On digitization

Thoughts from the University Archivist & Digital Collections Librarian on where we’ve come from, where we are, and where we’re going.

Over the past month I’ve been ruminating a bit on the topics of digitization, technology, and sustainability in archival practice. As I’m preparing to present next week on our participation in the JSTOR Community Collections pilot, I put together a summarized timeline of sorts, documenting the history of digital collections work in GVSU Libraries, specifically here in Special Collections & University Archives.

Digital collections work began in earnest around 2008, when we started our subscription to OCLC’s CONTENTdm. At that time, SCUA’s curator and archivist selected some very straightforward image-based collections to digitize and share. These collections had clear rights and permissions – either they were university property or in the public domain. Not long after, SCUA partnered the GVSU Veterans History Project, and began providing streaming access to the oral history videos he was collecting. While this sounds simple, it actually proved technologically challenging. You see, at that time, CONTENTdm could not handle streaming video. Luckily we have some really talented people on our team, and GVSU Libraries’ web services librarian cooked up CSS wizardry to connect the streaming videos hosted on another platform into the item records in CONTENTdm.

However, as our collections grew in both size and popularity, we faced a different kind of hurdle. Money. Eventually we reached the cap for our subscription tier with CONTENTdm and faced a dilemma – pay a large one-time lump sum plus an increased annual subscription fee to move up to the next tier, OR migrate to a different platform.

By this time, the libraries had added an exceptionally talented and energetic digital curation librarian, who was concerned about the increasing need to preserve all of this new digital content. Thus we embarked on testing a then-new technology, Preservica, which was positioning itself as an all-in-one access and preservation option for digital cultural heritage materials. However, over the next few years, with some staffing changes in both the realms of collection development and technology support for digital collections, somewhat drastic changes were made to our program. In 2016 GVSU Libraries made the decision to abandon the migration to Preservica and focus on developing its own digital collections platform, using the open source Omeka Classic software, hosted on a server run by the university’s own Information Technology (IT) department. Our digital preservation librarian also wanted to focus on using open source tools to perform the digital preservation work necessary to ensure long-term access to these materials.

Over the course of 2016-2017, a small team consisting of myself, the digital curation librarian, digital initiatives librarian, and two support staff migrated the entirety of our digital collections. The bulk of the collections migrated to the new Omeka platform, while a few select collections were migrated to the libraries’ long-established institutional repository. During this migration, we added very little to the collections – only those additions we were obligated to add due to partnership and grant-funded projects.

Since 2017, the libraries have experienced even more staffing changes, while still growing our collections. These days, digital collection are still running on Omeka. But we no longer have the support of a digital initiatives or digital preservation librarian – so naturally we’re doing more with less.

Oh yeah, and about digital preservation… in 2020 the faculty line most recently held by our vacated digital preservation librarian was eliminated. This meant that all of the hands-on, highly technical digital preservation work he’d been doing with open source tools would not be picked up by anyone with a similar skillset. Instead, pragmatism won out, and we made the decision to move digital preservation activities back to Preservica – so that we could lean on the software and expertise of their team to ensure long-term access.

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So that’s where we’ve come from – and now for a more recent bit of digital collections excitement. Last month the server on which our Omeka software runs was hit by a cybersecurity incident. I don’t have many details about what transpired, but a number of other systems across the university were affected besides ours. This meant our digital collections were down for about two full weeks. Eventually IT moved it to a more secure server and restored limited access, but the search function that we had improved was still broken.*

Even so, while the digital collection site is technically functional, it remains a challenge to use. Each page takes longer than 20 seconds to load – an eternity in web time! Our folks are still working on it – but we have no idea when full functionality will be restored.

On the collection development side of things – we’re also scaling back our commitments. While they’ve been truly fruitful in the past, partnership projects are tremendously time consuming undertakings from a project planning and management standpoint. Even though much of the labor of digitization, oral history recording, and sometimes transcription is managed by our partners – it still falls to us to ensure that we have quality metadata that adheres to library standards and best practices, provide quality controls, ingest the collections into our systems, and provide long-term preservation. Going forward, we’ll be far more selective of the projects we’re undertaking, and never do more than one at a time!

* Mere moments after publishing this post, we received word that the search function had been repaired! Incredible!!

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As far as digitizing our own collection goes, we have new movement on that front. Current digitization projects include photographs from our Robert H. Merrill papers and Douglas R. Gilbert papers.

Merrill was a Grand Rapids-based civil engineer and amateur archeologist. Over the course of his career, from the the early 1900s to the early 1950s, Merrill “worked as a surveyor, photographer, and laborer for archaeological expeditions in areas such as New Mexico, Alaska, Mexico, Italy, and Panama. He was interested in the application of engineering methods to archaeological fieldwork and notably developed a photographic mosaic tower to take vertical photographs of excavations. He was an amateur photographer and extensively documented his work and travels.”

Standing on the marble terrace, Temple of Heaven, China. Photograph by Robert H. Merrill, 1919.

This is a tremendously exciting collection, and one of my personal favorites. The collection was acquired in 2019 and processed earlier this year by our adjunct archivist, Adrienne Rife. Adrienne recently accepted a full-time position at the Mercantile Library in St. Louis, and we couldn’t be more proud of her.

Once she finished processing, Adrienne proceeded to digitize many of the photo negatives in the collection. Initially we selected the negatives because they needed to packed up for long term storage in our cold-storage freezer. Digitizing the negatives first meant that we wouldn’t need to pull them out for research use, rather we can rely on access to the digital surrogates. Now we’re working on the metadata for the 1,400 or so images we’ve scanned so far. After that, we’ll move on to scan and describe about 1,000 glass lantern slides that are also in the collection.

Construction of the north end of culvert 109, New York State Canal System. Photograph by Robert H. Merrill, 1909.

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If you’ve visited our Digital Collections site in the past few years, you’ve likely seen some of Douglas Gilbert’s photos. Gilbert’s photography career spanned from around 1960 to about 2010. He worked professionally and freelance for magazines such as Look and Life, and some of his works are held by the Library of Congress.

We’ve already digitized some of his more iconic photos, including those of musicians Bob Dylan, Janis Ian, Iggy Pop and Buffy St. Marie.

Bob Dylan. Photograph by Douglas R. Gilbert, 1964.

Janis Ian. Photograph by Douglas R. Gilbert, 1967.

Iggy Pop. Photograph by Douglas R. Gilbert, 1970.

Buffy St. Marie. Photograph by Douglas R. Gilbert, 1964.

While crunching the numbers to plan this particular digitization project I came to a stunning conclusion – even if we only selected roughly 30% of Mr. Gilbert’s 35mm negatives to digitize, depending on the staff-time dedicated to this project, it could take us as long as 10 years to complete! It’s truly a massive undertaking. However, I think we can find some ways to streamline and find efficiencies by having our support staff member focus on metadata while students perform scanning.

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If you’ve stuck with the post this far, I appreciate your taking the time to read through! I’d hoped to shed a little light on what our processes look like, and all the work that actually goes into providing online access to our collections. It’s very much a team effort. And as much as I’d LOVE to “just digitize everything” we just don’t have the resources to make that dream a reality.

