mechArchival

I recently came across these four photographs, all taken during a social gathering held Saturday, July 9, 1932.

Each print has the “7/9/32” date written on the back, but no other identifying information. No buildings or other useful locating features appear in the images.

The prints were found with other “unidentified” photos in a box labeled as having come from the Ford Motor Company Archives. So, this could be a scene from somewhere in Michigan…Detroit or Dearborn perhaps.

If you recognize the scene or any of the individuals, please let me know!

Several of us at The Henry Ford contributed mightily during 2016 #MuseumWeek on Twitter this past week. I Storifed the results of our efforts here:

https://storify.com/a2beachboy/thfmuseumweek2016

Big props to@hayjayjay, @ErisuEEE, and @lish!

From Ryan Evans, Archivist, Bard College

Call for Proposals – SAA 2016: Symposium on Born-Digital Records in Museum Archives (Lightning Round)

Born-Digital Records in Museum Archives at the 2016 SAA Annual Meeting
Location:
SAA Conference Hotel
Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, August 3, 2016, Morning Session

The Museum Archives Section Standards and Best Practices Working Group is holding a half-day symposium on born-digital records in a museum setting at this year’s Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting. We will discuss acquiring, preserving, and providing access to born-digital materials, and consider strategies for successful collaborations with our colleagues in other museum departments.

We are seeking proposals for the lightning round, which will consist of a series of 10 minute presentations by museum archivists focused on working with born-digital records, followed by a Q&A.

If you are interested in participating in the lightning round, please send a brief proposal indicating the scope of your presentation to Ryan Evans at evans.ryan@gmail.com by Friday March 25.

Ryan Evans
Archivist
Bard College, Center for Curatorial Studies and Hessel Museum

Tuesday night indoor track session was a nice break.

This is the good, gladsome time of Thanksgiving
When we see life thro’ glasses of Beauty,
And man from the pure love of living
Worships more from delight than from duty.
All the woods have grown golden and mellow,
And their sere leaves blow wide thro’ the weather,
Ever tinting the fields read and yellow,
Or descending the hillsides together.

Fetch a flagon of ruby-red cider,
Sun-brewed in wide orchards lang syne,
And well drink to old Time, the Divider,
In the primest of Nature’s own wine.
Now the streams wind thro’ veilings of vapor
And a soft Indian Summer is nigh,
Her piece-pipe alight from yon taper
Of stars in a lavender sky!

O, the turkeys are royally roasting
In thousands of ovens today,
And we know, without bluster or boasting,
In each home there’s a feast under way.
Every haunt of the Ford Car is merry
In the bounty of tables well-laden,
For ‘tis there that the Good Fortune fairy
Is truly a homekeeping maiden!

Wheresoever the Ford Model T
Stands expectant by driveway or lawn,
The chance-passing hobo can see
Fun, feasting and frolic are on;
For the profits of automobiling
Both in health and in pocket produced
Have climaxed this day of good feeling
With a bird from Prosperity’s roost!

Since “Ford Times are evidence of Best Times,” then surely
These verses appropriate are,
Where the Motor muse, smiling demurely,
Ties her song to a Model T car.
Kind devoirs, then, to dealers and patrons,
In each province or country or clime,
And e’en to the Ford maids and matrons,
Be our thanks in this tribute of rhyme!

– Ford Times. Vol. 5, No. 2. November 1911.

From the Metro Detroit Archivists League (MEDAL):

The Metro Detroit Archivists League will host its third Preconference Symposium on Monday, August 3, 2015 in the University of Michigan Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery from 1:00-4:00 PM. Speakers will present preliminary versions of talks, discussions, and posters that have been accepted for the program of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists.

All are welcome to attend, admission is free, and refreshments will be provided.

The schedule of speakers is as follows:

Martha O’Hara Conway (University of Michigan)
“Collecting, Analyzing, and Acting with Assessment Data”

Assessment activities have emerged as increasingly important areas of action, framed particularly by the new joint SAA/RBMS Task Forces. This talk examines engagement with assessment activities that lead to
action.

Olga Virakhovskaya (University of Michigan)
“Privacy v. Access: Legal and Ethical Challenges in High-Profile Collections”

While abiding by the mission of providing access, should institutions make privacy exceptions in high-profile cases? Should creators of records be notified when access is either required or restricted by law? How do shifting interpretations and external pressures affect curators’ decisions?

Caitlin Brennecke (Troy Historic Village)
“You Do What? Nontraditional Outreach that Works”

With the goal of expanding beyond traditional archival advocacy methods, the speaker will discuss how archivists and museum curators can forge connections with a wide variety of communities and grow the profession via new and creative approaches to outreach programs.

Poster presentations:

Stefanie Caloia (Wayne State University)
“Revisiting MPLP and Backlog Processing”

Sarah Breen (University of Michigan School of Information)
“Methods for Assessing Risk in Physical Digital Media Collections: The Robert Altman Archive as a Case Study”

Panel:

Kat Hagedorn (University of Michigan)
Lance Stuchell, chair and moderator (University of Michigan)
Brian Wilson (The Henry Ford)
“Just Take Those Old Records Off the Shelf: Reconciling Legacy Digital Content with Current Preservation Practice”

As technologies improve, digital preservation practice and standards have kept pace. Although this constant adaptation is generally positive, challenges have emerged – particularly in cases of older digital content. The panelists lay out these challenges and discuss options by sharing projects from the University of Michigan to migrate first-generation digitized texts to HathiTrust, and from The Henry Ford’s work around content previously preserved on older media.

I gave presentations, that’s what I did this summer.

Improving Data Ingest and Preservation at The Henry Ford
Given during Museum Archives Section Electronic Records Symposium
Society of American Archivists Annual Conference, Washington, DC, 13 August 2014
Slides available for download in MS Powerpoint format:
BrianWilson_SAA2014_MAS_ERecordsSymposium_ImprovingDataIngest.ppt

Thoughts on 4 Years of Thinking Digital
Presentation given during Michigan Archival Association Annual Meeting
Mackinac Island, MI, 26 June 2014
Slides available for download in MS Powerpoint format:
BrianWilson_MAA2014_ThoughtsOnThinkingDigital.ppt

Now, on to Fall!!

– Brian