Tarleton Thursday: Historypin Tour of Campus

Just in time for Homecoming 2016, the Dick Smith Library is introducing a Historypin tour of the main campus in Stephenville!

What is Historypin?  It's a nonprofit organization with "a free website where anyone can upload and create collections of historical photos, videos and sounds."  You can also create a "tour," which is what we have done with some of the photographs from the University Photo Collection.

The Special Services and Archives Department of the Dick Smith Library (Coordinator Amanda Pape, Collections Archivist Gary Spurr, and former staff member Crystal Stanley) chose 18 photographs from this collection and uploaded them to Historypin.  In the process, you can actually "pin" the image on a Google Map.  If the location has a "Street View" available, there's a really neat "Dear Photograph"-like then-and-now feature you can activate.

Below is one example.  The very first John Tarleton College building was located at the northwest corner of what is now N. McIlhaney Street and W. Tarleton Street / Military Drive.  Below is a screen capture from our tour on Historypin, showing a 1900 photograph of the building superimposed over its approximate site.

Note the slider bar at the top of the photograph?  If you slide the red dot all the way over to the left, you get a more contemporary view of the same site (in this case, where the Hunewell Bandstand is now located):

Below is an outline of the "stops" on the Tarleton State University Campus History Tour.  The six spots with an orange figure in the upper right corner are along the campus perimeter and thus had Google Map Street Views available where we could use this feature.

Even better for the research and history geeks in our library department, there is lots of space to include a detailed history of each site, including links to other resources, such as the Cross Timber Historic Images Project photographs and narratives, and relevant pages and articles from the collection of Grassburr yearbooks and J-TAC student newspapers online at the Portal to Texas History.  The Grassburrs and J-TACs often provide descriptions and other details written in the same years the photographs were taken, resulting in more accuracy.

We invite all alumni, students, and current and previous faculty and staff to take the tour!  Let us know in the comments (here on the blog or on the Historypin site) what you think, and if you have any stories (or photos) to add! 

Adventures in the Archives: Dr. Richard Thompson Collection - daguerrotypes and tintype

Adventures in the Archives continues....

When processing an archival collection, one may come across a rare find. In the case of the Dr. Richard L. Thompson D.D.S Papers, Crystal Stanley, our former Archives and Reference Assistant (now the Director of Library Services at Ranger College) found quite a few rarities. Six daguerreotypes and one tintype were discovered. You may be asking yourself: 

• What is a daguerreotype?
• What is a tintype?
• What makes them so rare or fascinating?

The first six images in this post are daugerrotypes.  They were on a silver-coated copper plate.  Daguerreotypes have a reflective surface, somewhat like a hologram. When viewed from one angle, a daguerreotype appears shiny and light-colored, and from the other angle it is negative with a duller matte finish.

Daguerreotypes are usually in a case sealed behind a thick piece of glass for protection, as the silver coat of the image is easy to damage.  The case often has a hinged cover, and the outside is sometimes covered with embossed leather, and lined with silk or velvet facing the picture.


Daguerrotypes were first used about 1839 and were popular until about 1860.

There is one tintype in the collection, which is pictured at left.  Tintypes, also known as ferrotypes, have grayish-white images with low contrast.  Tintypes were made on a thin black-enameled (or japanned) iron plate.  The process to make them was first developed about 1853.  Because then end product was lighter in weight, and because it was quicker and cheaper than the process to make daguerrotypes, tintypes had pretty much replaced the older process by 1860.  They remained popular in the early 1900s and even until about 1940.

Unfortunately, we have no idea who is pictured in this photographs.  All we can say for sure is that the daguerrotypes date after 1839 (and probably before 1860), and the tintype dates after 1853.   Likely these are images of ancestors of Dr. Richard L. Thompson, the owner.  More about him in the next post in this series.


For assistance with or to request to see archival materials, contact Collections Archivist Gary Spurr by phone at (254)968-1808, email at spurr@tarleton.edu or archives@tarleton.edu.

What does the library mean to you?

This year the library is going to participate in the Texas Library Association (TxLA) Snapshot Day.  It allows libraries and library users to showcase library activities.  It is a "snapshot" of a day in the life of our library.

