Hidden Collections Registry - Dev

Items

• Maxwell Museum Document Archive

  The archive holds over 787 linear ft. of documentation on anthropological research (~700 ft. of archaeological and ~87 ft. of ethnological documentation). It also contains 40 flat file drawers with oversize archaeological maps and drawings. The archive's primary focus is the indigenous cultures of the American Southwest. The collection includes (but is not limited to) original field notes, forms, and maps, data from laboratory analyses, and synthetic documents that present research results. The documents cover investigations of a broad temporal span, ranging from the earliest verified occupation of the area (~13,000 years ago) through the modern era. Among the most significant collections are the papers of Florence Hawley Ellis and Frank Hibben, two pioneers in the field that left an indelible imprint on the archaeology of the American Southwest and beyond; Ellis has been called one of the most influential women in anthropology. The collections comprise most of their life's work and provide an invaluable window into the history of archaeology. The archive documents archaeological research at hundreds of sites, including some of the most important in the region, such as San Gabriel del Yunque, the first Spanish capital of New Mexico and Pottery Mound, a ~15th century site famous for its rare intact kiva murals; with depictions of rituals, supernatural entities, and ancient pueblo people, these murals provide a unique perspective on ancestral Pueblo society.

• Re-assembling Detroit’s Cultural Heritage: The Hidden Collections of the Wayne State University Museum of Anthropology

  The Museum seeks to initiate cataloguing of archival materials pertaining to the history of early Detroit in the WSU Museum of Anthropology. Founded in 1959, the Museum was created to house the archaeological materials being amassed by faculty and students through research conducted in the greater Detroit area. Since that time, the collections have grown to include over 500,000 artifacts that are primarily from the Great Lakes region,though other parts of the world are represented as well. The Museum houses the documentation associated with these items in addition to a general archives pertaining in large part to the history of Detroit. The archival holdings of the Museum consist of an eclectic mix of manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, directories, field notes, maps, and photographs. These collections have considerable scientific and research value for scholars of U.S. urban history. While we have begun to make progress in disseminating basic information about our archaeological holdings via the “Collections Summaries” being created on the Museum website, the documentation directly and indirectly associated with these artifact collections remains hidden. The proposed project will allow us to organize and assess the archival materials pertaining to the history and archaeology of Detroit and begin to link this documentation with the artifacts in such a way as to provide scholars with new resources for illuminating the hidden histories of an iconic urban center.

• Southern Architect and Building News: Indexing as Access to an Early Architectural Journal

  Southern Architect and Building News was the first professional architecture magazine published in southern United States; it ran from 1889 to 1932. As the official organ of the Southern Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, it "promoted the work of Southern architects and likewise kept [them] informed of work their peers were undertaking" (Mark, R., & R. C. Vaughan, 2004. The South. Westport: Greenwood Press, p. 20). Although when first published its focus was on the architectural profession, it now serves as a scholarly resource that encompasses a broad cultural and historical range. This publication is rich in local and regional architectural history not found in any other publication of its time. The articles, photography, renderings and advertising in this journal are of great value to scholars in architectural history, historic preservation, interior design, American and Southern history, business, advertising, and material culture. Over 500 issues were published but only 298 are currently available according to holdings information gathered in anticipation of this project; there is no known full run in existence. UT Libraries has the largest set of holdings for this rare journal: 225 issues, of which 96 are unique. Intellectual access to its contents remains untapped as it has yet to be indexed. Scanning was reviewed as an alternative, however full text searching could not be achieved with OCR due to older fonts and the high visual content.

• The Pittsburgh Photographic Library

  The Pittsburgh Photographic Library (PPL) is a repository consisting of numerous photographic collections that have been acquired by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh since 1960. The collection has been described as "the most complete photographic documentation ever achieved by any American community.” The primary purpose of the PPL was to develop a documentary collection of photographs on Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania to record and preserve, visually, the life, customs, and activities of the people of this area with relation to their physical environment. When acquired, the PPL contained three collections, and these continue to form the nucleus of photographs and other graphic illustrations which document over 200 years of Pittsburgh history. The original collections include: 1,500 images used to illustrate the book, A Pittsburgh Album, in honor of the city's 1958-1959 bicentennial anniversary; the Bingaman collection of over 1,000 photographs taken in the first quarter of the century by Frank E. Bingaman, and a collection of roughly 18,000 photographs which were taken in the early 1950s as a documentation project. Today, after several decades of acquisition, there are 57,000 images that comprise the PPL.

