“Nothing at all to say” and Other Messages from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection

– contributed by Samantha Hurst, Kent State University graduate student in the Master of Library and Information Science program.

This spring semester, I was fortunate to be able to intern for CCHP. I had the opportunity to work on a variety of digital projects that I was able to contribute to from home. One of these was creating metadata for pieces in the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection. I got to work on the cards in the category “Interesting Messages, Handwriting” which feature cards with handwritten messages on the back that the original collector, Dr. Campbell, found unique. While pouring over these cards and trying to decipher every scrawled cursive letter, I found myself getting lost in their messages, in the wording and other ways in which people chose to express themselves within the confines of a 3×5-inch piece of paper, as well as the imagined meanings in between the lines, the words left unsaid. A few in particular stood out to me:

One card from 1958 carries a message written in a spiral instead of from left to right. The words look like a vortex swirling in on itself, with the text reading “Phil, this is how things have been going the past two days.” The author seems to be alluding to the feeling of being in New York City, which she describes as being nothing like the tranquil scene of Central Park depicted on the front of the card. 

Front of a 1958 postcard of New York City from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_002)

Back of 1958 postcard of New York City from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection. Personal address removed (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_002)

One card written in 1978 feels like it was taken from the middle of an argument, with the writer, Sue saying: “It isn’t I don’t have the time. I just don’t think that I have the mental ability to make decisions.” She goes on to talk about her husband falling and hurting his back in the bath tub the day before, but somehow I feel like her husband’s back is the least of Sue’s problems.

Front of a 1978 postcard of a painting titled “Roman Ruins” by Pannini from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_006)

Back of a 1978 postcard of a painting titled “Roman Ruins” by Pannini from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection. Personal address removed (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_006)

Another card, written in 1917, during the height of World War One, is written by a young man to his uncle, telling him that he’s joined the Navy, saying “[I] like it fine. I eat on the ground and do my own washing. It is a new experience.” A synopsis of Navy life during that period that I have to imagine is leaving out some less savory details.

Front of a 1917 postcard featuring a group of men heading to war from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection. Personal address removed (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_033)

Back of a 1917 postcard featuring a group of men heading to war from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_033)

One of my favorite postcards might be the one that I found the most confounding. A card in which the message on the back simply reads “nothing at all to say” signed “PAT.” A message carrying virtually no meaning to anyone other than perhaps Clarence Korn, who received the card in January of 1915.

Front of a 1915 cartoon postcard from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_057)

Back of a 1915 cartoon postcard from the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection Personal address removed (Interesting Messages, Handwriting binder, IntMsgHwrtg_057)

Written on a simple black and white card, the front image depicting a cartoon of a child writing a post card and a short poem expressing the feeling of wanting to send a postcard to a friend when a letter isn’t necessary. Virtually everything about this postcard feels completely superfluous in a way that genuinely took me aback when I first saw it. Pat seems to have just sent Clarence a postcard about writing a postcard with no other message beyond “here is a postcard.” Was there some secret meaning to this act? Was there a private joke between the two of them? Was this card in response to something Clarence said or did to Pat? It reminded me of the act of sending a friend a random picture with no explanation, or even the now seemingly ancient Facebook “poke” function, designed to get your friend’s attention for no specific reason. All just random acts that say “I may not have anything to say, but I still want you to know I’m here.”

These postcards are so fascinating to me because they are essentially just pieces of paper, designed for advertising more than anything else, but they have the power to contain such heavy sentiment in such a small space. Although the full contexts of all of these messages have been lost to history, the feelings that they evoke are extremely familiar. We often think of people from the past as being very different from us, but if nothing else, the David P. Campbell Postcard Collection can teach us that in some ways, people never seem to change. The way we talk to friends and family can often be humorous or contentious. We often leave out the more painful details in order to spare someone’s feelings, or keep loved ones from worrying. We often don’t have anything particularly important to say, but want to keep in touch with people anyway, just for the sake of it.