On October 30 & 31, help showcase the new Library Learning Commons and show the importance of the library by telling us why you come to the library and giving us feedback.  Have your picture taken, too!

Find out about the annual event held by TxLA:  http://www.texaslibrarysnapshotday.org/

To view pictures from past Library Snapshot Days visit the TxLA Flickr page -  https://www.flickr.com/groups/librarysnapshotday

Do you InstaLibrary? Follow or Tag Us on Instagram

Follow us @tarletonlib

You may have seen that Tarleton Libraries has a Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest (as well as other social media accounts)but did you know that we also have an Instagram?

Search for our username @tarletonlib to follow us.

We post Tarleton-related and Library-related photos. For example, we have posted a few renovation updates to keep our users current on what's happening in our building.

We also post images of interesting/visually pleasing things that we find around campus; for example the tulips that are blooming in front of the library.

We're always open for suggestions. Also, if you take a library-related image, you can tag us in the photo or use a hashtag such as #dsl, #tarletonlibrary, #dslibrary, #Tarleton.

Check us out!  



Photos Taken By: Tracy Holtman

New Software!

Do you need to use Dreamweaver to make a website for your cat? Design graphics for your latest candy smashing iPhone game with Fireworks? Put Lebron James's head on the Hulk's body with Photoshop?

 © DamageCarnag3 @ DeviantArt.  Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Now you can do all of that and more with the Adobe Creative Cloud software on the library computers. We've added Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Photoshop to all of the library's desktop computers. Come on by and create something amazing!

Tarleton Thursdays: University Photo Collection

The history of Tarleton can be told in many ways, and one of those is through photographs. The archives recently received 2.5 linear feet of of photographs. While two and a half feet may not sound like much, believe me, that is a lot of prints and negatives. The images range from the early days of Tarleton to the present. Some of the photographs are of familiar subjects or events, while others will take some time to figure out. Some of the subjects include faculty, staff, various campus organizations, the farm, buildings, events, and aerial views of the campus. In looking at the aerial views one can see how the campus has grown over the years. Some of the early aerial photos have very few buildings and the streets are not always like they are today. Thankfully the smokestack is visible in most of the aerial photos.

Featured above is a photo of the newly completed Trogdon House in 1923. It was originally designed by Dean J. Thomas Davis as his family home and Davis oversaw the construction of the house. Judging by the lack of grass in the yard, this is probably one of the first images of the completed home. Notice the large amount of open space behind the house with other houses in the background. Later the Dick Smith Library will be built behind the house.Other images of Tarleton can be found by searching the Cross Timber Historic Images database from the library's webpage. For more information about the University photo collections, contact archivist Gary Spurr at spurr@tarleton.edu.

Picture this!

John Paul

Coming to library to study?  Meeting a group to work on an assignment?  Look out!  You might get your picture taken. 

Alisha

We are trying to snap some photographs of people using the library.  If you are willing to be on camera let us know.  We need some new images to use on our social media sites, and on marketing brochures. 

We love the library - and we want to lets folks know about it.  We would love to see you all in the library. You are all models to us!

Top Ten (+) Online Photo Ideas

With the holiday season rapidly approaching, it may be prime time to think about photos -- what to do with them and ways to share them.

If you have photos and are stuck for ideas, check out the iLibrarian blog post "Top 17+ Things to do with Online Photos" by Ellyssa Kroski to learn ways you can create

--- music videos,
--- blog and social networking slideshows,
--- business cards, stickers, and postcards,
--- trading cards, badges, and posters,
--- online scrapbooks and coffee table books,
--- newsletters and brochures,
--- photo collages,
--- online portfolios,
--- comic strips, and
--- photo widgets.

You'll also find links to tools that will help you
--- edit and caption photos,
--- turn photos into cartoons, and
--- frame photos.

Check it out!

The first photograph taken of humans

It's hard to believe there was a time when photographs of people didn't exist. That is why the recent discovery of what appears to be two men near the river's edge in a photo of Cincinnati taken in 1848 is a big deal among photography historians. The photo was taken September

24th, 1848. The photo is known as a daguerreotype.

