Monday, September 17, 2012

New Internship: Allied Vuaghn

I was recently contacted by the wonderful Lisa Schell, Archivist and Outreach Coordinator for Allied Vaughn in Livonia, Michigan. She let me know that AV was looking for interns for a new project. I applied and was accepted and am now working on archiving the media for the Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame located in Lansing, Michigan.

Currently 3 interns, including myself, are working on re-housing materials that consist of VHS tapes, Beta tapes, U-matic tapes, cassette tapes, and a few other odds and ends. We are also charged with writing a custom finding aid, complete with biographical information about the MWHC and the key figures in its creation.

A big part of the project is converting all of the legacy formats to DVD, so that they can be watched for (hopefully) a lot longer than other formats. AV has a huge machine in the back that converts formats and I've been back a few times helping to label the DVDs with the information provided on the tape.

In a few weeks we will be listening and transcribing cassette tapes which contain oral histories.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

I'm Published!

Check out my first ever real-life blog post on the Detroit Historical Society blog:

http://detroithistorical.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/documenting-detroit/

Last Day with DHS

Today was my last day at the Detroit Historical Society. What a bittersweet day. I'm happy because I completed a project of digitizing 1,000 photos for the Documenting Detroit Collection. I'm happy because I have a real, solid experience under my belt. I am happy because I was able to gain experience using a high-resolution scanner, PastPerfect, Photoshop, and CyberDuck. I'm sad because I will miss the people I worked with. I hope to be able to work with a group that is half as wonderful as they are. 


During our last meeting today, we discussed the things we liked the most during our fellowship. One of the biggest things was the atmosphere and the camaraderie of the DHS. Cathy and I nearly teared up when talking about how we really enjoyed the fact that we could walk into any open door and find someone who was there to help us. Everyone was kind, respectful, and helpful to us, even though they have only known us a short while. I think that really makes a wonderful working environment, no matter where you work. 


We were also asked to complete a "final project", where we created a small portfolio about our collection, along with tips and tricks for the fellows who will follow in our footsteps. I will copy our portfolio below. I want to send a warm thank you to the DHS for having us there this summer :)


"About Documenting Detroit: The Documenting Detroit Collection is a series of photographs taken by photography students at the College for Creative Studies in the 1970s and 1980s. The photos are mostly black and white and mounted on board. They were donated to the DHS and were accessioned in two batches, a 2008.033 collection and a 2010.033 collection. The teacher of the class was Bill Rauhauser, a prominent Detroit photographer. Most of the photos were taken in Detroit, although a few were taken in outlying communities such as Dearborn, Ann Arbor, and Port Huron. Each box contains several different subjects and it is common to find similar subjects scattered in other boxes. Some of the subjects photographed were churches, Eastern Market, construction sites, schools, parades, various neighborhoods, Hart Plaza, the Detroit skyline, Belle Isle, and others. In some cases, information and a signature of the artist is provided either on the matting or on the back of the photo. Similarly, several photos contain no identifying information about the location, date, or photographer. 
After locating the photos that were accessioned as part of the Documenting Detroit collection, we ordered the photos according to the accession number already assigned. Next, we cut down the board that most of the photographs were mounted to, so that they would fit in archival boxes. If any photographs were coming away from the matting, we removed the images and stored them in plastic sleeves, transferring any information onto the back of the photograph.
Next, we began digitizing. PastPerfect records were already created some years ago, and contained a previously scanned image and basic information. By re-scanning the images using high-resolution scanners, we were able to replace the image in PastPerfect with a higher quality scan.
After scanning, we filled in the relevant areas of the PastPerfect record, such as the location, the title, date, size, condition, and relationship to other photos. Adding the description usually required research using websites, city directories and other sources. We would always try to identify the location of the photograph, the direction it was taken and transcribing any signage.
By using Photoshop and uploading the images to the server using CyberDuck, we were able to watermark the images with “Detroit Historical Society” and load them to the website. Going back into PastPerfect and uploading the hyperlink was the last step in being able to pull up the image in a browser." 

"What We Learned: In this project, we learned how to use PastPerfect, how to scan using a high-resolution scanner, how to describe images, how to add a watermark using Photoshop, and how to upload to the server using CyberDuck. Understanding the need for both a Mater and Service Scan, and their different uses was helpful. We also learned a great deal about the city of Detroit and it's history. We also learned how to use electronic and print sources to identify buildings and businesses." 


"Tips for Success:
1. Become familiar with the various neighborhoods in Detroit (ex: Financial District, Corktown, Poletown, Delray, Warehouse District, etc.)
2. Become familiar with the hub-and-spoke layout of Detroit.
3. Become familiar with the general history of Detroit, which will be helpful in understanding how buildings and places were named.
4. Try and become familiar with the main figures and events that helped shape Detroit history. (ex: Henry Ford, Race Riots, Auto Industry, etc.)" 


"Resources:
Detroit1701.org
HistoricalDetroit.org
Wikipedia:
-          Financial District
-          Corktown Historic District
-          Midtown Detroit
-          New Center, Detroit
-          Downtown Detroit
-          Lafayette Park, Detroit
Maps.Google.com
Bing.com/Maps
Books.Google.com
Images.Google.com
BelleIsleConservency.org
DetroitYes.com (forum)
DetroitFunk.com
The History of Detroit and Michigan by Silas Farmer (Google Books)
Art in Detroit Public Places (Google Books, check older editions)
Directories
Real Estate Atlas."

Thanks for reading :)


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Photogaphy

On Monday, I was planning on going to Windsor, Ontario to see the Detroit/Windsor firework show. The fireworks are on barges along the river that are shared by Windsor and Detroit and they shoot off right in the Detroit River, so both sides can see them. 


