Maryland History and Culture Collaborative [MHCC]
Spring 2008 meeting, March 19, 2008 at McDaniel College Attendees:
Attendees:
Ann Hudak (AH) UMCP
Anne Turkos (AT) UMCP
Barbara O'Brien (BOB) McDaniel College
Bill Cady (BC) EPFL/SLRC
Catharine Baty (CB) Historical Society of Carroll County
Doug McElrath (DM) UMCP
Jennie Levine (JL) UMCP
Jill Craig (JC) Western Maryland Regional Library
Julia Lenhert (JLE) Hampton National Historic Park
Kat Ryner (KR) St. Mary's College of Maryland
Kathy Cowan (KC) MICA
Lindsey Loeper (LL) UMBC
Malissa Ruffner (MR) Hampton National Historic Park / UMCP
Mary Mannix (MM) FCPL
MaryJo Price (MP) Frostburg State University
May Chang (MC) UMBC
Nadia Nasr (NN) Towson University
Rob Jensen (RJ) Montgomery County Historical Society
Rob Schoeberlein (RB) Maryland State Archives
Rob Shindle (RS) UB
Robin Emrich (RE) Columbia Archives
Susan Graham (SG) UMBC
Vin Novara (VN) UMCP
I. Welcome and Introductions
BOB: welcome to the group and history of McDaniel. She included an overview of the founding of the school by the first president, James Thomas Ward. McDaniel College has always been a coed school and Methodist affiliated. McDaniel was originally known as Western Maryland College. McDaniel has an enrollment of about 1600 students. The new Hoover Library was opened in 1991 and named after Sam Hoover, a Sparrows Point dentist who provided funding for the library.
After BOB welcomed the group everyone introduced themselves.
II. Maryland History and Culture Bibliography
JL: update about the Maryland History and Culture Bibliography. The MHC Bibliography project was funded by the Maryland Humanities Council. It is a bibliography of works published about the state of Maryland, begun by AT and Jeff Korman from the Maryland Department at EPFL/SLRC. The bibliography included scholarly works listed each year in the Maryland History magazine as well as scholarly works from various institutions. A portion of the bibliography was made available online on the Humanities Council web site but it was no longer being updated. So College Park offered to take over the web hosting of the bibliography and to put it in a format that would allow it to be regularly updated. The UMCP Digital Collections and Research department is in the process of migrating the content from the Humanities Council web site and formatting it for the web. The timeline for this project is uncertain.
MM and AT: discussed annotations and the assignment of subject terms for works listed on the bibliography when it was on the Humanities Council website and asked if those two features would still be available.
AT: the MHC Bib was begun in 1973 and she has been working on it since 1987. She said it's a great tool for researchers of Maryland history that she regularly recommends to researchers who visit the reading room at College Park.
JL: College Park will create a user-friendly and aesthetically appealing interface branded with a collage of Maryland focused images. JL requested Maryland focused public domain images from the collections of those in attendance at today's meeting so that the collage could include items from a variety of institutions.
III. Manuscript Purchasing - Collaboration
JL: asked for those who have money to purchase collections to raise their hands - a small fraction of meeting attendees held up their hands. JL went on to say that she gets many dealer catalogs and has found some of her non-regular dealers are making their inventor available online, so that by the time the print catalog is received many items are stolen. Concern has been expressed about keeping Maryland materials in Maryland. JL asked whether or not others in the group, particularly those with money to purchase collections, would be interested in taking time to scan websites for Maryland items up for sale and keeping one another posted about what they come across, even if they wouldn't consider it for their own collections.
BOB asked how we might go about sharing this information about what folks already have in their collections, so that those scanning website for items up for sale would know who to contact about certain items.
JL recounted what efforts had been done to share information about our holdings, particularly the MDCH-hosted Maryland Repository Registry (http://contentdm.mdch.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmdrr). Instructions for how to post to this registry are available on the MHCC blog (http://www.lib.umd.edu/blogs/mhcc/?p=9).
