Rhode Island Historical Society Awarded $99,400 Grant for Graphics Inventory Project

By Karen Eberhart, Special Collections Curator

From a hand-drawn map of Block Island created in 1661 to footage of Vincent “Buddy” Cianci’s first mayoral campaign in 1974, the Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS) holds the world’s largest collection of audio and visual materials documenting to the history of Rhode Island.  In this blog on May 14, 2009 Jim DaMico reported on the progress of the Graphics Collection inventory project dedicated to uncovering all the riches within the collection.  We are now pleased to announce the continuation of that project thanks to a $99,400 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  With this funding, the RIHS can complete the final 3 years of the 5.5 year project to inventory all of our audiovisual materials.

The IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums and competition for the grants is always steep.  The RIHS was one of 154 grant recipients of out of a total of 371 applicants to the Museums for America grant program this year.

During the inventory, each item is examined and fundamental information collected in a database.  In the near term, that information will, for the first time, make a large portion of the Graphics division accessible to the public through the RIHS online public catalog, NETOP.  The inventory will also generate statistics that will be indispensible for prioritizing future work and maximizing staff efficiency for years into the future.

Material to be inventoried includes:

• Examples of early color photography such as an autochrome-process glass plate,  circa 1910.
• 1950s recordings on the once-common Dictaphone belts.
• Family photos from the 1840s to the 2000s providing rich documentation of life in Rhode Island.
• Architectural drawings of public buildings as well as of modest single family homes, all representative of the building styles and architectural history of the state.

Diamonds

The Historical Society is pleased to announce that thanks to a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation, we’ll be preserving an important example of early Rhode Island film making.

In 1915 the Eastern Film Company of Providence created a feature crime drama called Diamonds. It is one of the many films that Eastern Film Company made between 1914 and 1917, but one of the few that survive and one of only 14 films owned by the RIHS that were created by Eastern.  The exact plot for the film is not clear due to the unstable condition of the film, but we do know it includes a scene at the Narragansett Pier, an iconic locale in southern Rhode Island.  In addition to providing documentary evidence of Rhode Island at the time, Diamonds is also important in the history of film making as an example of an early film created before California became the dominant location for the film industry.

Diamonds is part of the Gordon Collection at the RIHS, a large collection of nitrate films found in a warehouse in Providence in the 1940s and donated in the 1970s.  No documentation on any of these films survives, apart from what little was written about them in the contemporary press.

Diamonds currently exists only as a negative on cellulose nitrate film.  Nitrate was the first plastic used as the base for photographic negatives and is very unstable and quite flammable (see the video below).  Small rolls of film deemed unusable would sometimes be sold by film companies to kids who would light one end like a fuse and watch the film go up like flashpaper.  Nitrate film burns fast and bright.  The replacement of nitrate plastic with the more stable acetate plastic, aka “safety” film, happened slowly starting in 1908 with the production of the first safety film for still cameras.  The production and use of nitrate plastic for use in photography didn’t end completely until the 1960s.*.

In addition to this inherent flaw, Diamonds is also showing signs of decomposition, thanks to poor storage conditions earlier in its life. So for these reasons—and also in the hope of making the film more accessible—we’ll soon be working with Cinema Arts, a Pennsylvania film restorer to create preservation copies of the film**. We’ll also be creating a DVD copy to make the film easier to use for researchers, and we hope to screen a copy of the movie during an event next year.

Through a similar collaborative process, the Historical Society has already preserved a number of important early films, including My Lady of the Lilacs, an image from which appears below.

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*National Park Service. Museum Handbook, Part I, Appendix M, Management of Cellulose Nitrate and Cellulose Ester Film, 1999. http://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/MHI/AppendM.pdf

** Tech Specs: One 35mm fine grain master(wet gate from original nitrate negative), one 35mm duplicate negative, one 35mm black and white projection print, and one Beta SP video master.

Uncovering Hidden Collections: a Look at the RIHS Graphics Collection Survey Project

By Jim DaMico, Graphics Project Archivist

On January 16, 2007, the RIHS Library embarked on a systematic survey of the entire collection of graphic materials held by the Society. This collection includes visual materials ranging from 17^th century maps to 1910’s picture postcards to 1970’s television footage. Not surprisingly, photographic prints and negatives make up the majority of the collection surveyed so far. The primary reason for this mammoth undertaking is to make accessible, through the library’s online public access catalog NETOP, the rich visual and auditory resources that have been collected by the Society since 1822.

