Happy New Year and Happy New and Updated Finding Aids, courtesy of the SCRC processing team! All of the following collections are available for use in the Special Collections Research Center and the finding aids are available on our website (or use the links included below).
Diary of World War I Red Cross Canteen worker Florence Bishop, C0393
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Personal diary of Florence Gardner Bishop of Troy, New York recounting her experiences serving as a Red Cross Canteen worker in France during World War I. The American Red Cross Canteen Service was established in Europe during World War I to address transportation difficulties and congestion at railroad junctions that were impacting the ability for soldiers to receive sufficient meals prior to disembarking. The service, which over the course of the war was staffed by roughly 55,000 women volunteers, provided refreshments to both United States and allied (French, Italian, and British) troops near the front lines and along railway junctions.
Bishop’s diary contains entries detailing Florence’s transatlantic travel to France, time working at the Red Cross Canteen, and return to New York at the end of the war. The diary consists of 142 pages, with entries beginning on July 13, 1918, and 70 pages covering November 21, 1918 – February 8, 1919 taken from a separate book and placed in the front half of the diary for storage. In addition to covering her daily work schedule, the diary also describes her social activities, including visits and sightseeing trips with colleagues and soldiers, and romantic involvements with an officer referred to as “H.N.S” or “Sterling.”
Sample page from Elizabeth Tatham’s scrapbook showing one of the many colorful and clever original drawings, C0394
Elizabeth Tatham scrapbook, C0394
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Late Victorian-era scrapbook created by Elizabeth Tatham of Leeds, Yorkshire, England containing original pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor drawings, handwritten copies of poems, riddles and jokes, pasted-in illustrated clippings, and autograph signatures. The scrapbook is dated 1867 on the first page, accompanied with Elizabeth’s signature, but most illustrations and poems are dated 1868 and dates of signatures range from 1867-1873. Many of the drawings are initialed with variations of “G.T.” without further identification. Clipped signature pages include numerous contemporary political figures, such as Lord Amberley (John Russell, Viscount Amberley), W.E. Gladstone, Sir Andrew Fairbairn, and Sir Thomas Bazley.
Variations on the practice of scrapbooking date as far back as the 14th century when it was popular for upper-class members of European society to keep a bound journal of blank pages, known as a commonplace book, that served as a place for the owner to write informal notes taken from a variety of sources in one place. With the introduction of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1440s, books and other printed materials became more accessible and by the 1800s, as the availability and types of printed materials expanded, the role of the commonplace book shifted, with owners now filling them with clippings, poetry, drawings, and other various “scraps” of printed material, including greeting, calling, and prayer cards. As the focus of these new scrapbooks shifted from academic interests to social interests and preservation of family materials, by the late 1800s the practice of “scrapbooking” had become a predominantly female hobby.
Alexander Golitzen film production collection, C0009
Collection reprocessed by Amanda Menjivar
This collection contains two original film scripts – Colossus by James Bridges, (Revised Final Screenplay, October 8, 1968) and Freud by John Huston and Wolfgang Reinhardt (Final Shooting Script, February 10, 1962). It also contains two scrapbooks representing artistic design research compiled by Hecht-Hill-Lancaster for the production company’s 1957 film production of George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple. Alexander Golitzen (1908-2005) was the supervising art director at Universal Studios at the time, and it is unknown if he was involved in the film in an unofficial capacity. Golitzen was a prolific Academy Award-winning film production designer and art director. Born in Moscow, Russia, Golitzen immigrated to the United States in 1917, fleeing the Russian Revolution. Golitzen’s career in film production began in the early 1930s, and in he 1942 began his long-term association with Universal Studios as their Art Director. He is credited with creating the look and feel of hundreds of movies of significance through the mid-20th century, including Gunsmoke (1953), My Man Godfrey (1957), and films by Douglas Sirk, among others. Golitzen was nominated for fourteen Academy Awards and won four in Art Direction for Foreign Correspondent (1940), The Phantom of the Opera (1943), Spartacus (1960), and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
Real photo postcard portraits from C0396
African American women real photo postcards, C0396
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
A group of 25 real photo postcard portraits of African American women, in both studio and informal settings, many containing personal inscriptions and identifications written on the back. Released in 1903 by Eastman Kodak Company, the No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak, a small, portable camera designed specifically for postcard sized film, allowed real photographic images to be printed directly onto a blank card, making it possible, and affordable, for anyone to create their own mailable postcards, either for personal use or as a business. As such, the subjects of real photo postcards were widely varied, including slices of everyday life, such as local shops and humorous antics, but the majority served as formal family portraits to distribute to friends and relatives. Date range estimates are based on stamp box markings where possible (see “How to Date Real Photo Postcards” for more information).