JL asked NN whether or not this could still be hosted on the MDCH site, since NN has moved to Towson University. NN noted that the MDCH Coordinator position is still vacant and it is uncertain when recruitment for that might begin. With that in mind, NN suggested that the group might consider an unaffiliated, open source platform such as a wiki.
LL spoke about UMBC's use of Confluence and MC will investigate the possibility of setting up a wiki for the group.
KC mentioned work being done on BAROC to collect information on art holdings at area institutions and suggested using that as a model for the repository registry, in addition to the use of Tom Hollowack's book Baltimore's Past.
JL offered to set up the template in the wiki so that content population would be a matter of filling in the blank or copying and pasting.
KC also mentioned her role as the curator for the Library Archives section of the Baltimore Collective wiki (http://www.baltoco.org/wiki/Main_Page). The Collective gathers information about libraries and archives, including their access and opening times. At this time it is primarily art focused.
MR asked if on the UMBC hosted Wiki there could be a list of the names of the folks in attendance at MHCC meetings.
JL touched on Agenda item V by asking if folks would verify their e-mail contact information for the reflector list and update it if need be. She also asked for folks to think about other colleagues to add to the list of invitees and write those names down when the list was passed around the room.
IV. Digital Projects
a. MDCH update
NN reported that there was a possibility that recruitment activities for the MDCH Coordinator position would begin after July 2. Baltimore City is under a hiring freeze, but the Coordinator position is technically state funded so there's a chance that hiring could proceed in spite of the freeze.
BC gave an update on collections recently posted to the MDCH website - please see Appendix A.
RJ asked who the MDCH point person is while the Coordinator position is vacant. NN said that person is Gavin Brown, Web Manager (gfbrown@prattlibrary.org, 443-984-2443).
RJ asked what was done on MDCH projects to clear copyright for materials dated 1927 and later. NN forgot to write down her response so will take the liberty of composing an answer now: as for the Baltimore transit maps/timetables/schedules collection that was recently posted to the MDCH website, information such as timetables and schedules is not copyrightable according to Circular No. 32, Blank Forms and Other Works Not Protected by Copyright (United States Copyright Office, retrieved from http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ32.pdf). Whether or not the graphics used in these documents is copyrightable is debatable, but NN admits she is not a lawyer and at best can only say that the risk of litigation over publication of these documents is extremely low, particularly considering that these are orphan works. BC added that for other Baltimore Streetcar collections to be published (for example, the forthcoming Baltimore Transit Co. and Potomac Edison Slides collection) the Streetcar Museum is in touch with the creator's widow and was able to get permission from her to digitize and display the slides online.
DM asked if there was interest in adding parallel collections housed at other institutions that complemented collections hosted on the MDCH site. NN and BC replied that yes, there definitely was interest in expanding the breadth of collections, to virtually collocate like materials that are geographically disparate because of ownership.
BC mentioned that publishing the maps collections on the MDCH website just happened to coincide with the Baltimore Festival of Maps activities, such as the Walters Art Museum exhibit "Maps: Finding Our Place in the World" (http://www.thewalters.org/maps/exhibitions_images.html).
JL said that this would be a good topic for the Wiki - to collocate links to map related materials/resources online.
b. Maryland in the Civil War
JL: this is a proposed idea to collaborate on a digital project to provide access to materials on the Civil War, particularly since the 150th anniversary is coming up in 2011. The Civil War is and has been a popular topic. UMCP has about 3000 pages of material that could be digitized, in addition to some items which are already available in their Institutional Repository. JL mentioned that she has a spreadsheet that others were welcome to use in order to conduct a survey of their own collections.
JL asked the group if we wanted to consider hosting our own collections and creating a portal, or is there interest in having UMCP host the collection?
KC asked how the project would manifest - as a collection of images with associated transcripts and XML documents, for example? JL said that UMCP's digital collections software does not currently have the option to display an image and transcription, though it could be made available by use of TEI encoded documents.
