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Notable Acquisitions 2014-2015

By August 18, 2015September 16th, 2023No Comments
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Hollywood computer graphics records of Alias | Wavefront

CHARLES BABBAGE INSTITUTE ARCHIVES

The Charles Babbage Institute received the records of Alias | Wavefront from cofounder Mark Sylvester. The collection tells the story of how computer graphics in Hollywood films developed over time from a technical perspective and contains exciting examples of the legacy created by these gifted artists. Wavefront developed significant technologies for creating computer graphics in film, including the Advanced Visualizer, an early and influential three-dimensional modeling and animation system. Other notable products were Personal Visualizer, Data Visualizer, Composer, Kinemation, Dynamation, and Maya. The collection will appeal to computer historians, graphic designers, film and gaming historians, media scholars, and to students of Chinese and Japanese cultures.

Gideon Gartner and the Gartner Group

CHARLES BABBAGE INSTITUTE ARCHIVES

In the summer of 2014, the Charles Babbage Institute received a significant donation from Gideon and Sarah Gartner. The gift documents the career and contributions of Gideon Gartner, an influential figure in information technology and investment. In 1979 he established the Gartner Group, an information technology consulting and advisory group that sold services to vendors of hardware, software, and services, to enterprise and organizational IT users, as well as to investors and consulting firms. Gartner  is recognized for developing a research process, documented in the “Research Notebook” – included in the materials now at CBI – that was used to create concise research reports that were valued by the IT industry, investors, and users. He also created the technology advisory consulting company GiGa in 1995 and the financial services/broker-dealer firm Gartner Securities Corp. in 1984, which became SoundView Technologies Group in 1988. See Gartner Group Records (CBI 228).

Copper printing plates from the United States Geological Survey

JOHN R. BORCHERT MAP LIBRARY

The Map Library acquired seven sets of copper printing plates (20 plates total) from the United States Geological Survey. The plates were used to print USGS topographic maps in the early 1900s.

CARLSON ARCHIVES

Prominent Minnesota corporation, Carlson, donated a variety of materials from corporate records to Carlson family photos and videos. More than 1,400 boxes were delivered to the Elmer L. Andersen Library earlier this year and are now being organized and described by library staff for an online finding aid. Curtis L. Carlson (1914-1999), an alumnus of the University of Minnesota, founded the Gold Bond Stamp Company in 1938, which later became Carlson, one of the largest privately held companies in the world.

Illustrations by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE RESEARCH COLLECTIONS

The Children’s Literature Research Collections received from Ariane Dewey and her son, Juan Aruego the original art, manuscripts, and dummies of the work of Jose Aruego and Ariane including the classic Leo the Late Bloomer and the best-selling Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems.

Minnesota Hip-Hop Collection/Justin Schell Collection 

ARCHIE GIVENS, SR. COLLECTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE

The Minnesota Hip-Hop Collection contains CDs, LPS, and MP3 files of music by Minnesotan and other independent hip-hop artists. Recordings include albums by Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Doomtree, Desdamona, and artists from around the world representing the state’s many immigrant communities. Donated by Justin Schell, the collection also contains video recordings, hip-hop publications, and ephemera such as stickers and magnets.

Sem au Bois

GORMAN RARE ART BOOK COLLECTION

The recent exhibit Sem, Gigi and Caricature highlighted the new acquisition, Sem au Bois. Measuring 30 feet in length, this rare and special item was created as a precursor to a diorama installation by Sem and fellow caricaturist Roubille. The scroll depicts a procession heading to the Longchamp racecourse. Horses, carriages, and motor cars carry renowned personages of the time, as caricatured by Sem. The scroll, which adds to an already strong collection of rare 19th-century resources on art, was sought by the University’s esteemed scholar of 19th-century art, Art History Professor Gabriel Weisberg.

Polanie Club Records

IMMIGRATION HISTORY RESEARCH CENTER ARCHIVES

The Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA) accepted a major donation of about 30 linear feet of records and books from the Polanie Club of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Polanie was founded in 1927 by Polish-American women living in the Twin Cities. An invitation-only club with a strong tradition in publishing, it is a prime example of a female club publishing venture. The Polanie Club’s 87 years of historical records are comprised of administrative material, scrapbooks, books, photographs, and audio-visual material; together they comprise a full and rich history of this local club and its role in the national landscape of Polish-American organizations.

Charles Jacob de Bleschamp, Essay sur l’administration des colonies Francoises et particulierement d’une parti de celles de Saint Domingue. Paris: Monory, 1788.

