This was definitely not my first time at the NYPL because I’ve been doing all of my thesis research there.  The Jack Kerouac Papers are part of the Berg Collection, so I usually go to that reading room on the third floor. I first went there two years ago when I was but a small, novice researcher.  I actually choked up the first time I got to hold one of Kerouac’s notebooks!   

This visit was really wonderful!  I enjoyed the emphasis on critical thinking and discussion.  Too often I find myself focusing only on what information I’m looking for and what artifacts I need to call next.  But pausing to think about what you expect simply based on the item description was really fun!  It speaks to the deeper issues of what we talked about in our first few classes.  How do you manage your expectations while at the archive?  What happens when you go in with expectations but are disappointed?  Should you go in with expectations of serendipity, or just with your to do list?

Funnily enough, I feel like the giant registry of dogs that we looked at taught me some great lessons.  First, there’s a lot to be gained from random encounters.  I would never have sought out that item on my own because it is so far away from my own area of research.  But even the most insignificant, random artifact can help you understand something about the past you never would have otherwise. 

My second take-away was that collaborative research is much more enjoyable.  I can’t remember all the times I’ve been doing research on my own, found something truly remarkable, and just had to whisper in awe to myself.  Just being able to say what I was thinking out loud about the dog registry and hear what others were noticing helped me consider it on a much deeper level.  So often research is isolating.  And I wonder if I would be getting more out of my Kerouac research if I was talking about it with someone else. 

The Morgan Library was only the second archival experience I had ever had—and it was quite exciting.  The building itself was beautiful and it seemed a peaceful place to do research.  The glass ceiling and indoor trees in the lobby, the double-tier of bookshelves in the reading room, all of it brought me so much joy!

I appreciated the presentation’s focus on the investigative nature of archive work.  In my own research I find that the most interesting part—even if it does lead me down an irrelevant path.  I like the idea of looking at multiple versions of the same artifact trying to figure out why this or that thing is missing or incorrect.  I was particularly interested in the Paris Review collection of artifacts.  I plan to go back to look at their interview with Jack Kerouac to see how the actual recorded interview went and what the original versions of the print interview looked like.  The changes between the versions could reveal a lot about Kerouac’s personality and reaction to media personalities.

Though likely unintended, the highlight of trip for me was talking to the librarian about her career path.  I’ve always wondered how the different archivists and librarians I’ve met in academia got to where they are.  It seems like most come from different careers before they start their Masters of Library Science.  As I near the end of my time in grad school I find myself wondering what I should do next.  I wonder if I would be ready for the glamour of an archive…

On Friday we had the chance to visit the wonderful science fiction collection at City Tech.  The collection is housed on the 2nd floor of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library, as part of their Archives and Special Collections. For the tour, we met with Jason Ellis, who is Assistant Professor of English at City Tech (and who has been responsible for much of the legwork regarding the organization and maintenance of the collection), and Wanett Clyde, the Collections Management Librarian.  To schedule a visit to the archive (visits are by appointment only), one should contact Wanett to set up a time.

The collection itself comes from an anonymous donor, who resided in San Francisco at the time (the materials were boxed and transported by movers to NY).  The materials are enormous in scope and wide ranging in topic, from nearly full runs of popular sci fi magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, to an enormous collection of sci fi/fantasy/horror novels, zines, anthologies, and even scholarly works spanning nearly a century.  Having a full collection of the magazines is particularly useful to researchers, as one can then observe large-scale trends that otherwise might be missed if each issue was viewed in isolation.  As this was originally a personal collection, the particular research interests of the donor throughout the years are generally easy to infer, and many of the books contain the donor’s notes, marginalia, and insets from review copies (all of which might pose an interesting dilemma in digitizing the materials).  The curators are, however, interested in expanding the collection beyond the original acquisition and are open to further contributions of relevant materials.  The collection as a whole is still being processed and inventoried, but there are useful finding aids (such as a pdf with call numbers, photographs of the shelves, and a regularly updated Google inventory sheet) available to researchers that detail where exactly items can be found on the shelves.

Knowing very little about the Schomburg Center before our visit, I found our trip to be highly insightful.  From our very friendly and informative tour guide Brian Jones we learned a bit about the history of the Center:  how the NYPL Division of Negro Literature, History, and Prints–the forerunner to the Schomburg Center proper–acquired Arturo Schomburg’s massive personal collection of books, paintings, and pamphlets in 1926 (and subsequently renamed the division in honor of his legacy), as well as how integral the Center was to become in shaping the life and community of Harlem residents.