KC said that this would be a good project for students to work on, especially if TEI encoding was done; this kind of project would give students skills they could use in their careers. JL mentioned that the Sterling Family Papers digital collection is the result of a student project for a digital collections class. It does not include images but the XML-encoded transcripts are available. JL had looked into outsourcing the scanning and transcription of some documents.
JL asked the meeting attendees what they might like to see in this kind of a project, such as grant funding for a cooperative, statewide project or the inclusion of photographs, manuscripts, letters, memoirs, etc. AT said that she envisioned this being like the Maryland Newspaper Project. RJ pointed out that grant funders want to work with a legal entity, so it makes sense for an institution to apply for the grant and parcel out money to grant participants.
JLE shared that the National Parks Service is gearing up for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, particularly to avoid snafus that occurred during the 100th anniversary.
JL envisions a portal that points users from one place to projects online.
JC spoke about WMRL's experiences with Civil War materials and collaboration. Whilbr (www.whilbr.org) includes a number of Civil War related collections but found that she was unable to entice the National Parks Service to link to these documents, even though they applauded WMRL's efforts & exhibits.
JL said that perhaps this is something for the Wiki, and that a survey of institutions is in order for grant funding applications.
KC: now is the time to get started.
DE: Baltimore riots on April 19, the first blood of the Civil War to be shed.
CB: NEA grant was awarded to the Heritage Area for a proposal written by Dean Herrin. Dean is planning an extensive website to focus on the Civil War, particularly in Maryland.
DE: suggested a site that would allow use by History Day participants and the uploading of or sharing of information about their History Day projects.
KC: MICA's Flex studio and design projects might be a good source for the design of interfaces for a portal or digital project that would appeal to a variety of audience members.
RJ: this [the portal or digital project] would be a good project for institutions that don't have the technical infrastructure to host their own collections, for example, leveraging the MDCH infrastructure and accessibility from the portal.
MM: should materials holders start poking around to see what they might have available in their collections?
JL: offered to send a spreadsheet used at UMCP so that others could use it as a model for getting a handle on what folks have (how much, what type, etc.).
JC: handed out a copy of WHILBR's Civil War materials/primary sources.
AT: proposed adding an agenda item - discussion of the date and location of our next meeting. Attendees agreed.
JL: thought that the Nabb Center on the Eastern Shore had expressed interest in hosting. She will follow up with them to see if there's still interest.
JLE: offered to see if the Hampton Mansion is available, in case the next meeting is not held at the Nabb Center.
RJ: offered Rockville as a hosting site.
V. Membership
JL: passed around the list of names on the reflector list and attendees made corrections or wrote down the names of colleagues to invite to the join the MHCC.
BREAK AND LUNCH
JL: reminded the group about the White Gloves Gang and projects like the Rockville Prison newspaper activities - volunteers to help with rehousing projects or disaster recovery or other projects.
VI. Pop-ups/Round Robin
AT:
• International Year of the Potato - theme for Libraries @ Maryland coordinated event
• Working on centennial history of the University Band
• MR:
• Has begun working 2 days a week @ College Park in addition to her work at Hampton
• Ridgely family papers guide has been published online (http://www.nps.gov/hamp/historyculture/upload/RIDGELY%20FAMILY%20PAPERS%20Finding%20Aid.pdf)
JLE:
• microfilming of the Henry White Papers, grandson of the Ridgley family, has begun
• CCAHA is doing some conservation work on these papers
• generally, collections processing is continuing
• The mansion reopened on November 30 and it looks amazing!