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Know Thyself

~ contributed by Nicole Orchosky based on her Capstone project for completion of the Museums & Archives Studies certificate. Know Thyself serves as an intro to an online exhibition Nicole has also prepared.

Toward the end of the 1700s, a young Franz Joseph Gall sat in a schoolroom and glanced around at his fellow classmates. Gall caught on to a trend that fascinated him–he noticed that the students with excellent memorization skills often had prominent eyes and large foreheads. This discovery led Gall to hypothesize that the physical structure of one’s head may correspond to one’s personality traits in consistent and predictable ways. As Gall grew older he began to lecture on the subject, he expanded his theory into the science of phrenology, which quickly gained traction in Europe before spreading overseas to America by way of Gall’s own student Johann Kaspar Spurzheim [1]. 

Franz Joseph Gall, credited as the creator of phrenology.
Image credit: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Smithsonian Institution. “Smithsonian Learning Lab Resource: Franz Joseph Gall 1758-1828).” Smithsonian Learning Lab, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, 25 Nov. 2016.

Phrenology, now considered pseudoscience, was widely popular in the 19th century among the general public as a way to make sense of human behavior. Middle class Americans were drawn to phrenology as one may be drawn to the predictions of astrological horoscope. They took comfort in the notion that something as unpredictable and subjective as the human psyche could now be quantified by a series of cranial measurements. The skull was divided into regions called “organs,” and the physical measurement of an organ would determine if you exhibited more or less of the personality trait corresponding to that organ. Gall theorized that the more developed the trait, the larger the organ, and the larger a protrusion it formed in the skull [1].

Phrenological bust from Fowler and Wells’ Phrenological Cabinet showing the “organs” of the brain and labelled with corresponding characteristics. Visit the National Museum of Psychology to see a phrenological bust up close.
Image credit: National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. “Smithsonian Learning Lab Resource: Phrenology, By L. N. Fowler.” Smithsonian Learning Lab. 29 Jan. 2020. Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access. 06 Dec. 2020.

As soon as brothers Orson and Lorenzo Fowler learned of the theory from visiting lecturer Spurzheim, they turned Phrenology into their life’s passion and joined with fellow phrenological enthusiast Samuel R. Wells to establish America’s most prominent phrenological hub, The Phrenological Cabinet in New York City [2]. The storefront functioned as a museum, medical office, and publishing house all in one. Busts, both real and replica skulls, and phrenological diagrams and literature were displayed and sold here. Anyone could walk in and have their own skull measured and examined to gain a better sense of self as well as discover ways in which they could correct their negative behaviors. Magazines like The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated were published and distributed here, including writings by the Fowlers themselves, who spent much of their time lecturing about their theories all over the country.

Samuel R. Wells, Charlotte Fowler Wells, and Lorenzo N. Fowler stand in the doorway of S.R. Wells & Co., The Phrenological Cabinet, with two other men.
Image credit: Fowler and Wells families papers, #97. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

While the Fowlers gallivanted around America on lengthy lecture tours, who was left to take care of the family business? Samuel R. Wells oversaw the publishing side of The Phrenological Cabinet, but it was primarily the three men’s wives who took on the managerial and sometimes medical responsibilities within the office. Phrenology allowed women a sense of autonomy by allowing them a better understanding of their own mind and body, and for many women phrenology was a socially acceptable entry point to begin to seek out scientific knowledge.  Abigail Fowler-Chumos, wife of Orson Fowler, became “Orson’s business manager, property manager, publisher, and phrenologist-in-training” [3]. Charlotte Fowler Wells, wife of Samuel Wells and sister to the Fowlers, “was the firm’s longstanding and highly respected business manager” and was even known as the “Mother of Phrenology” [3]. Lydia Fowler Wells, wife of Lorenzo Fowler, “was the second woman to receive an M.D. in the USA, after [British] Elizabeth Blackwell,” making her the first American woman to receive an M.D. [4]. When it came to the business of phrenology, middle-class American women were not only the number one consumers; they ran the show. 

