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Tag: elizabeth riordan

Mar 10 2022

Silent Film Star Still Shines in Special Collections & Archives

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Elizabeth Riordan

 

Silent-ology 8th Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon

The following is written by Elizabeth Riordan and Anna Holland for Silent-ology‘s Buster Keaton Blogathon

Sitting in a dark auditorium in Iola, Kansas, two friends watched Our Hospitality with a live band accompaniment. The annual Buster Keaton Celebration had begun, and the audience around them clapped and cheered as the screen illuminated Keaton donning his signature pork pie hat. The utter glee of watching the antics of this silent cinema star filled the room almost a century later. 

But there lies the magic of Buster Keaton. Time may pass, but Keaton’s stunts and storytelling continue to intrigue audiences, old and young alike. Associate Curator of Iowa Women’s Archives Anna Holland and Lead Instruction and Outreach Librarian Elizabeth Riordan sat in that auditorium back in 2012, partaking in the Keaton Celebration. Neither one realized that they would soon be working in the archives that held the research files of Marion Meade, Buster Keaton biographer.  

Meade undertook the monumental task of capturing the life of Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton for a biography on the actor. She had already made a name for herself in the literary world with a series of feminist-themed novels and had broken into the biography scene in 1988 with a book on American poet Dorothy Parker. By the mid 1990s, she was ready to discover what was under the “Great Stone Face.”  

Mock up for front cover for Cut to the Chase book

Buster Keaton – Cut to the Chase by Marion Meade hit bookstores in 1995 nearly 30 years after Keaton’s death. Published on the 100th anniversary of Keaton’s birth, it aimed to underline his cinematic legacy with a definitive biography and introduce him to a new generation of cinephiles who may not have gotten a hold of a VHS copy of The Navigator or encountered his 1960 autobiography. Since its release, the book has received critiques for its sometimes-harsh take on Buster’s early life, as well as a general lack of objectivity. Despite critiques, the book still holds sway, with rumors that it will soon be turned into a film with 20th Century Studios. 

Meade’s chapters are reminiscent of silent film shorts, barely any exceed 20 pages, making Keaton’s life easily digestible. She sets scenes artistically, and engagingly. Meade introduces Keaton by transplanting us in a noisy, cold Times Square before describing a 21-year-old who “looks younger, with a solemn, pretty-boy face and a shock of straight dark hair” (Meade, 1). After setting the mood, she takes a deep dive into the history of Keaton’s family and then on a step-by-step journey through his life and career. The book gives ample attention, and several pages of photographs, to the joys and scandals in his personal life along with his films. 

Cassette tape with Eleanor Keaton written on it
Tape of interview with Eleanor Keaton

Despite its shortcomings, Meade’s meticulous research is evident throughout the book. Not only did she dig into details like Keaton genealogy, but Meade also held dozens of interviews. She went out to gather oral histories with family, friends, and colleagues of Keaton. Tapes and tapes of interviews soon stacked up, including interviews with Keaton’s third wife Eleanor, his son John, and those who worked behind the scenes on his famous film The General. Meade took advantage of something biographers today can only dream of: still-living vaudevillians, actors from the golden age of Hollywood, and members of Keaton’s own family who all told detailed stories of their lives and Keaton’s. These interviews, doggedly pursued by Meade, are perhaps the most important and lasting contribution of Cut to the Chase.  

Meade’s research and interviews on Buster Keaton were bought by the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections & Archives, along with her work on Woody Allen, Nathanael West, and Eileen McKenney. Meade’s papers are open to researchers, or simply the curious public, and anyone can find out more about what is in the collection by exploring the online finding aid here.  

For Keaton fans Elizabeth and Anna, using this collection at work has been a dream come true, but anyone can access these research files. For those of you interested in following in the research footsteps of Marion Meade, contact UI Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives , and we’ll walk you through visiting the collections.  

 

 

Elizabeth Riordan enjoying Buster Keaton's Autobiography
Anna Holland strikes a pose with Buster at Muskegon Lake
Posted in Collection ConnectionTagged Anna Holland, Buster Keaton, cinema, Cut to the Chase, elizabeth riordan, Marion Meade, silent film1 Comment
Jun 25 2021

Brokaw’s Press Passes Grant Access to Unique History

Posted on June 25, 2021June 25, 2021 by Elizabeth Riordan

The following is written by Humanities for the Public Good Intern Patrick Johnson

Tom Brokaw is a name synonymous with journalism, and the journalism that many strive for. His career spans decades and his resume includes trips across several continents and countries, meetings with some of the most famous and infamous world leaders and covering some of the most well-known sporting events in American and world history. He even can say that he was at the Royal Wedding that was watched by more than 750,000 million people around the world.  