JAMES FORD BELL LIBRARY

Bleschamp, comptroller of the Marine in Les Cayes (Haiti), proposed in this work a new form of government for the French island of Saint-Domingue, suggesting numerous reforms and that the indigenous name for the island, Haiti, be revived. In 1803, Bleschamp’s ideas of a self-governing Haiti contributed to the formal declaration of independence from France, following several years of bloody conflict and revolt.

The Philip A. Conard and Family Papers

KAUTZ FAMILY YMCA ARCHIVES

The collection documents the family’s life in Montevideo, Uruguay, where Philip A. Conard founded and led the YMCA for many years, and also includes material regarding the activities of his wife and three daughters. Highlights include letters written by oldest daughter Florence Conard Wainwright during the period of her relief work with the American Field Service Committee (AFSC) during the Spanish Civil War; material related to wife Florence Smith Conard’s research and writing on South American folk tales; and Philip Conard’s post-retirement AFSC work during World War II. The collection is also significant because it contains both paper and born-digital material.

YMCA Building and Furnishings Services department records

KAUTZ FAMILY YMCA ARCHIVES

The records include plans for swimming pools, indoor and outdoor running tracks, handball/racquetball/squash courts, basketball courts, baseball fields, and gymnastics facilities. Among this material are detailed plans and schematics as well as information on building materials used in various types of facilities. In addition, the records include documentation of the YMCA’s response to national legislation, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the proposed conversion to the metric system. The material was transferred to the Archives following the YMCA of the USA’s decision to eliminate the department, which had functioned as the YMCA’s own, internal architectural firm for the past century.

Candy: The first transversal style magazine

MAGRATH LIBRARY

A celebration of gender and sexual diversity that manages to be simultaneously glamorous and radical, Candy is an important addition to the collection of “Clothing and Dress” at Magrath Library. It is a periodical purchased twice a year, published in Spain, and is the first transgender fashion journal. Subscriptions are not available and Candy is published in limited numbers.

University of Minnesota Band audio discs

MUSIC LIBRARY

University of Minnesota Duluth alumnus, Gary Tillman, donated two copies of a 10-inch Victor Talking Machine Company 78-rpm audio disc that featured the University of Minnesota Band playing The Rouser, Hail Minnesota, U-Fight, and Minnesota Fight [Song]. They were recorded in Chicago on November 20, 1927 (matrix no. BVE-40919), under the direction of the band’s then conductor, Michael Jalma.

Design Unity Inc. Papers, Thomas Olson and Merle Sykora

NORTHWEST ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES

Taliesin fellow Thomas Olson and interior designer Merle Sykora donated more than 300 working drawings and renderings from their architectural firm, Design Unity Inc. Merle is Professor Emeritus of Art at St. Cloud State University and a nationally recognized textile artist. Thomas apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1950s.

The Weiming Lu Papers

NORTHWEST ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES

Internationally renowned urban planner and University of Minnesota alumnus, Weiming Lu (M.S., 1954), has donated his life’s work to the Northwest Architectural Archives. His collection includes material covering St. Paul’s Lowertown redevelopment, the Texas School Book Depository preservation effort, and the rejuvenation efforts of many cities and waterfronts, including: South Central Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Dallas. Papers relating to his work as an advisor to the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, other major projects worldwide, published papers, lectures, and speeches are included.

Children’s Theatre Company Records

PERFORMING ARTS ARCHIVES

One of the few theaters for young people to win a Tony Award, the Children’s Theatre Company collection contains extensive production records and administrative files, as well as a small collection of audiovisual materials. The records were transferred to the archives in July 2014, and processing of the collection is ongoing. The company’s costume bibles, production books, and press clippings are currently open for research.

Katherine Goodale Books

PERFORMING ARTS ARCHIVES

Dance artist, educator, and arts patron Katherine Goodale has donated a collection of her three books for children. Her books, published between 1982-2008, teach French and Italian dance and music terminology to children through storytelling. The stories were all written by Katherine Goodale with illustrations by her daughter, Kit Goodale. Her first book for children, Pas de Trois: Fun with Ballet Words, includes an introduction by Loyce Houlton, founder of Minnesota Dance Theatre.

Minnesota Underground Music Archive

PERFORMING ARTS ARCHIVES

The Minnesota Underground Music Archive (MUMA) is a unique assemblage of publications, photographs, and ephemera documenting punk and underground music culture in Minnesota from 1950 to present. Curated by Tim Caroll and Liseli Polivka, MUMA is a community-driven archive with active accruals. The archive includes the related sub-collections of photographer Adam DeGross, and the scrapbooks and posters collected by Bill Caron.

