, 1917.
• Lloyd, J & Mitchinson, J: “The Book of General Ignorance”. Faber & Faber, 2006.
• The false Italian pedigree of Buffalo Bill is one of the many items unearthed by Umberto Eco during his extensive reaserch into the pulp literature and popular culture of Fascist Italy, undetaken for writing “The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana”

(My) References 

• Blackstone, Sarah J. 1954. Buckskins, Bullets, and Business: A History of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
• Bridger, Bobby. 2002. Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull: Inventing the Wild West. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Carter, Robert A. 2000. Buffalo Bill Cody: The Man Behind the Legend. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
• Cody, William F. [1879] 1978. The Life of Hon. William F. Cody: Known as Buffalo Bill: The Famous Hunter, Scout, and Guide. An Autobiography. Foreword by Don Russell. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
• Cody, William F. 1920. An Autobiography of Buffalo Bill (Colonel W.F. Cody). New York: Cosmopolitan Book.
• Russell, Don. 1960. The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
• Wetmore, Helen Cody. 1899. Last of the Great Scouts: The Life Story of Col. William F. Cody “Buffalo Bill” as Told by His Sister Helen Cody Wetmore. Duluth, MN: Duluth Printing Services.
• Yost, Nellie Irene Snyder. 1979. Buffalo Bill, His Family, Friends, Fame, Failures, and Fortunes. Chicago: Sage Books.

Thus, I still don’t trust Wikipedia completely and always look at more than one source (other Internet resources and primary and secondary non-Internet sources) for my research. But whether it’s Wikipedia or other sources you always need to resort to more than one resource.

What’s an archivist?

I can’t tell you how many times I was asked that question when I used to tell people that I was an archivist. Anyway, here’s something that may (or may not) be of interest to some of you. It’s from my SAA listserv

“Be nice to the archivist or she will erase you from history.”
–Anonymous–

Subject:

• Internship at American History
• Canned Libraries
• Archiving 2009
• SAA Listserv
• Update to Project
• Life Photo Archive Goes Live On Google
• Washington State names new digital archivist
• Webpage Update
• On Readings
• Of Interest
• Digitized books
• On the readings
• Invitations
• Privacy and copyright issues
• Digitization, privacy, & copyright concerns
• From my SAA listserv
• Free Culture a Ramblin’ Rose
• The absolute latest on copyright
• Internet abyss
• Music and copyright
• Heirs and length of copyright
• Straight from the horse’s mouth
• Invitation Historical Society of Washington DC
• Twitter
• Of Interest
• My Project
• Updated Project Website
• The Bookless Future
• The Lost Museum
• Brooklyn Museum
• Very Pleasant Website
• Preliminary Website Sketch
• Readings 9/26
• What’s an archivist?
• Byline Gayle
• CAL Museum
• AMNH Website
• Readings
• One Man’s Journey
• More on museums
• One problem however
• What’s wrong with si.edu
• 38
• Interchange Discussion
• LC Newsletter
• Old Virginia blog
• My Blogs
• Baby Bear
• This is a test
• HELLO WORLD

Yahoo! Jobs Assessment of Archivists
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:06:26 -0400
To: “Archives & Archivists (A&A) List”

★ Apparently, we qualify as low stress with high potential…..(Scroll down to below mathematician)

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-relax_find_a_low_stress_job_with_high_potential-516

And mostly spend our days planning exhibitions.

★ Low stress?? From where did they obtain their stats??

★ Wow, it sounds like this professor never actually talked to an archivist or knows really what a “typical” archivist does. It makes us sound like all we do is put together exhibits and that most of us only need a bachelor’s degree. I would also like to know what school gives a bachelor’s degree in Library Science.

★ How about the stress factor of landing that permanent, full-time archives position?
-grad student working part time in three archives and an academic library

★ The author of the article and book clearly doesn’t know squat about archivists if he thinks our main focus is exhibits and we need only a bachelor’s degree.

★ But, she’s the “chic urban scribe” and knows all…http://www.vickisalemi.com/

★ Does anyone have easy access to this book today? (I know it can be purchased online and checked out from various libraries, but I was wondering if anyone on the list has it handy.) I’d be curious as to what the full entry says, and whether this is a case of Yahoo oversimplifying or if the characterization of archivists really is as inaccurate as it seems to be from this synopsis.

