New Digital Theatre Arts Costume Collection

Millie, Act II, Scenes iv-viii
by Darrin J. Pufall
doi: 10.18122/B2VC7T

Kimberly Holling, Library Assistant III for the Data Management and Scholarly Communications unit recently helped launch a new Theatre Arts Costume Collection in ScholarWorks. The collection was organized and implemented by Ms. Holling for her 2016 Master of Library and Information Science Capstone Project with the University of Washington. As a growing number of institutions are creating digital collections of historical clothing, the same cannot be said for theatrical costumes.

This form of non-traditional academic scholarship continues to go unmarked in the world of repositories with the exception of small collections of production stills. While theatre is a collaborative effort, there are technical elements (ex. scenery or costumes) that need to be documented with context in order to support the study and ongoing recognition of their corresponding designers. Constructed garments are often altered and reused for subsequent performances making these pieces ephemeral in nature.

This collection increases awareness not only of the designer’s work, but also to Boise State University’s contributions to the theatre arts. Initially intended as a form of archival collection, it quickly presented itself as a digital publishing opportunity for the library. The collection currently houses 63 digitally published records containing the costume designs of Darrin J. Pufall for the 2013 Boise State production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. These records are a combination of Mr. Pufall’s personal costume renderings and Ms. Holling’s photographs of selected garments from the show.

Finished garment of
displayed rendering
doi: 10.18122/B2S88J

To add further value to these records a statement from the designer himself provides additional context to understand why certain features were chosen and the overall premise the designer was going for. Ms. Holling herself has a background in both apparel design and theatre (performance and costume design) and provided her expertise to help breakdown the primary construction techniques and features of the photographed garments, along with measurements and the fabric content whenever possible.

The additional insight of Keri Fitch, the manager of the Theatre Arts Costume Shop, provided further background for alterations in the final design of certain garments from the original rendering, which is information that is generally left unknown to those outside of the technical production of a show.

The collection demonstrates the on-going efforts of the Data Management and Scholarly Communications unit to support Boise State's arts and humanities scholarship while expanding its original, open access publishing services.

Building upon traditional library cataloging description practices, Ms. Holling utilized a standards-based metadata schema to represent the theatrical costume designs and increase discovery of the work. Additionally, unlike other online costume collections which are no longer accessible, the library's stewardship and support of this work ensures permanent, world-wide access to Boise State scholarship.

Come visit the new Theatre Arts Costume Collection online at: http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/millie_2013_costumes

Just Visiting: Idaho’s Protected Wilderness

New Digital Collection and Window Exhibit at Albertsons Library

2014 marks a big year for the United States ~ the Wilderness Act is turning 50! In 1964, with a few swishes of President Lyndon Johnson’s hand, the President acknowledged the intrinsic value of wild and unspoiled spaces and almost 10 million acres of federally owned land were afforded the highest level of conservation and preservation. In fact, the law states that a wilderness is “where a man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” At the time, the new law created the most restrictive land-use policy for public land in the world, because of its constraints on logging, mining, road construction and the use of motorized vehicles.

Can you imagine the controversy and negotiations which were necessary in the decade leading up to the 1964 signing? Since the Wilderness Act impacted both the current and future uses of the land, almost everyone had an opinion and you can bet that very few agreed on much. From what areas to include and which activities should be allowed or prohibited in those areas, the topic was a hot one. Idaho’s political figures spent a good deal of time in Washington D.C. and back home listening to constituents and drafting legislation to build a responsible system for wilderness.

Today, the State of Idaho’s designated wilderness areas have increased to 4.5 million acres (3rd most in the country) and in the fifty years since the Wilderness Act was passed, the debates rage on - pitting ATV enthusiasts against backpackers, mining companies against conservationists, and states against the federal government...and that’s just the short list! Does federal control of land in Idaho trample state rights or does federal control of the land protect Idaho’s public land from economic exploitation? Does the desire to have a space as natural and wild as possible unnecessarily limit the outdoor enthusiasts’ ability to enjoy that
space? Who decides how to manage public land?

 

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, Special Collections and Archives recently published a new online Wilderness Collection. We also have a wonderful new window exhibit created by Mandy Moncur (a graduate student in the history department who interned with Special Collections and Archives this summer). The new exhibit highlights key people and places associated with the Wilderness Act
in Idaho.