• Upcoming Forces of Freedom symposium (April 23, 2008, 9a-4p), $45 general admission, $30 students (includes lunch); JLE brought posters for attendees to post at their institutions (http://www.nps.gov/hamp/upload/HAMP%20Symposium.pdf)
JC:
• WHILBR hosts digital collections for Allegany, Garrett, and Washington County
• Coal Talk - one of their most recent collections posted online, includes oral histories, photographs and other materials that focus on coal mining days in that region of Maryland
• JC asked for input from the group:
JC worked with local historian Al Feldstein on a collection of materials on the KKK in Allegany County; the publishing of the collection to the WHILBR site coincided with African American History Month (AAHM)
JC decided to pull down the collection due to negative feedback about the posting of the collection during AAHM - comments were that it was preferred that more positive events/activities be the focus of AAHM
JC asked for feedback from meeting attendees about their thoughts on posting vs. not posting the collection
RJ: the collection needs to be online, though not necessarily in conjunction with AAHM; even if it's unpleasant it's still a part of history
MP: users are asking for these types of collections, there's an interest to access those materials, so the collection should be made available
MM: agreed there's a need for the collection to be accessible
there was a general consensus that though the subject may be unpleasant it needs to be accessible online, it's history whether or not it's palatable
MP: the history of the KKK is part of the history of the Reconstruction
RJ: mentioned that it's possible to add code to the website or pages within the site that will ask Google to index the home page but not the sub pages; this won't prevent all search engines from indexing the collection, but it will reduce the visibility somewhat so that it's still found but in an "under the radar" sort of way
BC: spoke to his experience with the Pratt/MDCH collection Views of African American Life in Maryland; this collection was selected by the head of the African American Department at EPFL/SLRC, an African American woman - not all of the photographs showed pleasant scenes but that was the reality of the situation
KR:
• St. Mary's College was founded in 1840, hired its first archivist in 2001; KR is a part time cataloger and part time archivist
• The first archives opened 2 years ago in a renovated building on campus
• Collections are 90% school history, records prior to 1924 are limited or non-existent due to the fact that the main building burned down that year
• Archives includes and oral history collection, interviews conducted in St. Mary's County, including topics such as watermen, tobacco farmers, the navy base
• Oral history collection includes audio and transcriptions, both of which are digitized; they are using CONTENTdm but their collections are not yet public pending a customization of the interface's look and feel
RS:
• Reports that the hiring freeze has had an impact on activities at the archives.
• "A guide to the history of slavery in Maryland" has been published and is available for $5 per copy (press release available at http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/homepage/html/slaveryguide.html)
• Recent acquisitions: Banneker's Almanac, certificates from the Department of Health and Mental Hygeine, Scrapbook on public health nursing in Maryland ca. 1950's, Civil War era volumes of Harper's Illustrated Weekly
• Dr. Papenfuse keeps an eye out on eBay for items to acquire, and also to keep an eye out for any pilfering from the archives that may be occurring
• Rosewood Hospital is closing down, the Archives will try to acquire some of their records
AH:
• Current exhibit - 19th century American cloth Bookbinding
• Coming up - digital capture of Maryland State Documents of the Civil War in Maryland
RJ:
• Montgomery County archives will be temporarily closed to test the stability of the floor
• There have been changes in leadership at the historical society and Peerless Rockville: PR now has a new executive director, and the HS has a new executive director, though that person's name has not yet been made public
• Grant received from DAR to digitize heavily used property atlases and looking to MDCH as host of digital collection
• The newspapers that were taken out of jail are now being scanned at another jail facility
• New acquisitions: Charles Jacobs papers and books related to the Civil War in Montgomery County
• MARAC Chair announcements: request for new for the MARAC newsletter; next deadline is April 15
• Solicited site tour hosts for future MARAC meetings
RS:
• The Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth site (http://www.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=1634) is up and running, and UB is getting geared up for its April 3-5 conference
• Good news: the archives has expanded into the 4th floor, except for the space housing MARAC offices
• Bad news: the room housing the film and video flooded with raw sewage - none of the materials were damaged there was just a very unpleasant mess...