Lydia Folger Fowler, M. D, was the first American female doctor of medicine. She was also the first female professor at an American medical college.
Image credit: “The Late Mrs. Lydia F. Fowler, M. D.” Wheaton College, c. 1880. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lydia_Folger_Fowler.jpg#metadata

During the Civil War, women stepped up to run their households in their husbands’ absences. Women were not about to let go of their newfound autonomy during the following Gilded Age, and phrenology was one of the earliest scientific fields in which women could practice and participate. You would be surprised to learn how progressive the Fowlers were as they “combined the business of phrenology with the work of reform, linking the science to temperance, dress reform, diet reform, water-cure and women’s rights” [4]. 

You can learn more about phrenology and women’s role in the field in the “Know Thyself” virtual exhibition.

Thirteen complete issues of The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated are now available as digital editions of the Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr. Popular Psychology Magazine Collection.

Sources Used:

1. Morse, Minna Scherlinder. “Facing a Bumpy History,” Smithsonian Magazine, 1997 Oct. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/facing-a-bumpy-history-144497373/
2. “Orson S. Fowler,” The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated, Vol. 84-85, pp. 196-198. 
3. Lilleleht, Erica. “‘Assuming the Privilege’ of Bridging Divides,” History of Psychology, vol. 18, no. 4, 2015, pp. 414-432.
4. Bittel, Carla. “Woman, Know Thyself: Producing and Using Phrenological Knowledge in 19th-Century America,” Centaurus, 19 April 2014, pp. 104-130.

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Will-o’-the-Wispé

~ contributed by Jodi Kearns & Abigail Williamson; Abby is a University of Akron history major who worked with the Wispé collection for her Museums & Archives Studies certificate Capstone Experience.

In the early 1950s, Lauren G. Wispé set out to study social and psychological factors associated with eminence in the field of psychology by analyzing selected psychologists’ responses to a 12-page questionnaire asking about family, early education, and socioeconomic backgrounds. If you want to read Wispé’s results, have a look at Traits of Eminent American Psychologists published in Science in 1963.

The Cummings Center has a small collection of the returned questionnaires, which have some coding marks from the data analysis, and no additional research materials.

Some of the questions ask about parents’ ages at the psychologist’s birth, parents’ professions, and family members’ achieved levels of education. Questions cover work experience, mentors and influences, promising students, and prominent research and publications. The collection is a trove of eminent psychologist autobiography and self-awareness.

Even one seemingly simple question opens a rabbit hole one can fall into for hours, such as the question, Have there been any handicaps or factors which have interferred [sic] with your career?

Some wrote that there were financial factors interfering with their careers:

^{Henry Edward Garrett}

^{Chauncey McKinley Louttit}

^{Floyd L Ruch}

Some interfering factors were physical health:

^{Roger Garlock Barker}

^{Arnold L Gesell}

^{Gardner Murphy}

Some factors were matters of personality and mental health:

^{Floyd Allport}

^{Donald George Marquis}

Writer’s block:

^{Dale Benner Harris}

Mediocre conversationalist:

^{Stanley Smith Stevens}

Unattractiveness:

^{Mitchell Dreese}

Insufficient education was quite a common factor:

^{Charles William Bray}

^{Donald Wallace MacKinnon}

^{Walter Richard Miles}

Cultural handicaps? Absolutely.

^{Samuel Weiller Fernberger}

^{George Wilfred Hartman}

^{David Krech}

^{Lawrence S Rogers}

^{Max Wertheimer}

Too many assigned administrative responsibilities? Of course.