The first step to making any collection accessible is to know what it contains. The Project Archivist pulls each box from the shelf, opens the box and does a visual inspection of the overall material. This allows the archivist to determine what preservation steps can be taken at this initial stage, such as re-housing items using archivally sound storage. The next step is to create a minimal, core catalog record of descriptive information which is then entered into a database.

The catalog record includes the title, creator, date, description, donor and preservation notes. We also record the quantity of new storage material needed to protect the items adequately.  The importance of knowing, for example, that we need 82,000 new sleeves is useful for determining a yearly budget for supplies or for applying for small preservation grants that provide for archival supplies. This survey and collecting the data is also important to set preservation and conservation priorities and determine disaster response priorities.

Much like other cultural institutions across the United States, space is at a premium in the library building. A concerted effort has been made to maximize shelf space by storing like-sized boxes together and consolidating where possible.

To date, a total of 5,668 collections containing 154,730 individual items and occupying 619 linear feet have been examined. We have estimated that the data collected so far will result in a 30% increase to the graphics holdings available through our online catalog, NETOP. When complete, this survey will represent a major strategic advancement for the Society’s collection management efforts.

An example of a before and after processing a large photograph collection:

BEFORE

AFTER

Chronicles of Brunonia

A fascinating collection of student-produced historical narratives (a number of them using materials from the Rhode Island Historical Society’s collections) are available at Brown University’s Chronicles of Brunonia website. The narratives are the final product of work done by students in Beth Taylor’s creative nonfiction writing workshops, and they draw their inspiration from primary-source materials at institutions like the Historical Society and Brown’s John Hay Library. The following is a list of stories that make use of RIHS materials (with précis provided by the authors):

• “Charlotte Perkins Gilman; letters to Martha” (Abigail Rabinowitz)
  Starting in 1878, teenage friends on the East Side of Providence
  become inseparable, then go their separate ways when Martha weds. But even as Charlotte gains fame as the writer of The Yellow Wallpaper and as an activist for women’s rights, she never forgets Martha.
• “Little Caesar(historical narrative)” (Austin Kennedy)
  The Diary of Giuseppe Zambarano offers a glimpse into the life of a
  young immigrant from Italy in the late 1800s, who builds a business
  and family on Federal Hill in Providence.
• “Lucy and the Chinese bandits” (Meryl Rothstein)
  Lucy Truman Aldrich, born in 1869 to a prominent Rhode Island family, travels to China in 1923 and is kidnapped by bandits.
• “Miss Edna Krouner at Vassar in 1908″ (Elizabeth Loeb)
  Miss Edna Krouner, of Wakefield, Rhode Island, embarks on her first
  year at Vassar College and learns about everything from crushes to
  Marxism and the Vote for Women.
• “Mutiny! A high seas misadventure” (John Sheehy)
  A tale of piracy aboard the Vineyard, a brig, that set sail from New
  Orleans to Philadelphia on November 9, 1830.
• “Providence’s Black Chinese; a love story” (Luke Tsai)
  In 1901, Chung Yik, one of the city’s “best-known Chinese
  restauranteurs” and his wife, Cynthia Monki, survived the burning of
  their Charles Street apartment.
• “Searching for home; accounts of a sea captain’s wife” (Stephanie Bernhard)
  Cynthia Sprague Congdon’s tales of being aboard ship then recording
  her life in East Greenwich, R.I. when she received word that her
  husband was lost at sea during a storm
• “States of mind; the founding of Rhode Island’s first hospital“
  (Alex Eichler)
  The story of the founding of Butler Hospital in Providence, R.I. or,
  as it was originally called, Butler Hospital for the Insane.
• “Stories from the Good Doctor’s farm; colonial southern Rhode Island“
  (Alison Klayman)
  For a short period in the mid-18th century, the MacSparren farm
  flourished at the hands of an assortment of free, enslaved and
  indentured workers. In such a small-scale plantation, typical of
  colonial southern Rhode Island, the social hierarchy was constantly
  repositioning itself to accommodate emerging colonial ideas about
  race, sex, and religion. This story, based on the diary of Reverend
  MacSparren and other historical documents, imagines the personal
  relationships between those who worked and lived in such close quarters.
• “The things they planted” (Molly Jacobson)
  Almost four hundred years ago, Roger Williams and his companions
  paddled down the Seekonk River and landed on the Rhode Island shore. Surrounded by wilderness, with no outside aid and scarce resources, these first settlers slowly raised their farms and homesteads, scavenged for food, and drafted laws for their community.
• “The vampire disease” (Victoria Chao)
  At the turn of the century, a deadly disease swept Europe and the
  Eastern United States. In the span of four years, George Brown, a
  farmer in rural Rhode Island, lost his wife and two daughters to the
  disease. Faced with the prospect of losing his only son, George is
  convinced to seek and destroy the alleged vampire responsible for
  these deaths…
• “Waiting, 1938″ (Alice Lovejoy)
  The story of the famous hurricane of 1938 as revealed by the
  meticulous notes of David Patten, managing editor of the Providence
  Evening Bulletin at the time.
• “The wreck of the Bark Montgomery; an East Greenwich family at home and at sea” (Margo Irvin)
  The story of a storm at sea from both the point of view of the
  captain, John Congdon, and his wife on shore, Cynthia.

