Author Archives: Joanna

Save early, save often! Preservation Week, Your Digital Work, and You

Posted on by

We’re celebrating Preservation Week (April 21-27, 2013), and thinking about all the ways you can save – or, much worse, lose – all of the work that you’ve amassed this semester, this year, or perhaps your entire time at Vassar.   Most of the research and personal work that you’ve done is probably in digital form, from the articles you found in JSTOR to the analyses saved in Microsoft Word; you’ve most likely amassed hundreds of photos, maybe a video or two (or fifty), as well as other personal digital objects along the way.

Are your files safe right now?  Will they be safe a year from now?  What about five or ten years in the future?

Each question has its own answer.  As Bill LeFurgy, digital preservation manager at the Library of Congress writes, we need to be better aware of “how much our digital files actually do mean to us,” as he highlights in this blog post.  To tackle this problem, think about short-term and long-term digital preservation goals.

Short term

I have ost my only copy of my BA thesis

“It Happens Every Year,” by quin.anya (Flickr)

In the short term (that “now” to “a year from now” question), it is important to know what you have accumulated, what formats your files are, and what is in each file.

TIP: whenever possible, find the best copy of your work, which is usually the original.  For example, if you take a lot of pictures, the original pictures from your camera or phone are usually better than the ones you’ve placed on Facebook (which may have compressed or cropped the originals).

From there, follow the 3-2-1 Rule.

The 3-2-1 Rule

1. Make three copies.
2. Have at least two of the copies on two different types of media (e.g., one copy on a hard drive and one in your Google Drive or VSpace account).
3. Keep one copy in a different location from where you live/work.

Remember, if you’re graduating, make sure that you have copies of any work in Google Drive or VSpace!

Long term

Long-term digital preservation is much more difficult and often involves reformatting, a way of migrating old file formats to new ones without losing or harming the device (e.g., a hard drive) or the information (e.g., your term paper!) along the way.  It is a much larger topic than what we can address here, but please be aware of it!  Before you start any long-term project, make sure that you identify what information you have, decide what is important, and get organized.  For any files that you know you can still read, make copies; then educate yourself about the trade-offs of different types of storage, websites, etc., to help you accomplish digital preservation.  Finally, make sure that you name your files in a way that will help you remember what is contained in them.  These steps will help you decide on a digital preservation strategy as you move forward.

 Expert tips and advice

For more information, visit:

Family weekend at Vassar: come visit the library!

Posted on by
Reply

Are you expecting guests this weekend?  Why not show them one of the most beautiful and often-photographed buildings on campus – the Main (Thompson) Library?

A quick history…

Thompson Memorial LIbrary Front Exterior

The Thompson Memorial Library

When Vassar opened in 1865, the library was only one room in Main Building, and housed approximately 3,000 books.  By 1893, the growing library needed more space, and Vassar trustee Frederick Ferris Thompson and wife Mary Clark Thompson filled that role.  The Thompson Memorial Library was completed in 1905 and additions to the north connected Thompson to Taylor Hall and formed the Van Ingen Art Library in 1937.  Today, encompassing more than 150,000 square feet and over one million volumes, the Libraries include Thompson, Archives & Special Collections Library, the Art Library, and the George Sherman Dickinson Music Library.  See: http://library.vassar.edu/about/fastfacts.html.

Architectural features

Seals and Shields

The library’s architectural style is perpendicular Gothic, featuring three wings built about a central tower.   Flanking the entrance is a stone frieze of college and university seals — Cambridge, Oxford, Bryn Mawr, and Smith – and to the right are the “Veritas” of Harvard and the “Lux et Veritas” of Yale.  Once inside, five beautiful seventeenth-century Flemish Gobelin tapestries, portraying Apuleius’ romance of Cupid and Psyche, hang in the central hall.

Cornaro Stained Glass Window

The Cornaro Window

The Cornaro Window

Once inside, be sure to see the Cornaro Window and its depiction of Lady Elena Lucretia Cornaro-Piscopia (1646-1684), the first woman to receive a doctorate degree.  The window illustrates the conferring of her doctorate by the University of Padua.  As noted in the history of the Cornaro window: “The public ceremony was held in the Cathedral of Padua in the presence of the University authorities, the professors of all the faculties, the students, and most of the Venetian Senators, together with many invited guests from the Universities of Bologna, Ferrara, Perugia, Rome, and Naples. The Lady Elena spoke for an hour in classic Latin, explaining difficult passages selected at random from the works of Aristotle. She was listened to with great attention, and when she had finished, she received plaudits as Professor Rinaldini proceeded to award her with the insignia of the Doctorate, placing the wreath of laurel on her head, the ring on her finger, and over her shoulders the ermine mozetta. This is the scene illustrated in the Vassar College Library window.”

Printers’ Marks

Printers mark detail from southeast window

A printers’ mark detail from the southeast windows

There are more than 60 printers’ marks throughout the Thompson Library that represent those used by printers throughout Europe – including England, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, and Scotland – during the 15th and 16th centuries, an extraordinary time for printing and book-making in general.  Though the marks have moved locations due to renovation and expansion, the volume Printers’ Marks in the Windows of the Thompson Memorial Library Building provides a nice overview of the marks themselves and the printers associated with them.

We hope you enjoy your weekend and your visit to the library!

Handy links:

Dueling at Vassar? Egad!

Posted on by
2

…Just before we came away Varina [Brown, ’89], and Corinne Keen [’89] had a duel. These little affairs are becoming quite the fashion of late at the College. Corinne and Varina were both nominated Vice President of Alpha. Varina was elected and Corinne challenged her to a duel, and asked me to be her second. We had a great time. I sent a challenge to Brown (as we called V) and she chose Louise Poppenheim [’89], as her second.  Pop— then in writing accepted the challenge and signed himself Louis P—.  The weapons, he stated, were to be Blanchon pistols (in other words toy pop guns – the corks when they fly out make a very loud report)…  (p. 1-2)

We’re busy making a new collection available in our digital library: the Student Letters Collection.  This collection features 874 digitized letters (with over 5,000 pages!) from nineteenth-century Vassar students, providing amazing access to the events, experiences, and everyday lives of the people that shaped the early years of the College.  As we were working, one particular letter stood out for its description of a very out-of-the-ordinary event sometime after June 10, 1888: a duel.

Banfield, Edith C., letter, June 1888, page 7

Establishing the terms of the duel in June 1888

Edith Banfield (VC 1892) wrote a letter home to her family in June 1888 describing the duel-ready situation that emerged at the end of that semester (above). In her writing, she discusses the formality around setting the terms of the duel,  including the location (a “shady nook behind the music hall”), the weapons (pop guns), and distance (six paces).  The letter also contains correspondence between Brown and Keen and their “seconds,” beginning on page 7 of the digital copy.  While the duel had a winner and loser, of course, there were no injuries, just shrieks of laughter and mock sobbing, Banfield reported.  As she gleefully exclaimed, “I never had more fun in my life!”

Read the letter and view the emerging digital collection through this Gargoyle Bulletin sneak preview!

The Student Letters digital collection is part of a much larger collection of student materials available in our Archives and Special Collections Library.  For more information about this extensive group of materials and to see a list of items available in the archives, including names of students and graduation dates, view the online Guide to the Student Materials Collection.