Contributed by Jahna Auerbach, Assistant Archivist for the John Rhoden papers
Jahna and Hoang photographing John Rhoden’s sketchbooks.
Archival collections can range from standard mediums such as papers, photographs, and books to less standard materials like large pieces of art, framed documents, photo albums, etc. Most of the time we are able to digitize items on a flatbed scanner, but other times we need to utilize a copy stand and digital camera setup.
Example of a bound volume in a flatbed scanner.
Example of a bound volume in a flatbed scanner.
Objects that usually need to be digitized with a camera are bound materials (books). This is because the only way to lay a book flay on a scanner would involve breaking the spine. At PAFA we had to capture John Rhoden’s sketchbooks and exhibition catalogs with a digital camera.
An example of a book cradle used for digital capture. These cradles can cost thousands of dollars so many archivists figure out alternative processes. (https://www.digiscribe.info/)
When photographing books, it is important to avoid distortion of the pages, have even lighting, eliminate any shadows that could occur, and ensure everything is in focus.
To accomplish this, we mounted a digital camera onto a copy stand so that it is oriented straight down. A copy stand is a very sturdy alternative to a tripod. We have lights on either side of the book and include the Kodak Color Control Patches in each frame to standardize proper black and white values. Without a ‘V cradle,’ pages can easily look distorted because the pages have a natural curve. To eliminate distortion we photograph the books with the page we want to capture flat while holding the book at a 90-degree angle.
Then Hoang, Kelin and I had to work together. I handled the camera settings and focus, Hoang helped keep the pages flat and straight, and Kelin monitored the images in Lightroom.
What may be surprising is that, to save time, we first capture the recto (the front side) of each page, and then the verso (the backside) of each page. In post-production I will have to edit and merge these images so that a viewer can “flip” through the book digitally.
As tedious as photographing can be, it was a fun change of pace to work together, which is something we haven’t been able to do now that we are primarily cataloging and digitizing records on the flatbed scanner. Now, all we have to do is digitally process the images and we have digital images of a book! The finished digital book will be available as a part of the John Rhoden papers, accessible through PAFA’s Digital Archives.
This project, Rediscovering John W. Rhoden: Processing, Cataloging, Rehousing, and Digitizing the John W. Rhoden papers, is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National
Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history,
literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding
selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional
information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its
grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
Contributed by Kelin Baldridge,Project Archivist for the John Rhoden papers
Here in the Rhoden papers, we have been elbow-deep in the
nitty-gritty work of digitization and cataloging. We are approaching the five thousand
digitized objects mark and, as we are nearing this milestone, wanted to
re-commence our regular posting.
Archives Director Hoang Tran and Assistant Archivist Jahna Auerbach photographing John Rhoden’s sketchbooks.
What we accomplished:
Finished digitizing all prioritized documents,
photographs, and slides
Photographed bound volumes such as sketchbooks
and exhibition catalogs
Up next:
Finish cataloging all digitized objects
Scan all non-priority manuscripts
Thoughts:
We began the digitization and cataloging process by establishing digitization priorities. In our first pass, we digitized all documents with clear informational value – names, dates, processes, plans, prices, etc. – a criteria that depends more on our judgment as archivists than on hard and fast rules. We additionally decided to digitize all black and white photographs of John’s military service, exhibitions, commissions, travel, family and friends, and home and all color photographs of John’s commissions and exhibitions. Finally, we decided to scan all good-quality color slides from John’s travels. (Good-quality simply refers to anything that is not blurry or dark to the point of negating an informational or aesthetic value.)
Above is an example of a prioritized document. It provides specific information on where John was and who he was with during his travels.
As of this week, we have digitized all of the above items and have finished cataloging them. With this in mind, our next step is to return to the manuscripts and scan all of the remaining documents. The manuscripts are simultaneously the smallest and most informationally rich portion of the collection and, as such, I am extremely excited to be able to provide easy access to all of them. Providing access to the entirety of John’s documents ensures that the physical remnants of his story are presented in the most robust manner possible and that each document can be contextualized to the fullest extent.
On a different note, one thing I have learned as a project archivist is that hitting a numerical goal is daunting. It is easy to become fixed on the number and prioritize that goal over others (such as blogging). However, now that we are through the thick of it, I have learned not to become overwhelmed by numerical goals but rather to allow them to serve as a framework for planning a balanced project.