Also, if you’ve tried to use our digital collections here in the past month or so and found it frustrating, or worse, non-existent – we’re sorry! We’ve been frustrated too. It’s upsetting to see something you’ve worked so hard on disappear in the blink of an eye. Rest assured, though, that all of the contents you were used to finding in our digital collections are still around and available at request by getting in touch with us. That’s what digital preservation is all about!

Archives Behind the Scenes: Processing

In this installment of Archives Behind the Scenes, we’ll talk about archival processing. Processing is a shorthand term for all of the steps archivists take to get a collection of archival materials ready for research use.

Archival processing activities typically fall under three broad categories: preservation, arrangement, and description. Different archives may take slightly different approaches to these activities, but most archivists follow best practices, guidelines and standards. These are established by professional organizations such as the Society of American Archivists or American Library Association’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, or by national and international standards-setting bodies such as the Library of Congress or the International Council on Archives.

Preservation

All materials decay and break down over time, and different materials break down at different rates and for different reasons. The goal of archival preservation is to extend the “lifespan” of materials in the archives so they can be used by researchers well into the future.

One of the best ways that archivists can extend this “lifespan” is by controlling the environment in which the materials are stored. Heat, humidity, climate fluctuations, and the presence of pollutants all have a damaging effect on archival materials. Archives often use specialized HVAC systems to keep the temperature and relative humidity (RH) within acceptable parameters for storing their collections. Because the majority of our holdings are paper-based, we aim to keep our climate around 70°F and between 30%-50% RH.

This Liebert heating and cooling system gives us precise control over the temperature and relative humidity of our archival storage areas.

In addition to systems that provide control over the climate, we also use a redundant climate data logger to record and analyze temperature and humidity in our storage area. This way, we can make adjustments as needed as the weather changes throughout the year. Sometimes even the simplest things, like keeping doors closed and lights off, can improve the conditions in the storage area.

This data logger lets us record and analyze the effects of climate in our storage areas on the collections.

On a smaller scale, we also use containers to hold archival materials that are less likely to cause damage over time. Containing archival materials in acid-free and lignin-free folders and boxes can help to extend their “lifespan.” Lignin is a naturally occurring chemical compound present in many plants. Paper that contains a high percentage of wood pulp also tends to contain a high amount of lignin – which decomposes at a much faster rate than the rest of the plant materials around it.

One great example of the damage caused by the presence of acid and lignin is in old newspapers. Newsprint typically has a very high lignin content, and is highly acidic. Over time, these aspects cause the paper to become extremely brittle. Once the paper has become brittle, there is nothing an archivist can do to reverse it.

The years have not been kind to these 1940s newspapers and scrapbook pages. Due to their high acid and lignin content, newspapers decay much faster than some other kinds of paper.

In special situations, a conservator may be able to repair some kinds of damage or stabilize very valuable items. More often, when an archivist encounters brittle items that have especially high content value, he or she will use a photocopier to create a copy of the item on acid-free and lignin-free paper.

Other kinds of archival formats need even more attention. As media technology changes, formats become obsolete. Some items, like video and audio tapes, can’t be used in the archives unless there is a player available. As these kinds of media get older, archives run the risk of not being able to preserve and provide access to them due to their obsolescence.

Media formats like these two U-Matic video cassette tapes and reel-to-reel audio tape are now obsolete.

In 2018, the Special Collections & University Archives undertook a major project to have its most at-risk obsolete audio and video media digitally reformatted. Over 150 videotapes, audiotapes, and films were digitized during this project, and now the digital files are securely stored. In addition to a networked storage space regularly backed up and maintained by the the university’s IT department, our digital files undergo a series of digital preservation activities and are redundantly backed up in a cloud-based data archive.

While all of these different preservation needs can be complex and sometimes conflicting, archivists do what they can with limited resources to extend the usefulness of their collections.

Arrangement

The next step archivists take when processing collections is arrangement. Arrangement refers to how the physical or digital materials are organized, and it is governed by two main principles: original order and respect des fonds.

The principle of respect des fonds, sometimes referred to as provenance, proposes that archives should group collections according to the organization, individual, or entity by which they were created of from which they were received.

One way this shapes up in Special Collections & University Archives is with the collections we have relating to the author Jim Harrison. In addition to the Jim Harrison Papers, we also have related collections of his biographer Robert DeMott, his sister Mary Harrison Dumsch, and his former sister-in-law Rebecca Newth Harrison. While materials in all four collections relate to Jim Harrison’s life and literary career, they are all grouped according to their fonds, or creator. Researchers interested in Harrison may need to look through all of the collections – and possibly collections at other archives – to get the full picture of Harrison’s life.

The principle of original order is the idea that if the creator of a set of records created and/or maintained them in a particular way, then that organization should be preserved regardless of how easy or difficult it might be to use. Historians and other researchers may be able to infer or make connections within or about the records or their creator due to the original order of the materials. Archivists should strive to preserve or even re-create original order if one is evident.

The photographer who created this collection was meticulous in how he organized his own negatives and contact sheets. As we process this collection, we will maintain this original order even though we may exchange the binders for archival containers.

However, not all collections have evidence of original order when they are evaluated by an archivist. In these cases, an archivist might decide to organize them in some logical manner to facilitate research use. Common arrangements include chronological order and alphabetical arrangements by names or topics.

Arrangements in archival collections can be simple or complex, depending on the size and nature of the collection. Archivists often group similar items together to create files, and group similar files together to create series. Once an archivist has completed the arrangement of a collection, he or she will then create a record that describes the collection.

Description

Archival descriptions can take several forms. Some archives use the same kinds of catalog records as with books to describe their archival collections. Some archives use more complex records, called Finding Aids, to describe the collection and its creator(s), and often to provide an inventory of the series and files that comprise it.

At Special Collections & University Archives, we use Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), to guide our collection descriptions. We record our finding aids in a database called ArchivesSpace, which allows us to share the finding aid online in an easy to search format.

From the front page of our ArchivesSpace database, researchers can search through descriptions of hundreds of archival collections.

One of the most important aspects of archival description is providing context. Archival collections are often the product of the day-to-day life or business of a person or organization. It is important for researchers to know who created and maintained the materials, when and where this took place and under what circumstances, and how they came to be placed in the archives. In the same way that preserving original order within a collection can lead a researcher to inferences about a collection, so too can the context of a collection’s creation.

In this snapshot of a finding aid in ArchivesSpace, we provide information about the collection as well as contextualizing information about its creator.

Archivists must do their own research in order to provide this context – often by referring to the collection materials themselves – but also by looking into other primary and secondary sources on the subject. However, archivists try to present only the facts of the matter within an archival finding aid, leaving interpretation and drawing of conclusions to historians and other researchers. While many archivists are experts in their own right on a variety of subjects, we also try to remain impartial when presenting a collection of materials to researchers.

Once the finding aid is published, the collection is open for research use. Boxes and folders are neatly labeled and shelved carefully in our storage area. Researchers can request materials in our reading room, or request remote reference assistance by phone or email.