• Feminist Theory Archives

  The Feminist Theory Archives preserves the research and personal papers of scholars who have transformed the intellectual landscape of universities from the 1960s to the present through their research, writing, teaching, and activism. The materials come primarily from well-known scholars based in the United States, though they are also international in scope since many donors have corresponded with people around the world, researched and taught abroad, and published in languages other than English. Materials include personal and professional correspondence, course syllabi, annotated manuscripts, conference programs, and other documents related to institution building, activism, and intellectual exchange. The collection offers a rare perspective on the rigorous interdisciplinary and international work that brought feminism to the vanguard of research in the humanities, social sciences, sciences and creative and performing arts. With these archives, the Pembroke Center seeks to preserve the past in order to enhance the future of feminist theory.
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  David C. Driskell Archive Project

  Prof. David C. Driskell, among the most well-known scholars in the field of African American art, amassed a large collection of personal papers during the last six decades. The unique Driskell Archive includes approximately 50,000 objects from all aspects of Driskell’s professional career, including his activity as an art appraiser and a curator of Dr. Camille and Dr. Bill Cosby’s Art Collection; his academic career as Professor of Art and Department Chairman at several universities, including Maryland, Fisk, and Howard; and materials about two milestones in the development of the field of African American art: the first is communication related to the 1996 White House Acquisition Committee which recommended the acquisition of “Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City,” a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, the first by an African American artist to be a part of the White House art collection; Driskell was a member of the committee. Also included are correspondence and research material from the 1976 landmark exhibition, “Two Centuries of Black American Art” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art [LACMA]; as curator, Driskell redefined the parameters for the study of African American art within the canon of American art; the material is one-of-a-kind as records at LACMA were destroyed in a flood. Finally, the Archive includes lectures, essays, and correspondence with colleagues, scholars, and artists, among them Georgia O'Keeffe, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence.
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  Expeditionary Field Work at the American Museum of Natural History

  Scientific expeditions and field work are the foundation for resource gathering by natural science museums worldwide; artifacts and specimens collected by AMNH researchers in the field, form the core of AMNH scientific research collections. The Lumholtz Expeditions to Mexico, 1890-98; the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1897-1902; the Vernay Hopwood Chindwin Expedition to Burma, 1934-35; the Whitney South Sea Expedition, 1921-37, the Archbold New Guinea, 1933-64 and the Central Asiatic Expeditions, 1921-30, are a few of the most prominent. Over 100 field trips still originate from the AMNH each year. Additional knowledge and the context for the objects in the scientific collections is found in the observations of the biology, cultural traditions and ecological conditions made by the scientists, artists, photographers and field assistants. These are documented in the notes and sketches, diaries, journals, specimen books, photographs, recorded sound, and moving images, held in each of the science department archives. The records also provide an essential social history of the people traveling in the field. This irreplaceable historical information is used alongside the object collections for research and publication in systematic biology, ecological, cultural and a growing number of interdisciplinary studies and the history of science as well as exhibitions and education for the millions of visitors to the Museum and its websites.

• More Access, Less Backlog: Basic Processing at the Kansas State Historical Society

  The Kansas State Historical Society began collecting still photographs in 1877. The still photograph collection is one the largest in the state with over 500,000 photographs and negatives. It is used extensively by researchers and images have appeared in documentaries, articles, books, websites, exhibits, lectures, etc. The still photograph collection documents the Native peoples on the Plains, territorial "Bleeding Kansas", the Civil War, settlement, Depression/Dust Bowl, and the recent past. Topics range from agriculture, industries, religion, politics, slavery, activists, education, recreation, storms & disasters, buildings, aeronautics, organizations, military, transportation, portraits of Kansans, etc. The collection contains photos of prominent people including Alfred M. Landon, Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, Carry Nation, John Brown, Dwight Eisenhower, James Butler Hickok, and Arthur Capper. Examples of photographs that will be described for the first time by this project include, photographs of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (corporation files); Mamie Williams, an African-American educator; Kansas Folklife Collection; highway construction by Kansas Department of Transportation; towns and cities throughout the state; and the Menninger Foundation (psychiatric institution). Several photographers' collection from various parts of Kansas containing portraits of prominent peoplelocal businesses, organizations,and activities would be included in this project.
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  Increasing Access to Our Aerospace Heritage