^{Carl I Hovland}

^{Clifford Thomas Morgan}

Some psychologists listed many factors:

^{Harold Mowbray Hildreth}

^{Abraham Harold Maslow}

^{Lewis Madison Terman}

^{Robert Mearns Yerkes}

And many fortunate fellows had none:

^{Gordon W Allport}

^{Harry Frederick Harlow}

^{Laurance Frederic Shaffer}

^{Burrhus Frederic Skinner}

^{Donald Edwin Super}

And then there are these mid-20th Century vaguebookers:

^{Louis Leon Thurstone}

^{William Clark Trow}

^{George Richard Wendt}

The Wispé questionnaires are both a chronical of self and a database of whimsy, which hold innumerable research projects and social media posts. We’re investigating the best way to make these digitized surveys and transcriptions fully available to you, while we await the time-consuming completion of the project.

Want to read what E.G. Boring wrote about E.B. Tichener being “adequate” and that Harry Harlow found his professors “moderately competent?” Want to read how E. C. Tolman named David Krech as an outstanding student and Krech listed Tolman as an academic mentor?

This collection has the tea, in psychologists’ own handwriting, and we’re excited to spill.

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What Do Your Ears Say About You?

–contributed by Nicole Orchosky, University of Akron student in the Museums & Archives Certificate Program. Nicole is completing her capstone at the CCHP.

You may be thinking, “nothing!” but an article in The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated argues that your ears say more about you than you ever could have guessed.

Phrenology is defined as, “the study of the conformation of the skull based on the belief that it is indicative of mental faculties and character”[1]. Phrenology begs the question, can all aspects of one’s personality be correctly determined based merely on the shape and appearance of one’s skull and its subtle lumps, bumps, and indentations?

Cover of The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated, Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan 1875. The illustration of the profile of a man’s head pictured on the journal’s cover depicts the phrenological theory that the skull can be divided into sections, and that the physical appearance of these sections directly corresponds with certain traits, e.g. memory, language, self-esteem, or benevolence.

The article “Our Ears—And Their Significance” makes the bold claim that the shape and general appearance of the ear is a strong indicator of one’s demeanor. The ear can be described by three of six basic variables: large or small, regular or irregular, and projecting or close. The article asserts that large ears indicate gentleness, tractability, docility, and teachableness. Those with small ears are conversely more authoritative and less susceptible to “being bossed.”[2] Irregular ears, those with less smooth, defined edges, denote irregularity or eccentricity in one’s mental faculties, while regular ears suggest a regularity and uniformity in character. Finally, projecting ears indicate that the subject is harmless, while ears set close and flat to the head indicate destructiveness or combativeness.

Of course, an illustrated journal cannot be complete without illustrations to accompany its claims. “Our Ears—And Their Significance” is supplemented by several (somewhat exaggerated) depictions of differently shaped ears and what they reveal about their wearers. The following are a few examples.

Here, a subject with large, regular, projected ears is assumed to be calm and steady in demeanor.

Perhaps the most average in appearance, this man with medium-sized, smooth ears is assumed to be well-balanced.

This man with small, irregular, closely cropped ears is thought to be mean and inquisitive.

Finally, this man described as a “smashed subject” has large, irregular ears. According to the article, one may expect him to be docile but eccentric.

Thirteen complete issues of The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated will be made available as a digital editions of the Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr. Popular Psychology Magazine Collection by December 2020.

Sources Used:

1. “Phrenology.” Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phrenology
2. “Our Ears—And Their Significance.” The Phrenological and Life Illustrated, Vol. 2, No. 1. Jan 1875. Pp. 17-29.

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Digitizing the Walter R Miles Film Collection

contributed by Brittany Hujar – Intern at the CCHP.

As a graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Library and Information Science, I knew I wanted to concentrate on the digital aspect of preservation. I have always been attracted to history and the act of preserving it; my other master’s degree is in Art History. In the digital era, we see media that is being developed to help progress the institutions of archives, while other media are dying out. I think it is important for archivists and historians to be aware of the importance of digital preservation to preserve the mediums that have the potential of becoming lost, damaged, or obsolete. When I decided to intern at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP) I was excited to delve into their film and photograph collection. This was my chance to be hands on with the material and the digitization process.