Interested in learning more about the Wilderness Act? Here’s how—browse the newly created online collection, view the new exhibit on the 2nd floor of Albertsons Library, or visit Special Collections (open 9-5, M-W). We have letters, speeches, government reports, photographs, diaries and much more available for research. We invite you to discover the pleasure of studying national policy at the most intimate level - first hand from the people who helped to create and shape it!

The digital collection contains material from the collections of Frank Church, Cecil D. Andrus, Len B. Jordan, Larry LaRocco, Gracie Pfost, Ted Trueblood and others.

Jennele Estrada & Jim Duran,
Special Collections and Archives

5000 historic images and documents online

This week Albertsons Library Digital Collections grew to over 5000 historic images and documents online. Researchers seeking primary sources mostly relating to the history of Boise State and/or Idaho can browse these collections for inspiration for writing topics or to complement their research. Some examples of topics you will find include:

• Bronco Stadium
• Idaho’s 1990s Gay Rights legislation
• Aerial views of Boise
• Cowboy Hats
• Pre-1910 photography

Stop by the Library’s Special Collections and Archives office to see even more historic photograph collections (Library Room 222).

Jim Duran,

Special Collections and Archives

Creative Commons

October 21-27th is Open Access Week, an event dedicated to free, immediate, online access to scholarly research. Creative Commons, which you may have seen on such as social media sites as flickr, provides essential tools to promote this type of access to research, education and artistic creations.

According to their website (http://creativecommons.org/about) "Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. If you want to give people the right to share, use and even build upon a work you've created, you should consider publishing it under a Creative Commons license."

There are a number of works in Albertsons Library's ScholarWorks which were published under a Creative Commons license, including a book chapter by Boise State's provost, Dr. Martin Schimpf. Here are some examples:

Caspase-Cleaved Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein Within Cerebellar White Matter of the Alzheimer's Disease Brain
http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/bio_facpubs/284/

Innovation as Determining Factor of Post-M&A Performance: The Case of Vietnam
http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/internationalbusiness_facpub/11/

Reconfigurable Threshold Logic Gates using Memristive Devices
http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/electrical_facpubs/224/

Situational Qualities Exhibited by Exceptional Presenters
http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/edtech_facpubs/38/

Statistical Thermodynamics of Material Transport in Non-Isothermal Mixtures
http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/chem_facpubs/42/

Apples or Sticks: The Promise and Pitfalls of Merit Pay Policies
http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/pubadmin_facpubs/49/

Accessible High-Throughput Virtual Screening Molecular Docking Software for Students and Educators
http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/chem_facpubs/76/

Michelle Armstrong & Elizabeth Ramsey,

Librarians

Happy Open Access Week!

This week, Albertsons Library is celebrating Open Access Week, an international event designed to highlight and bring attention to the incredible benefit that is achieved by making the research produced at universities, like Boise State, openly available to the public.

“Open Access” refers to the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as needed. Currently, most research produced at universities is distributed through peer-reviewed journals that are then sold for profit. Although journals serve important functions, such as managing the peer-review process, the subscription and licensing costs charged to universities, researchers, and the general public, creates an incredible barrier to being able to access that research. Additionally, increasing journal prices are placing tremendous strains on library budgets, further restricting access to important discoveries.

In response, libraries, like Albertsons Library, along with other groups such as the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, Association of Research Libraries, and Creative Commons, are working to raise awareness and make scholarship openly available. Locally, Albertsons Library manages ScholarWorks, a collection of services designed to capture and showcase Boise State’s scholarship.

By working with faculty, ScholarWorks staff identify Boise State publications, review and secure the necessary rights, and then posts the publications openly online. In many cases, the faculty member has transferred their copyrights to the publisher who then limits what can be done with that research. Sometimes however, they will grant back to the author the right to post an earlier, peer-reviewed version of their manuscript. In those cases, ScholarWorks staff will work with the author to post the allowed version, making their scholarship discoverable.

Another important way Albertsons Library is helping promote the discovery of original research is by providing methods for student researchers to disseminate their scholarship. Working with other groups on campus, such as the Graduate College and Student Research Initiative, ScholarWorks openly posts theses, dissertations, project reports, and conference posters for students who would like to share their work and showcase their academic accomplishments. Since beginning ScholarWorks, student research is one of the most frequently downloaded types of scholarship. In fact, the theses and dissertations collection alone has received over 150,000 downloads.

