Posts Tagged ‘Archives Month’
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
 Students Attending Chapel Archives are not a digital Mecca where every text of every document is online and searchable by keyword ~ archivist Luncinda Glenn, Graduate Theological Union Archives.
That being said, more and more individual images and documents are going online every day, along with descriptions of collections. These are put up to conserve fragile documents, to provide easier and greater access to records that are in high demand among researchers and to draw attention to an archives collections in order to bring people in for more indepth research.
Hilltopper Heritage is the University Archives “digital Mecca” for WKU sources including historic events, biographies of faculty, staff and alumni, photographs and departmental histories. You will find digitized yearbooks, College Heights Herald articles and building histories. While we will never digitize the entire collection, it is a good place to begin your research. Hilltopper Heritage also allows for users to share their memories of WKU experiences with us through Share a Tradition.
Monday, October 19th, 2009
 Ogden College Before there was a WKU, Bowling Green was home to a number of private colleges. One of these was Ogden College. Located between State and Chestnut Streets, Ogden opened in 1877 as a boy’s school offering a 2 year prepatory course and 4 year college work. In 1927 the Ogden trustees and Western regents came to an understanding whereby the property was leased to Western. The campus is now home to the Ogden College of Science & Engineering. The records of the school were transferred to University Archives and are now available for researchers. These include images, student records, student newspapers and yearbooks. Check out the following websites for more information regarding Ogden College:
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Archives are not the place to run in to check a quick fact and then again, sometimes they are. Archives generally are about indepth research. It takes time to read through original sources and find the information that will prove or disprove your hypothesis about a person or event. Often reference staff will slow you down and go over the question(s) that you are looking to answer. We are attempting to narrow the field of the many resources we hold to get you to the ones that have information that you are requesting. Sometimes the answer you want is not the one you get.
Then again, sometimes researchers ask a question that has been asked many times and the reference staff does have the answer immediately. It can happen. Either way, archives are a great place to find answers.
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
 Cherry Hall Elevation Construction on a college campus is an ongoing occurrence and that certainly seems to be true of WKU. Current renovation and construction projects include the Chapel, Van Meter Hall, Snell Hall and the College of Education. University Archives holds records of construction projects dating back to 1906. These are found in a variety of collections such as the president’s papers, photograph collection and the Building File created by the Planning, Design & Construction Office.
University Archives staff are processing the building file as it is being used by patrons. During processing, folder level descriptions are added to the finding aid. Updates are posted on TopScholar. There you will see the type of records in each folder: correspondence, construction meeting minutes and inspection reports. Correspondents are listed by name or company. Researchers can see the process of how a building has gone from the drawing board to final inspection and opening.
Student volunteers and workers have been researching building histories. These are posted online as a part of Hilltopper Heritage.
Check out these and other records in University Archives via KenCat.
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
 Debate Team at Harvard, 1959 The debate team, now known as the WKU Forensics Team, has been around nearly as long as WKU. And they’ve been winning awards all through the years. The University Archives holds some documents regarding the team. These include programs for oratorical contests dating back to 1910, group photos and photos of individuals in debates. These records are part of record group UA68/6/2 English Department Student Organizations. This picture includes Mary Grise and Lerond Curry, but the remaining team members have not been identified. Please contact the University Archivies at archives@wku.edu if you recognize it. Members of the team from any era are invited to share memories of great debates for inclusion on Shared Memories.
The University Archives is a great resource for research on student organizations. Check out Hilltopper Heritage and KenCat for more information.
Monday, October 5th, 2009
 Black Carpet Beetle, Louis Sorkin Shari Theroux contributed “Archives are not a good place to eat,” to the list of what an archives is not.
Archivists, like conservators generally follow the rule of “do no harm” to the collections in their care. One easy way to do this is to prohibit food and drink in rooms where records are stored, processed and used by patrons.
The obvious damage comes from spillage onto documents that at worst would make them completely unreadable and at least deface them irreversibly. Mold can set up in wet documents rather quickly and spread to other documents. It is difficult and expensive to erradicate once it takes hold.
Food is prohibited because it can attract rodents and insects. Once insects have found their way into books, they can be removed through fumigation or freezing. Insects can eat their way through a collection rather quickly leaving only fragments behind.
Removing human food and drink from the archives prevents them from becoming the insects’ and rodents’ favorite snack bar.
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
 Oldham's Red Towel Sketch The red towel tradition began in the 1940’s. According to Chip Royal, an AP feature writer “A towel came flying down out of the air at Madison Square Garden and landed on a spectator’s head — and another basketball fan met Ed Diddle, the colorful Western Kentucky State coach.” Royal’s article was printed in the Daily News on February 14, 1943. The towels continued to appear and disappear as the athletics and physical education departments swiped towels back and forth. Diddle decided to dye the athletic department towels red to differentiate from the physical education supply.
 Crume's Red Towel Through the years the towel tradition has grown. Now few fans appear at a game without a red towel. In 1970, athletics director John Oldham drew a sketch of an arm waving a towel on the back of an envelope which he gave to Dr. Chuck Crume to develop into a logo. These original drawings are now housed in the University Archives along with personal papers of Ed Diddle, John Oldham, Chuck Crume and others involved with the athletic program.
Check out Hilltopper Heritage and KenCat for additional information on these and other University Archives collections.
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
Barbara Niss, archivist at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York responded: “Archives are not where information comes all neatly wrapped in a package; they are a place for searching and thinking and piecing together bits and pieces of fact, near-fact and outright lies. Which leads to: Archives are NOT boring!”
While we archivists do work to make the collections we care for more accessible through arrangement, research, digitization and the creation of finding aids, we cannot do the work for our users. The materials are here, cared for and ready to be read or looked at and they are certainly NOT boring!
WKU is fortunate to have an excellent Special Collections Department in WKU Libraries. There are manuscript collections representing individuals, families, religions, corporate entities, towns and counties across the state. There are photographs documenting life in Kentucky from the beginning of the medium. There are rare books, maps, oral histories, film and video. There are university records for WKU and its founding institutions. There is a museum full of exhibits highlighting the artifacts, costumes and artwork collected through the years.
In honor of Archives Month, try to visit an archives near you. (Hint: We’re located in the Kentucky Building). Check out the Kentucky Archives Month website to learn about other archives and activities throughout the state. Take a look at KenCat to see some of what is available here in the Department of Special Collections.
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