The credit for photgraphing a human for the first time is generally given to Louis Daguerre, the inventor of the daguerreotype process. In an 1838 photo he took of Paris, Daguerre caught an image of a man who appears to be getting his shoes or boots shined at a street corner.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101027/od_yblog_upshot/very-early-photographic-images-of-humans-discovered

Today in History - The Library of Congress American Memory

The staff member who was supposed to post in the Library Online Lounge is out today with an injury, and I did not remember this until a half-hour before I'm supposed to go home! Scrambling around for something to post, I Googled "today in history" and came up with this.

The Library of Congress' American Memory website

provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.

Poke around their collections sometime - there's everything from baseball cards to Coca-Cola TV advertisements to daguerreotype photos; panoramic maps to WPA posters to quilts.

YouTube Offers Online Video Editor

The post "Edit Video in the Cloud with the YouTube Video Editor" on Broadcasting Ourselves recently announced YouTube's launch of its online video editor, which lets users

• Combine multiple uploaded video.
• Trim the beginning and/or ending of videos.
• Add soundtracks using YouTube's AudioSwap song library.
• Create videos and easily publish them to YouTube.

Available in TestTube, the YouTube ideas incubator, the video editor is ready to use. No software downloads required. Yea!

The post also offers videos with tips for using the editor, examples of others' videos and feedback, and links to help center support, as well as asking for feedback. Check it out!

Saving Images for the Web

Spring and summer are excellent times for taking pictures:

• graduations,
• Mother's Day & Father's Day,
• vacations and family outings,
• weddings, parties, picnics, concerts, and
• the list keeps going.

Once the pictures are taken, most of us want to share them, and we usually want to do so on the web. That's where the article "The Comprehensive Guide to Saving Images for the Web" by Joshua Johnson of Six Revisions can come in handy.

In the article, Johnson explains features of Photoshop's “Save for Web & Devices” command and offers best practices tips for "saving images that are optimized for web use." Topics covered include

• Before the Save
• Entering the Save for Web Dialog
• Image Size
• Resampling Quality
• File Type and Image Quality
• File Type Options
• Working with GIFs, JPGs & PNGs
• View Modes
• Working with Slices
• Outputting HTML

His explanations are understandable and address novice and expert users' needs. Check it out.

Something to do this Winter

As the days start getting shorter and the nights are longer we turn from outside activities to inside ones. One of the things you can do during the winter months is to organize your family archives. Holiday gatherings provide an opportunity to identify unidentified photographs and learn more of your family's history.

Most collections of family papers contain letters, photographs, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and ephemera. You can begin by sorting the material into these basic groups or what archivists call series. As you sort through the material you will find that everything may be worth keeping. Everything old is not necessarily of value, and many recent items will become precious. Things usually discarded include: bills, receipts, cancelled checks, check stubs, and check registers. Letters should be arranged by the recipient first, then by either the sender or date. Scrapbooks and diaries should be organized by the creator. Newspaper clippings, ephemera, and official documents should be organized by the family member named in them. Photographs can be sorted into identified and unidentified photos.

After you have organized the papers, the next step is to properly house them. The two most important things to preserve documents are to limit the exposure to light and provide a stable environment. Exposure to light can be limited by storing items in a box. Framed items that are on display should be placed where exposure to direct light is limited. Papers should be stored in the same environmental conditions as your normal living quarters. This means temperature and humidity should be moderate and there should be protection from mice and bugs. The worst places to store items are attics, garages, basements, barns, and sheds.

The best way to store papers are in archival–quality folders and boxes. Archival-quality folders are acid and lignin free with alkaline buffering. Archival folders and metal file cabinets are an acceptable alternative. Folders should not be overfilled. The folders should be labeled with the person's actual name, such as John Smith correspondence, 1939. If nicknames or family relationships are used such as grandmother, Buba, Uncle Joe their given names should also be listed on the folder. Not all future generations will know who grandmother or Uncle Joe was. Scrapbooks should not be taken apart. Any loose photos should be reattached using photo corners. Do not try to repair damaged items. Most tapes and adhesives will eventually damage documents. Fragile documents can be stored individually in their own folder. You should never laminate an item. The heat from the lamination process will damage the document and the process is not reversible. Newspaper clippings should never be stored next to other items. Clippings are highly acidic and the acid will migrate to anything they are touching. Clippings also become brittle and deteriorate. The best way to preserve newspaper clippings is to photocopy them on acid free paper.