Openly accessible scholarship has tremendous benefits for authors, universities, and the community at large. Not only does it make Boise State’s scholarship more readily available, it empowers the public, often the direct funders of such research, to benefit as well. Additionally, businesses, not-for-profits, and government agencies also benefit from being able to gain access to needed research for development and decision-making.

Happy Open Access Week, Boise State!

Still not sure you get it? Try this video for a quick overview of Open Access.
http://youtu.be/L5rVH1KGBCY



Michelle Armstrong,
Scholarly Communications and Data Management Librarian

The History of Labor in Idaho

Minutes from the first meeting in 1890, From the Boise City Typographical Union Records

Labor Day receives much national attention, but what about the history of labor in Idaho? Special Collections and Archives has several collections that help document this history. 

Boise City Typographical Union Records: In 1890, there were three daily newspapers in Boise, at least two printing shops, and enough individual members of the International Typographical Union working in the city to form the nucleus of a union local. They applied to the ITU for a charter, which was granted in November 1890.

Morrison-Knudsen Company Labor Relations Records: Morrison-Knudsen (also known as M-K) was an engineering and construction firm founded in Boise in 1912. M-K is mostly known for their participation in the construction of the Hoover Dam, San Francisco Bay Bridge, Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center and 153 miles of the Trans-Alaskan pipeline.

Henry K. Doll Correspondence with the Banner Mining and Milling Company: 80 handwritten letters and a few printed documents received by Henry K. Doll between 1909 and 1923 relating to the operation of the Banner Mine, a silver mine in Silver City, Idaho, operated by the Banner Mining and Milling Company of Silver City and Boise.

Several politicians had involvement in labor relations, including U.S. Senator Len Jordan, Idaho Congressman Larry LaRocco, Governor Cecil Andrus, and U.S. Senator Frank Church. We also have collections about Idaho farmworkers, including the Idaho Farmworker Policy Research Project and Patricia K. Ourada Collection on Migrant Workers in Idaho.

For more information about Special Collections and Archives, please visit our website: http://library.boisestate.edu/Special/.

Cheryl Oestreicher,
Head, Special Collections and Archives

A Look at a Fourth of July Speech Given by Senator Frank Church

Frank Church at a fair during his campaign for reelection as Senator in 1962.

“More Than They Took:” A Look at a Fourth of July Speech Given by Senator Frank Church

Frank Church was a senator from Idaho who served four consecutive terms in Congress from 1956-1980. His collection in Special Collections spans over 800 boxes and is the largest collection in Special Collections as well as the most heavily used. During his 1962 campaign for reelection to the Senate, Church delivered a speech on July 4 in Grangeville, Idaho. The speech titled “More Than They Took” was given as part of the Fourth of July Centennial Program of the Idaho County Historical Society.

The speech covered the historic event of pioneers coming to the Idaho County area in 1862, and Church shared several stories about the pioneers. The early settlers worked in the mining camps and faced many hardships – lack of food and supplies and disease. The village of Florence was hit by a severe snowstorm on July 3, 1862. Trains often could not get to the area until May, and men would often carry packs of provisions weighing 60-75 pounds to the villages in the area. There were also many unique characters in Idaho County in its early days, including a poet called “Pine Tree Johnson” who lived under a pine tree rather than living in a house and ran for the Idaho legislature and won.

Church also shared the legend that it was in Idaho County where the state got its name. Joaquin Miller, the “Poet of the Sierras,” was a pony express rider for the mines of Idaho. According to Miller, “Ee-dah-how” meant the “Gem of the Mountains.” In speaking of the Fourth of July holiday, Church said,

“It is our most truly American holiday. And it is also more lively, joyous, and patriotic than any other holiday.”

To view the full speech and other materials in the Frank Church Collection, visit Special Collections on the second floor of the library or send an email to archives@boisestate.edu. The guide to the collection can be viewed here.

Julia Stringfellow,
Archivist/Librarian and Assistant Professor

New Digital Collection: Boise Development

Are you interested in the history of economic development, urban planning, or transportation in Boise? Special Collections and Archives created a new collection of historical documents and photographs related to Boise’s development. This set of historic reports, brochures and plans covers topics like urban renewal, bicycle lanes, greenbelts, shopping malls and more.

