Art in the Archives: Works Presented for the First Time</h1> <article> <h1>Art in the Archives: Works Presented for the First Time</h1> <p>anagy — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 18:40:59 +0000</p> <span>Art in the Archives: Works Presented for the First Time</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-02-01T13:40:59-05:00" title="Monday, February 1, 2021 - 13:40">Mon, 02/01/2021 - 13:40</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>While archives are not museums, they are often the keepers of visual works considered of enduring historical value to their institutions. <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/archives/exhibitions/art-in-the-archives-of-oberlin-college"><em>Art in the Archives of 91ֱ�� College</em></a>, published in January 2021, showcases artworks and textiles with deep stories informing 91ֱ��’s rich history, of early post-secondary coeducation and the admission of Black students, antislavery, education in Asia, leadership in world affairs after World War I, an eclectic and notable built environment, and excellence in teaching and learning on campus. With one exception, a public sculpture, the works featured are housed in the college archives. </p> <p>The chapters in the exhibit include Architecture in Visual Works, Drawings and Prints, Paintings, Photographic Objects, Sculpture, and Textiles. Many of the works had never been presented in an exhibit before; three were recent accessions. One example of a recent gift is an embroidered Chinese robe received in January 2020. It is emblematic of the College’s long and continuing history of involvement in Asia. It was a gift from H. H. Kung to the executive secretary of the 91ֱ�� Shansi Memorial Association (OSMA) in the 1950s. Kung received his early education from 91ֱ�� missionaries in Shanxi Province, China, just prior to the Boxer Rebellion. He came to 91ֱ�� for his bachelor’s, and went to Yale for a master's in economics. After 20 years as principal of the 91ֱ�� schools in Shanxi, he served in the highest positions of government and finance in China from 1928 to 1939, continuing his close relationship with OSMA in China and at 91ֱ��. </p> <figure class="captioned-image"> <figcaption>A women's embroidered silk robe given to Margaret Leonard, executive secretary of the 91ֱ�� Shansi Memorial Association, by Hsiang-hsi Kung (1881-1967), an 91ֱ�� graduate who went on to hold top administrative positions in the government of the Republic of China. <br> Photo credit: Courtesy of 91ֱ�� College Archives</figcaption> </figure> <p>Another notable work with international significance in the textiles section of the exhibit is a gift from the Emir Faisal of the Arab Kingdom of Syria to 91ֱ��’s president, Henry Churchill King. Woodrow Wilson had appointed King as a co-leader of the King-Crane Commission in the Middle and Near East just after World War I. The Commission was charged with gathering petitions for self-governance from the peoples of the former Ottoman Empire to present at the Paris Peace Conference. The two garments, given by a daughter of Henry Churchill King, 91ֱ��’s president, were worn at a feast given for the Commission by Prince Faisal at his home outside Damascus. These fragile garments cannot be exhibited in an open library space, given the lack of adequate security and the special exhibit furniture and lighting they would require. This is a case in which the Archives holds unique materials that can only be exhibited in a museum setting, or online. The garments and many other works in the virtual exhibit were treated by the Intermuseum Conservation Association in Cleveland between 2008 and 2020 with endowed funds. </p> <p>With this new virtual exhibit we hope to engage college and other visitors in exploring artworks with significant back stories that inform 91ֱ��’s history. When the campus is fully open again, we can draw on the virtual exhibition to develop physical installations, with iPads for visitors to access <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/archives/exhibitions/art-in-the-archives-of-oberlin-college"><em>Art in the Archives of 91ֱ�� College</em></a>. </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-02-01T12:00:00Z">Mon, 02/01/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Anne Salsich, associate archivist, 91ֱ�� College Archives</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When 91ֱ�� College moved to remote learning in March of 2020 in response to COVID-19, the 91ֱ�� College Archives staff was required to identify and work on projects for remote work on short notice. As the associate archivist, my work primarily entails processing collections, managing the digital archive and the finding guide delivery database, and creating digital exhibits and collections. With remote access to the digital archive, I had an opportunity to create a new virtual exhibit from home. </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2578">Art Exhibition</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3449">91ֱ�� College Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">A bronze bust of Lucy Stone, an 1847 graduate and women's rights pioneer. The sculpture is housed in the Archives and Special Collections Goodrich Room.