Photographs should be organized the same as documents. As I mentioned at the start holiday gatherings are an excellent time to get unidentified photographs identified and to learn more of your family's history. Instead of taking your actual photographs photocopy them and take the photocopies. This way the identification of individuals can be written on the photocopies, and you do not run the risk of damaging your original photographs.

If you have any questions about the preservation or organization of your family's archives contact Gary Spurr Collections Archivist at: spur@tarleton.edu

Lincoln Birthday Bicentennial

Tomorrow, February 12, is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, from 1861 through his untimely assassination in April 1865. The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission has put together a website that collects information on events across the country honoring this occasion, as well as an “Honest Abe Quiz,” data on Lincoln, and even teacher resources.

The Library of Congress in Washington, DC, opens a new exhibit on the 12th called With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition. It will include on-site exhibits with online features, with some Lincoln-related artifacts available digitally, at on-site kiosks as well as on the Library’s website.

There’s even a blog about Lincoln and food! Author Rae Katherine Eighmey spent three years researching Lincoln’s eating habits and food interests for an upcoming book. Her blog, What Lincoln Enjoyed Eating, will run for 10 weeks, from Lincoln’s 200th birthday to the anniversary of his assassination, featuring authentic recipes with historical background, adapted for modern kitchens.

The photo above is of Lincoln during his presidential campaign in August 1860, thought to be the last photograph of him without a beard. It is from the Library of Congress Flickr collection -- their complete set of Lincoln photos is here.

flickrCC

The next time you need images for a PowerPoint, try flickrCC. This is a great tool for searching the photo-sharing site Flickr for pictures that are useable under the copyright-friendly Creative Commons licenses. This means flickrCC does the legwork in rounding up pictures you can use for projects, clip art, presentations, bulletin boards, and anything else you can come up with, so long as you give credit to the photographer.

Enter a search term in the box and click “Find”. If you don’t like any of the first 36 photos, click on “more” on the bottom left. If you want to edit (or in any way change) the photo before you reuse it, make sure the “FOR EDITING” box is checked (that’s the default). If you’re going to use the photo for commercial purposes, make sure the “COMMERCIAL” box is checked. Here’s a sample search on the word “library” for photos to edit:

Even better, Peter Shanks of Lithgow, Australia, the developer of flickrCC, has also included features (when you click on the “Edit image: in house” link) that enable you to crop, resize, add text and basic graphics to the image, and then add an attribution mark for the photographer. Here’s an example of a photo from the search above that was cropped from the top, and had descriptive text and the attribution added (The attribution is always put below the photo and becomes part of the image):

Give it a try!

Bringing History to Life

Been watching the “John Adams” series on HBO lately? In LibraryThing, you can browse the libraries of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson (as well as many other famous folks), thanks to the I See Dead People['s Books] group. These Legacy Libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members or batch-imported from various libraries.

WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier is a blog of transcripts of a young English soldier’s letters from the first World War, posted exactly 90 years after they were written. Be sure to check out the “Helpful Hints” in the left sidebar for the best way to catch up with earlier posts.

Shorpy.com is a photo blog about what life was like in the past, from the dawn of photography (in the 1860s) to the 1940s and 1950s. The site is named for Shorpy Higginbotham, inspired by photos of this 14-year-old Alabama coal miner in 1910. Visitors can make comments, and, by creating a free account, upload their own vintage photographs.

The Library of Congress recently posted a webcast about their Flickr project (the FAQ provides technical and other details). Approximately 50 images per week are posted on Flickr from the photo collections. Anyone can add notes (by outlining sections of the photos), comments, and tags to these historical photos. The Library of Congress has used this Flickr input data to change over 100 cataloging records so far.

Are you watching Blogger Play?

Need a break? Take a few minutes to check out Blogger Play.

It's a real-time slideshow of photos Blogger users have recently uploaded to their blogs. It's a great snapshot of what people are thinking and posting about, right now!

You can view a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. Click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it.