Beyond the hours of television appearances and bylines, there are unique ways in which we can come to learn and know about Brokaw’s impressive list of journalistic endeavors. The Brokaw collection, located in the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections & Archives, is one of those places where viewers can get a glimpse into the history of the world according to the accounts of one of America’s greatest journalistic icons. The collection itself includes artifacts,

Patrick Johnson

correspondences, events, speeches, commentary, writings, awards, and so much more. The collection, known as The Papers of Tom Brokaw: A Life and Career, was donated to the University of Iowa by Brokaw. According to Emily Nelson in an IowaNow post, Brokaw’s time at Iowa (“where he attended the UI during his first year of college, from 1958-59″) led to these artifacts calling the land of the Hawkeyes home in 2016.  

While the collection includes a significant number of items, one of the most important to a journalist, but relatively unknown or unimportant to others, are the extensive amount of press passes spanning Brokaw’s career. 

That’s where I come in. 

I am the fortunate one that gets to work with his passes thanks to my role as a fellow for the Humanities for the Public Good through the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies. My role as an intern with Special Collections & Archives, working directly with Liz Riordan (who curated and cultivated the collection as a School of Library and Information Science graduate student at the UI), the department’s Outreach and Engagement Librarian, is to immerse myself into the history of these significant material objects. The hopeful outcome: an interactive timeline that can be used as an educational tool.  

Setting a Goal 

green card with black and white photo of Brokaw and large black word "Press" at top
1975 Press Pass for President Gerald Ford visit

The timeline that will come from this summer’s work is intended to be used for educational purposes, whether it is in classrooms or for research. We hope that what users will get out of this is an ability to interact with primary sources, see history through the lens of a journalist and recognize the role journalism plays in the telling of history.  

Across the country, teachers are looking to utilize primary sources to teach students how to read and understand history. Teaching with primary sources is a requirement of the Common Core State Standards. The College Board utilizes primary sources to assess students on Advanced Placement exams. Being able to provide a place where students and teachers can see primary sources in action and being used for the purpose of learning is key to this project.  

It is also important to recognize and showcase the intricate intersection of journalism and history. This project intends to show just that. Brokaw’s history as a journalist, and his press passes he used for the events he covered and participated in, represents a unique perspective on world history. He is attached to some of the most significant events and people. And the stories he told helped write the history we study. But, what’s unique about this project is that the press passes he used also tell that story. They just do so in a way that is unfamiliar to many. By reading his press passes and seeing where they belong, one can truly see history through the lens of a visual. This project attempts to do just that. 

1982 pass for President and First Lady Reagan’s trip to Britain.

The Passes 

Thus far in the project, I’ve catalogued all of Brokaw’s press passes in the collection. I built a searchable database to hold several pieces of information associated with the project, including the press passes themselves. The database serves as a place for collaboration among a number of us working on this project, as well as a log for deadlines, questions and ideas. The timeline will include around 150 passes, from nearly 500 different files. They include Presidential trips, sporting and pop culture events and points of war. The passes are diverse and historical. They are both unique and shared. They are history. 

At this moment in the project, the fanboy in me is entirely satisfied. Brokaw’s book Boom is what inspired me to be a journalism teacher, which in turn brought me to the place I am today. In getting to read and see his press passes, I feel that I am reliving history through Brokaw’s eyes. I’m getting to immerse myself into Nixon’s resignation, the return of Billie Jean King, the election of a number of presidents, several Olympics and a celebrity ski event. The world of history is coming alive each and every day I interact with Brokaw’s passes, and I cannot wait for you all to experience them as well. 

The Hopeful Future: An Appendix to Brokaw’s History 

Journalism is seen as the first draft of history. It is through journalistic works that we often come to know and learn about the world and the people around us. Journalism defines our collective memory. What Brokaw did was tell a draft of history that defined a generation. In some respects, I hope this project can serve as a second draft—a history of a history.  

While I’m certainly not looking to tell Brokaw’s story, or even the history of the world, through this project, it can and should serve as an opportunity to see how journalism, and its material objects, can help us more deeply understand who we were, who we are and who we may become. Brokaw’s career wrote history for the masses; my job now is to help show that. This isn’t a revision or an edit of his history, but an appendix to develop that history further.  

Posted in Collection Connection, Educational, NewsTagged elizabeth riordan, Humanities for the Public Good, Intern, journalism, obermann center, Patrick Johnson, press passes, tom brokaw3 Comments
Mar 17 2021

Brokaw Papers Capture 55 Years of Journalism History

Posted on March 17, 2021March 17, 2021 by Elizabeth Riordan

At the end of January of 2021, NBC News Anchor and Correspondent Tom Brokaw announced his retirement after a remarkable 55 years of journalism. 