★ Well, my alma mater (UNC) offers a Bachelor’s in Information Studies, although that certainly wouldn’t make you an ALA-accredited librarian. As for the Yahoo! article, I sense SAA’s next bumper sticker/T-shirt: Archives: They Only Look Easy! Good idea. What about it, SAA????

★ Low stress? This is one of the most dangerous jobs I’ve had. Mold, lethal chemicals, dealing with potential donors….I’m lobbying for hazard pay!

★ well if you go through this listing at Google I suspect you’ll find contact information for Dr. Shatkin, you can write to him
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%Aofficial&hs=opT&q=%22Laurence+Shatkin%22&btnG=Search

★ also here is the info on the author of the article: http://www.vickisalemi.com/

★ I just saw Kate Theimer’s blog and her most recent post is about this same article. Check it out. It’s a good one. http://www.archivesnext.com/

★ Gosh, I usually read Yahoo articles for their glib relationship advice and the latest video of stupid pet tricks/adorable children, but now I’ll have to start accessing their informative career articles as well!

★ Really, if there has ever been a stupider, more inaccurate and more poorly edited blurb on Archivists published on a mainstream website I’d like to see it.

★ Years ago, I got a B.A. double major in library science and history from The College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, MN, which is about to become a University. I went on to get a Master’s degree but was able to test out of some classes, which enabled me to take others like the archives sequence at UW-Madison. The library program is now Master’s level though. See link:

http://minerva.stkate.edu/graduate.nsf/pages/mlis You will note that they also offer a series of archives classes

I like that t-shirt idea.

★ Don’t have the Shatkin book locally, but its Amazon page already has a review from an irate travel agent who disagrees with his assessment of that profession, so I think archivists are not the only ones being misrepresented.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Low-Stress-Jobs-Laurence-Shatkin/dp/1593575556/

★ I wonder if there’s a similar entry in his “Best Jobs for Introverts” book about archivists? Anyone have that one around?

Byline Gayle

Sorry I thought my name was coming through on my blogs but noticed just now that although my name shows up on my blog page it does not show up on the feed. Soooo my blogs for this week were:

CAL Museum
AMNH Website
Readings
One Man’s Journey

Another thing I noticed was that if you publish a blog and then go back and make changes (correct typos or add something or such), the changes do not occur in the feed. It seems to pick up only the first published version.

CAL Museum

I love CAL (University of California, Berkeley). If I could I would go there, but it’s a bit of a long commute.

Although its museum page is reminiscent of a feng shui design, for my preference I would like to have had it a bit larger. I have a widescreen monitor and thus is makes it look like the webpage is squeezed in the upper left corner. Still, it’s a simple page that easy to follow and pleasing to the eye.

http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/

Also, where AMNH had too much META going on, CAL has none! Do you suppose they’re working for the CIA and don’t really want anyone to know they’re there?

AMNH Website

I find that there is something very aesthetic about the AMNH website. It’s balanced and I like the blue background. It’s a nice color blue and makes the content part of the site stand out. With the table-like format it’s easy to see what’s there and where you may want to go:

http://www.amnh.org/home/?gclid=CMymrKCC7pUCFQwuHgodvW3MfQ

I especially like the Halloween page:
http://www.amnh.org/programs/specials/halloween/?src=e_h

However, there is a lot going on as far as code in these pages. One thing that Prof. Petrik told us in 697 is that it isn’t necessary to use a lot of META keywords because the search engines will just not pick up on most of them and may reject all of them. Well, whoever designed this website didn’t get the email:

Also, if you look at the remainder of the code (not displayed here) there’s a lot of java on the pages and I’m wondering if it’s really necessary with the CSS. Some I can understand because they’re also doing e-commerce (selling tickets to events) but would not CSS take care of the simple links? You don’t really need to do a mouseover, do you? I would just bet they had a web design company develop their pages.

Still, all in all, I thought the site design easy to follow and I liked how the different webpages reflected what that page was about: Halloween, the Planetarium, the Family Party, etc.

