We are proud to offer a variety of tours and workshops during our upcoming conference. A tour and workshop will be offered on Saturday and another tour will be offered on Sunday. The options for each event are listed below. Space on the tours and workshops is limited, so please indicate your choices when you register for the conference.
Tours: Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 12:00pm
1. Lilly Library
Group limit: 12
A behind-the-scenes tour of the Lilly Library, Indiana University’s rare books, manuscripts, and special collections repository. The library contains approximately 400,000 rare books, 6.5 million manuscripts, and 100,000 pieces of sheet music. Highlights of the collection include a Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s first folio, a copy of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s letter accepting the presidency of the United States, and the Slocum Puzzle Collection.
2. Archives of Traditional Music
Group limit: 20
A behind-the-scenes tour of the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University , the largest university-based ethnographic sound archives in the United States.
Its holdings cover a wide range of cultural and geographical areas, and include commercial and field recordings of vocal and instrumental music, folktales, interviews, and oral history, as well as videotapes, photographs, and manuscripts.
3. Indiana University Archives
The session, led by Director of the Archives Philip Bantin, will include a tour of the various functional areas of the Archives and a description of how the Archives staff went about designing the space. After the walking tour, participants will assemble in the reading room and will have the opportunity to examine the types of records the Archives collects and to ask the archivist questions about the challenges and issues relating to the management of a University Archives.
Workshops: Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 3:00pm
1. Mathers Museum
Group limit: 15
The Mathers Museum's collection includes objects ranging in size from a
Liberian dime to a Hoosier log house. How do we store, track, and learn
from such diverse holdings? During this session we will look at these
questions from a problem-solving point of view, examining ways the museum's
staff have dealt with the needs of a multi-faceted collection.
The session will take place in the museum's collections holding area, where
we will look at a variety of storage and record keeping solutions.
2. Indiana University Libraries Paper Conservation
Group limit: 12-15
Douglas Sanders, Paper Conservator for IU Libraries, will demonstrate and clarify the rationale behind a range of treatments which paper conservators routinely use to repair and preserve library and archival collections. Topics will include surface cleaning, washing, mending, humidification, flattening and encapsulation. Mr. Sanders will also touch on the causes of deterioration as well as the concept of preventative care. It is hoped that participants will take away a better understanding of the scope and complexity of conservation treatments possible; enabling better decision-making and communication with institutional conservators.
3. IU Art Museum
Group limit: 15
Jenny McComas, Curator of Western Art after 1800, will give a presentation about archival research for an exhibition catalogue project on Nazi provenance research. Her research uses archival materials to find the provenance of paintings to determine if they were taken from their rightful owners. She will discuss the types of archival records and materials she has used to find the provenance of several paintings housed at the IU Art Museum and her experiences as a researcher in the archives. The presentation will include samples of the records she is currently using and will also involve a discussion around several of the works of art.
Tours: Sunday March 6, 2011
1. IU Art Museum
at 12:00pm
Group limit: 15
“When More is Better”
Nan Brewer, the Lucienne M. Glaubinger Curator of Works on Paper, will lead a behind-the-scenes tour highlighting objects from the IU Art Museum’s archival collections, including the archive of a contemporary fine art press and those of two Midwestern photographers. The discussion will focus on the differences between the museum’s archives and its other art holdings, as well as special issues of housing, condition, and information access.
2. Mathers Museum
at 1:00pm
Group limit: 20
A behind-the-scenes tour at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures, visiting collections and record storage areas, conservation lab, artifact processing room, and other work areas.
The Mathers Museum is Indiana University's museum of world cultures. Through its collections, exhibits, and programs, the Museum is dedicated to preserving and promoting knowledge of the world's cultures. In all of its activities, the Museum strives to further its audiences' understanding of both the diversity of the world's specific cultures and the underlying unity of culture as a human phenomenon.
3. Black Film Center/Archive
at 12:00pm
Group limit: 15
The Black Film Center/Archive, founded in 1981, was the first repository for the collection and preservation of films and related materials by and about African Americans. Since that time, its collections have grown and its scope has broadened to include films from the other geographical sites in the African Diaspora. Our collection, which features many independent filmmakers, highlights the work of black writers, actors, producers, directors and musicians in all aspects of film production.