With older audio/visual materials, it is important to digitize and migrate this media into a digital format. At my internship, I am digitizing Walter Miles’ films. Walter Miles was an American psychologist. His collection came to the CCHP in August of 1982, and his extensive collection (with a finding aid of 777 pages!) covers his work from 1928 to 1965. I have digitized about 20 of his films in the collection, which focus on his work between 1928 and 1957, including his development of the two-story rat maze, patient examinations, and home movies from this time spent in Istanbul.

The goal of digitizing this collection is not only to preserve the quality of the film, but also to increase public access. Some of Miles’ films have already been digitized, but our original telecine could only scan at a resolution rate of 1024 by 768. In the 1990s and 2000s this scan resolution would have been fine, due to most televisions and computer monitors not having a very high resolution. Now, with a Cintel Backmagic film scanner, we can scan the film at very high resolutions. 2304 x 1712 for 16mm film and 3840 x 2160 for 35mm film. Many smaller institutions don’t have access to scanner of this type so they have to send film out to be digitized.The CCHP has the only Cintel Blackmagic scanner in Summit County. The machine is able to scan 16mm, Super-16mm, 35mm and Super-35mm film. So far, I have had the pleasure to work with 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm film.

The first step in the digitization process is to inspect and “clean” the film. One thing that you wouldn’t expect from film sitting in a container all the time is that it would be dusty. We use white gloves to make sure not to get our grubby hands on the frame and smudge the film. It is important to inspect the film by checking for any shrinkage and to make sure that the splices are in good condition. Film that is not kept in proper conditions falls victim to different elements that can damage the film, such as shrinkage and vinegar syndrome. Vinegar syndrome occurs when the film starts to deteriorate and a chemical reaction happens, producing a vinegar odor. Luckily, the Miles films have been kept in excellent condition with only a few that needed resplicing or shrinkage.

A splice is where two films have been taped together, either due to film editing or damage. If a splice is not repaired in the inspection process the likelihood of breaking when the film is run through the scanner increases.

All of the Miles films are 16mm silent films in black and white and color. After inspecting the film, I then load it onto a film scanner and run it at 11 frames per second. The amount of time each film takes to scan depends on the length of the film. I try to inspect a film while one was being scanned, but sometimes the content of each film was interesting to watch, so that wasn’t always the case. The film scanner captures each frame as its own high-resolution image and imports into the program DaVinci Resolve. After the entire film is captured, I then export it to our media drive.

The process is straight forward but intricate. However, it is an important one for the preservation of audio/visual materials. It’s a process that takes time, care, and knowledge.

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Hower we really seeing History? My Experience as an Intern at Hower House

~ contributed by Janos Jalics, Museums & Archives Studies student at the University of Akron completing a Capstone project at Hower House Museum under the supervision of Linda Bussey, HHM Director, and under faculty advisement of Dr. Greg Wilson, Department of History

Yes, that is a lame pun for history, but I thought the question was a great place to start. Everyone has heard of the armchair historian, the man or woman who sees history in a book and has multiple years’ worth of hindsight to any event they read about. For instance, it is far easier to say today that the Nazis would fail to invade the USSR today than to say that in 1941. The German Army was considered nearly invincible with their rapid conquests and the Soviet Army was considered pathetic for failing to defeat Finland in a month. For many years, I hoped to break away from this stereotype by seeing history in person, grabbing a perspective that is too absent from the perspective of that comfortable armchair.  

My first real chance to see history in person was when my dad took my sister and I to Europe for the second time. We visited Rome, Budapest, and London over the next three weeks. I was awed by such notable artifacts as the Appian Way, the Colosseum, the Battersea Shield, Buda Castle, etc. You never know what it is like to see the culture or civilization you read about until you see it in person, making this vacation a historian’s mad dash for a reunion with cousins that he/she never met. This experience pushed me to always visit a city’s nearest museum when on vacation just to acquire a new understanding of history and that is what got me to an internship at Hower House. 

