Sunday, August 23, 2009 Today the University of Iowa Collections Coalition http://www.uiowa.edu/collect/ went to the Iowa State Fair. We staged mock disaster recovery drills from 9AM until 3PM. Our message was that there is a strong likelihood that you can save your stuff even if it’s all grimy and wet. We invited people to participate.Continue reading “Mock Disaster Recovery Drill at the Iowa State Fair”
Category Archives: Community, outreach, education, and events
Volunteer Dawn Completes Docket Project
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 One of our volunteers, Dawn Wellington, has been working on a project re-ordering and re-housing a collection of court dockets for the Johnson County Historical Society. She went through hundreds of dockets and put them back in order and into new document boxes. When she finished, we had Leigh Ann Randak,Continue reading “Volunteer Dawn Completes Docket Project”
Commemorating Flood of 2008
Monday, June 15, 2009 We were invited to participate in the university’s special event, “Remember, Reimagine, Rebuild,” at the Old Capitol Museum commemorating the one-year anniversary of last year’s historic flood. The Old Capitol was open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the free event, which included displays of flood-related photographs and research, audioContinue reading “Commemorating Flood of 2008”
Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible: A Tribute
Monday, May 25, 2009 Every once in a while, we get to make a difference in someone’s life. I think it’s fitting on Memorial Day and the anniversary of the Parkersburg EF5 tornado, to post these pictures of Amanda’s Grandpa opening the Bible that our conservator repaired as best he could. His wife, Amanda’s GrandmaContinue reading “Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible: A Tribute”
Majestic troublemakers
Thursday, April 23, 2009 Three volcanoes overlook the city of Arequipa. Arequipa is known as ¨La Ciudad Blanca¨ or The White City, because of Sillar, the white volcanic rock that many of the buildings are constructed of. Another less desirable byproduct of the volcanoes is a fine glassy dust carried by the wind to settle in a fine layerContinue reading “Majestic troublemakers”
Book Studies and Political Science Collide!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Alvaro Meneses, Bibliographer, and Professor of Political Science at the University of San Pablo, paid a visit to our ¨conservation lab¨with his class today. Gary and Joyce talked about different book structures. Chris Ryan gave a brief talk on early books printed at the Oldest University in Spain which is in Salamanca.Continue reading “Book Studies and Political Science Collide!”
Ojos Halcones Take Peru by Storm
Monday , April 20, 2009 For a week and a half, Gary, Joyce, and I have been working in Arequipa, Peru at the Recoleta Monastery. We have been stabilizing and protecting damaged books. Many of these books have been damaged in earthquakes. They are in suprisingly good condition considering how old they are and what theyContinue reading “Ojos Halcones Take Peru by Storm”
Marcas del Fuego or Metal Brands
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 We are currently working in the library of the Recoleta Convent in Arequipa, Peru. One of the most interesting things we have come across in this collection are the Marcas del Fuego. Marcas del Fuego are metal brands that were used to burn identifying marks into books. They were usually an initial or symbol associated withContinue reading “Marcas del Fuego or Metal Brands”
Kraft Receives Midwest Archives Conference Presidents’ Award
Thursday, February 26, 2009 This morning at 8:30 I received the following email. Imagine my surprise! For years I’ve been a strong advocate for the preservation of all types of collections, including library, museum, manuscripts, and archives. I’ve spent time learning about the issues, organization, and language unique to each collection type. It’s really greatContinue reading “Kraft Receives Midwest Archives Conference Presidents’ Award”
Volunteer Begins Working File Project
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 Our publicity has been paying off! Marilyn Maynard, a local Iowa Citian, read about our recovery efforts in the Press Citizen and thought she might be able to contribute. She is currently working on a project designed to clean and copy the working files for the African American Museum. The filesContinue reading “Volunteer Begins Working File Project”