Roland O. Campbell, 1920-2008

Mike Russo (l) and Roland Campbell at the Library

Former long-time RIHS staff member Roland Campbell passed away on the evening of August 13 at the age of 88. He had been battling a bad case of pneumonia and had recently suffered a heart attack. He was the husband of the late Irene (Laliberte) Campbell.

Born in Central Falls, RI in January 1920, he was the son of the late Joseph and Alexandrine Campbell. He operated Campbell’s Market on Pine Street in Providence for over 40 years. Roland served in the Army Air Corp during World War II. One of his favorite summer pastimes was cheering on the Boston Red Sox and attending Pawtucket Red Sox games. Mr. Campbell worked at the Society’s Library for many years, retiring in 2003 after two decades of service.

He is survived by two sons, Paul R Campbell of Cranston, Peter A Campbell of Lincoln and a daughter Francine M Rossi of Northport, NY, and a brother Roger A Campbell of Mirror Lake NH. He also leaves seven grandsons and a granddaughter.

The funeral was held on Tuesday at 8:45am from The Butterfield Chapel 500 Pontiac Avenue Cranston, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial in St. Ann’s church Cranston Street at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, donations in his name may be made to the Beacon Hospice, 1 Catamore Blvd, East Providence, RI 02914.

Welcome to the RIHS

The Rhode Island Historical Society is a privately endowed membership organization, founded in 1822, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing Rhode Island ’s history.  Its offices are located at 110 Benevolent Street , Providence , Rhode Island , 02906 .  Information about its collections and historic buildings, and about its program and events, may be found through our website.

History

Founded in 1822, the Society is the fourth oldest state historical society in the United States (after the Massachusetts Historical Society, New York Historical Society, and Maine Historical Society).  The Rhode Island Historical Society was founded and supported by many early Rhode Island luminaries, including Moses Brown and Henry J. Steere.

Description

The Society has the largest and most important historical collections in existence relating to Rhode Island .  These collections include some 25,000 objects, 5,000 manuscripts, 100,000 books and printed items, 400,000 photographs and maps, and 9 million feet of motion-picture film.  The Society owns and maintains the notable John Brown House ( 52 Power Street , Providence ), a National Historic Landmark built in 1786; the Aldrich House ( 110 Benevolent Street , Providence ), also a National Historic Landmark, built in 1822; and the Library of Rhode Island History ( 121 Hope Street , Providence ).  The Society also maintains the Museum of Work and Culture ( 42 South Main Street , Woonsocket ), a regional history museum devoted to the ethnic history of northern Rhode Island .  The Society offers through the Newell D. Goff Education Center a variety of educational programs including workshops, lectures, films, and walking tours of Providence .  In recent years the Society has been very active in teacher training programs seeking to improve the quality of history teaching in Rhode Island .  The Society also presents exhibits, films, concerts, and many other community activities and programs.

Recent News

The Society’s most noteworthy recent advances include its first on-line collection access catalog and the first major restoration of the historic John Brown House, a $2.5 million project that should be complete in 2010.

Please join us!

While we preserve the past, our members ensure our future through membership fees, special gifts, and donations to the collections. Rhode Island’s history is the story of all the people who have lived here. We need your help to tell those stories.