Posts Tagged ‘research’

“The Art and Science of Seeing: Applying Visual Literacy Interpretation in Natural History Museums” by Johanna Jones

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

I have altered my topic for my final term paper on “value” to be more geared towards visual literacy, which is what I was trying to express in the first place, but the term was eluding me.  The “value” topic was becoming so massive and what I was trying to cover was becoming more and more expansive that I just couldn’t handle it.  I will be including my reading on value when talking about visual literacy, but the paper will be split into to parts. The first part will be analyzing the applicability of the following theories from textual to visual collections: Schellenberg’s infomational and evidential values, Greene’s MPLP and post-modern thoughts. The second half of the paper will be exploring visual literacy, its impact on archives (how it could be used as outreach, perhaps?), and how archivists can learn to read visual materials (VM).

In looking at the art database and the available literature there, I was surprised to find aritcles dealing with museums and curation, mostly because in the seminar course, we are using the Museum Strategy and Marketing text by Kotler and Kotler and I would have thought that library, archival and museum literature would be in the same same database for searching. I digress.

This particular article is from the Curator magazine, issue 45, no. 4 from October of 2002.  While this looks like a promising article, I was sorely disappointed in its execution.  The author continues to pose questions which she doesn’t follow up with answers or suggestions.  The best feature about the article is the section with the definition of “visual literacy” and the providing link to Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). I was hoping from such a title that this would be more than just a call to action.  It seems as if the author is promoting visual literacy as a cheerleader helps its team to victory.  There are few examples of visual literacy awareness in various musuems, but then the author seems to belittle their use in other locations:

How can visual literacy be applied to the interpretation in natural history museums? In the past, discovery rooms, hands-on carts and other staffed programming somewhat addressed these questions [...] On the practical side, many small institutions financially cannot afford adequate staff to conduct the programs or manage floor staff.  Even large institutions that have many offerings still do not reach the majority of vistors with programming but rather through exhibits. What are some ways for large numbers of visitors to experience visual analysis methods?

The beginning question is fine, it is answered, but then she seems to undercut the answer she just gave with mentions of impracticality and another question which she poses no answer to.  This leaves me with a feeling of hopelessness and some frustration.  I would have liked to see more on “the art and science of seeing.” While it is a catchy title, it is very misleading.  For promoting visual literacy, this article would need to explain on a more broad level what visual literacy is OR go into more detail on a few of the examples of what the program was and what technique was used to make visitors aware of the clues from the item itself. The author seems to be hovering between these two versions and neither is expressed clearly.

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Value factors in visual materials appraisal

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Excluding the summer classes, this semester will be the last for my Master’s degree.  One of the classes I will be taking is the archival seminar where we will be asked to write a 30 page research paper.  I am hoping to use this to get more in depth with visual materials appraisal criteria.  This would involve looking at what archivists, and hopefully specifically those archivists who work primarily with visual materials, see as valuable in a visual collection.  With my experience assisting a VM archivist, it seems that many of the same factors such as cohesiveness and completeness of a collection are desirable.  There are other factors in visual collections that may weigh more heavily than in a textual collection or that are not present in textual collections.

During the semester, I would like to be allowed to process and appraise a collection mainly comprised of photographic and visual materials. During this process, I will examine each decision step by step, articulating and thoroughly documenting each choice.  using the available literature on appraisal, photographic materials and non-textual materials in archives, as well as in other subject areas such as photojournalism, in addition to the examination of appraisal decisions, I hope to establish some sort of rubric, theory or general guidelines for the appraisal of photographic materials.  This exploration will also include discussions on value and the idea of neutral archives.

I see the exploration of the process of decision-making being slightly more informal than the sections dealing with photographic appraisal, value and neutral archives.  I will attempt to create a formalized, general set of guidelines or theory.

As I don’t yet know the parameters of the assignment or scope of the project, I am hoping that this will be acceptable and fitting.  I expect to find that amount of knowledge on the particular subject matter on behalf of the archivist to be relevant as well as time and resource allocation.  For the theory or guideline section, I have no idea what to expect.  I am also planning on relying heavily on the experience of the processing of a collection to form the theory, to encounter and record issues and also to provide inspiration for new areas in which to delve into researching for general archival practice.