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In the next installment of Archives Behind the Scenes, we’ll discuss the development of our Digital Collections through digitization and collaborative partnerships. We’ll also touch back on some of the ins and outs of our digital preservation strategies.

Archives Behind the Scenes: Acquisitions

In a departure from our usual exhibit posts highlighting our exciting collections, this post will kick off a short series of “Behind the Scenes” discussions about what goes on in the Special Collections & University Archives at Grand Valley. In this post, we will discuss how we acquire collection materials, what they’re like when they get here, and what we do once we have them.

Within Seidman House, we have one curator, two archivists, one archives assistant and a couple of student assistants who work to collect, organize, document, and preserve archival materials and rare books. We also have several distinct collecting areas. One, the Special Collections, contains materials collected for their historical value, their connection to regional history, or their connection to the research and teaching interests of the Grand Valley community. The other, University Archives, contains the records, photographs, publications, and media created by Grand Valley State that document the university’s history.

Acquisition

Materials that come into our collections are acquired through transfers, donations, and purchases.  Materials accepted into the collections are guided by a collection development policy.  This policy describes what kinds of materials are (and are not) collected by the Special Collections and University Archives. It details the types and formats of materials collected, as well as what kinds of contents, topics, geographical areas, and time periods we aim to collect.

Transfers

Transfers happen when a campus office, faculty member, administrator, or staff person officially deposits their inactive records to the University Archives. Transfers can happen at any time of year, but often occur during the spring and summer.

Archivist picking up a records transfer from the Intercollegiate Athletics Department

Not all records created at the university are archival. Some records have long-term value and are considered “permanent” records, but they are not archival because they remain in active use. Other kinds of records, such as student transcripts, may be permanent and have long-term value, but are protected by laws or policies that restrict access to them. Records such as these are usually maintained by the office that creates and manages them.

Other kinds of records, such as routine correspondence, invoices and receipts, and scrap notes with no context, have no long-term value. Even when these kinds of records are no longer in active use, they should not be transferred into the University Archives. Instead they can be shredded and disposed of.

The University Archivist often consults with offices before transfers to ensure that the records are archival, and that they have long-term value and are no longer in active use.

Examples of archival university records include reports, committee agendas and minutes, correspondence of high-ranking officials, official memorandums, course catalogs, official publications, budgets, and high-level planning documentation.

Donations and Purchases

When collecting archival materials and rare books for our Special Collections, we have a modest budget for purchasing materials, and we also accept donations. Collecting decisions made by the curator and archivists are guided by the collection development policy that defines the collecting strategies for the department.

When donations occur, a curator or archivist works closely with the donor to determine if the materials fit our collecting policy and to negotiate the terms of the gift. Donors who own copyrights to the materials can choose to transfer those rights to the university as well. Donors sign a Deed of Gift form that records the donation and details the terms. Once this has taken place, the materials become the property of the university.

Archivists sometimes visit the homes of donors to identify and sort out materials to acquire

When purchasing materials for the Special Collections, the curator reviews catalogs and websites of rare book and manuscript dealers, searches online auction sites like eBay.com, or works directly with the item’s owner to acquire materials that fit our collection development policy. The curator also often consults with archivists and faculty in various disciplines to find out if items available on the market might fill a particular gap or be of interest for classroom or research use.

Purchased items, such as these advertising circulars for medical devices from the early 20th century, often come with detailed descriptions provided by their sellers

Next Steps

Once we have received the materials at Seidman House, they may be in any state of condition or arrangement. We are careful to look for certain kinds of problems, like evidence of mold or pests. If left unsolved, these problems can spread and damage other materials in the library. Once we determine that the materials are safe to take in, we accession them, or create an official record of what we acquired, where it came from, how much is there, and any special instructions or restrictions relating to the materials. We then label these new accessions and set them aside for cataloging and processing.

When new archival acquisitions are made, they’re evaluated by an archivist for their condition and contents. This collection will need to be processed before it is useful to researchers.

In the next “Behind the Scenes” installment, we’ll discuss archival processing, highlighting the steps an archivist takes to bring a new collection to life.

The Pink House

In 1962, as construction was getting underway at Grand Valley State College, the administrators vacated their downtown Grand Rapids office and moved into several small houses near the new campus in Allendale. While a small gray farm house was selected as the site of administrative offices, a pink ranch house with a two-car garage was chosen to house the college’s budding library collection.

The Pink House

To prepare for the college’s opening in 1963 Library Director Stephen Ford and his staff of seven worked out of this small house, collecting and cataloging over 10,000 books.

Among the stacks of the Pink House Library

When the college finally opened, space was set aside for the library collection in Lake Michigan Hall, the only building that had been completed on campus at the time. Director Ford and his staff packed up the Pink House and moved the library collection to its temporary site.

Library director and staff moving books for the opening day collection

What became of the Pink House is uncertain, but once the college had opened its doors students made good use of the temporary Lake Michigan Hall Library. Still, students and faculty alike eagerly awaited the construction of Zumberge Library to be complete.

Temporary Lake Michigan Hall library

 

Zumberge Library construction

Zumberge Library finally opened in the spring of 1969 and served as the campus’ intellectual center until it was replaced by the Mary Idema Pew Library in 2013. GVSU now has five total library locations on its Allendale and Grand Rapids campuses, and holds over 1.6 million titles in its print and electronic collections.

Michigan Picture Postcards

Holland, Michigan. Why don’t you come to Holland, Mich. and runabout the town with me, circa 1910

Among the many instruments that people have devised to communicate with one another, the postcard fills many roles. If you need a simple way to send a quick note, to let someone know you’re thinking of them, to save or send a souvenir of your travels, or merely to document your own surroundings – postcards can meet all of these needs and more.

Port Huron, Michigan. Fire Department parade, 1910

Montrose, Michigan. Flint River Bridge, 1911

The American postcard was first developed in the 1870s, and the first souvenir postcard in the 1890s. They quickly became immensely popular, with their “Golden Era” spanning from around 1907 to 1915.

Grand Rapids, Michigan. John Ball Park, 1905

Grand Rapids, Michigan. Playground at Reeds Lake, 1915

During that period, the U.S. Postal Service introduced the “divided back” postcard, which included a line on the blank side to separate the address area from the message area. Also during this period, Kodak produced a specialized “postcard camera” which enabled the quick production of “real photo” postcards.

Alpena, Michigan. High School, 1915

Corunna, Michigan. Burned high school, 1908

The postcards highlighted in this exhibit come from our American Picture Postcard Collection (RHC-103).  Their photographs and illustrations depict the locales and sights of Michigan, and show us how things used to be.

Boyne City, Michigan. The Old Maid’s Nipple, 1910

Ishpeming, Michigan. Ski Jumping, 1907

Grand Valley Logos: 1960s and 70s

Grand Valley State College, 1960-1973

The Official Seal

Grand Valley was founded in 1960, and its first classes were held in 1963 on a campus under heavy construction along the Grand River ravines in Allendale, Michigan. Still in its early days, Grand Valley organized a contest to design an official seal. The contest received 60 submissions from nearly two dozen entrants, but the winning logo (so the story goes) was an anonymous design found in the college mailbox with no postmark. The prize money of $100 was donated to the GVSU Scholarship fund. Students voted to select the school colors of light blue, black and white.

