A Wealth of ImagesDonald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center,National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OklahomaLaura Anne Heller,Electronic Archivist

Beyond These Four Walls: Optimizing Traditional Collections Through Outreach & CollaborationVRA 30, Albuquerque 2012

The Dickinson Research Center• The Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research

Center serves as the library and archives of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Its mission is to preserve and document the heritage of the American West for the enrichment of the public.

• The Dickinson Research Center is actively pursuing collections of personal papers and business and organizational records that reflect and document aspects of Western history, culture, and art.

• The Center primarily seeks materials in the following five topical areas: Entertainment (Western popular culture), Western Art, Ranching, Native American, and Rodeo.

Image Database Archive (IDA)• InMagic database catalog

from CS/Textworks 9.00

• In October 2004, the DRC purchased Inmagic to develop a web-based database of images held in the Center.

• In September 2005, the Image Database Archive was accessible to online users.

• http://imagedb.nationalcowboymuseum.org/InmagicGenie/opac.aspx

Edit Record Screen

Image Database Archive(IDA)• The public records

include a watermark on the JPGs & some metadata concerning the photograph.

• Patrons cannot download via IDA high-resolution TIFs or low-res JPGs without digital watermarks.

Three Rodeo Photo Collections• IDA consists largely of

collections from 3 major rodeo photographers: Doubleday, Helfrich, & Gregory, totaling 131,078 image records for these photographers alone.

• Doubleday and Helfrich collections are in IDA in their entirety: records & images.

• Gregory (85,439 image records) is still being scanned & added to the IDA records.

Native American Photo Collections• Several archival

collections contain photographs of Native Americans: Addison, Cunningham, and Silberman are the largest.

• Addison (77 images) is in IDA.

• Cunningham & Silberman is partially included in IDA, and added when scan-on-demand requests come in. These are larger collections, mostly of copy photographs.

Historical Photo Collections• Some research &

photographic collections contain both original & copy photographs of land runs, early towns, settlements, buildings, etc.

• These are also scanned & added to IDA on a scan-on-demand basis. Many already have records in IDA without the images attached.

Permanent Art Collection• The National Cowboy &

Western Heritage Museum has a large collection of acquired art, in addition to artwork purchased each year in the Prix de West Art Exhibition & Sale.

• Some pieces from these collections are in IDA, while others are not. Preference appeared to be popularity of artwork and/or artist.

Image Services for Curatorial Staff• Curators at the National

Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum are the primary users of the collections, which provide authoritative reference supporting the exhibits.

• Their requests do interrupt projects, but these usually do not impede progress more than a day. I process these on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• Images are provided on a CD, as prints, or in Staff Common folders on an internal secure server.

Image Services for Outside Patrons• I get phone calls, emails,

letters, & faxes for image requests because patrons have found images in IDA.

• About 50% of outside requests are from book authors, magazine writers, scholars, & other museum exhibit creators.

• The other 50% of outside requests are from rodeo performers & their family looking for photos for their personal collections.

Receiving Outside Image Requests• Most calls, emails, letters,

& faxes are sent directly to me because patrons found my info on our website. Others are forwarded to me from the general AskArchives email account.

• I often spend time on the phone providing instruction for downloading & completing the request forms or searching & finding images in IDA, etc.

Use: Museums West• The National Cowboy &

Western Heritage Museum is a partner of Museums West with 13 other museums.

• Exhibits created by these partner museums may use images from our collections at no cost of fees, etc., as long as image credit is provided.

• Occasionally these exhibits draw interested persons to our photograph collections.

Use: Magazines• NC&WHM publishes

Persimmon Hill Magazine, for which editorial staff will request images for articles.

• NC&WHM also has an agreement with some magazines: Free images for articles as long as NC&WHM has a free advertisement.

• Other magazines pay production & use fees for each image provided & used in article.

Use: Books • A number of authors

research our manuscript collections for primary materials & in the process find photographs that compliment their text.

• Depending on scholarly/non-profit or commercial publishing of the book, the use fees of images may vary.

• This is outlined on our Price Sheet with the Image Request Form.

• High-res images are provided on CD or via FTP Site.

• A children’s book author used images of rodeo cowgirls in a scrapbook-designed book.

Use: Film & Television• Occasionally we receive

calls for use of images in documentaries & television programs.

• Recently OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) requested 6 images of Reba McEntire, her brother Clark McEntire, & radio announcer Clem McSpadden for use in an interview on one of their programs.