Readings

As I was reading the assignments for this week I realized that it’s easy to date articles when it comes to the world of computers or the Internet. In talking about multimedia Cohen & Rosenzweig do not mention Youtube, Google videos, Veoh, or the any number of other sites that allow you to post videos for free, which saves having to find and pay a provider that will allow you enough storage space to store your videos, and also eliminates having to decide what multimedia viewer to use on your desktop (RealPlayer, Windows Media, Quicktime, PowerDVD, etc. Although you would still want at least one of these viewers anyway for other times.). Youtube started in Feburary 2005 but took a while to catch fire. Digital History was copyrighted 2006, but I am assuming that it was written a while before it was published (as most books take a while to get from idea to print), and before Youtube and Google, etc. became Internet staples. That aside, I thought the book was a really good basic and easy to understand introduction to the history of the  Internet and the WWW. Truth be, prior to the WWW and very different from it was the BBS which my sons caught on to as soon as they got their first Atari. Wikipedia gives a good summary of what a BBS was. A long way from the WWW. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system

One Man’s Journey

[Question: I notice that in the feed my comments about the photos do not appear? Does anyone know why this is?]

As far as an historical topic. One thing I’ve wanted to do for several years now is put together a book of my father’s photographs. From the time daddy came to this country he always loved having his photo taken so I have many photos. What is interesting about many of his photos is that they are historical. Daddy worked for 28 years for the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC and thus came in contact with many dignitaries. There are two unfortunate things going on here: one, the people in the photos are not named; and, two, whoever took the photos (different people of course) hold the copyright and if they’re not marked on the back it would be almost impossible to know who took them. Many of them were taken by professional photographers because the Embassy usually had the same photograph company take the official photos when they would have a reception or party or such. Other photos were taken in the field by who knows who.

The private photos of my father are probably not a problem because whoever took them has long passed and even their descendants if there are any, would not know that they took that particular photo of my dad. But the official ones are a different story. Some of them actually have the photog name on the back and it may be traceable but I’m sure they are not still living.

Anyway, I had already scanned many of these photos and stored them on my crashed harddrive so do not have access to them now. But I do still have the originals and can rescan them if I have to. There was one person that I knew who was still living who worked with my father at the Embassy and I had started sending printouts to him to see if he could identify any of the people and he was able to identify a few of them. Unfortunately, he is in his 80s (if still living) and I kind of fell down on the job of scanning and sending him copies.

Anyway, here are a few of daddy’s photos. The photos actually span from the time my father came to this country in the 1920s to circa sometime in the 1970s (the photos below are obviously more recent ones from the 1940s-1970s). Some of these people I know but many others I do not know:

Top photo are some embassy people (daddy is standing in the middle); photo at bottom is President Sergio Osmena and possibly his daughter (Daddy is seen in the middle in uniform. During WWII all the men in the Embassy went into the Philippine army but stayed at the Embassy.).

Daddy is greeting who I believe is the incoming Philippine ambassador to the US? Maybe. Mid-late 1960s?

 

Mrs. Magsaysay, wife of President Ramon Magsaysay, came to the US for a hospital stay sometime in the 1950s-1960s. Daddy was a good friend of President Magsaysay who was killed in a plane crash in 1957.

President Sergio Osmena and his daughter(?) on a visit to the US. Obviously a photo from the 1940s as is evidenced by her clothing.

Embassy staff (below), circa 1950s-1960s. I’m almost sure that that’s General Carlos P. Romulo sitting on the floor (third from right of seated people in front line). General Romulo was ambassador to the US for circa twelve years starting 1952.  Photo late 1950s-early 1960s?

 

There are a lot of sites on the Philippines and Filipinos but I couldn’t find one exactly like what I would create about my father:

http://www.philippineembassy-usa.org/home.htm

http://www.filipinoamericans.net/index.shtml

http://www.filipinoamericans.net/notables.shtml
(Did you know that Rob Schneider’s maternal grandmother was Filipina?)

http://www.filipinasoul.com/

Cebuano inmates in the Philippines. This has nothing to do with anything but it is so funny that I had to include it here for comic relief! Only in the Philippines can you win a revolution with flowers and have prisoners doing a routine that beats lots of acts on “America’s Got Talent”!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dip7MlMNSM