Grand Valley State College seal, circa 1960s

The official seal can be found gracing numerous publications, promotional materials, and pieces of stationery in the University Archives. The 1960 date at the bottom of the seal reflects the date of Grand Valley’s founding, not necessarily the date of the item on which it is printed.

Alternate logos, such as the one below, with the “G” and “V” connected side-by-side, also cropped up during the mid- and late 1960s.

Grand Valley logo, circa 1960s

Grand Valley State Colleges: 1973-1983

In 1973, Grand Valley adopted a “cluster college” organization, and its name changed to Grand Valley State Colleges. This change reflected the distinctive teaching styles of its four colleges: the College of Arts and Science, Thomas Jefferson College, William James College, and College IV (later renamed Kirkhof College).

The Leaf Logo

During the early- and mid- 1970s, the “GV Leaf” logo, depicted below, graced much of the stationery and promotional materials produced by the institution.

Grand Valley Leaf Logo, 1970s

The logo’s designer, W-B Advertising Agency, explained that the smooth flowing line making up the “GV” symbol was characteristic of one large school encompassing a number of smaller colleges within. The tree or leaf-like symbol in the center is symbolic of ecology, rural setting, rebirth, and growth.

College of Arts and Sciences Logo

The most traditional of Grand Valley’s four colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences, or CAS, had curricula covering a wide spectrum of disciplines in the arts, humanities, and sciences. This spectrum is symbolized below in the logo that included a rainbow-like arch over the CAS initials.

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) logo, circa 1970s

 

William James College Logo

The William James College was founded in 1971 and was organized under a philosophy of trans-disciplinary liberal education that emphasized critical thinking and personal fulfillment. Named after the famed American psychologist and philosopher, the college’s logo depicts a portrait of a young William James. This logo can still be found painted prominently on the wall of Lake Superior Hall, the building in which the college was housed.

William James College logo, 1971-1983

 

Thomas Jefferson College Logo

The Thomas Jefferson College’s logo was, you guessed it, a portrait of United States’ Founding Father and President Thomas Jefferson, after whom the college was named.

Thomas Jefferson College logo, circa 1970-1983

Though it began in 1968 as the College of General Education, it eventually grew and evolved into an interdisciplinary liberal arts program that was focused on bringing students “into contact with themselves, their personal and academic needs, their capacities, their values, their aims in life, and to help them integrate these elements into an effective whole by providing the necessary opportunities and resources. The college was housed in Lake Huron Hall.

College IV Logo

College IV provided an individualized, modular, self-paced, and interdisciplinary curriculum intended for goal-oriented students who didn’t fit into traditional modes of education.  Instead of classes or lectures, students learned through module books and video tapes that could be checked out of the College’s A/V Center.

College IV logo, circa 1973-1979

The learning modules were supplemented by discussion groups, problem-centered projects, and independent studies. The college’s logo features its name and two beaming light bulbs.

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In the early 1980s, Grand Valley disbanded the cluster colleges and reorganized with discipline-based academic divisions. Check back later for an exploration of Grand Valley Logos in the 1980s and 1990s!

Michigan Mysteries

Our Michigan in the Novel collection contains books from nearly every genre of fiction. Some of our favorites are the mysteries. These tales are all set in Michigan locales, from the back woods to the big cities. Here we’ve listed just a few, but our collection contains hundreds of thrillers, chillers, and whodunits.

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The Spiritualists and Detectives (1877)

Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish-American immigrant who gained recognition and notoriety as a detective and spy. During the Civil War, he organized the Union’s Secret Service to protect President Lincoln. Pinkerton published a series of detective books, ostensibly based on his real-life cases. The Spiritualists and Detectives contains a number of different crime stories, some of them set in Michigan locales like Kalamazoo and Detroit.

The Spiritualists and Detectives, Allan Pinkerton. New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., 1877

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The Case of Doctor Horace (1907)

John Harcourt Prentis published this mystery drama, set in Detroit and Ann Arbor, about two men who fake a murder to test a theory that a criminal can be caught through the operation of his own guilty conscience.

The Case of Doctor Horace: A Study of the Importance of Conscience in the Detection of Crime, John H. Prentis. New York: Baker & Taylor Co., 1907

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The Phantom Violin (1934)

Roy J. Snell wrote over 80 novels, including mystery series for boys and girls. The Phantom Violin, set on Isle Royale in Lake Superior, involves three girls who spend a summer living on a shipwreck and hunting for treasure.

The Phantom Violin, Roy J. Snell. Chicago: The Reilly & Lee Co., 1934

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Exit Screaming (1942)

Christopher Hale was the pseudonym of Frances Moyer Ross Stevens (1895-1948), who worked as an advertising copywriter in Cincinnati and Detroit. Her mystery series featured the recurring character Lieutenant Bill French of the Michigan State Police. In Exit Screaming, Lt. French is called in to investigate the murder of an eccentric woman in the small town of “Avondale.”

Exit Screaming, Christopher Hale. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1942

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Anatomy of a Murder (1958)

John D. Voelker, an attorney and eventual Michigan Supreme Court Justice, drew on his vast experience with and love of the law to achieve success as an author, writing under the pen name Robert Traver. His best-selling courtroom drama and mystery Anatomy of a Murder was based on a real-life murder case in Big Bay, Michigan. The book was adapted into a movie in 1959 produced by Columbia Pictures, and starred Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, and George C. Scott.

Anatomy of a Murder, Robert Traver. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1958

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The Make-Believe Man (1963)

Elizabeth Fenwick wrote over a dozen novels from the 1940s to the 1970s. In The Make-Believe Man, a thriller set in Detroit and Dearborn, a woman and her eleven year old son are terrorized while staying at her mother’s house.

The Make-Believe Man, Elizabeth Fenwick. New York: Harper & Row, 1963

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The Glass Highway (1983)

Loren Estleman crafted a popular mystery series featuring the character Amos Walker, a Detroit private investigator. In The Glass Highway, Walker is hired to find the missing son of a local television anchor and finds himself embroiled in a case involving drug dealers, corrupt cops, and hit men.

The Glass Highway, Loren D. Estleman. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1983

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The Dead of Winter (1995)

Like Christopher Hale (Frances M. R. Stevens), Paula Gosling also worked as an advertising copywriter before finding success as a crime novelist. The Dead of Winter is set in Blackwater Bay, Michigan during a local ice festival, and unravels the mystery linking a dead high school student, a missing chemistry teacher, and a drug dealer.

The Dead of Winter, Paula Gosling. London: Little, Brown & Co. 1995

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Sources

Beasecker, Robert, “Michigan in the Novel 1816 – 2006: An Annotated Bibliography, Second Edition, Revised and Corrected” (2013). Books and Contributions to Books. 6. http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_books/6

“Biographical Notes.” Accessed April 4, 2017. http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/z/z133.htm.

