Adi Da (Bubba Free John) was a 20th century religious leader that studied English literature at Stanford, Joseph Campbell proposed a universal narrative that is mythopoetic, and host Michael Toms interviewed the latter and the early followers of the former in the embryonic episodes of the radio show New Dimensions.
The thing I love most about working in Archives and Special Collections is the opportunity I get to glimpse into the lives of individuals and get a sense of their thoughts and feelings. I’m particularly interested in learning about the interior lives of women, especially as women are often underrepresented in the archival record, including in Stanford’s own collections. I did a (very rough, very inexact) examination of about 2300 collections held by Stanford’s Manuscripts Division, looking specifically at collections 1 box or more. Looking only at collections centered around a particular individual or family, the rough math worked out to about 72% of collections centered on men, 22% centered on women, and 6% centered on families. Again, these numbers aren’t exact, but the collections are undoubtedly dominated by men.
With that said, I’d like to highlight some moments from the lives three women represented in our collections: Edith M. Garretson Davies, Nellie Kono, and Marilyn Lyttle.
Please join us in welcoming our new Digital Archivist, Sally DeBauche, who will start work on April 2nd. Sally will be responsible for reviewing workflows and for making the acquired- and born-digital materials that are received in Special Collections available for research. She will join Stanford's ePADD project team as well as become involved with other projects related to digital materials. While she will be based primarily at the Library’s Redwood City facility, you will also see her on campus.
Read about how the University Archives is using From the Page technology to transcribe handwritten letters and round trip metadata into the Stanford Digital Repository usng IIIF: http://content.fromthepage.com/stanford-university-archives/
As Bill states in his retirement letter: “With over thirty-two years of service to the University, seventeen with the Library, and fifteen with Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), it is time to move forward to the next phase of my life.” A devotee of history, Bill had one break during his tenure at Stanford when he returned to school for an MA in History. Although he began at SLAC as a surveyor, he went back there to work in their archives. Later, after moving to Special Collections, he followed his history degree with an MLIS.
Earlier this month I visited a friend in Washington, D.C. for a brief vacation. We spent much of one afternoon at the National Museum of African American History & Culture. One placard in particular from the “Slavery and Freedom 1400-1877” exhibit struck me in a way that sparked a connection with a scrapbook that I cataloged for Stanford this past summer.
In a partnership between the David Rumsey Map Center and the John Carter Brown Library, Chet Van Duzer, a renowned History of Cartography scholar, began a three-month research fellowship at the Center. The fellowship, which allows Chet to spend time both at the Rumsey Map Center and the J