Up next, a post from Assistant Archivist Jahna about photographing John’s sketchbooks!
This project, Rediscovering John W. Rhoden: Processing, Cataloging, Rehousing, and Digitizing the John W. Rhoden papers, is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National
Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history,
literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding
selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional
information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its
grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
Contributed by Jahna Auerbach, Assistant Archivist for the John Rhoden papers
When the processing team began organizing the John Rhoden papers we were challenged with identifying over 2,300 slides from John Rhoden’s travels. A majority of the slides were unlabeled and unorganized. At best, some slides included labels inscribed on the physical slides with the name of the country or city name, usually misspelled. To create useful and meaningful descriptive catalog records, we have been researching the places John visited for the past few months.
Labeled slides being organized by country. Taken by the author on October 29, 2019.
Every detail is a clue
To physically arrange the slides, we first took a broad approach–identifying and organizing the slides by continent and then by country. This step required multiple passes between Kelin and I. The process included a significant amount of research, including looking up obscure architecture, street signs, traditional dress, flora and fauna, types of alcohol, types of transportation, and lots and lots of translation. Anything could be a clue. One day I spent hours looking at Soviet Era street lights in hopes of identifying a small town.
Other days were spent identifying countries by different languages that were found on street signs, store fronts, and license plates. In order to translate these clues, we not only used Google translate, but we sent images to family and friends who were from the countries that John had visited in hopes that they could help translate, identify languages, or identify alphabets.
Once we were able to identify the countries represented in a slide, we began identifying specific locations, typically historical sites and buildings. This meant spending lots of time in Google street view walking from, for example, one Russian cathedral to the next, trying to see if we could identify where John was from the smallest clues. Luckily, many of the sites John visited still exist!
Our job is to identify who she is! (taken between October 1958 and December 1959)
Part Archivist // Part Detective
John Rhoden’s travel
slides are color positive, 35mm film, and mounted between two pieces of
cardstock. To identify certain places we had to utilize light boxes, magnifying
glasses, digital scans and even Photoshop to create more sharpness and contrast
between letters.
This image, taken between December 1958 and March 1959, is an example of a slide we needed to identify.
Here is an example of how we would identify a location on an unlabeled slide (above):
The slide is unlabeled, but the characters on the stone sign/marker reveals it is more likely East Asia, based on Rhoden’s travel history.
The characters resemble Japanese characters, so at this point we compared these images to other images we have that Rhoden labeled Japan.
The subject of the image is a group of people (family) having their photograph taken in front of a stone relief sign. We deduced that it is likely a tourist area.
After failing to find a tourist site in Japan with a matching sign we asked a family friend to translate the writing on the sign . We eventually learned that it says “National Treasure Great Buddha of Kamakura”
Then we revisited Google maps to make sure we have the correct place. On google street view there is an identical sign, but it is in a different location and has a different base. (Image: below left, the stone marker in its current location.[1])
Next we had to try to find images of the Great Buddha of Kamakura from the 1950s-1960s. Only through finding those images were we able to find confirmation of the stone sign, with the same base, near the Great Buddha of Kamakura. (Image: below right, In this photograph from 1968, the stone marker matches that of the slide.[2])
This is just an example of the identification process for one slide. But finding the identification for one slide can help identify many others. By identifying this one slide we now know that John traveled to Kamakura, Japan. There is a strong possibility that other slides from the area are also found in the collection, or at the very least, we can definitively label the slides “Japan”.
For other slides the subject may be somewhat generic. When a slide only shows, for example, a close-up of a roof or a cycle rickshaw, our Google searches tend to look like the following: “blue roof Russian cathedral Moscow” or “Indonesian cyclo”. We make educated guesses as to the location and continue to do so until we make an identification. Throughout the process, we gain new knowledge and awareness of specific regions, cultures, architecture, and geography. In fact, as we continue to learn more and more about certain countries, we become “subject specialists”: Kelin specializes in Europe; Hoang specializes in India and Italy; and I specialize in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Above is an example of a close-up image of architecture with little-to-no context given. We were able to identify this image as the roof and south tower of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. This identification led to a precise date, 1952, when Rhoden was in Austria.