“Gadetection / Hale, Christopher.” Accessed April 4, 2017. http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930713/Hale,%20Christopher.

“John D(onaldson) Voelker.” In Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center (accessed April 4, 2017). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=lom_gvalleysu&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1000102096&asid=da91859b407fbef86e17dff622f74a4e.

“Loren D. Estleman.” In Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2016. Literature Resource Center (accessed April 4, 2017). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=lom_gvalleysu&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1000029853&asid=34115c8ddb3e3e17e1d79fab337ec6e5.

“Paula Gosling.” In Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center (accessed April 4, 2017). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=lom_gvalleysu&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1000038331&asid=510a694c73518dfaa789d42bf8e8558d.

Perkins, George B., Barbara Perkins, and Phillip Leininger. “Pinkerton, Allan (1819-1884).” In Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia of American Literature, 848. Vol. 1. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. Literature Resource Center (accessed April 4, 2017). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=lom_gvalleysu&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA16854291&asid=1d0edd848286fbd0b9edec1c9429aa17.

The Alabastine Company

The Alabastine Company, founded in 1879, produced a variety of paint products from the gypsum that was mined from the shale beds abundant in the area surrounding Grand Rapids, Michigan. Though the company was founded in New York, it derived its name from its largest gypsum quarry near the town of Wyoming, just south of Grand Rapids.

Alabastine color sample brochure, 1925

It’s earliest product, a dry pigment wall paint, was marketed as a “sanitary” and “hygienic” alternative to more traditional wall coverings of the day, such as lead-based paints, whitewash, and wallpaper.

Alabastine Home Color Book

Alabastine coloring book cover

Alabastine coloring book

The company advertised broadly in magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, the Delineator, and House Beautiful, and created colorful advertisements, catalogs, and other promotional materials.

Alabastine Stencil Catalog

Stencil catalog cover

Stencil catalog

The company was in business until about 1948 when it failed due to mismanagement. More information about the Alabastine Company can be found online at Antique Home Style and HistoryGrandRapids.org.

School-Pak Alabastine Art Paint Kit

Alabastine School-Pak art paint kit

Alabastine School-Pak art paint kit

Alabastine art paint canister – No. 10 – Orange

These items, along with other Alabstine Company odds and ends, can be found within the Special Collections in Seidman House.

The Murmur and the Roar

Personal and Public Perspectives of American Wartime

In times of war or military strife, the experiences of individual soldiers are often eclipsed by the civilian population’s understanding of the conflict. Influenced by media, politics, and propaganda, the public experience of a war is far removed from that of the individuals fighting it.

Soldiers and veterans find ways to understand, cope, and connect with others over their experiences. Sometimes they choose to share those experiences – in letters, diaries, memoirs, photographs, or recordings.

This exhibit features materials from Grand Valley State University Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives that illustrate both the public perception and personal experiences of war. Special Collections & University Archives is actively collecting the stories of veterans – to remember, to honor, and to learn from their service and their sacrifice – through their unique collections of documents, photographs, media, and digital objects. The objects and memories presented in this exhibit are only a small portion of the resources available for research use.

 

John Bennitt

John Bennitt, M.D. (engraving); Western Biogl. Pub. Co.

John Bennitt was born on March 24, 1830 in Pulteney, New York. He received an M.D. from Cleveland Medical College in 1850 and entered medical practice in Centreville, Michigan in March of the same year. During the Civil War he served as an assistant surgeon in the 19th Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He and part of his regiment were captured in March of 1863, but were released and he continued his service until the end of the war. During the war he compiled three diaries and wrote over 200 letters to his family detailing his experiences in the army.

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In letters to his wife:

Camp Chase, May 24th 1863

“I cannot claim any particular merit in that I am trying to do my duty to my country, and to those who go forth risking their  lives for their country’s sake, yet I feel that those who remain at home, and have no near & dear friends in this terrible war, know nothing of the sacrifices that are made for our common country. People of the North in the midst of their unparalleled prosperity at home almost forget that there is a war, and it is only those who are made to feel it in the absence and loss of dear ones & the desolations of homes.”

McMinnville, Tenn. April 7th 1864

“I do so much wish I could be at home now, for I feel that a great responsibility rests on us which I would be glad to share with you. But my Country not only calls, but demands my services now, and I am unworthy of a heritage in this goodly land, if I shrink from doing my whole duty, but the time is not far distant I hope when that duty in the present  capacity will cease and I can return to peaceful avocations and Live with those I love. Let us live in hope trusting in Him who orders all things for good.”

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Patriotic Envelopes

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Mailing envelopes with patriotic imagery or emblems printed on them appeared at the outset of the Civil War soon after South Carolina’s secession from the Union in December of 1860. Production of the envelopes in the South ceased after 1863, but continued in the North until the end of the war. The envelopes were created to encourage patriotism and allowed printers to add new product lines to their inventory. Early in the war some Northern printers produced envelopes for the South as well. Vendors marketed them to soldiers to send letters home from the battlefields, but most envelopes used in mailing letters were sent to soldiers from their families in the North. The envelopes were most often purchased as keepsakes, kept in scrapbooks, and were never mailed.

Opposition to President Lincoln

Though President Abraham Lincoln is one of the most commemorated presidents in American History today, he was an extremely controversial figure during his time in office. Opposition and hostility toward Lincoln came not only from the people of the Confederacy and many in the southern border states, but also from his political opponents in the Democratic party in the North, and even elements within his own Republican Party. The ballad “Nobody Hurt” was composed by John Ross Dix, a Unionist and native of Bristol, England, in response to a speech Lincoln gave shortly after he was elected. During the speech, Lincoln implied that no one would be hurt during his first term as president and that people would have an opportunity to vote for another candidate in four years. The ballad shows how public criticism of President Lincoln was not limited to the Confederacy, and that even small statements had a large impact on public opinion.

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Archibald Irvine McColl (1893-1981)

Irvine McColl was a resident of Grand Rapids and attended the University of  Michigan, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in 1917. McColl enlisted in the Army later that year and was a Sergeant in Battery C in the 119th Field Artillery from 1917 – 1919.

Though we have no photographs of McColl, we have many of the letters he wrote to his family. The photographs presented here are from the D.J. Angus photograph and film collection.

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From the letters of Irvine McColl:

January 31, 1919

“I wonder a lot what it will be like to be back again, and to be a chooser to some extent of what I can and cannot do and the men I will be with, and to actually be on speaking terms with English talking women, and to have a bath more than once a fortnight, and to eat real meals and not to have to mess as we do when we eat. I’m afraid I’ll seem a bit rough, at first at least, and a bit wild, for dispite [sic] our continual lament about nothing to do there is something going on, a fight or a fire or a wild party of some kind or other … And to come back to chocolate and sodas and canned excitement and adventures will seem tame,  perhaps, but I am certainly ready to try the civilized ways again. 

Mother and Aunt Hattie … both seem to think I am somehow different than I used to be,  but I am afraid I’ll disappoint them, for really, Al, I am only what I am, and can’t borrow much from the thing we have been over here for. It is only the fellows who were popped off that are the real heroes of the war. Their memory is as glorious as the immortal soul of the United States, but the rest of us are only poor weak mortals after all.”