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Appraisal of Sound Records

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

For our “Accessioning and Appraisal” class, our final paper is aimed at being a publishable piece, approximately 17-23 pages long.  Originally, I had chosen appraisal of photographs, as that is where my major interest is.  It had been suggested to me that I do sound.  I balked at the idea at first, as I have not had any interaction with audio media in the archives realm, but as I’m reading more on it, I am becoming more interested in the complexity of issues that surround its appraisal.

Christopher Ann Paton’s article, “Appraisal of Sound Recordings for Textual Archivists” is my best resource so far, touching on many of the aspects that I would also like to incorporate into my literature review. Other sources that are proving to be very helpful are Boles’ Selecting and Appraising Archives, Paton’s “Preservation Re-Recording of Audio Recordings in Archives,” Helen Harrison’s 1984 RAMP study, and Frederick J. Stielow’s The Management of Oral History Sound Archives.

I am aware that I am not the strongest researcher.  My frustration with my searching is that the sources I’ve found are all about 20 years old, with the exception of the Boles book, but those 2 pages reference the very useful Paton articles I’ve mentioned.

I’ve done a bit of reference-chasing in the Boles book, but its not leading me to anything new.  I’m looking for and open to all suggestions for sources on appraising audio records in archives.

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Posted in Archives Related Reading, Graduate School Experience | 3 Comments »

Doing research for MTN…

Monday, March 24th, 2008

I’ve been trying to think of ways to improve me Administrative History for my MTN collection. Reading through DACS, I’m feeling a bit torn and frustrated.

I must confess, I have not had much experience with research, but I am trying to go about it the correct way. The first question I ask myself (after taking a deep breath) is: Who or what organization would create the records that would be useful to me? My first answer made me laugh at myself a bit. A newspaper!

DACS says you need to use “reliable sources.” Of course you do. One of the encyclopedias I found online with helpful information was the Catholic Encyclopedia (Menominee Indian entry). One may be wondering how that could be useful in research on the Menominee Tribal newspaper. It has provided the most–yes, more than Wikipedia–information on the history of the Menominee Indians. My question: Is it reliable? Probably. I think I may create my own “Works Consulted” bibliography to keep myself in check, practice writing bibs, and to keep tabs on where I go for my information/what my personal sources are.

Back to what originally sparked this entry: Perhaps I have had it wrong so far; instead of encyclopedias, I should look to the source–the first issue of MTN. (At this point I feel like that should have been obvious) I had considered it, but some part of me wonders if self-referential referencing is really “reliable.” I can think of some hypothetical reasons they wouldn’t be, but it is likely that they could be exaggerated. If records are truly created in an organic fashion, through everyday events, there is no reason to suspect that they were altered or worded in such a fashion so that someone, at some point in time, would look back and see of different picture of the organization that wasn’t true.

Also, I guess I need to think of other collections, smaller collections, where the only information you have for a bio or administrative history is from the records themselves. The entire Bancroft Camp No. 16 project was based on information found only in the records.

MTN, issue 1, here I come.

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Menominee Tribal News research

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

I didn’t even touch my collection today, but found some things that made me say, “Oh my gosh,” out loud.
At first, I wanted to research the organizations and events that I had come across in some of the paperwork and didn’t know much, or anything about. Those subjects include:
*Menominee Restoration Act 1973
*Termination Act 1954 (PL 399 25 USCA 892-902)(<– I’m guessing this is a case number)
*Menominee Enterprise, Inc. Neopit, WI
*Native American Rights Fund (NARF)
*AQ-UA-CHAMINE

I was using ArCat and MadCat, but then I came into a snag (which I posted on our Learn@UW site to all my classmate and prof). My question: When writing a bio/organizational history or scope and content sections, how much should we assume the researchers know about events the organization was involved in, or that directly affected them? Is it really our job (as the processor of the collection) to provide this information?