  For over 50 years, the San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) has preserved the aviation heritage of Southern California, with a unique collection documenting the areas aerospace history. SDASM was the first aero-themed museum to be accredited by the American Association of Museums, and only the twelfth institution in California to be awarded Smithsonian Affiliate status. In 2007, SDASM was designated by the California State Legislature as the official Air & Space Museum and Education Center of California. Over 225,000 on-site as well as 195,000 virtual guests visit SDASM each year, and yet few of these guests know of the depth and breadth of the Museum’s historical and unique archival collections. The Museum’s Library & Archives houses the third largest collection of aviation-related research material in the United States. The Museum’s archival collections include one-of-a-kind corporate records of significant San Diego-based aerospace companies, such as Pacific Southwest Airlines, Ryan Aeronautical, and Consolidated Aircraft Corporation; personal records from a number of important aerospace pioneers, including T. Claude Ryan and Reuben H. Fleet; and records from famous aviators, such as Jacqueline Cochran, Charles Lindbergh, and Richard E. Byrd. Increasing Access to Our Aerospace Heritage will elevate public awareness of these historically important yet currently underexposed collections by cataloging, indexing, carefully describing and preparing them for future digitization.

• Archives of Iowa Broadcasting

  The holdings of the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting (AIB) consist of primary materials of Iowa television stations, radio stations, oral histories, papers of broadcasters, and miscellaneous recordings and ephemeral items. The bulk of the holdings is magnetic media, followed by 16mm motion picture film, then paper materials. The exact time period covered is not clear due to the lack of sufficient records, but administrators have identified items dating back to the 1930s up to the present. While representing materials from primarily broadcasters in eastern and central Iowa, the holdings contain coverage of news and human interest stories of local, regional, national and international significance. They give a profound glimpse at the perspective of these events from the views of America's heartland. AIB administrators do receive requests for information from around the state and the country on a variety of topics, ranging from a recent visit of a top Chinese official who visited Iowa in the 1970s to footage for a television documentary about crimes that happened in Iowa to coverage of the first-in-the-nation political caucuses through the years. In addition to being a superb documentation of the historical happenings in the 20th Century, both large and small, the collection also shows the evolution of broadcasting during the same time, reflecting a change in technology, cultural norms, societal attitudes and much more.

• Providing Access to Yellowstone and the West: Exposing the Laborers, Builders, Traders and Migratory Workers

  The goal of this project is to expose those forgotten in conventional history--those who laid the track, cooked the food, filled the mine carts, and made Westward Expansion possible. Significant YGM collections to be processed by this grant comprise manuscripts, photographs, art, oral histories, and historic and cultural objects dating from 1880-1980 in these subjects: Yellowstone National Park: Diaries and correspondence recording early visits to the Park; Park employee journals, manuscripts, and oral histories; Photographs of pre and early automobile travel to the Park; Early tourism memorabilia and ephemera. Northern Pacific Railroad: NPRR advertisements and Westward expansion propaganda; Photographs documenting engine technology and railway history; Railway resource and line maps; Early company records including ledgers, correspondence, payroll, accident reports, and temporary migratory laborers schedules; Local resident journals, scrapbooks and oral histories of railroad work. Union/Organizations: Union rosters, seniority lists, and meeting minutes for local railroad and mining unions, and women's auxiliaries; Organization scrapbooks with material documenting labor strikes; Lists of union-approved businesses and strike busters; Ephemera representing several pre-1900 unions; Records of community and civic organizations. Park County Community: Public records, papers and photos related to local laborers, builders and workers.
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  Coleman A. Young Mayoral Papers

  The Coleman A. Young Mayoral Papers consist of 1,175 boxes of documents from his twenty years as mayor of Detroit. The bulk of the documents pertain to communications from city of Detroit departments, the federal government, and a wide array of groups, organizations, and citizens from Detroit and Michigan. The records would breakdown into the following correspondence series: Businesses; Citizen's Letters; City of Detroit departments; Detroit Economic Develpment Corporation; State of Michigan; Wayne County; U.S. Government.