The curator at the Detroit Historical Society asked me to take a few pictures of the Detroit skyline while I was out there, since they are getting images together to use in displays when they re-open the Detroit Historical Museum in November. Since photography is a hobby of mine, I was pretty excited about this assignment soI borrowed a really nice camera from my boyfriend's father to take some great shots of the waterfront and skyline during the day. At night I used my cellphone camera to capture some of the fireworks and the skyline while the sun was going down, not thinking that they were anything the DHS would be interested in. 


I'm happy to report that the photos turned out pretty great, even the ones taken on my cell phone, minus a smudge here and there and a few tops of bystander's heads. 


Here are some of the images that I am proud of, both taken with my Android camera: 



And here is one taken with a really nice camera:



Thursday, June 14, 2012

Documenting Detroit

I wanted to share the exciting news that last week the Detroit Historical Society launched their new website. Everything went live, including the collection that I am currently digitizing.


The collection is called Documenting Detroit, which are hundreds of photographs taken by photography students in the College for Creative Studies in Detroit in the 70s and 80s. They took pictures of everything - statues and monuments, houses, storefronts, people, streets. Invaluable images of buildings and businesses that are no longer around today, and even some that are. 


Here are the following steps that another fellow and I completed along the journey:
1. All the images were accessioned but were out of order. Our first job was to find the images and put them in order in archival boxes.
2. Most of the images were too large to fit in the box. However, the photographs themselves were small, it was the board they were matted to that were large. So we spent the first 3 weeks with exact-o knives cutting the boards to scale so they would fit nicely in the boxes. Any info or accession numbers we trimmed off were re-written (and yes, our hands were sore!). 
3. To the scanners! We are currently using high-resolution scanners to scan the images onto the computers. Step 2 is to write in all the information into Past Perfect: the location, the date, the artist, a description, the size, the copyright information, the condition, relationships to other photographs, and finally we would attach a copy of our scan. 
4. After the record is created in Past Perfect, we have to add a "Detroit Historical Society" watermark using photoshop.
5. Final step - uploading it to the server so that it can display on the website. We use CyberDuck for this step.


We are nowhere near being finished, but here is what some of the final product looks like. Some of the images are still missing watermarks but will have them shortly. 


Ta Da! : Documenting Detroit Collection


Thanks for reading!

A Little About Myself



I graduated Michigan State University in 2010 with my B.A in History and my minor in German Language. i decided to become an archivist just before graduating and during my last summer at State, I volunteered for David Votta, Head of Special Collections at the Capital Area District Library in Lansing (http://www.cadl.org/) Michigan. I had never even seen the inside of an archive, nor did I know much about it outside of what I had read online, but I knew that being immersed in so much knowledge and history, and learning something new every day, sounded perfect for me. But I wanted to get my feet wet so I contacted David. He immediately welcomed me into his archive and made me feel comfortable, despite being so new to the whole idea of archive and frankly, being pretty useless. 


My first project was to take previously digitized photographs and to tweak them slightly to enhance their quality. I then uploaded the photographs to their website and transcribed whatever was written on the back of the photograph for users. I was very grateful for any skills whatsoever, and I'm especially gratefully that I didn't royally screw anything up. 


Just after graduation I enrolled at Wayne State University in their Library and Information Science program, which also has a certificate in Archival Administration.


My second gig was volunteering under Brian Wilson, a Digital Processing Archivist at the Benson Ford Research Center at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan (http://www.hfmgv.org/research/index.aspx). Again, I hadn't even started my program or taken any archival classes yet and my experience was still basic. My project while working there was to create Finding Aids. I pulled boxes from the archive shelves and made a box list and filled in the abstract and all the institution's information.  It was very encouraging for these fellow archivists to take me under their wing and to teach me and correct my mistakes when I knew nothing about the field. 


Upon graduating from MSU, I got a job working as a Historical Presenter at Greenfield Village (http://www.hfmgv.org/village/index.aspx). I got to play around in historical clothing from 1760 (at Daggett Farmhouse) and 1885 (at Firestone Farmhouse) and learned to do all kinds of crazy things, like cook in an open hearth with cast iron pots, and cook on a cast iron cook-top. I learned how to use an iron that you heat on the stove and need to use hot pads to handle. I also learned how to dip candles and taught many children how to do so as well. Working there really made me appreciate history even more than I already did because I was able to see how artifacts were used in everyday life. And there were plenty of artifacts, including a genuine Hogs Head located in Daggett.


At the end of summer in 2011, I obtained a great job working as a Library Science Intern at the Bloomfield Township District Library (www.btpl.org). It is a three year, paid internship that really has helped me to develop my reference skills, skills working with different types of materials, and public service skills. 


Fall of 2011 started my first semester at WSU. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any archival courses yet, but I did take some really great library courses, including Intro to the Profession, Reference, and Technology. For my future career, I feel the technology class was the most beneficial. I learned new skills in Excell, Access and web page development. I also learned about open source software. 


Winter of 2012 I was finally able to start my archiving classes. Along with Library Management and Cataloging, I took my Archival Administration class. Finally I was able to learn the fundamentals of archives. I was able to tour the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History as well as Allied Vaughn - GM's Archive. 


This summer, I snag a really great opportunity as a Digitization Fellow at the Detroit Historical Society at Historic Fort Wayne in Downtown Detroit (http://detroithistorical.org/). It has been one of the greatest experiences overall. Myself and another fellow are working together to digitize hundreds of photographs from the Documenting Detroit collection. It is a series of photographs taken of Detroit by College for Creative Studies in the 70s and 80s. More to come in the next blog.


Thanks for reading!