So, with those questions bugging me, I decided to see what I could find for proper subject headings for my collection. Proper, I say, because the ones that are currently in the MARC record do not match the contents of the collection. Currently, this is what the MARC record has for Library of Congress (LC) subject headings include:
*Menominee Historical Foundation.
*Menominee Restoration Committee (Wis.).
*Menominee tribal news.
*Indians of North America–Wisconsin–Newspapers.
*Menominee Indians

While that sounds appropriate, it isn’t at all an accurate representation of what is contained. [Note: This is only referring to the 1.5 archival boxes (AB)worth of documents that I have, this does not, as of yet, have anything to do with the 3 record center cartons (RC) that contain photos.] I did do an item-level viewing of my documents on the first run through, and there are very few that deal with the Menominee Historical Foundation. There are distinct files that will have to be alloted their own series, just because they are obviously from a creator other than Menominee Tribal News. Curiously enough, there are no organizational records dealing with the runnings of the business end of MTN.

ANYWAYS, I was searching ArCat and MadCat for collections using a subject heading search to see if there were other collections that directly related to mine, and would possibly have more relevant descriptor headings than what the MARC currently has. Oh man, was I blown away by what I found. [Note: Wisconsin is a silly state in that they have cities with names that are RIDICULOUSLY easy to mix up. Like "Menominee" and "Menomonie." Seriously. Do a Google maps search. I did, to make sure it wasn't an alternate spelling. They are on opposite sides of the state.]

Ada Deer Papers

There are multiple parts to my interest and shock. I’ve been told the archives world is small, but holy crap.
1) These papers currently reside in Green Bay’s Area Research Center and were processed in 1990 by Deb Shapiro.
Rachel’s thoughts: Dang, I’d kinda like to see what these paper are about. They deal with DRUMS (Determination, Rights and Unity for Menominee Shareholders)(a paper also published by Shawano Evening Leader, now known as Shawano Leader.), but I am NOT going all the way to Green Bay. Wait, Deb Shapiro? Ummmm… OMG. She’s my professor for my Friday afternoon class. :: mouth open with shock :: Sweet.

2) I do a search for Menominee Tribal News in MadCat. It brings up a record for
Menominee Nation News. And wait… what’s that? “Continues: Menominee Tribal News”? So the newspaper changed names. And what? This library carries a subscription to it? And it’s less than 60 feet away from me?

3) I go into the computer lab to type some stuff up and meet a fellow archive student. As I’m telling Christina about what I was searching she would finish my sentences “…yup, changed names to Menominee Nation News.” And I told her about the papers and she asked, “Did you come across Ada Deer anywhere?” And I was kinda frustrated. And I asked her, “How do you know so much about my collection?” Was I supposed to have done research over break on all the collections? No. She hadn’t. She had worked in the Native American Studies Dept with Ada (who was responsible for starting the department, started the DRUMS paper and was a member of the Department of the Interior under Clinton) and so she knew all this other “stuff,” which happens to be great outside info on my collection.

So, it’s been a day of ups and downs in the research area for me. I felt like a detective, for a little while, only to find someone who was like, “Oh, yeah, I know that.”

:: sigh ::

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Archive collection–Menominee Tribal News