It is perhaps in considering this aspect of “community” that I found the most value in our visit.  It is easy to imagine archives as being stuffy, self-contained, and hermetically sealed spaces which rarely see visitors or the light of day.  In other words, they can tend to foreclose the idea of community rather than invite it.  In one sense, the archives at the Schomburg Center are indeed “closed off” like other archives in that there are first steps and procedures one must take in order to access the materials.  This is often the case simply for very practical reasons:  although they seem to welcome walk-in researchers, one should often contact curators beforehand about specific items one would like to view, simply in order to make sure it is actually on-site and not stored in a warehouse.  For certain extremely rare, valuable, or fragile items, there does also seem to be (from what I could gather from the curator of the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books division) an internal vetting process in order to properly protect the materials.

Despite this, it seems clear that the Schomburg is unlike many other archives in that it is actively devoted to building community and civic engagement.  Using the archive as its foundation and its basis, the Center branches out into many ancillary areas of public life.  That the Center holds public exhibitions of its archival material (with the current exhibition representing the life and travels of MLK) is a testament to their desire to foster and sustain community engagement. The gallery space acts as an invitation to people of all walks of life, rather than just scholars and academics. Walking into the Schomburg, one notices how bright, airy, and vibrant the space is; people are everywhere chatting, reading, or taking part in community events. Although we didn’t get to tour through it, the Center also contains the Langston Hughes Auditorium in which concerts, forums, lectures, and performances take place.  Other tours and events were even being conducted as we were ourselves touring, but we did get the chance to glimpse the American Negro Theater and examine the Cosmogram floor mosaic on our way out.

Overall, our visit to the Schomburg inspired me to continue to think about the ways in which archives can foster, promote, and sustain communities.  Although one cannot borrow from the Schomburg’s holdings (being a research library), there is certainly a great deal else from the Center that we can take away with us.

Why would you wanna be here? What do you see here? Simple but provocative questions. After the Schomburg Center visit I’ve been mulling over these questions. I took some notes during the course of the visit but those observe what was said. What struck me were some of the things the archivists said: before you visit an archive, search their online catalogs. Familiarize yourself with the collections. Think about what it is you’re looking for when you’re looking through these collections. Once you visit the archivist they’ll have a better an easier time guiding you meaningfully to collections and works that you’re searching for. Cite your sources properly.

What motivates a collection might not be so simple and clear-cut. As we’ve learned during the visit, items get divided up according to the logic of said-archive. The Schomburg has five divisions: a research and reference division, a manuscripts and rare books division, an art and artifacts division, and photographs division. According to this logic, a letter and photograph would not end up in the same division. As we’ve learned a donor’s wishes would supersede the archives organizational logic. A letter may be paired with a photograph in the instance that a donor wishes for it. Keeping these in mind, the Schomburg visit is another reminder that we as researchers working within the archives must think not only about the organizational logic of the curator and institution but the logic of the donor. These instances raise more questions: what motivates donors and archivists to organize their materials in particular ways?

Archivists wants to help. They’re clearly amazing resources. In class we’ve discussed the notion of serendipity in relation to the archives. When searching the Schomburg Center’s online catalog I had no clear-cut goal—I serendipitously wandered the collections that emerged within the homepage. I couldn’t find everything I wanted. The visit reminded me—and taught me—that the archivist is an invaluable resource. Their knowledge and experience navigating the archives can aid us in our own projects.

Reflecting on the Schomburg Center visit, I realize there’s a need to understand the history and objective of said archives. The Schomburg Center collects and preserves materials focused on African American, African diaspora, and African experiences. It goes back to my initial question on why anyone would want to explore materials housed at the Schomburg Center. Scholars and researchers interested in the African American experience and cultural history would definitely find a reason to study materials here.

The Director of Education at the Schomberg Research Center for Black Culture, Brian Jones, was very kind to tour us through parts of the building and to introduce us to two of the curators of their departments at the Center. He also informed us about the important people that made the Center what it is today and a bit of its history – It was interesting to learn about Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and that his collection was bought for $10,000 in 1926 by the New York Public Library.

Before we started our tour, we were asked to try and guess the number of items and artifacts in the collection and to state the programs that we are all in, for context, before walking us through the Latimer/Edison Gallery. The Center’s exhibit space is small but large enough to walk a group through to talk about the materials represented. The exhibit currently on view is Crusader: Martin Luther King Jr. and showcased photographs of King and his wife traveling overseas to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, in addition to text to accompany the images. Along with formal photographs printed in a dark room and a large vinyl image, there were Polaroids of the family that have a more snapshot and candid feel to them.