Red House Records Collection

PERFORMING ARTS ARCHIVES

The Red House Records Collection contains promotional materials for artists recorded under the Red House Records label. This includes press kits, press clippings, and posters for artists such as Ray Bonneville, Greg Brown, Eliza Gilkyson, Lucy Kaplansky, Peter Ostroushko, and The Wailin’ Jennys, to name just a few. The label, based in St. Paul, specializes in folk music, blues, bluegrass, and Americana by artists across the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

The Soap Factory Records

PERFORMING ARTS ARCHIVES

Located in the former historic National Purity Soap Company building, The Soap Factory houses the largest independent contemporary art exhibits in the Twin Cities. First known as the No Name Gallery and then No Name Exhibitions, The Soap Factory provides a space for artistic creativity, expression, and innovation, for contemporary and emerging visual and performance art. The Soap Factory Records contain administrative files, production materials, publicity, and audio/visual records.

Jean Paton Papers

SOCIAL WELFARE HISTORY ARCHIVES

Social Welfare History Archives accessioned more than 30 linear feet of papers created by Jean Paton. Through her own experiences as an adopted person, Paton became an adoption activist and the founder of the adoptee rights movement. She was the author of two important early works on the adoption experience, The Adopted Break Silence (1954) and Orphan Voyage (1968), as well as an advocate for openness in adoption, adoption search and reunion, and the creation of adoption registries.

Photocrom collection

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND RARE BOOKS
Although Photochrom technology has disappeared, last year’s successful photochrom exhibit, created with the support of benefactor Christopher Cardozo, encouraged important new donations of photographic images. Michael and Anne Hall offered a gift of 28 pigment prints from renowned American photographer Edward S. Curtis and an indefinite loan of 52 Curtis prints. Matthew Monsein donated 62 photochrom pictures, including an iconic image of Minnehaha Falls. Monsein made an indefinite loan of 53 photochroms and 44 Curtis prints. These acquisitions significantly expand the photochrom collection.

The Michael McConnell Files

TRETTER COLLECTION IN GLBT STUDIES

Michael McConnell and Jack Baker were the first couple in the United States to apply for a same-sex marriage license
(May 18, 1970). The files document the legal case resulting from Hennepin County’s refusal to grant the marriage license (Baker v. Nelson), correspondence from around the world offering support or criticism, McConnell’s and Baker’s extensive political activism, and more. The 35 boxes in the collection are a remarkably rich survey of gay activism and public response in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Astrophysical Observatory Glass Plate Collection

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ARCHIVES

The Astrophysical Observatory Glass Plate Collection consists of about 415 glass plate negatives taken with the University of Minnesota’s telescope. The original Observatory was built as a stand-alone building in 1895 prior to its placement on top of Tate Hall in 1938. The plates document celestial objects beginning December 18, 1896 through March 2, 1946, including Halley’s Comet (1910) and the Orion Nebula.

Northrop Auditorium Programming Collection

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ARCHIVES

The accession includes a variety of materials providing an overview of the use of Northrop Auditorium as a regionally and nationally significant performing arts site. The collection contains an extensive series of marketing materials showcasing the Northrop Dance Series, Discover Series, Northrop Jazz Series, touring opera, Summer Music Series, and the Carlson Lecture Series, including photographs, press releases, programs, performer biographies, correspondence, contracts, clippings, histories, building information, director’s files, and administrative materials.

Pauline Boss Papers

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ARCHIVES

Professor Emeritus Pauline Boss is an internationally-known teacher, researcher and consultant on the theory of “ambiguous loss.” She was a faculty member in the Department of Family Social Science from 1981 to 2006. Boss was honored by the city of New York in 2002 for her work with members of the Firefighters Union and family members of the deceased in the aftermath of 9/11. Materials in the Boss collection include teaching syllabi and course materials, training and workshop content, grant proposals and progress reports, personal and professional correspondence, clippings, speeches, awards, professional activities files, tapes, and biographical materials.

John Fraser Hart Papers

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ARCHIVES

John Fraser Hart is an eminent American geographer, researcher, and teacher. Author of over a dozen monographs and hundreds of research articles, editor of the Geographical Review, and winner of numerous grants and professional awards; Hart has recently retired after a 47-year career at the University. His collection consists of teaching materials – including more than 16,000 slides taken on research trips – audiotapes, professional correspondence, and extensive research and subject files.