• Uncovering America's musical heritage: the Towne Crier Collection and the Clifford Morris Collection

  The two collections in this project both highlight American music in the 20th century. The Towne Crier Collection covers thirty years (1973-2003) of concert recordings from three venues: The Towne Crier Café (a venue in Pawling, NY), the Great Hudson River Revival, and the Bear Mountain Festival of World Music and Dance. The collection consists of over 3,000 cassettes and almost 400 reel-to-reel tapes. The Towne Crier Café, founded in 1973 by current owner Phil Ciganer, remains one of the most celebrated settings in North America for solo performances and small ensemble music. The focus of the café has been American folk music, including jazz, blues, bluegrass, zydeco, protest songs, old-time music, and Cajun, but also includes performances of world music, including African, Celtic, and Latin American. Artists represented include Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Wynton Marsalis, Richard Thompson, Ani DiFranco, David Byrne, and many others. The Clifford Morris Collection consists of recordings of Fats Waller, both solo and with bands, from 1922 to 1943. The collection was compiled by Wallace "Ed" Kirkeby, Waller's last manager, in an attempt to preserve all known examples of Waller's recorded output. It includes about two dozen unique home-recorded numbers, as well as about 600 recorded numbers taken from 78 rpm records, 16-inch studio transcriptions, off-the-air transcriptions, tests, and commercial recordings.

• Erie Canal Photographic Collections Demonstration Project

  More than 16,000 images are included. It is the most comprehensive collection related to New York's canals. They document the historic transportation landscapes and capture an unprecedented view of the state's built environment. The canal system dates to the 1790s and still functions as a waterway and icon. The Erie Canal and its laterals reached every corner of the State, from New York City to Buffalo. Views of the Erie chart the growth of cities such as Syracuse, Rochester and Lockport. Its success inspired others beyond New York. The photographs reflect all of these characteristics. The Society was formed in 1956, the first such group dedicated to the preservation of this canal heritage. It soon amassed collections of manuscripts, books, prints and other artworks and numerous other artifacts at a time when appreciation of this legacy was young. There are glass and film negatives (3,500), historic prints and postcards (8,500) and color transparencies (4,000) - albumen prints, glass negatives by Charles Steinmetz, negatives of building the Panama Canal, contractors' albums for today's Erie Barge Canal, early color aerial images, and family collections by those who worked the canal. Perhaps the most used portion includes those of more recent vintage, documenting the condition of historic structures and current operations. Perhaps the most untapped content remains with members of the Society who wait for a more accessible depository to place their materials.

• The Wedgwood Ceramics Collectors Archive Fellowship

  The Wedgwood Ceramics Collectors Archive at the BMA is currently composed of the following collections: The Buten Museum of Wedgwood Institutional Archive (approx. 35 boxes); Elizabeth Chellis Papers (35 boxes); Dwight and Lucille Beeson Papers (6 boxes); Esme Wedgwood Papers (1 box); Wedgwood International Seminar archive (5 boxes with materials being added annually); Wedgwood Societies archives (2 boxes with materials being added). All of the materials relate to ceramics in the BMA collection. Most materials came to the Museum as part of art object gifts and provide insight into the minds of the collectors of these objects.

• Middle Mississippi River Valley Environmental Archives Processing Project

  Government agencies administer environmental laws and regulations, and businesses, communities, while organizations and individuals seek to balance environmental issues and other needs and concerns. Organizations and groups that face this challenge have widely varying viewpoints and interests. The environmental collections held by both SIUC and SEMO include extensive holdings in environmental history, especially the rural environment, illuminating their relationship, past and present, of humankind to the natural environment in the Middle Mississippi River region. This vast topic includes natural resources (air, energy, land, and water), their conservation and related environmental issues, the effect of environmental hazards on humans and other species, and the development of public policy and planning related to the environment. Records cover organizations established to promote environmental conservation, preservation, and increased awareness of environmental affairs through education, advocacy, or public action; businesses which make direct use of natural resources or respond actively to environmental issues; and individuals prominent in environmental affairs

• Shasta College Museum Collection

  The Shasta College Museum and Research Center began in 1968 by a group of college faculty members. In 1972 a permanent facility was established, modeled after Pierson B Reading's adobe house. Mr. Reading was the areas first white settler. During the Museums prime, the facility maintained an array of one-dimensional items (photographs, manuscripts, maps) as well as three-dimensional items (mining equipment, logging apparatuses). The Shasta College Museum has been closed since 2006 as a result of budget cutbacks. The materials were quickly boxed and the utilities turned off creating a storage unit rather than a usable facility. In the spring of 2011, SHS received approval by the Shasta College Board of Trustees to accept responsibility for the Shasta College Museum collection. The collection being assumed by SHS consists of one-dimensional pieces, which includes books, manuscripts, maps, photos and other historical documents. The Shasta College Museum Collection will result in a searchable catalog that will link patrons with MARC records to the holdings. These materials cover the greater Shasta County area between 1850 and 1980. Researchers of all ages will be able to access social, educational, medical, religious, geological and employment information.
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  Martha's Vineyard Archives Project

