Transcript
Page 1: Collections Collections Collections Ryan Anthony Donaldson

COLLECTIONS

COLLECTIONS

COLLECTIONS

“HIDDEN TREASURES” PANEL:

Overview of NYSHA & NY State Archives’ Folk Collections

Presented by Ryan Anthony Donaldson

of the panel, with Florence Carnahan and Pamela Cooley

Joint Meeting of the Middle Atlantic Folklife Association

and the New York State Folk Arts Roundtable

Cooperstown Graduate Program

Fenimore Museum Auditorium

Cooperstown, NY

11 April 2008

2:30-4:00PM

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http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/cgp/folklife/folklife_1.html

“An Archive From Back to the Future” -

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ArchivesWithinArchives

“Collections and Files Maintained by the Archive of New York State Folklife,” BruceBuckley Folklife Collection, New York State Archives

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ANYSF Antecedents::two key collections

1. H.W. Thompson Folklore Archive-Core Collection, 1934-1959Manuscript archive (with illustrations and photographs)1,688 student reports from New York State College for Teachers(later SUNY-Albany) & Cornell University

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ANYSF: Earliest known recording

“Weather Lore” c.1940(audio clip, digitized from reel-to-reel)

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ANYSF Antecedents:

two key collections2. Louis C. Jones Folklore ArchiveSummer 1940- Spring 1946

-Manuscript archive (unpublished)-Followed Thompson’s lead with curriculum-based

local community & family history projects

Also includes: New York Student Folklore Contest (high school)-New York State Proverb Project-Grit Magazine Ghostlore Collection

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ANYSF Antecedents:LCJ Folklore Archive

Seven Main Categorization Subjects:• Child-lore• Local Legends• Supernatural and Songs• Folk Song• Folksay (proverbs, remedies, place-names, agricultural and weather lore)• Folkways and Customs• Individuals and the Community• Narrative and Folk History

With many sub-headings

*Index available at the NYSHA Library

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Archive of New York State Folklife: By The Numbers

1964-1983, core collection1,200 projects1,820 total recordings1,800 reel-to-reel audio recordings-7”- 72%5”- 24%3”- 3%20 video recordings helical scan, beta, vhs

ANYSF audio-visual workstationstudio in “Bonnie” trailer, c. 1975,CGP Slide Collection

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Archive of New York State Folklife:Oversized

Architectural drawingsGravestone rubbingsPortfolio & poster projectsMaterial culture/ephemera

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Archive of New York State Folklife:Contextual multi-media projects

a/v, surveys, renderings, floor plans, tapes, photographs, barn reports…

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Traditional Music and Storytelling

Rare Performances Heard AgainSon House

Son House concert, with Creighton Linday and Leslie Riddle,

Cooperstown High School, 1971. Photos by Milo V. Stewart

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Henry Glassie’s notes frominterview with Jesse Wells.Digitized from microfilm.Available from NYSHALibrary.

Traditional Music and Storytelling

Jesse Wells

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Heritage of Hard Work: HOPS documentationJesse Wells discussing hops (1964)

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Heritage of Hard Work: The Adirondack Packbasket video

Richard Axt project

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Fieldwork outside the classroom:Dorothy “Dew” Shonsey filming squaredancing, Milford, NY, 1976

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Fieldwork outside the classroom

CGP Folk students documenting a music festival in Ferrum, VA, 1976.CGP Slide Collection

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Priority of Preservation

Digital reformatting team:CGPSUNY-OneontaNational Baseball Hall of Fame

NBHoF digital mediaworkstation, Oct. 2006

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Preservation

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(back to the) Future

1. Rights & Access- New policies & initiatives for folk collections

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(back to the) Future

“How much data do we lose each daywhen someone presses the DELETE key?”Bruce R. Buckley, 1991

2. Community Cataloging

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(back to the) Future3. Collaboration

Group photo from Fife Folk Conference,1978, Logan, Utah. (Standing left to right)Hector Lee, distinguished collector of Mormonfolklore who received his doctorate in AmericanCivilization from the University of New Mexico;Barre Toelken, director of Utah StateUniversity’s folklore program from 1985-2003;Jan Harold Brunvand, professor at the Universityof Utah from 1966-1996, receiving his Ph.D.from Indiana University’s folklore program in1961; Eliot Wigginton, founder of Foxfirecurriculum and publisher of Foxfire magazine;Austin Fife, French and literature professor atUtah State University who studied Mormonfolklore; (kneeling left to right) William A.Wilson, president of the Utah Folklore Societyand editor of Western Folklore journal; BruceBuckley; and Wayland Hand, founder anddirector of the Comparative Folklore andMythology program at UCLA. Photo courtesy ofUtah State University, Special Collection andArchives. Photo courtesy of Utah StateUniversity, Special Collections and Archives.

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Contact information & links:

E-mail: [email protected]

CGP Archives on flickr:www.flickr.com/photos/cooperstowngraduateprogram

"The Archive of New York State Folklife : A Narrative History and Assessment"National Baseball Hall of Fame-NYSHA Library,URL: http://pathfinder.nysha.org/search~S2/a?SEARCH=%22Donaldson%2C+ryan%22

Diane Eller with farmer holdingscales, 1969. ANYSF #68-0008,NYSHA Library.

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* Special Thanks *

* Mona Buckley• Florence and John Carnahan• Pam Cooley, NYS Archives

* Benjamin Harry, NBHoF* Anne McFarland, NBHoF

* Stephen Miller, Instructional Services, SUNY-Oneonta* John Potocnik

* Cathy Raddatz, CGP* Gretchen Sorin, CGP

* Milo V. Stewart, CGP & NYSHA* Dan Ward, CGP

* Lori Beth White, CGP* Randy Williams, Utah State University

* Wayne Wright, NYSHA Library


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