Cataloging these slides
have made me feel as if I have walked the streets of so many countries. I have
also learned that many countries have developed so much over the last 70 years.
For example, Seoul, South Korea in 1958 is unrecognizable compared to Seoul
2020, while other places have barely changed.
We would also like to
use this blog post to thank everyone who has taken the time to help us
translate and identify John travel photos. We wouldn’t have been able to do it
without you!
R and L: Slides on a light table, in the process of being organized by country (November 12, 2019)
For reference, the following is a list of countries John traveled to between 1951 and 1963: (in alphabetical order) Armenia, Cambodia, Croatia, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Jerusalem, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Monaco, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sardinia, Scotland, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Tibet, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zanzibar.
Image Credits:
The Great Buddha of Kamakura from Google Maps. Captured by Google in 2010.
Sparrow, L. (1968) “Great Buddha of Kamakura,” [digital image]. Retrieved from: https://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/977126/great-buddha-of-kamakura/?search_hash=744c19a5b3a19e0562dfc5cee5e8007a&search_offset=0&search_limit=100&search_sort_by=relevance_desc
This project, Rediscovering John W. Rhoden: Processing, Cataloging, Rehousing, and Digitizing the John W. Rhoden papers, is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National
Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history,
literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding
selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional
information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its
grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
Contributed by Kelin Baldridge,Project Archivist for the John Rhoden papers
As a follow up to the previous post, the following is a more visually-focused update on our progress to date!
The largest deliverable of the John Rhoden papers project is 5,000 publicly-available digitized items from the collection. With that said, our recent work has been focused on digitizing and cataloging. At the time of posting, we have digitized 2,610 physical records, totaling 3,275 individual scans.
We have worked our way through the manuscripts and black and
white photographs and are currently scanning Rhoden’s color slides. Scanning
the slides has proven to be an interesting challenge and our resident
digitization expert, Jahna, has a post in the works explaining those challenges
and solutions. Overall, however, digitization and cataloging is fairly
straightforward work. So, in order to keep things interesting, we have included
some gems discovered during the process below!
First, we have John and Richenda’s trip to Egypt touring some of the most iconic pyramids in the world to (precariously) riding camels and donkeys. The Rhodens clearly had the time of their lives!
Richenda, pyramids at Giza, 1958
John, pyramids at Giza, 1958
John, Colossi of Memnon, 1955-1959
United Nations Peacekeeper, 1958
The slides also introduce countless new artists to the collection, both known and unknown. One of the most interesting is Hasan Kaptan, the Turkish prodigy who is largely unknown in the modern era. Born in Ankara, Turkey in 1942, Kaptan exhibited throughout Turkey, had a one-man (boy) show in Paris, and exhibited in the Galerie St. Etienne in New York (Paintings of a Ten-Year-Old Turkish Painter on October 29, 1952) by age ten. Throughout his adolescence, he continued to exhibit around Europe and in the United States. His story and work was featured in Time and Harper’s Bazaar. As an adult, Kaptan seemingly stepped away from exhibiting and selling his art and has largely been obscured from history.
Hasan Kaptan (aged 13-17), with his art, circa 1955-1959
Serbian sculptor, circa 1955-1959
In 1954, John enjoyed the beaches of Sardinia, taking a break from his hard work at the American Academy in Rome.
John Rhoden with friends in Santa Teresa, Sardinia, 1954
Richenda Rhoden posing on a dock in Maddalena, Sardinia, 1954
Rhoden also visited the Waterford Crystal factory in Waterford, Ireland and photographed the workers during the crystal making process.
Worker at the Waterford Crystal factory, circa 1955-1959.
This project, Rediscovering John W. Rhoden: Processing, Cataloging, Rehousing, and Digitizing the John W. Rhoden papers, is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National
Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history,
literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding
selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional
information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its
grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
Over the summer months, the Archives has been working diligently behind the scenes upgrading our digital collections platform–from Omeka to Omeka S. The new platform provides greater flexibility as we grow our digital collections.
We are still performing web and user interface tests, ensuring a seamless transition and simple, straightforward navigation. The launch of PAFA’s New Digital Archives will be September 1, 2019.