Brokaw, far top left, at KMTV in Omaha, which was affiliated with NBC at the time

Brokaw started his television career right here in Iowa, working at KTIV in Sioux City. He moved on KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska and then to WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. By 1966, Brokaw joined the NBC News team reporting out of Los Angeles for KNBC. This move would launch of a long and successful career for the journalist. 

By 1973, NBC made Brokaw a White House correspondent, just in time to cover the historical Watergate scandal and follow the resignation of President Nixon. After three years, NBC made him co-host, along with Jane Pauley, of the Today Show. 

Brokaw would remain cohost of the Today Show until 1981, when he was moved to co-host Nightly News with Roger Mudd. However, Brokaw was made sole anchor a year later in September of 1983. While with Nightly News, Brokaw covered some of the largest stories of modern history, including the Challenger disaster, EDSA Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Clinton’s Impeachment, and 9/11. 

In a historic moment in journalistic history, Brokaw conducted the first one-on-one American television interviews with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a week before Gorbachev came to the United States to sign the Nuclear Arms  Reduction Treaty with President Reagan. This was the first time an American journalist interviewed a leader of the Soviet Union.

After the 2004 Presidential Elections, Brokaw stepped down as anchor of Nightly News. During his time as anchor, he had made the program the most popular news network in the United States, ranking first in the Nielsen ratings since 1996.  He stayed on as an analyst for NBC News and anchored and produced various documentaries for the network.  

Brokaw at Nightly News
Brokaw reporting at White House during Watergate

Brokaw, who turned 81 in February, is the only NBC reporter to led all three of NBC’s primary news shows: Nightly News, Today Show, and Meet the Press. Brokaw hosted Meet the Press on an interim basis after colleague and friend Tim Russert suddenly passed away in 2008. 

Now Tom Brokaw is taking the time to rest and enjoy retirement. Although, Brokaw continues to be on boards of several organizations, is still writing, and continues to work on projects for various organizations. 

In 2016, University of Iowa Libraries became home for the Tom Brokaw Papers, residing in Special Collections & Archives.  Along with the news of this retirement, Special Collections & Archives has received more items from Brokaw’s NBC office that will join the his papers and collection, continuing the story of this historic career. The items include date books, photographs from in the field as well as his time on Meet the Press, election guidebooks from the 2000s, and several records of various events and projects Brokaw was involved with. Arriving with these new materials are also 5 of Brokaw’s Emmys (he’s been nominated 39 times for an Emmy, winning 10 and receiving 1 honorary). 

The new material is being processed and will soon be open to the public. As we go through the items, though, we are reminded of the 55 years of history passing from Brokaw’s hands to ours. 

 

For more information on Brokaw’s retirement, check out the announcement from NBC

For more on the Tom Brokaw Papers: A Life & Career, check out the online finding aid from Special Collections

Posted in Collection Connection, New Acquisitions, NewsTagged archives, elizabeth riordan, NBC, retirement, tom brokaw1 Comment
Aug 22 2017

Breaking News, Brokaw Collection in Process

Posted on August 22, 2017January 14, 2019 by Elizabeth Riordan

By Elizabeth Riordan, Graduate Assistant

Woman looking at papersLast fall, Special Collections became the new home for the Tom Brokaw papers, a collection that covers the life and career of a man who was welcomed into the homes of millions of Americans through NBC Today and Nightly News. The collection contains various aspects of his life, from appointment books to photos to letters from the White House. While the collection arrived pretty well organized and in good condition, there was work that needed to be done to get it ready for public viewing.

That is where I come in. I was hired in the spring of 2017 as the Graduate Research Assistant to work on the papers of Mr. Brokaw. My job is to make sure all the materials are properly stored in archival containers, sorted for easy access, and described online in a finding aid for anyone who wishes to look.

Several people have inquired about seeing the collection and want to know when it will be open for research. Well, at this point in time I am still processing the collection. For those of you who are eager to start looking at the collection now, there is a small display of objects in Special Collections’ Reading Room. Until the whole collection is ready, I thought it would be nice to share with those interested what is happening with the collection now.

The biggest priority is getting items properly stored in acid-free folders and removing any sticky notes or rusty paperclips from the material. As I have gone through this collection, I have removed hundreds of rusty paperclips and staples that held documents together. As odd as it sounds, rust can damage more than just metal, but can harm paper material as well.