Roger Martin Papers

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ARCHIVES

The Roger Martin papers are a rich resource for both the educational philosophy behind landscape architecture and that philosophy put into practice. Roger Martin came to the University of Minnesota in 1966 from the University of California, Berkeley to establish the Department of Landscape Architecture. The collection documents his lectures and course files as well as his private practice and project work including records related to the firms InterDesign and Martin & Pitz. Major projects include West River Parkway Master Plan; master plans for Augsburg College, Winona State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and St. Johns University; Minnesota Zoological Garden Master Plan; and the University of Minnesota, Morris Campus Master Plan.

Ronald L. Phillips Papers

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ARCHIVES

Ronald Phillips is a retired Regents Professor in the department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics and the first faculty member to hold the McKnight Presidential Chair in Genomics at the University of Minnesota. Beginning in 1970, Phillips taught the Cytogenetics lecture and laboratory course, mentoring hundreds of graduate students over his 40-year career. The collection includes correspondence, University and professional association committee files, presentations, course materials, grant proposals, field notes, conference materials, photographs, citations and clippings, and audiocassettes. The collection also includes correspondence with Nobel Prize winners Norman Borlaug and Barbara McClintock, as well as material created by the H.K. Hayes Lecture and Award Committee, which Phillips chaired for over 20 years.

Herbert E. Wright Papers

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ARCHIVES

Herbert Wright was named Regent’s Professor in geology, ecology, and botany in 1974 and elected to the National Academy of Science in 1977 for research that that encompassed the water, soil, and forests of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, as well as the deserts of the Middle East and Canadian glacial formations. Wright was also an early advocate for state and federal protection of what eventually became the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The collection contains correspondence, teaching materials, grant files, aerial photographs, presentations, subject files, field notebooks, and reports related to the Limnological Research Center. An earlier accession of correspondence between Wright and Robert Braidwood at the University of Chicago will be added to the collection.

CIC large-scale purchase program acquisitions

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA LIBRARIES
Several online resources were acquired recently through participation in the CIC large-scale purchase program:

  • New Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) components: Conference Proceedings, Data Citation Index, Derwent, WoS Chemistry, Biosis Citation Index, Zoological Record, Current Contents, KCI Korean Journal Database, Journal Citation Reports, and Essential Science Indicators.
  • Ethnographic Video Online 1 (Alexander Street Press):
    A comprehensive online resource for the study of human culture, behavior, and society around the world. The collections contain more than 1,300 hours of streaming video.
  • Filmakers Library Online 1 (Alexander Street Press):
    Award-winning documentaries with relevance across the curriculum. The collection presents points of view and experiences from diverse cultures and traditions worldwide.
  • Joint Publication Research Service (Readex): An English language archive of translations of foreign scientific, technical, and social science materials.
  • Nature Palgrave: 20 Palgrave journal archives.
  • Cambridge University Press: Backfiles of 97 STEM journals.
  • Springer Unsubscribed Journals: 344 titles added to existing big-deal bundle agreement.
  • Other Recent Acquisitions
    • Punch Historical Archive: The complete run of the weekly magazine, as well as its annual Almanack, seasonal issues, and indexes.
    • SAGE Research Methods Online: A tool designed to help create research projects and understand the methods behind them, using a new taxonomy of over 1,400 unique methods terms to link to authoritative content.

Temple Israel records

UPPER MIDWEST JEWISH ARCHIVES

Temple Israel, originally named Shaarai Tov (Gates of Goodness), was founded in 1878 by German Jewish merchants, making this Reform congregation the oldest synagogue in Minneapolis. The collection, with materials dating back to 1915, includes sermons, High Holy Day planning documents, bulletins, member files, correspondence, publicity and event materials, and more.

Louise Erdrich’s The Round House Manuscript

UPPER MIDWEST LITERARY ARCHIVES

A manuscript copy of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louise Erdrich’s latest novel is now available for research. Published in 2012, Erdrich’s The Round House was the winner of both a Minnesota Book Award and the National Book Award for Fiction. The undated manuscript is typewritten and contains handwritten edits.

Louis Jenkins Papers

UPPER MIDWEST LITERARY ARCHIVES

Considered by Robert Bly to be the master of the prose poem, Louis Jenkins has become an important figure in Minnesota’s literary culture. The recipient of two Minnesota Book Awards, Jenkins’ work has been featured on Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer’s Almanac and, in 2011, his play, Nice Fish, was produced by the Guthrie Theater in 2011. His archives include notebooks, poetry drafts and manuscripts, recordings from his appearances on MPR, and correspondence Garrison Keillor, Robert Bly, and Minnesota book publishers.

 

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