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Posters to Sell the War

During World War I, the U.S. Government recruited advertisers, designers, and illustrators to communicate key messages about the war to the American public. Propaganda posters such as these were created to encourage citizens to join the military and help the U.S. defend its European allies. Posted along the street and in store windows, they were used to inspire patriotism and nationalism and to dehumanize the enemy. Their bright colors and intense graphics made them eye‐catching and easily noticeable.

 “I Want You…”

“I Want You for the U.S. Army,”by James Montgomery Flagg, 1917

This World War I poster was designed in 1917 by James Montgomery Flagg, who contributed 46 posters to the government. Originally published on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly, the portrait of “Uncle Sam” went on to become one of the most famous posters in the world. Over four million copies were printed between 1917 and 1918. Due to its overwhelming popularity, the image was later adapted for use during World War II. This is perhaps one of the most recognizable images of this era, and has become an icon of American patriotism.

“Destroy This Mad Brute”

 

“Destroy this mad brute” by Harry R. Hopps, 1918

During World War I, German soldiers were often depicted as apes in American propaganda. This poster posed American allies England and France as “civilization” and Germany as a ”mad brute.” In this poster, the ape is holding Lady Liberty, symbolizing the perceived  peril to the American values of liberty and democracy. In the background you can see Europe in ruins as the ape steps onto American shores. Due to propaganda like this, many German Americans whose families may have lived in America for centuries faced persecution during the war.

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Joseph P. Olexa (1918-2000)

Joe Olexa enlisted in the Army on December 9, 1940 and fought in the 26th Infantry Division, Company “L”. During his time in the Army, Olexa was stationed in Northern Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium, and Germany, fighting in some of the most remembered battles of World War II, including the Invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. While stationed in America and overseas Olexa sparked a romance with Agnes Van Der Weide, a young woman in Grand Rapids. They kept in constant contact while he was overseas fighting and the couple married on July 23, 1945, and settled in the Grand Rapids area.

Though we have no photographs of Olexa, we have hundreds of his letters to Agnes as well as his personal memoir, written after the war. The photographs below come from the World War II collections of James W. Ochs, F.W. Beasecker, and Otto Kuxhaus.

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Dedication in the memoir “As I Remember,” by Joseph Olexa

“To all who served in the Armed Forces giving their lives, limbs and unselfish devotion to their country to achieve victory in a struggle to fight tyranny and oppression and be free from men who seek power and conquest the world over.”

Olexa recalls reaching Omaha Beach, Normandy

“Three Hundred yards from shore our L.C.I. hit two underwater mines making the launch sink enough so it would not clear the sand bar. We jumped into the water from the front side like rats escaping a fiery doom. The water here was deep as we sank into its murky depths from the weight of our equipment. What seemed like ages I finally hit bottom with my feet springing enough to send me back towards the top. My lungs were now crying for air as I used my arms in powerful strokes to surface. The extra 77 pounds of equipment I carried slowed me down.”

 

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On the Home Front

While American soldiers braved the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II, the American way of life was drastically altered at home. Science and technology saw a flurry of innovation. Radar, plastics, electronics, and of course, nuclear weapons, saw huge advancements during this period. Once male-dominated areas of industry, science, and business saw an influx of women workers. Women found employment as engineers, welders, manufacturers, and electricians to help build the armaments to defend U.S. troops. The lack of men pursuing traditional leisure-time activities, such as baseball, created avenues for women to compete in public like never before.

Esterline-Angus Graphic Instrument

Esterline-Angus Recording Milliammeter

Advertising brochure from the Esterline-Angus Company

The Esterline-Angus Company, partly owned by D.J. Angus, was an early pioneer in engineering and manufacturing of electrical instruments. Angus invented a number of continuous-recording instruments and filled orders for the U.S. government and military during World War II. One such invention was the Recording Milliammeter, used by the research team of the Manhattan Project. In Chicago, Illinois on December 2, 1942 one of these devices was used to measure the first sustained, controlled nuclear reaction.

Women Take The Field

Grand Rapids Chicks 1953 program

With the draft calling many of the country’s baseball players away to war, Philip K. Wrigley decided to create a women’s professional baseball league. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League began in the spring of 1943 and entertained thousands  throughout the Midwest before disbanding in 1954. As the first professional women’s baseball league on record, these women brought communities together and helped keep spirits high on the home front.

Heroes Under Cover: the Flying Tigers

The “Flying Tigers” American Volunteer Group pilots

The American Volunteer Group (AVG) was a small force of American aviators and mechanics led by Colonel Claire L. Chennault to aid United States’ ally China in its defense against deadly Japanese air raids and bombings.  Many of the group’s members traveled to China in an undercover mission, their passports identifying them as farmers or mechanics so they could travel without hassle. Several of the pilots  painted the noses of their P-40 fighter planes with shark mouths. Their Chinese allies, mistaking the shark teeth for a tiger’s intimidating scowl, began to refer to the pilots as Fei Hu, or “Flying Tigers.” After  the United States officially entered the Pacific Theater of the war due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the AVG disbanded, many of its pilots returning to their service in the United States Army Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. News reels about the Flying Tigers’ success in China were played in cinemas in the U.S. to bolster support for the war effort and boost morale on the home front.

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Michael Woods

Michael Woods was born in Natchez, Mississippi and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He enlisted in the Marines at the age of 17. After basic training he was sent to Camp Pendleton, and stationed in Okinawa in January of 1963. Sent to Vietnam with one of the first Marine units assigned there, Woods participated in a number of combat actions of varying size. After his tour in Vietnam was over, he stayed in the Marines until 1979, but did not return to Vietnam.

We have no photographs of Woods, but his interview can be found in the Veterans History Project digital collection. These images are from the digital collection of Ronald Oakes.

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From the interview of Michael Woods:

“The system in the military although stressful and demanding was the fairest system I had been exposed to at the time…You’re looking for, ‘Where can my ability take me? Just based on my personal ability, nothing else.’…The military itself is one of those places that operates under that principle.”

“The experience of leaving this training and going back to be with your buddies [back home, after training] is amazing. You find you don’t have anything in common with them anymore. You find that the things that they are doing seems childish and not grown up. So you lose that connection that you have had with these friends…and you start seeing yourself differently, maybe a cut above…”

“Every serviceman that came back experienced the hatred that many Americans showed them. For the black serviceman it was a little different…There is a civil rights movement here, and there are dogs being put on black people, and there are [fire] hoses being put on black people. Your fight is here on the streets of America, not in Vietnam. You are fighting for the Vietnamese to get rights when you don’t have those same rights here at home… Your own community had ostracized you…It wasn’t an easy time for black military people.”

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The Draft

During Vietnam about one-quarter of American troops were drafted into military service, most of whom were selected from poor or working class families. Men with physical limitations, college students, or men who were essential to financially supporting their families could apply for deferments. Many draft age men fled to Canada to avoid the military service. By 1972 over 200,000 draftees who protested their selection were involved in legal cases. Those who fled faced imprisonment or forced military service. In 1974, President Gerald Ford offered conditional amnesty to these men. On his first day in office in 1977, President Jimmy Carter offered a full pardon to all who requested it.

