Hello Visual Materials Section members and friends,
The VMS Steering Committee has been working hard to put together a great program for our annual meeting and we hope that you can join us June 29, at 2 pm Eastern/11 am Pacific.
The session will consist of a short business meeting with updates on Section activities from the past year and what's to come - including details on in-person meet ups in Washington, DC!
Then we will hear presentations on reparative description projects with time for Q&A and discussion, and two more presentations on some unique visual materials projects:
Reparative Description:
Lilliane Keaney, Harrison D. Horblit Photograph Librarian, Houghton Library, Harvard
How do we describe visually problematic items?
In an effort to diversify the holdings at Houghton Library, the Library has acquired a number of collections with visual material documenting the lives of people of color. One of these collections included photographs with racist imagery and language. It quickly became apparent that the collection would require special consideration when describing so as not to continue harm, but also provide the means of discovery for researchers. This presentation will review the planning, processing, and describing workflow from acquisition to a published finding aid with item level metadata of a problematic image collection. It will outline the decisions made and the resources used to apply thoughtful description practices.
Sara Pezzoni, Photograph Collections Coordinator, Special Collections department at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
& Stephanie Luke, Assistant Professor-Metadata Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Repairing the Narrative at UTA Libraries
Overview of work undertaken by UTA Libraries staff regarding reparative description for visual materials within UTA Special Collections' holdings. Discussion of policies, procedures, and workflows created for the review and revision of legacy description as well as the future description of all materials and collections.
Visual materials projects lighting talks:
Joan Beaudoin, Associate Professor, Wayne State University School of Information Sciences
The Detroit Mural Project: Image Management Processes
The Detroit Mural Project has resulted in the creation of a large number of digital images. This presentation provides an overview of the steps taken in the visual documentation of the walls and the management of the resulting digital images. Included in the overview will be a discussion of the photography, image selection, post digital image capture changes and digital preservation procedures.
Paige Adair, Senior Archivist, Fine Arts Specialist, The Portman Archives
El Gran Muro, Care and Asset Relocation for Monumental Fiber Arts
In 2021 the Portman Archives team was tasked with many deaccession initiatives, one unique example of this effort was to find a new home for a large-scale set of fabric weaving, titled, 'El Gran Muro' by Colombian artist Olga De Amaral. The artwork was commissioned by John Portman to hang in the central atrium of Atlanta's Westin Peachtree Plaza. This presentation will explore the journey of this artwork as part of an archival collection, along with how we strategized and worked collaboratively to ensure the historical legacy of this monumental artwork is preserved for a new audience.