  Situated on a busy coastal seaway, Martha’s Vineyard has played an important part in American and world history since the 1600s. The Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s (MVM) archival collections reflect the strong connections between the Island and the world. Colonial Period collections record the activities and interactions of the English and the Wampanoag, as well as trade and political interactions with the other colonies and with Europe. These themes continue after independence, when the Vineyard thrived as a maritime center. The collections contain British maritime maps, whaling logbooks, whaling account books, maritime charts, diaries, a large collection of ships’ papers and documents, and rare customs records. Other maritime holdings relate to coastal shipping and shipbuilding. The Island’s commercial fishery dates back to the 1700s. Our archives contain accounting records, images, and 20th-century oral history interviews related to that trade. In the mid-19th century, the Vineyard became a religious and vacation resort. Our collections contain artwork, documents, oral histories, and an extensive photographic collection from this period. These images are particularly significant because they show the diversity of peoples on the Vineyard throughout its history, including African-American, Portuguese and Brazilian peoples.

• The Roland Park Company Archives and the Martin L. Millspaugh Archives

  A collection of international historic significance, The Roland Park Company Archives consist of the corporate records of the Roland Park Company, documenting an early suburban development that has enjoyed regional, national, and international influence. The collection contains a wide variety of informational and format types, including blueprints, architectural drawings, ledgers and other financial records, photographs and photograph albums, and correspondence from some of the most influential designers, planners, and technical experts of the twentieth century, who worked on other developments and trained a new generation of professionals after Roland Park. The collection dates from circa 1891 through 1962 (the life of the corporation). The Martin L. Millspaugh Archives (1950-2010) consist of 50 cubic feet of print and electronic records chronicling Millspaugh's central role in the development of the Inner Harbor, an urban planning project of international impact. Both collections were chosen because of the growing interest in the history of urban planning and community development and demonstrated research demand, which is detailed below. These records create important links between community development and broader historical and societal trends. If rendered accessible by this grant, these collections will serve as a unique and multifaceted way to examine the historical context of land planning and real estate development in Baltimore and beyond.

• Unveiling the Clyfford Still Museum Archive

  The Clyfford Still Museum Archives (CSMA) represents the complete, intact archival materials contained with the Clyfford Still Estate, which, along with 2,400 Still artworks, was transferred from the estate to the Clyfford Still Museum (CSM) in November 2011. The CSMA contains studio records, photographic materials, personal effects, the artist's tools and materials (valuable to conservators), his personal library, and extensive documentation pertaining to the art, career, and life of this important American artist. Of particular significance is a trove of correspondence between Still and virtually all of the major artists, critics, dealers, museum professionals, and collectors of the Abstract Expressionist era (Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clement Greenberg, Peggy Guggenheim, etc.). These materials have never been accessible to scholars or researchers, neither during nor after Still's lifetime. The CSM collection contains 94 percent of Still's artistic output, including more than 800 paintings and 1,600 drawings. The comprehensive nature of the CSM collection makes these archival materials uniquely compelling. The CSMA especially represents one of the most significant archives of the Abstract Expressionist movement, and is therefore unique within American 20th-century art.

• Ken-Way United Photographs Collection

  The Ken-Way United Photographs Collection contains photographic prints and negatives that document the history of nationally known companies, famous celebrities and politicians and Midwestern culture from the late 1890s to the 1990s in the central Illinois region. This collection is a visual and diverse history of life in the Midwest. The Ken-Way Photography Company was started in the early 1940s by Kenneth Berglund, a Bloomington, Illinois photographer. Berglund purchased another local photograph company, United Photo, to create the base for his newly formed photography business. A large portion of the collection is comprised of images documenting local businesses with national significance. Several of these businesses were founded or home based in Bloomington including Steak & Shake, State Farm and Beer Nuts. Caterpillar, based in Peoria is also featured as well as Standard Oil, Nestle Beich, Funk Brothers Seed Company and Bridgestone/Firestone Tire who have significant operations in region. Local born politicians are heavily featured in this collection including Ronald Reagan and Adlai Stevenson. The home and relatives of Supreme Court Justice David Davis can also found in this collection. The American Passion Play, performed continuously since 1923 was photographed by Berglund who took show images and head shots of performers each year, providing a photographic history of the annual event and of the families who participated for generations.