LL:
• On board at UMBC until July
• Holdings include photographs, University archives, Biological Science Association papers, a large collection of science fiction material, and manuscripts
• Current projects: catalog records for processed finding aids; reformatting of finding aids; processing Baltimore Sun records (particularly the worker's union, including some H. L. Mencken material)
• Implementing Past Perfect as their collection management software
CB:
• Invited to attend today's meeting by Barbara O'Brien
• Gave an overview of the historical society
• HS library staffed by volunteers
• Recently redesigned school programs to comply with state curriculum requirements
SG:
• UMBC has over 2.5 million photographs and photography books, books on Maryland history, science fiction materials (one of the largest collections in the U.S.), book arts, archive for the Alternative Press Center in Baltimore
• Current projects: working on data migration of collection records into Past Perfect; migrating legacy digital collections into CONTENTdm; redesign of CONTENTdm interface & special collections website
• Recommended Omeka - an open source software that has exhibit templates available
MC:
• Supports library software and hardware needs
• Attended today's meeting as a peripheral interest
BOB:
• Placed in the reading room 60 volumes of Harper's Weekly and a full run of Life except the first year
• New Holdings: Cecil County Superintendent of School Board papers 1952-1960, includes Cecil County's reaction to and administration of the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in /Brown vs/ /Board of Education/; collection processed by students on campus.
• Found books titled /The Prejudices/ by H. L. Mencken in the circulating collection; these books are inscribed by Mencken to Estelle Kubitz Bloom Williams, secretary to and paramour of Theodore Dreiser and whose sister, Marion Bloom, had an affair with H. L. Mencken.
• Papers of Dorothy Elderdice, who organized Jubilee Pageant for WILPF; includes diaries, photographs, and monographs
KC:
• Doug Frost from the Development office is working on a history of MICA
• Some of MICA's institutional records were lost due to fires in 1835 & 1904
• On campus a room in the main building is to become a conference room and permanent history exhibition space; KC expressed concern about a request for original material to be on permanent display (security, conservation, etc.); RJ suggested pricing out appropriate display cases and 1) asking requestors of materials to either pay for the exhibit cases or 2) encouraging the use of facsimiles or reproductions
• In April there will be a presentation on graphic designer education by Doug & Amy
• The widow of Morris Lewis, a '32 alum, recently passed away and donated her husband's materials to MICA
• KC is working on a project to digitize or provide digital access to Master's theses
• Will be attending upcoming CALD conference on digital projects in Maryland and Managing & Preserving Archives by the CCAHA
VN:
• Recent acquisition: Stan Barn, photographer of performing arts; photograph hundreds of productions that took place in the DC area; collection includes thousands of slides, negatives, and DVDs with digital images
• Asked if others in the group would be interested in getting together at MARAC for lunch to talk about collaborating on manuscript purchasing
JL:
• Moved over to Digital Collections and Research to co-manage this unit; Liz McAllister is now working on historical manuscripts
• Digital collections available: University AlbUM (~1500 images related to the history of UM); some Civil War related manuscripts are now available; over 600 finding aids are searchable from the libraries website
• Now offering browse-able categories for digital collections (e.g., Agriculture)
• Working to make database of Baltimore News American photo archive available online
• Encouraged participation in MARAC's next meeting in Silver Spring
NN:
• Appointed as Towson U's new University Archivist and Digital Collections Librarian; first time a professionally trained archivist has worked in the archives
• TU's archives currently houses mostly University records and memorabilia; most notable non-university collections are former Gov. Ehrlich's Congressional Papers; Paul Gantt papers (related to work as prosecutor during Nuremberg trials), Marion Buchman papers, and WWII letters from Towson students to a faculty member
• President Caret recently approved funding to renovate and expand archives space; this will increase visibility of the archives program and create new staff work space, new user space, update HVAC and bring archives facilities up to building and ADA code
BC:
• Had nothing to add in addition to his previous update about latest collections added to MDCH (See Appendix A)
MM:
• MARAC announcement: Fall 2008 conference will be held November 6-8 in Silver Spring, MD; this year's fall conference will emphasize the theme of local history
• FCPL - recent acquisition of Spencer Geecy (sp?) materials
RE:
• The Columbia Archives is a primary source repository with materials that focus on the development of the planned community of Columbia
• Notable collections - Jim Rouse papers, Howard research & development, a book about the selection of street names of Columbia
• Last year was the 40th birthday of Columbia
• The Archives is starting to get larger donations from folks who settled in Columbia when they were in their 20s and 30s who are now in their 50s and 60s
• Many who live in Columbia had the foresight to document themselves, so the collections coming into the archives are rich materials
• ________ papers were sent from Chicago
• Last Sunday in April Columbia has a "bike about," a self-guided biking tour of Columbia that covers about 15 miles
• RJ: where does funding for Columbia archives come from?