Okay, so that may not seem very glamorous, and may even sound tedious, but it is important. However, the thing I’m most proud of so far is my work with the press badges. Brokaw saved several of his press badges, some as early as the 1960s up to President Trump’s Inauguration. Many are from history-making events, like the Reagan/Gorbachev meeting. They were originally kept in a Pan-Am bag, and soon the mass of badges morphed into a tangled beast of chains and string. Because of my master skills in detangling my own necklaces at home, it only took about 5 hours to detangle the passes and put them in individually labeled bags. I get that as you read this you may think I’m crazy for being so proud of this, but let me tell you, there is nothing more satisfying than looking at these badges all nicely ordered and in place. I suppose this strange satisfaction means I’m pursuing the right occupation, right?

press badges
press badges
press badges

I just finished with correspondence, and there is a cornucopia of names within this collection from Kennedys and Bushes to Redford and Hanks. There were also several letters from people, not famous or wealthy, who wrote Brokaw about his books on the Greatest Generation. Many of them wanted to share their own personal stories about the war, glad to have someone interested in what they had to say. Needless to say I required a box of Kleenex for this portion of processing. These letters of remembrance are tinged with sadness but also pride, they are the “Greatest Generation” after all.

What I can say to you now is the collection is worth the wait. lettersThis collection will leave you in awe of what one man has seen and reported on in his lifetime, what we as a people have experienced together over the last 50 years. When Brokaw visited the University of Iowa last fall, the United States seemed to be in free-fall with recent events. I had the chance to ask him how he could keep moving forward after seeing and reporting on so much devastation and heartbreak over his expansive career. Without any hesitation, he responded that these moments of devastation are just that, moments. More importantly, he is always amazed at how human beings have the ability to bounce back and keep moving, no matter what. This reverence he has for the human spirit resonates throughout the collection, showing us where we have been as a group and where we can go moving forward.

Posted in Collection Connection, NewsTagged elizabeth riordan, tom brokaw
Calamity Jane
Jul 26 2017

Historically Yours Podcast Ep. 6: Calamity Jane’s Death with Elizabeth Riordan

Posted on July 26, 2017January 29, 2021 by Colleen Theisen

Calamity JaneThe sixth episode of Historically Yours is here and this time we’re joined by Graduate Assistant Elizabeth Riordan.

For this episode, Liz recalls her Wild West phase as a child and reads a letter from a train conductor in South Dakota looking back years later and telling the tale of meeting “bundle of rags” Calamity Jane the week of her death, and carrying her off the train.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Know anything more about this letter?

Type in the comments, email us colleen-theisen@uiowa.edu or write to us:

Colleen Theisen

Special Collections

100 Main Library

Iowa City, IA 52242

 

Download this episode (right click and save)

Subscribe on iTunes

 

 

Alliance Nebr .June 22nd 1929.

Mr. Edwin L. Sabin.

La Jolia. California.

Dear Mr Sabin.

In reply to your favor of June 13th. will say, I did tell our friend some time ago of Calamity Jane and having carried her from the tratn at Terry S. Dak. The date was Aug 2d 1903, and I will give you the facts as I have them on my memory.

About July 15th I was standing on the siding at Englewood S. Dak. Waiting for the South bound Passenger from Deadwood, It came in on the opoaite track and stood beside the Eng I was running and I saw Calamity in one of the coaches and ask her whare she was going, and her reply was I am making the rounds of the hill towns for the last time and am going to cash in, she was bound for hot Springs, and went from thare to Buffalo Gap Rappid City Sturgis White Wood Bell Fourch, And about the Latter part of July Showed up at Spearfish, and on the Morning of Aug 3rd came to the traine just before leaving time, I had quite A long conversation with her In which she againe informed me she would not live long and said she3 was ready to go, we put her on the traine and when we arived at Terry S. D. I ask the Conductor if she was not getting off thare, he informed me he was not sure but she had passed in as she suggested at Spearfish, While the crew were unloading the Freight I went to the Coach and Awakened her as she had been drinking verry heavily while in Spearfish and had not eaten much. She stoped with Jack Kingsley who was a Saloon Keeper thaer and had known her since coming to the HIlls in 76. And had a verry kindly feeling for her. After I got her onnher feat she seemed to take new life but i was compleled to carry her from the tratn and asisted her to the trail that led down the hill to the town she tyrned and Thanked me and said good by Kid and that was the last time I saw her alive as she died before we left Deadwood ao our return trip tp Spearfish the time was about I.P.M. I think. She was both drunk and sick and I will alwas remwmber she was verry frail and was A bundle of rags and filth, but was loved by manny of the old timer who gave her the best burial the town could aford, and had the largest funeral I had ever sean in Deadwood.

I have wondered what interest you had in our old friend Calamity, let me here from tou againe I am curious. M hoping this is the information you wanted.

I am yours verry sincerely.

S.G. Tillett

Posted in EducationalTagged calamity jane, elizabeth riordan, historically yours, podcast

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