Protests at Home

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The conflict in Vietnam and the mandatory draft of young men into military service polarized American political discourse. Public protests, both in favor of and against the war, became a frequent occurrence. Many students here at Grand Valley had strong feelings about the Vietnam war. Protesters had sit-ins, chanted slogans, and held signs that voiced their divided opinions: “Stay in Vietnam to keep Freedom” and “Support LBJ kill a friend today.”

Vietnamese Propaganda

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These propaganda posters depict the Communist Party of Vietnam’s efforts to gain support for the war from their own population. Using bright, eye-catching colors and strong language, they sought to inspire nationalism and support for the communist regime. The language on these posters translates to phrases such as “Assault and defeat our enemies,” “Uncle Ho says victory, it means victory,” and “All armies fight to win.”

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Capturing Veterans’ Voices

GVSU and the Special Collections & University Archives are dedicated to preserving the history of veterans. Currently the Special Collections hold very little documentation of the Korean War or the wars and conflicts following Vietnam. Aside from oral history recordings collected by the GVSU Veterans History Project, Special Collections collects photographs, letters, journals and diaries, small artifacts, and other documents and memorabilia from veterans. With the help of our community, we can preserve these unique resources for future generations to discover and explore. Please contact Special Collections & University Archives at collections@gvsu.edu for more information.

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This exhibit was curated by Special Collections & University Archives, Greg Bevier ’16, and Helen Kurtz ’16. Title and heading images were designed by Jeremy Shane ’17.

Ravines of Grand Valley

 

The ravines winding though the Allendale campus of Grand Valley Sate are among the university’s most prominent physical features. They are a place of learning and scientific discovery, of recreation and leisure, and of inspiration and quiet reflection.

Photograph by Stanley Krohmer

“The ravines formed by the episodic erosion of small streams over the last 15,000 years. Water flowing off the upland, upon which Grand Valley State University is built, drains eastward into the Grand River Valley via the ravines. This broad, gently sloping, upland was formed during the Ice Age by a glacier lobe depositing sediment in a large glacial lake. Following this glaciation, the Grand River began eroding its valley through this landscape. The ravines probably began forming at about the same time, and by about 6,000 years ago they had grown to roughly their present dimensions. During the last 6,000 years the ravines have grown during brief episodes of erosion alternating with long periods of stability.”

– Patrick M. Colgan, A Brief Geologic History of the Ravines

by Stanley Krohmer

by Stanley Krohmer

by Stanley Krohmer

These photographs of Grand Valley’s ravines were taken by Stanley Krohmer, Affiliate Faculty in the Liberal Studies Department, between 2003 and 2007 for the Ravines Revisited project.

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RELEVANT MATERIALS

Hepatica, with its liver-lobed leaves,
springs forth in season.
Trillium opens white handerchiefs
along clefts leading down to the run-off.

Wildflowers. Nothing instructs the novice
so well as obsession
and gratitude; after a long winter,
dog-tooth violets lining the ravines.

Maybe it is splendid to spill
down crevasses with a lover
and an hour to spend, but better yet
to enter alone, tread softly as a doe

between fiddleheads, face low,
notebook in a pocket or a field guide
to the native flora, revelation
leading to reverence. Small blooms.

Small hours. The brevity,
and the endurance, upon these slopes
impresses. Take note how little’s needed
to make a life. Gather the facts.

Ann E. Michael, ’79
poem submitted to the GVSU Ravines Archive in 2005
www.annemichael.wordpress.com

Additional poems, recollections, and short stories inspired by the Grand Valley ravines are accessible in the Special Collections & University Archives.

Grand Rapids Carnival of Fun

Cover of the “Carnival of Fun 2 Step” music for piano solo by Dan Ball, 1897

The first Grand Rapids Carnival of Fun was held in October 1897 and organized by the Hesperus Club. Modeled after the “Carnival of Rome,” Grand Rapids’ carnival was a four-day festival of parades, music, Midway acts and games, and the election of Carnival King and Queen. Advertisements and souvenirs featured images of leprechauns, devils, jesters, and people in fanciful costumes.

At a meeting of the Hesperus Club in November 1897, heated debate arose about the worth and morality of the recently concluded festivities. It was reported in the Grand Rapids Herald that during the 4 days of the carnival there were 61 arrests for drunkenness, compared to 8 from the preceding week and 10 for the following week. Such public displays of “immorality and degradation” were met with furious opposition from a number of the city’s prominent businessmen and ministers, including Gen. Byron M. Cutcheon, the very founder of the Hesperus Club itself.

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However, since the carnival’s events and attractions brought a great financial boost to the city, Grand Rapids’ Mayor,  Lathrop C. Stow, declared that the city was none the worse for having held it. The following summer the organizers petitioned the city once again to repeat the Carnival of Fun. The new mayor, George R. Perry, citing “no law to prevent” the holding of the carnival, granted permission for its use of public streets once again.

Carnival of Fun 1898 commemorative envelope – “More fun than last year.”

The 1898 Carnival of Fun was nearly twice as large as the previous year. It held opening ceremonies, three parades, free shows on four stages, fireworks, Midway games, food stands, and more. Local businesses even ran special carnival sales to attract both locals and out-of-towners.

Following the rousing “hot time” of the 1898 Carnival of Fun, a conference of ministers gathered to oppose the “immorality and drunkenness” of the carnival. The conference demanded that the carnival never be repeated, noting that arrests for public drunkenness increased threefold from the first year to the second. They vowed to fight any future proposals of carnivals with all of the weapons at their disposal. Their efforts were victorious, and the Grand Rapids Carnival of Fun was never held again.

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Items featured in this post, along with others, can be found in the Grand Rapids Carnival of Fun collection (RHC-170), in the GVSU Special Collections and University Archives.

National Poetry Festival at Grand Valley

In the summer of 1971 Robert Vas Dias, Grand Valley’s own Poet-in-Residence at Thomas Jefferson College, organized the first National Poetry Festival at Grand Valley State College.

Poster for the 1971 National Poetry Festival at GVSC

Vas Dias, whose poetry and criticism had appeared in national magazines such as The Nation, The New Yorker, and Partisan Review, invited poets of national acclaim to a 10-day experience of workshops, discussions, readings, performances, and exhibits relating to poetry and art on the Allendale, Michigan campus. Poets in attendance at the first festival included Gregory Corso, David Henderson, Toby Olson, John Logan, Robert Kelly, Al Young, Allen Planz, Donald Hall, George Quasha, Robert Bly, Robert Creely, Sonja Sanchez, Anselm Hollo, Tom Weatherly, Diane Wakoski, Joel Oppenheimer, Ted Berrigan, Jerome Rothenbert, Dudley Randall, and Philip Whalen.

Jackson Mac Low, poet of chance, working on a tape collage at Thomas Jefferson College’s first National Poetry Festival in 1971.