• George T. Henry Photograph Project

  The collection contains more than 113,000 negatives and 9,000 black and white photographic prints documenting life on a small liberal arts campus from 1947-2004. The photographer, George T. Henry, came to Coe as a student in 1941, but left after Pearl Harbor to enlist in the Air Corps where he became a bomber pilot flying B-24s in the European Theater. Mr. Henry returned to Coe College in 1946 to finish his education. The earliest dated photographs in the collection come from 1947 when he was the photographer for the student run yearbook. After graduation he became the college's photographer and, despite his retirement, continues to take pictures on campus to this day. As an alumnus of the college Mr. Henry had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. His camera recorded social activities, fashion trends, traditions, and social protest. His photographs include a visual record of campus visitors including: political figures, influential lecturers, and cultural icons. In its entirety Mr. Henry's collection represents a look into Middle America's history through snapshots of the next generation to shape it. As a photographer George has contributed in the publication of 5 books including 3 books of historical photography of his home town Cedar Rapids, IA. Another of his books, titled Row Away from the Rocks, displays his photography and tales from his 40 year career as a whitewater boatman including his photographs of Robert Kennedy and his family.

• Field notes and related archival material from 100 years of expeditionary biology and anthropology at the Univ. of Colorado Museum of Natural History

  The University of Colorado Museum of Natural History (CU Museum) has hidden archival materials from over one hundred years of expeditionary biological and anthropological fieldwork captured as field notes, photos, maps, drawings and other material. The archives include treasures such as field notebooks by Colorado's first ornithologist, Denis Gale (1828-1905), representing detailed descriptions of bird nesting patterns, especially the time of nest formation in the late 19th century, along with bird behaviors. These notes have formed the basis for our understanding of avian biodiversity in the Rockies and exist because they were transcribed and re-typed as a single notebook by the CU Museum founder Junius Henderson (1865-1937) in the early 20th century. The main body of materials are from preeminent field biologists and anthropologist who worked at the CU Museum, including Edward Royal Warren (1860-1942; mammalogist), Earl Halstead Morris (1889-1956; southwestern archaeology and thought to be one of the inspirations for the character of Indiana Jones), Joe Ben Wheat (1916-1997; southwestern archaeology), Anna Osler Shepard (1903-1973; southwestern ceramics), and William Alfred Weber (b.1918; emeritus botanist and expert on Rocky Mountain flora). Our focus here is on field-related materials that provide the content and context for scholars across multiple disciplines, from the history of the West to global change biology documenting patterns and trends in species distributions.

• Saving Time: Cataloging America's Hidden Horological History

  The archives of the National Watch and Clock Museum contain material related to the manufacture and collection of watches and clocks in the United States and abroad. Included are correspondence, patents, ledgers, blueprints, advertisements, and other ephemera. The American watch and clock company collection contains the records of the Seth Thomas Clock Company, Hamilton Watch Company, Illinois Watch Company, Westclox Clock Company, and Gruen Watch Company created during the height of the American watch and clock industry. Creating better access to this collection will allow visitors to the museum and library to conduct research on the companies in general and into the specific timepieces that they and their families own. A better understanding of the contents of the collection will also allow the library staff to conduct research on behalf of the remote patrons who regularly request help. Additionally, the Museum will contact other institutions with relevant horological holdings in order to examine their collections and create or merge finding aids into a centralized database.

• Cataloging the Southern California Aviation History Collection

  Our Southern California Aviation History Collection is diverse and voluminous, collected over 80 years, both by the museum and other aviation historians. The Museum, based in Southern California--the region itself focal point for the 20th-century aviation industry--began collecting books, photographs, technical manuals, ephemera and personal papers related to aviation from the Museum's founding in 1957 as part of its mission to preserve the history of aviation. Today the Museum holds a vast collection of over 50,000 items (books, magazines, event programs and posters, newsletters, aircraft logs) in its library as well as over 5,000 technical manuals. In addition, the Museum houses twenty large boxes of photographs/slides and almost 800 aviation films in 16mm and VHS format. Because our collection is currently stored in multiple locations and less than half has been inventoried, we do not truly know how many unique and rare books and other archival materials we have. Completion of this project would, therefore, open an untapped resource to scholars, researchers and aircraft restorers. The majority of our collection deals with aviation in the United States.