As America’s first fine art school, we are proud to provide students and artists an intense immersion in art-making anchored in a rich heritage of artistic achievement. It is without question, PAFA provides a fine arts education unlike any other.
Photographs in this collection provide a glimpse at the studio arts training in painting, illustration, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and of course, PAFA’s long-standing tradition of working from the figure. Photographs also provide evidence of our vibrant community of artists, curators, critics and teachers who create complex, diverse and provocative work and provide inspiration and stimulus for individual expression.
[Installation photograph of the 8th Annual Water Color Exhibition, 1910]Until 1903 the annual exhibitions included oils, watercolors, prints, drawings, and sculpture. In 1904 watercolors, prints, and drawings were segregated into a separate annual exhibition. The annual exhibitions of watercolors, prints, and drawings were cosponsored by the Philadelphia Watercolor Club and the Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters. Thus, from 1904 to 1953, the Academy mounted two annual exhibitions.
[Installation photograph at the Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters’ Annual Miniature Exhibition, undated]Until 1903 the annual exhibitions included oils, watercolors, prints, drawings, and sculpture. In 1904 watercolors, prints, and drawings were segregated into a separate annual exhibition, which also featured the annual display of the Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters. Thus, from 1904 to 1953, the Academy mounted two annual exhibitions.
Contributed by Hoang Tran, Director of Archives, and Barbara Katus, Manager of Imaging Services
Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was an English photographer who is considered the father of motion picture because of his photographic studies of animal motion.His pivotal work in the development and evolution of motion picture began in 1872. Muybridge was hired by Leland Stanford, the California governor and founder of Stanford University, to settle a debate regarding whether a horse had all its hooves off the ground simultaneously or not. For six years, Muybridge used photography to figure out the answer to the question. All his work led to success in 1878 when he setup 12 cameras along a racetrack to photograph a galloping horse. The photographs proved that there is a point when no hooves touch the ground during the horse’s stride.
Muybridge’s connection to PAFA began when PAFA’s board member Fairman Rogers and art faculty member Thomas Eakins corresponded with Muybridge about his Stanford photograph project. In 1883, Rogers invited Muybridge to give a lecture at the Academy. On February 12, 1883, Muybridge lectured on The Romance and Realities of Animal Locomotion, illustrated by the Zoopraxiscope at PAFA. Muybridge eventually relocated to Philadelphia and continued his work on his landmark study on animal locomotion.
Under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, Muybridge eventually published 12 volumes that illustrated animal locomotion in 781 plates. Fairman Rogers who was an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of the School of Veterinary Medicine, professor of civil engineering acquired a set of Muybridge’s 12 volumes. In 1887, Rogers donated the volumes to PAFA’s library.
128 years after Rogers’ donation, the volumes required much needed conservation to be usable again. PAFA was fortunate enough to receive grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support the conservation of all 12 volumes. After conservation, the volumes were all digitized in-house. The volumes are now freely accessible online.
To view all 12 volumes, please visit PAFA’s Digital Archives here.
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ (PAFA) Dorothy & Kenneth Woodcock Archives is excited to announce the public beta launch of its new online Digital Archives. With the generous support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Archives was able to develop a comprehensive plan to digitize and disseminate some of the Archives’ most significant holdings. For the one year pilot project, the Archives selected a high value/high risk collection—the Annual Exhibition Photograph collection—to test and develop proper workflows, guidelines, and best practices.
To increase the searchability and discoverability of digital resources, images were cataloged using widely adopted metadata standards. To ensure we reproduced high quality digital surrogates, we developed a digitization workflow that adhered to national standards and guidelines. The results from the pilot project will help guide future digitization projects.
As the IMLS Grant Project comes to a close, we are happy to announce that we have exceeded the initial goal of the pilot project. This past year, we were able to develop internal guidelines for digitization and cataloging, rehouse 100% of the photograph collection, digitize, catalog and provide free online access to over 3,600 images, and even develop a new online database.
The project is also significant as it provides us the ability to better serve our patrons. We are aware of the changing trends in research methodologies and how scholars have come to expect online access to primary sources. We will use the momentum created by the success of the pilot project to continue developing digitization projects. Please continue to visit the Digital Archives for newly digitized items and collections.