I came to Hower House as a Junior History Major looking for an internship. I did not know too much about local history and I needed valuable experience in my field. Visiting the historic home and museum showed me just how powerful and influential the Howers were in Akron’s history. It showed me an experience with local history that I had only had with U.S. or world history before then aside from the Perkins Mansion. A year later, I got the internship to fulfill requirements of my Museums and Archives Studies Certificate. Every day since the start of this internship, I entered books from the museum’s collection into the database, helping to preserve them and make them more available to the public. Entering the books has been somewhat tedious since the process rarely changes, if ever. However, the chance to see history as it was always makes the story behind any given event quite rewarding.

One particular book interested me: Daring Twins by Lyman Frank Baum. I googled the author just like I had done with several of the authors in the collection because his name sounded strangely familiar.

Lyman Frank Baum, c1899, age 43

My next visit to the place was welcomed with Linda showing me a copy of Baum’s Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes.

Hower House Museum copy of Mother Goose in Prose, published 1897 in Chicago

The author had signed the copy when the Hower Family visited him in Chicago.

Inscription from Mr. Baum to
“To my young friend
Master Hower
With compliments and good
wishes of the Author
L. Frank Baum
Chicago 1898″

I realized that this made the Howers so influential that they got a copy of Baum’s book decades before he became famous.

L. Frank Baum’s “Young friend, Master Hower”
John Bruot Hower
son of Milton Otis and Blanche Bruot Howard
11 years old in 1903

Understanding local history suddenly became that much more meaningful to me. I hope to have many more similar experiences as an intern for the Hower House. 

The Hower House Museum is open to the public, so check out their website for open hours, guided tours, and other events. Or email howerhouse@uakron.edu if you have a reference or research question.

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Creativity? There’s a Test for That!

-contributed by Ace Harrah.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ace, and I’m a new intern here at CCHP. I’m the youngest intern here yet, being only 17 years old, which means that I’m still in high school. I have Bio-Med Science Academy to thank for the pleasure of being able to work with all of the wonderful people on staff here while still pursuing my diploma. I’m excited to share everything I’ve learned with you all!

My current project is researching psychologists who specialized in creativity. As you can imagine, this is a wide subject that requires a very niche interest to start researching. After all, what is creativity? How do you study such an abstract topic? I don’t have an answer to any of that, but I certainly can share what I’ve learned so far!

When I first started my research in our collections database, there was one name that kept popping up wherever I went: E. Paul Torrance. I’ve learned since then that Torrance was a psychologist who focused his studies on the creativity of children and looked to enhance the academic lives of the creative student. He felt that schools disregarded most of the students who were creatively gifted over students who are intellectually different. The main issue, he found, was that there was no way for schools to quantify a student’s inherent creative ability. Thus, he created the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), a standardized test that looked to objectively measure the creative potential of a child.

 

Now, how does someone “grade” another’s capacity for creativity? After all, creativity is mostly immeasurable, right? Well, the TTCT supplies test subjects (or “pupils,” as the scoring sheet calls them) with different figures to build off of. The ambiguity (or lack thereof) in the shapes provides challenges for test takers and gives them an opportunity to create something entirely new with minimal constraints.

Torrance’s tests are still used today, although they are much more popular in Europe than here in the US. As a creator myself, I am personally a bit skeptical about how accurate Torrance’s tests really can be to measure one’s creativity. I think that creativity relies strongly on outside variables rather than one’s own innate ability. 

As a side thought, is creativity really something we should try to quantify? Being told at a young age that you aren’t especially creative could deter individuals from pursuing artistic education, even later in their life. Perhaps creativity is something you learn through practice. Sure, some people are born athletes, but does that mean everyone else should give up on making the team? That’s one of the best things about humans: we adapt.

What would you create based off of this image?

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Dr. Boder and the Missing Songs

Contributed by Jon Endres

In my job as the main media digitization person here at the Cummings Center, I have the opportunity to hear and see things that sometimes have not been seen or heard in decades or longer. This is one of my favorite aspects of the job – outside of being able to actively do a service for the study of history – and sometimes we find things that we did not know we had, or even existed.

