We are excited to announce the official launch of the NEH grant funded project to process and digitize the John Rhoden (1916-2001) artist papers.
The funds will help support the Archives’ efforts to preserve and provide greater access to the rich primary records of the under-recognized American sculptor John Rhoden. The Archives is also happy to introduce Kelin Baldridge who will serve as Project Archivist. Kelin will spearhead the one year project which includes surveying, processing, cataloging, and digitizing the artist’s papers.
In true PAFA fashion, Kelin hit the ground running during her first two weeks on the job! Please check back here regularly for updates on the project.
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.
PAFA’s Archives will resume public hours beginning September 23, 2019:
Monday– Friday: 10am – 4:30pm
As a reminder, individuals wishing to review records need to schedule an appointment in advance of their arrival. Appointments are required, due to limited seating capacity and staff. For more information on visiting the archives for research, please visit here.
Don’t forget to visit PAFA’s Digital Archives for additional online resources. New digital collections are routinely added.
The Archives has successfully upgraded its online digital archives platform. PAFA’s Digital Archives (PDA) gives researchers more efficient tools to view and search the voluminous digital collections held at the Archives. The new Digital Collections site ( http://pafaarchives.org/ ) updates the previous web interface to a more user-friendly experience that improves users’ ability to discover images, learn more about holdings, and browse collections.
“Aesthetically, the front-end user interface looks similar to our previous site. The main improvements come on the back-end with more robust features that will help connect users to more items,” said Hoang Tran, Director of Archives. “Moreover, the project included an upgrade to our hosting server which ensures all digital assets are preserved and continually accessible.”
Added features include full-text search of PDF files, expanded metadata vocabularies, and linked open data.
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.
For more information on visiting the archives for research, please visit here. Don’t forget to visit PAFA’s Digital Archives for additional online resources.
The Dorothy and Kenneth Woodcock Archives recently acquired a collection of periodical illustrations by PAFA Alumna Jessie Willcox Smith 1863-1935). Compiled by a collector over many years, the illustrations eventually made its way here after the estate donated it to PAFA.
Smith was a prolific illustrator during the late 19th, early 20th centuries. Her work has been published in many of the leading magazines of the time including Collier’s, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, Woman’s Home Companion, and Ladies’ Home Journal.
Zheng is an international student in PAFA’s MFA program. I first met Zheng during a class visit in 2017. He expressed interest in learning more about the archives and how it supports PAFA’s mission. Zheng will be joining the archives to help digitize historical photographs documenting school classes.
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.
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) joined the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) and the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA) for a joint Annual Conference held in Washington, DC. The joint conference brought together record breaking attendance at the historic Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. With all the information professionals in DC, it was obvious that the week long conference would be filled with informational sessions, tours, projects, and networking events.
A popular session titled “Email Archiving Comes of Age. Included 13 speakers!
At the Library of Congress for the Unconference: Teaching with Primary Sources
LOD stands for Linked Open Data
With so many events and sessions, I had to thoughtfully plan my week. I had to balance my personal/professional goals with the needs of PAFA’s archives program.
For the second year, I attended the Unconference: Teaching with Primary Sources. We were introduced to the Library of Congress’ many initiatives and resources that help educators, including archivists, to establish workshops and/or classes to assist students, teachers, and faculty on easy and scalable approaches of incorporating the use of primary source materials. In the second half of the afternoon, we broke off into different groups to discuss various topics. We had a chance to network and hear stories about successes (and failures). One particular success story came from the Brooklyn Historical Society where they developed free online curricula and resources. Using resources as models, it would be easy to adapt them to our needs.
Another well attended sessions was the SAA Museum Archives Section Group Symposium. It was great learning more about the projects at some of the leading museums in the nation–The Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Yale Center for British Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Another interesting session was on Web Archiving. As we know, we are producing a huge amount of information online and most are ephemeral in nature. How does one begin to archive the information for posterity? What information do we save or discard?
A particular session that resonated with the archives here at PAFA came from True Confessions: Paying off the Technical Debt of Early Digital Projects. Just last year, we launched PAFA’s Digital Archive, which now has over 6400 items! The research, design, and implementation process was methodical and well thought out. We knew we needed to mitigate any issues that would cause an issue for the archives further down the line. we’re glad we spent the time doing so!
Linked Open Data (LOD) is a fairly new concept in the archives and information field. LOD in the simplest form is a method of publishing structured data (information) so that it can be interlinked and become more useful when conducting research. Often times, the linked data provides additional/optional/necessary contextual information. By leveraging the power of the web and computers, LOD makes it easier to share and browse data. The session Progress (and Pitfalls) of Linked Data Projects outlined some tips, resources, and tools on how to implement LOD. Our neighbors at the Philadelphia Museum of Art discussed their current project, Building a Duchamp Research Portal at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Filled with great food, sites, and history, Washington, DC was an amazing host city for the conference. Until next time!
We are pleased to announce that the Hyman Myers, Historic Landmark Building renovation project files are open and available for research. This collection provides an in-depth look at PAFA’s 1970s renovation of it’s Historic Landmark Building designed by Frank Furness and George Hewitt. Myers was the project lead for the renovation of the building. The collection contains extensive correspondence with clients, vendors, and various projects such as roof repointing, painting, skylight repairs, waterproofing, and electric upgrades. Also included are photographs evaluating the building and architectural plans for renovations.