Urban Renewal

In 1965 Idaho introduced an urban renewal laws that ushered in an era of building demolition in the downtown corridor. The city council created the Boise Redevelopment Agency with the mission of revitalizing downtown Boise. This agency oversaw many projects that were intended to bring new business and buildings to Boise. This digital collection showcases some of the plans and reports generated through the planning process to help researchers understand the ideas behind urban renewal in Boise.

The Greenbelt and Bicycles

This digital collection also includes several proposals, maps, and reports on the development of a greenbelt along the Boise River and increased bicycle paths and bicycle lanes for commuters and recreation.

A Shopping Mall for Boise

One interesting set of documents from the 1980s deals with the process of deciding the location of Boise’s modern shopping mall. Besides its ultimate location near Franklin street and Milwaukee avenue, other plans called for a shopping mall in the heart of Downtown, others proposed construction near 30^th street by the Boise River. By reading these documents researchers will see how parking, traffic, and urban sprawl factored into the final decision.

Items in the collection range from 1905 to the 1989, with plans to add more content in the future. Browse or search the collection again.

Jim Duran,
Special Collections & Archives

Teaching Earth Science One Hundred Years Ago

Before Prezi® or PowerPoint® and even before overhead projectors, teachers used glass lantern slides for educational presentations. In the 1850s the Langenheim brothers developed and patented the technology of transferring photographic images to a glass surface for projection. By the 20th century this medium was widely used for educational purposes, but lost popularity by the 1950s.

Special Collections & Archives holds a set of lantern slides originally used by a Boise High School teacher from 1902 to 1917. Edward F. Rhodenbaugh, geologist and amateur photographer took extensive photos and field notes during his long tenure as an educator throughout Idaho, Oregon and Ohio. The lantern slide set combines international geological teaching examples with scenes of Idaho’s unique geologic attributes.

After teaching at Boise High School, Edward went on to work for the State of Idaho as the state chemist. It was during that time when he submitted forensic evidence to the infamous Lyda Southard murder trial of 1921. After retiring as the head of chemistry and geology at the Idaho Technical Institute (Idaho State University) Rhodenbaugh moved back to Boise in 1940. He quickly returned to the work force – teaching geology at Boise Junior College.

A new online digital collection highlights some of Rhodenbaugh’s photographs, field trip journals and lantern slides. The online collection includes many scenes of Idaho wilderness, unique rock formations, and emerging infrastructure including Arrowrock Dam and the North & South Highway (US Route 95).

To read more about the history of lantern slides visit the Library of Congress website


Jim Duran,
Special Collections & Archives

How to Save Your Family Treasures

Special Collections and Archives works hard to protect the collections we receive. We have a room with that regulates the temperature and humidity, custom shelving, and we use acid-free folders and boxes. Our goal is to preserve material for generations to come.

Everyone has their own personal treasures – photographs, certificates, memorabilia, newspapers. Some may be digital, some paper. So how can you care for them? There are many great resources online to provide guidance on taking care of your own personal treasures:

• Library of Congress, Family Treasures:
  http://www.loc.gov/preservation/family/index.html 
• Northeast Document Conservation Center, Resources for Private and Family Collections: http://www.nedcc.org/resources/family.php 
• National Archives, Preservation:
  http://www.archives.gov/preservation/ 
• Minnesota Historical Society, Preserve Your Family Treasures:
  http://www.mnhs.org/people/mngg/stories/

A question we often receive is about digitizing collections. Scanning your photos or other documents is a great way to have a backup copy or to share with others. But don’t just scan them and throw them away! Sometimes computers crash, files get accidentally deleted, or software becomes obsolete. Go ahead and scan, but keep the originals in a dark, safe place. Or donate them to an archives! Here are a few guidelines to help you decide how to care for digital treasures:

• Library of Congress, Personal Archiving:
  http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/index.html 
• Library of Congress, Scanning Your Personal Collections:
  http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/documents/PA_scanning.pdf 
• National Archives, Should I Digitize My Photo Collection?:
  http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/digitizing-photos.html

Cheryl Oestreicher, PhD
Head, Special Collections and Archives/Assistant Professor