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The National Poetry Festival was repeated in 1973. At this event three of the four Objectivist Poets, George Oppen, Carl Rakosi, and Charles Reznikoff, were brought together in the same space for the first time.

Poster for the 1973 National Poetry Festival

Also in attendance at this event were Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, Theodore Enslin, Allen Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Edward Dorn, George Economou, David Meltzer, and Rochelle Owens. A recording of the discussion “Objectivists and After,” is available through PennSound, an online poetry archive at the University of Pennsylvania.

Left: a poster inviting participants to register for National Poetry Festival; Right: Allen Ginsberg speaking to a group in Seidman House in 1973

 

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The third and final National Poetry Festival was held in 1975.

Poster for the 1975 National Poetry Festival

The event included poets Robert Bly, Robert Creely, Galway Kinnell, James Wright, Carol Bergé, Kathleen Fraser, William Heyen, Ira Sadoff, Diane Wakoski, Mei-Mei Berssenbruggi, Nikki Giovanni, Jessica Hagedorn, Lawson Inada, June Jordan, Etheridge Knight, Alex Kuo, Alison Mills, Howard Norman, Simon Ortiz, Ishmael Reed, Leslie Silko, James Welch, and Shawn Wong.

Poet Robert Bly at the 1975 National Poetry Festival at Grand Valley

Though the festivals were a resounding success, they were discontinued after Vas Dias left Grand Valley. The University Archives contains additional news releases, photographs, posters, and audio tapes documenting these events.

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This April celebrates the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world. Visit the Student Scholars Day exhibition on the Red Wall Gallery in Lake Ontario Hall to read Grand Valley students’ poetry and short fiction excerpts from this year’s issue of the student-run journal fishladder.

Birds and Fish of Japan

In March of 1852, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry received orders to command a diplomatic mission to Japan. Some 18 previous expeditions, 4 of them from America, had failed to breach the Japanese wall of isolation. And while the Perry expedition is famous as a diplomatic coup, less well known are the expedition’s contributions to the sciences of astronomy, hydrography, ethnology, botany, geology, medicine, ornithology, ichthyology, and conchology.

The three-volume report of the expedition to the U.S. House of Representatives, Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan, performed in the years 1852, 1853 and 1854 under the command of Commodore M.C. Perry, United States Navy by order of the government of the United States, was printed in Washington, D.C. by A.O.P. Nicholson in 1856. In addition to the narrative report, the set includes a multitude of charts, fold-out maps,  and illustrations.

Volume II of the set contains a myriad of reports on the agriculture, geology, medicine, biology, and botany of Japan. It includes these beautifully engraved color illustrations of birds, fish, and shellfish, as well as other engravings and illustrations.

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Birds

Plate 2 _ Ornithology. Phasianus Scemmering II _ Temminck. Lith of Wm E Hitchcock Phila.

Plate 5 _ Ornithology. Heterornis Sericea (Gmelin). On Stone by Wm E Hitchcock.

Plate 6 _ Ornithology. Ixos Haemorrhous _ Gmelin. Lith of Wm E Hitchcock, Phila.

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Fish

Nat. Hist. Pl. III. No. 1 – Serranus Tsirimenara. No. 2 – Serranus Marginalis. Bayard Taylor del.

Nat. Hist. Pl. IV. No. 1 – Sebastes Marmoratus. No. 2 – Sebastes Marmoratus. H. Patterson del.

Nat. Hist. Pl. V. No 1. Pelor Japonicum – Life Size. No. 2 – Sebastes Inermis – Life Size. No. 3 – Trigla Burgei. H. Patterson del.

Nat. Hist. Pl. VIII. 1. Serranus Urodelus. 2. Iulis Quadricolor. 3 & 4 – Iulis Lutesens.

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Shellfish

Conchology Plate II. H. Lawrence, Lith. 88 John St. New York

Conchology Plate V. H. Lawrence, Lith. 88 John St. New York

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Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan… is a part of the U.S. Serial Set, which is a series of over 14,000 volumes containing hundreds of thousands of numbered congressional reports and documents which have been published since 1817. Grand Valley State University houses this set in Special Collections & University Archives in agreement with the Grand Rapids Public Library.

Books Go To War

Armed Services Editions, 1943-1947

During the Second World War the paperback series known as the Armed Services Editions were distributed free to American soldiers, sailors, and airmen overseas.

The idea for the program came from two Army officers and was further developed by the Council on Books in Wartime, an association of publishers, booksellers, and librarians.  This group was able to convince the armed forces, publishers, and printing firms of the positive impact that this initiative would have on the American men in uniform.

Not sold or available in the United States, these paperback books introduced thousands of servicemen to the pleasures of reading.  Between 1943 and 1947, almost 123 million copies of 1,322 titles were printed.  All types of literature were available: classics, best-sellers, non-fiction, mysteries, and westerns, among others.

The books displayed here are from the Grand Valley State University Libraries’ collections and loaned by J. Randall Bergers.

A Creative Process, Illustrated

Every writer develops his or her own process for creation. Some writers make copious notes, doodles, and drafts to flesh out their ideas. Others allow an idea to germinate and grow internally before committing the nearly-complete story or poem to paper. In Conversations with Jim Harrison, edited by Robert DeMott, Harrison describes his own process thusly: “I write my original drafts by hand – The Road Home was in pen on yellow, lined legal paper. Then Joyce Bahle types my manuscript and gives it to me and then I check it against the manuscript, go through it again and give it to her. I don’t revise substantively” (204).

Within the Jim Harrison papers, this process is documented again and again. The collection, donated to Grand Valley State University in 2005, comprises over 360 boxes of drafts, correspondence, publications, photographs, and other material by and about the Michigan-born writer, and spans his life from 1938 to the present day.

Though possibly most famous for his fiction and as the author of Legends of the Fall, the novella which inspired a 1994 film adaptation starring Brad Pitt, Harrison identifies himself first and foremost as a poet. The “yellow, lined legal paper” Harrison describes in the quote above can be found throughout the many boxes of his own writings, which include poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays.

In the image below, a section of Harrison’s poem “Geo-Beastiary” is shown in its three development phases: first as a handwritten draft, then as a computer typescript (this one is dated April 1998), and finally as a printed broadside. The 34-part poem was initially published in full in The Shape of the Journey: New & Collected Poems (1998).

Jim Harrison’s creative process demonstrated with a section of “Geo-Beastiary.” (click the image to enlarge)

Later in the same conversation with DeMott, Jim elaborates on his creative journey:

“This outpouring is a cumulative process, and when it ends, as with The Road Home, and then with “Geo-Bestiary,” you just don’t always have any idea how it happened. You think maybe it was more like a seizure, a long seizure” (208).

What is particularly striking about Harrison’s creative process is his sheer prolificacy coupled with the near-completeness of his first drafts. He is the author of 20 major works of fiction, 5 non-fiction books, 18 books of poetry, a children’s book, and either scripted or co-wrote three screenplays.

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Works cited:

DeMott, Robert, ed. Conversations with Jim Harrison, Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2002.

Harrison, Jim. “Geo-Beastiary,” The Shape of the Journey: New & Collected Poems, Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 1998.