My most recent project involved digitizing audio recordings from wire spools. On these spools,  Dr. David Pablo Boder recorded fascinating things, from interviews with people displaced by the 1951 Kansas City Flood to speeches and radio programs.

The three boxes of spools in the AHAP collection

Boder’s most famous work was done in 1946 when he traveled across Germany, Italy, France, and Switzerland and collected interviews with displaced persons–many of them Holocaust survivors–in the aftermath of World War II. Most of the recordings were uncovered in the late 1990s between the Library of Congress and the Illinois Institute of Technology, spurring much interest in Boder’s work.

From a 16mm film of Boder in Germany

There was one wire spool that was never found, being referenced in his work but not found in the various Boder collections. This spool was of Jewish songs from a displaced persons camp in Henonville, France.

As I went through the three boxes of spools that we have at the archives I began to take stock of what we knew we had on spools versus what we had no idea about. Among these “confused” wire spools was the one below.

 

The spool above had been erroneously entered into the finding aid as “Heroville Songs” when the collection was originally processed in the 1960s. It did not take me long to realize that the tin says “Henonville? Songs.” But this was no guarantee that this was the content on the spool. Even the tin itself seemed a bit unsure about its own content.

It took me a few days to get comfortable enough with the medium to put the Henonville Songs on to digitize – these are very fragile and I did not want to risk destroying history – but when I did I was blown away.

These are the missing songs Boder recorded from those survivors, recorded more than 60 years ago. The feeling of knowing what I had found and the understanding that I was  listening to something few before me had heard was a very different and personal thing for me. It felt like I was helping in some way to bring these voices to the present, voices that had become somewhat lost to the historical record.

The discovery of this single canister holding a lost recording means that  these songs can be heard again, they can be studied, and they can inform us in a new way about the experiences, the joys, and the frustrations of these displaced persons.

Below are several samples from the Henonville Songs spool. Please give them a listen, they’ve been waiting a long time.

Dr. Boder’s Introduction: Song Clip 1:Song Clip 2:Song Clip 3:

[Note: If you’re interested in hearing or using Boder’s work for research, please contact us at ahap@uakron.edu.]

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Student Project makes Psychology Journals Accessible

–Contributed by Christina Gaydos, Kent State Library and Information Science practicum student.

As part of my 150 hours at the CCHP as a practicum student, I participated in several cataloging and related projects. One of the last projects is my work with the journal collection housed here at the Archives. The Cummings Center journal collection contains a number of psychology journals, dating from the late 19^th century to the present. The journals cover a variety of topics in psychology, the natural sciences, and related fields.

I participated in a small digitization project with the Cummings Center Digital Projects Manager, Jodi Kearns, to create the Psychology and Natural Sciences Journal Collection, which visitors of the Archives online repository can now access thorough the “Books and Journal” collections. Three goals of the project were to [1] bring attention to a small section of the collection, [2] begin to make this part of the collection searchable and accessible for anyone interested, and [3] help me learn a new skill in digitization and continue to practice my cataloging skills. Visitors can locate the Psychology and Natural Sciences Journal Collection under Books and Journals  at the CCHP digital repository.

Initially, I selected a variety of interesting journal titles to catalog and upload to Sierra, the integrated library system (ILS), a computer program that allows the archives employees to access, search for and locate materials within their collection. In order for a book, CD, movie, manuscript, puzzle, videogame, journal, box, etc to be searched for, the item in question must have its metadata — a set of data that describes and gives information about other data: the title, author, barcode number and more—added to the ILS so it can be found. This is where I come in. In the simplest of terms– to start, I created a record with the corresponding metadata for each journal, then uploaded it to Sierra. Next, Jodi showed me how to scan the journal’s front cover and content page into digital files. Finally, I created new records within ContentDM, the program used to get Sierra’s records onto the web for the public to use and search for items with the Psychology Archives. This includes the digital thumbnails of the journal cover and all of the corresponding information one might try to search for when looking for an item.