Ruth E. Dunsford Elm Place photographs and typed poetry book, C0397
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Two unbound photo scrapbooks created using gray construction paper containing photographs of domestic life at Elm Place estate, built in 1804 for Colonel William Markham (1762-1826), in Rush, New York and one small book containing poems, both created by Ruth E. Dunsford. The photo scrapbooks contain images of life and architecture at Elm Place, including the replica log cabin that Ruth’s uncle, William Guy Markham (1836-1922), built on the property. One of the cover pages also contains a pasted image of a woman in a pointed witch hat accompanied by a black cat with the name “Ruth E. Dunsford” written in calligraphy beneath it. The poetry book contains approximately 32 typed poems, some without titles, and numerous blank pages in the back. Few poems are dated, but those that are include 1929 and three dates from 1933: July 16, October 3, and October 30. The first page includes the typed title “A Collection of the Verses of Ruth Dunsford” and a sticker on the front cover reads “This book is a gift from the Eakin Family”.
Examples of woodcut illustrations, a relief process in which a design is cut into the surface of a wooden block, leaving raised areas that are then inked and printed onto paper, from C0398
Nuremberg Chronicle leaf with woodcut illustrations, C0398
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Single leaf from Folio CXVII of the Nuremberg Chronicle featuring woodcut illustrations. One page shows images of six Roman Emperors under the heading “Linea Imperatom” and one page shows images of seven individuals, all likely significant Roman figures. All text and images are printed in black and white. The Liber Chronicarum, also known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, was published in Nuremberg, Germany by Anton Koberger in 1493 and is considered one of the most important German incunabula and the most extensively illustrated book of the 15th century. Written in Latin by German physician and humanist Hartmann Schedel, the Nuremberg Chronicle uses both text and images to present a history of the Christian world from its creation through the present day of the early 1490s. Koberger’s shop printed the Latin edition between May 1492 and October 1493 and a later German language edition was commissioned and published between January and December 1493. Both editions contain over 1800 images created by Nuremberg artists Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff from roughly 640 woodblocks.
When the movable-type printing press was introduced to Western Europe by German Johannes Gutenberg circa 1455 it led to immediate and rapid productivity in the craft and business of printing. The term incunabula, which comes from the Latin meaning “swaddling, clothes, cradle”, is used to refer to these early books printed between 1455 – 1501, or those “in the cradle” of the printed word. German printmaker Anton Koberger established a large and profitable printing business in Nuremberg by the 1490s, running twenty presses, and helped make the city one of the most prolific centers of incunabula printing.
Illuminated manuscript leaf, C0399
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Single double-sided leaf from an illuminated manuscript containing sections from the choral Conversion of Paul. On one page portions of the “Introit: Scio cui credidi” can be seen beginning at the top and on the other page portions of the “Alleluia verse: Magnus sanctus Paulus” begin with the first illuminated letter “M.” Derived from the Latin words “manus” (hand) and “scriptus” (writing) the term manuscript refers to those text written by hand. The term illumination, taken from the Latin “illuminare” (lighted up), referred to decoration of manuscript text with gold leaf, or sometimes silver, giving the impression that the page had been literally illuminated. Throughout the early medieval period illuminated manuscripts were written and illuminated solely by monks and mainly centered on the creation of Latin texts used in Christian worship. By the start of the thirteenth century, the growth of literacy and universities as centers of learning led to an increased demand for books of all kinds, turning the creation of illuminated manuscripts into a city-based business, in which professional scribes and illuminators were hired to complete the work.
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