• RE: the archives began as a group of self-documenting housewives who wrote proposals and secured grant funding for their activities; over time the Columbia Homeowner's Association took over the archives, which is housed in space donated by Jim Rouse. Archives staff engage in a lot of public service activities.
DM:
• "The Well-Dressed Book" Exhibit & Symposium. Exhibit runs from February 4 - June 30, 2008. On March 14 the UM Libraries hosted a symposium, "The Well-Dressed Book: A Symposium on Nineteenth-Century American Cloth Binding."
• Special segment of the exhibit: "Bound in Baltimore," books produced by Baltimore binderies. As part of this segment they used Sanborn maps to recreate a map of Binder's Row in Baltimore.
• Recent acquisitions: Talbot County Free Library's deaccessioned Poppleton maps of Baltimore
• Outsourced the digitization of their Sachse's Bird's Eye View of Baltimore
MP:
• Recently received a phone call from the President of the NAACP in ______ County asking why Negro Mountain was called Negro Mountain. The story behind that is that and African-American named Thomas Cressup, Jr., was killed by a native American scouting party on that mountain
• Lee Teeter made two paintings of Negro Mounty
• FSU's copy of the 1862-63 register of Clarysville Inn will be online soon
• Maryland Coal Mine Mapping Project update - digitization is complete, FSU is waiting to fill its Digitization Librarian position before publishing the collection
• MP asked the group to comment on the following: are there other newspapers with local information about the Civil War besides the Sun and New York Times? How have others successfully gotten their cataloging department to catalog special collections materials?
Appendix A (submitted by Bill Cady)
Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage Program: An Update
(March 19, 2008)
Since our last meeting we have added three exhibits to the Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage program. Listed below are the exhibit introductions and images:
Maryland Room Map Collections - Talbot County Free Library - added 2/29/2008
A selection of maps from the Maryland Room of the Talbot County Free Library. Taken from its Arthur J. Gutman Collection and its Starin Collection, this selection consists of 18 maps of Maryland, including a 1631 map of the colony before it received its name and a rare 1878 map of a proposed Chesapeake and Delaware Canal that never was built.
Baltimore Transport Directories, Maps, and Timetables - Jerry Kelly - added 2/6/2008
A selection of Baltimore transit directories, maps, and timetables spanning the years 1927 through 1943 provides a look into Baltimore transit lines during that challenging time when people were moving away from streetcars, with their fixed tracks and routes, to the freedom of engine-powered buses and private automobiles.
Upcoming Exhibits
Presently, we are preparing two other exhibits.
The first exhibit, entitled the Baltimore Transit Company and Potomac Edison Slides, consists of over 400 color slides provided by the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. These slides are of the last Baltimore Transit Company streetcars to run in Baltimore and of the Potomac Edison streetcars that ran between Thurmont, Frederick, and Hagerstown circa 1952-53. Taken by Ed Miller, these slides capture not only the end of an era in public transportation but also life on the streets of Baltimore and in Western Maryland, especially the area around Thurmont, in the early 1950s.
The second exhibit, entitled Aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, comes from the Enoch Pratt Free Library's collection of over 300 images taken during and after the 1904 fire. In some instances it includes pre-fire images of buildings destroyed in the fire, such as the John E. Hurst Company Building, where the fire began. Supplementing two earlier digital exhibits, The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, which explores the events of the fire as they occurred, and Burnt District Reports, which tell the story of how Baltimore survived the devastation of and rebuilt after the fire of 1904, these images show the fire and its destruction in greater depth.