Cataloging is one of the lesser known jobs of libraries and museums, but absolutely crucial for patrons of such institutions to find information or items within their collections. I cataloged a small portion of the journal collection, and hopefully in the near future, the remaining part of the collection will also be added.

Christina Gaydos is a Kent State Library and Information Science student completing a Spring practicum here at the Archives, and will be graduating in May 2016. Her focus has been on cataloging, assisting in cataloging print and manuscript collections, amongst other projects, including work with ContentDM. Christina will begin work as a Catalog Librarian for the Toledo Lucas County Public Library in May 2016.

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Manners! Who needs Manners?

Contributed by Christina Gaydos.  Christina is a Kent State Library and Information Science student, completing her Spring practicum before graduation in May 2016. Christina is focusing on cataloging, assisting in cataloging print and manuscript collections, among other projects, including ContentDM.

Etiquette. The customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group. AKA Manners. For a two year old, two phrases that often appear in our tiny memory banks of phrases are “Please” and “Thank you”. Manners and polite behavior, generally, were instilled upon us by our parents at an early age, so that by adulthood, we could use these skills without thinking. This training is not new, and will–fingers crossed–continue into the future. A small price to pay for continued civility within our society, right?

Now, take a step back in time with me. Manners and etiquette have not always been this cut and dry: Please and Thank you. Holding a door open. Inside voices. Sharing. Exchange of pleasantries. While cataloging a number of items from the CCHP print collection, I came across a large number of etiquette books for men, women and children. Etiquette books, really? Flip one open and you will quickly see just how complex being a polite member of society would have been some 100 or so years ago!

I am providing three interesting examples of etiquette books. The first is solely for the polite gentlemen, the second an educational read for boys and girls, and the third for both men and women alike. Be sure to look over the table of contents to see the many ways in which correct etiquette could be applied to your lives!

[1] The gentlemen’s book of etiquette and manual of politeness, being a complete guide for a gentleman’s conduct in all his relations towards society—Containing Rules for the etiquette to be observed in the street, at table, in the ballroom, evening party, and morning call, with full directions for polite correspondence, dress, conversation, manly exercises, and accomplishments. From the best French, English, and American authorities— by Cecil B. Hartley

Published: 1860

 

Yes, this is the whole title! As the Introduction will so kindly point out, gentlemen in society must effortlessly be able to assess a situation and conduct themselves accordingly– “To make your politeness part of yourself, inseparable from every action, is the height of gentlemanly elegance and finish manner” (p.4). For those of you who are curious, “manly exercises” include maintaining one’s health through riding [horses], driving, boxing, sailing, hunting, skating and cricket.

 

[2] A book for boys and girls; Our business boys / by Rev. F.E. Clark. Art of good manners / by Mrs. S.D. Powers. Business openings for girls / By Sallie Joy White

Published: 1884, 1895

 

Composed of three booklets written in an “instructive and entertaining way” to educate children on proper etiquette, our particular copy was a Christmas present to a “Clarence” From Aunt Leola Xmas 1924. Cannot help but feel overwhelming disappointment at this Christmas gift—or was our little Clarence that much of a trouble maker? We will never know!

 

 

[3] Book of Etiquette Volume I and II By Lillian Eichler

Published: 1921, 1923

 

The first thing you will notice with these volumes is the extent to which they go into detail on every aspect of important doings in society. Seemingly endless ways to subdivide proper etiquette from Dress to Traveling, Weddings to Invitations. One of the authors actually notes how ridiculous some of the codes of etiquette have become. She uses the example of a gentlemen about to save a drowning man, but upon realizing he has not been formally introduced, he continues on– leaving the man to drown, happy to have avoid a social faux pas.

The overarching goal of etiquette in these volumes, was the same– good manners and etiquette are important because they improve everyone’s quality of life and create a more polite environment. A nod to all those lovely ladies on PBS’s Downton Abbey, I certainly would have given up a long time ago.

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