From the exhibit space, we were brought down to the conference room on the lower level to meet with Cheryl Beredo, Curator of the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division. She explained the best practice for utilizing the Schomberg for research is to make a 10-minute appointment to talk to an employee about their interest. From there, advice can be given on where to go to do research. It was also mentioned that maybe a 5-minute browse through the collections before meeting with an employee may help, as well. After the class found out collections are divided up between divisions, the question of the original location of materials came up. Regarding, dividing up the collections to separate divisions, Cheryl responded that they’ll have access points leading the items back to their original collection. One of the most important statements that Cheryl made sure we understood was if we use a source from the Center to make sure to cite correctly. She said far too many times sources are not cited correctly.

Michael Mery was the next employee we met with and he is the acting Curator of the Photographs and Prints Division. He brought with him his white gloves and an archival box stock full of historic photographs in mylar sleeves – just a sampling of the 500,000 plus photographs and prints in his possession. Before he presented some of the photographs he brought with him, he allowed all of us to ask questions. Regarding some of the classifications of photographs he has, he stated there are photos on the Harlem Renaissance, religion, jazz, military, and prominent and not so prominent photographers. The photographs he pulled out were of WWI African American soldiers in France. I was very impressed with the way the photographer superimposed imagery into the photographs, like a picture of a significant other and a musical instrument. Something I was excited to hear about was some of the more prominent photographers in the collection. Eli Reed, who is a photographer with the Magnum Agency, is someone who’s artwork I’ve worked with and enjoyed viewing while in Georgia. Another photographer I was excited to hear about in the collection was Gordon Parks. I have also worked closely with Parks’ artwork and researched his Segregation Story to create a tour map of locations where he photographed the Thornton family for my Documentary Photography and Film course. On our way out we walked by the original theatre and took time to look over the Cosmogram in the center of the lobby. I look forward to utilizing the Center for research in the near future.

This website dedicates itself to collecting images of La Celestina, in illustrations, paintings, theater performances, and on film. It is displayed in both Spanish and English. La Celestina is a work of fiction written in 1499, in Spain, describing how a procuress, Celestina, plans an illicit affair between Calisto and Melibea, while plotting to gain financially from the situation. Celestina is a subversive character who is portrayed as a brothel owner, a witch, and a seller of goods. She has a keen sense of the human psyche and uses people’s greed, and sexual desires as a way of control them to her advantage. The people she manipulates end up succumbing to their own desires, and eventually to their own destruction. Celestina’s image and actions, and the situations told within La Celestina have been used since its inception, until today, as an impetus for the creation of artworks.

The popularity of the characters and the circumstances within La Celestina, and the creation of centuries of further works based on it, has generated the need to form a collection of the related images based on the book.

The audience for this site could emcompass a variety of fields where images relating to La Celestina could be used and cited in their research.  It could appeal to historians of Spain’s literature, or historians of the period of time when the book was written. This would be during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic. It was also the beginning of a renaissance in Spanish literature. People interested in historical literature would also be interested, as well at those interested to following the publishing history of a work that has continued over time. In addition, students of Spanish history and culture would find it of value. Sociologists or humanists would be intrigued by the interactions of the characters and how these personalities have continued over the years. Researches of prostitution or brothels through history could also use the images and information included in the site. The inclusion of the way to site each item points toward scholarly use.

The images and information within the site also give inspiration for artists to create new works, as well as continue the legacy of La Celestina

The relationship of the creators to the site is through University Spanish departments within Canada. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada finance the site. The professors involved are mostly likely involved in programs that include Spanish language, history, literature and art. This site could be a learning to for the students of these universities, but its appeal extends out to others concerned which the historical, psychological, and social aspects of the collection.

The site contains images of a variety of visual objects. These could be drawing from books, sculptures and bas-reliefs, paintings, book and program covers, and performance reviews. There are also videos from movies and television productions. There is also a bibliography of scholarly journals and books which contain elements relating to La Celestina. The different categories of items are organized through different tabs that lead you to them.

All of this material has been brought together using Omeka as a convenient way of collecting all the elements and being able to share them with others universities and the world. To create such a site, you would need to gain knowledge into how Omeka works, and how different items are added to it. In addition, knowledge of web design would aid in getting the look you want. Design would also help in creating the best way of organizing the material, as well as being able to create a simple and useful way of navigating the site.

Celestia Visual shows that you can create a site out of one created work. This work can form connections to other mediums, and be an inspiration to future generations. An undiscovered or unpopular work from the past could be brought to light and connections to it could make it relevant again. This could be done through a website. Many angles can be taken in the use of an object. Celstina Visual also shows how good organization and a convenient platform can be useful elements in the creation of a website. It has made me want to read La Celestina.

• Darren Chase

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vFKAQfDXUEZ9zO46g-Wugn0–tYnLum3CtbcoSwwuu4/edit#slide=id.p