Image Request Form

http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/cms/Services/ImageServices/tabid/94/Default.aspx

Photographic Collection Workflow1. Collection of photographs, negatives, & related logbooks

or papers arrive. Deed of gift is signed. 2. Director discusses with me plans for the collection’s

digitization.3. Summer interns & staff create an inventory of materials.4. Depending on size of photographic collection, a selection

of negatives/photos is determined to be scanned, if not entire collection.

5. A filename structure is devised.6. Items are scanned as TIFs, saved to secure server, &

JPGs are created for use in IDA.7. IDA records are created based on photo description,

logbook, and/or writing on photographs.8. JPG images are linked to IDA image records. 9. Once collection or selection is scanned, an exhibit either

in a gallery or solely online is created and advertised. An article may be written & sent to museum’s magazine.

10. Interns & staff complete print & online finding aids & link to related collections & online exhibits.

11. Disseminate and Celebrate.

Image filenames• Most photographic

collections are assigned an accession number, RC2012.010.

(RCyear + collection # + item #)

• For every photographic item the filename may read:

• RC2012.010.001• RC2012.010.002• RC2012.010.003

• We have not scanned manuscripts materials such as letters, financial records, etc., only photographic items. Except for a FEW items…

Challenges: Silberman Images• The Silberman Collection

poses an issue with the filename structure. Some artwork, photographs, & negatives have been scanned & numbered.

• However, there’s no existing record outlining the file structure for the entire collection.

• Cannot determine what numbers are safe to use & have not been assigned, and which ones are already assigned to photographs, artwork, & negatives.

Challenges: Silberman Images• Solution: Hire intern to

work solely with Silberman collection to inventory item numbers already assigned, log which ones have been scanned, and identify numbers available to use.

• The collection needs a consistent filename structure.

• Currently, some filenames are correct: 1996.027.0855.TIF

• Others are randomly numbered with collection name: Silberman13.TIF

• Others include the collection accession number, then box+folder number merged, & the item number: 1996.017.11856.06.TIF

Challenges: Consistency• Previous staff cataloged

photographs in IDA before they were ever scanned.

• Some have been cataloged for years & still have not been scanned.

• Preferred order would be to scan photographs, then create IDA record, & update with JPG.

• Currently I prioritize requests for images that are listed as “No Image Available” as the orders come in.

Challenges: Access & Copyright• Some imagery have been

scanned that we do not own copyright on: Lobby Cards, Film Stills, etc.

• Most of this imagery was cataloged & then JPGs attached to the records.

• I’m consolidating image records into one per film title (Example: Belle Starr, 1941)

• http://imagedb.nationalcowboymuseum.org/InmagicGenie/opac.aspx

Outreach: ImagesMost learn about our image collections through:

• Google searches for family names, art titles, artist names, and place names.

• Credit lines in publications, exhibits, etc.

Highlighted photos shared on our Facebook fanpage.

Professor & DRC staff guided introductions to our collections during appointment-made tours.

Outreach: Oral History Interviews

• 2 Oral History Projects:

(1) Rodeo Performers (2) Western

Contemporary Artists

• I create Youtube-compatible brief clips to promote the interview online. These are usually 10 minutes or shorter.

• http://www.youtube.com/NCWHMuseum/

Outreach: Oral History Interviews

Outreach: Oral History Interviews• I share these Youtube links on our Facebook page &

send emails to art professors concerning updates to the interview playlist.

• The Museum also has its own Facebook page, in addition to a Twitter account, so I collaborate with our Public Relations & Marketing departments to share the links and blurbs for updated interviews & playlists.

• Rodeo interviews are announced to rodeo organizations, authors, & related professionals. These are also collaboratively shared across both DRC and NCWHM social media accounts.

Collaboration•A large number of artworks & artifacts

have no visual representation.•Currently, visual images are created on-

demand.•When the Registrar has new photography

scheduled, I am informed.•I can then expect and schedule reminders

to receive these images.•Once received, these images are added to

our Image Database Archive with complete records.

Collaboration•The DRC collaborates with a professor &

college students in his Art of the West course for “extra credit projects.” ▫One semester I assigned small

photographic collections to be scanned & saved according to our procedures.

▫Another semester I assigned 15 minute clips to be transcribed from artist interviews.

•These were moderate successes.

Conclusion

•As a small archives with a big vision, we're always looking for ways to promote & make accessible our collections to a wider audience.