vra 2012, beyond these four walls, a wealth of images

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A Wealth of Images Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Laura Anne Heller, Electronic Archivist Beyond These Four Walls: Optimizing Traditional Collections Through Outreach & Collaboration VRA 30, Albuquerque 2012

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Presented by Laura Anne Heller at the Annual Conference of the Visual Resources Association, April 18th - April 21st, 2012, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Session: Beyond These Four Walls: Optimizing Traditional Collections Through Outreach and Collaboration With the advent of digital technology, image repositories are no longer limited to a single physical presence on campus or in a museum. This provides motivation for creative thinking and prompts the establishment of new working relationships within our own institutions as well as on a national level. As curators, librarians, and faculty become well versed in the use of digital technology, many have been able to optimize the development of their resources through successful collaborative ventures. This session will highlight some of these recent projects at academic institutions, museums, and cultural archives. ORGANIZER & MODERATOR: Karin S. Whalen, Reed College PRESENTERS:• Jen Green, Lamson Library and Learning Commons, Plymouth State University• Marianne Martin, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation• Laura Anne Heller, Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum• Stephanie Post, The Metropolitan Museum of Art & Jenni Rodda, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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

Page 2: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 3: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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

Page 4: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 5: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 6: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 7: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 8: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 9: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 10: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 11: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 12: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 13: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 14: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 15: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 16: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

Image Request Form

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

Page 17: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 18: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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…

Page 19: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 20: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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

Page 21: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 22: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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

Page 23: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 24: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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/

Page 25: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

Outreach: Oral History Interviews

Page 26: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 27: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 28: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.

Page 29: VRA 2012, Beyond These Four Walls, A Wealth of Images

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.