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

I’ve spent 2+ hours today sorting through my collection.
This is the description of it: Menominee Tribal News
There really is 5 cubic feet of stuff to sort through
I haven’t yet found the 2 packages that it talks about. Maybe you can’t see that information.
Although the record says that it is mostly a collection of photographs, that’s not where the really interesting stuff is.
At first glance, I’m not finding the photos that interesting, because a great majority of them aren’t labeled as to when/where they were taken or who is in them.
The interesting information is at the bottom of the description in the link I provided.
“The rest of the files, although they came from the newspaper office, pertain to the Menominee Restoration Committee and include correspondence, constitution and bylaws, minutes of meetings, reports, tribal roll book, minute book of the Menominee Historical Foundation, tribal annual report (1984), directories and handbooks, and legal briefs.”
What is not mentioned in here, and what I was surprised to find, was issues and petitions on a new school district proposal for the Menominee Indians.
Apparently, the Indian children were sent to a school in Shawano, 40 miles away from their reservation.
(These records are from the late 1960s and 1970s)
There is a stack of statements from the students on why they would like to leave the Shawano school and have a Menominee school of their own.
There is an even bigger stack of letters from parents to the superintendent and principal of the school with complaints.
There is evidence of case studies where 2 girls were expelled at age 14, for tardiness, which may have led to their incarceration for some reason or another.
These 2 girls were basically given tutors for the second half of the year and the tutors reported that they were well behaved and motivated students.
When they went back to school the next year, they were cited for tardiness and disruptive behavior.
In the records is also a copy of the Federal Self-determination Bill of 1973 which deals with Indian tribes who wish to have control over the education of their children.
In the bill, it is clearly stated that (paraphrase) that the system that is currently in place is not working and it needs to change.
Of course, this was determined through much research and comparison of statistics of how the Indian children fared vs the white kids.
There are numerous stacks of statistics on crime rates, educational scores, rates of dropouts and failed students of Indian/Menominee background and the other, white kids.
It is recommended that I spend 7.5 hours a week with my collection
or researching my collection
or doing work associated with my collection.
I suppose this counts. . .I am documenting what I have been doing.
Some of the areas in which I need to research to gain a better understanding include:
Federal Termination Act of 1954
PL 399, 25 USCA 892-902
Menominee Restoration Act 1973
Menominee Enterprises, Inc.
Native American Rights Fund (NARF)
AQ-UA CHAMINE (the name of one of the papers that the tribe published)
Each week we are to write a journal entry with guided questions.

Week 1 Journal
1. List the documentation that is contained in the case file for your collection.
I have 2 sheet of paper. One is the existing MARC record from ArCat. The second is the WHS Archive Accession Record.

2. How does the documentation in your case file contribute to your understanding of the collection?
I know that it is a small collection of about 5 cu.ft. It is a collection from a newspaper run by the Menominee Indians in and near Menominee, WI. There are other records that deal with the Menominee Restoration Committee and the Menominee Historical Foundation.

3. What type of collection are you processing: manuscript papers (family), government records, or organizational records?
It is described as a �manuscript collection. Photographs. Scrapbooks.� In the ArCat record. In my words: a collection of photographs, negatives and scrapbooks from the tribal newspaper, as well as organizational records for a couple different related Menominee groups, including the Menominee Restoration Act committee, Menominee Indian Historical Foundation, Menominee Enterprises, Inc., the Constitution and bylaws Committee and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.

4. How do you know what type of collection it is?
In the �Form/Genre� section of the ArCat record it says �manuscript collection. Photographs. Scrapbooks.� I have also physically looked through the collection.

5. Are there any earlier accessions to the collection? If so, what are they? How do you know?
No, there are no earlier accessions. The �No� box is checked in the �Are there separations?� section.

6. Is the collection an addition to an existing collection? How do you know?
It is not an addition. In the section where it says, �This collection is [ ] New collection [ ] Addition� There is an �x� in the �New Collection� box.

7. What impact will the nature of your collection have on how you will process the collection?
My collection feels like it will be arranged in a textual section and a visual section. It is already separated into 2 �records� boxes and 3 �photos/scrapbooks/negatives� boxes. I have no idea how to label/describe/arrange the photos.

8. How are you going to start researching the history/biography of your collection?
I�m going to start at WHS with The Federal Termination Act of 1954, the Menominee Restoration Act of 1973, Menominee Enterprises, Inc., the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), and AQ-UA-CHAMINE, to see if there is anything that can give me some more perspective on the events that spurred the creation of the textual records. Again, I don�t know what the next step is for the photographs. Move the negatives to better binders, keeping original order? That�s all I�ve got.

9. What have you already found out about the creator of your collection?
It seems that there are multiple creators who amassed some of the information instead of creating all of it themselves. Labeling and tracking photos was not a priority for this newspaper group, which is a bit surprising.
End of journal.

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