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of 91ֱ�� College Archives</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>A Jazz Legend Returns to the Road</h1> <p>eburnett — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 13:21:57 +0000</p> <span>A Jazz Legend Returns to the Road</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-06-09T09:21:57-04:00" title="Tuesday, June 9, 2020 - 09:21">Tue, 06/09/2020 - 09:21</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A one-of-a-kind exhibition created by the 91ֱ�� Conservatory library tells the story of one of the most prolific jazz musicians of the 20th century: concert performer and session man Milt Hinton, whose seven-decade career intersected with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie and Cab Calloway to Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney.</p> <p><em>Playing the Changes: The Life and Legacy of Milt Hinton</em> initially appeared at 91ֱ�� and in several northern Ohio venues, including the Cleveland Public Library. It is now on the road for a tour of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the United States that will extend beyond 2021.</p> <p>A standout bassist, Hinton was also a talented photographer who captured thousands of unguarded moments with his fellow musicians on the road and in the studio, as well as rare glimpses of the segregation faced by black Americans early in his touring career.</p> <p>In 2014, 91ֱ�� established a relationship with the Hinton estate that included the transfer to 91ֱ�� of four prized basses and countless other artifacts—financial records, correspondence, datebooks, and more—amassed by Hinton throughout his life, as well as the establishment of the biennial <a href="/node/51121">Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass</a> at 91ֱ��. The Hinton Collection at 91ֱ�� was inspired by David G. Berger and Holly Maxson, longtime friends of Milt Hinton and his wife Mona.</p> <p>From that collection emerged <em>Playing the Changes</em>, which showcases dozens of Hinton’s finest photographs and tells the story of his life in music. Each host venue also coordinates related academic offerings and other programming, and students at each school take part in a practicum on exhibition installation led by <a href="/node/29821">Heath Patten</a>, 91ֱ�� College Library’s curator of visual resources.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Students at each host institution play a pivotal role in the exhibition's installation.<br> Photo courtesy of 91ֱ�� College Library</figcaption> </figure> <p>“We encourage the students to think about how they can take an installation a step further,” Patten says of the course. “It’s a conversation about audiences and how people interact with exhibitions and why we choose certain elements of design and flow, how we want people to move through an exhibit, and what they want that experience to be. We also have to consider the uniqueness of the space, and that becomes fundamental to what we can do.”</p> <p>In recent years, Patten has been part of the 91ֱ�� teams that have created exhibitions on civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell, Class of1884, and 91ֱ��’s historical support of coeducation and the suffrage movement.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>The Hinton exhibition's first tour stop was the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in summer 2019.<br> Photo courtesy 91ֱ�� College Library</figcaption> </figure> <p>In July 2019, <em>Playing the Changes </em>began its scheduled two-year tour with three months at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. From there it took up residence at Morgan State University in Baltimore through December. The exhibition was on display at the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina when the COVID-19 pandemic forced museums and galleries everywhere to close their doors. Its travel plans remain in flux as cities and states across the U.S. continue to assess guidelines for reopening.</p> <p>When the tour is cleared to resume, the exhibition will appear at Hampton University in Virginia, North Carolina Central University in Durham, Fisk University in Nashville, and Howard University in Washington, D.C.</p> <p><em>Playing the Changes: The Life and Legacy of Milt Hinton</em> is generously supported by the Berger Family Foundation so that 91ֱ�� College can help ensure that the Hintons’ legacy will be passed to future generations. The exhibition’s current tour of colleges and universities is organized by Caryl McFarland, director of the HBCU Alliance of Museums and Galleries.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-06-09T12:00:00Z">Tue, 06/09/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>91ֱ�� exhibition honoring bassist Milt Hinton visits historically black institutions across the U.S.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3450">Conservatory Library</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/heath-patten" hreflang="und">Heath Patten</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Milt Hinton’s seven-decade career included an extended stint in Cab Calloway’s touring orchestra. Hinton (left) is seen here in a 1951 performance with Calloway in Cuba.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Grammy-Winning Violinist James Ehnes Explores Works by Four Masters Oct. 14</h1> <p>eburnett — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 16:55:02 +0000</p> <span>Grammy-Winning Violinist James Ehnes Explores Works by Four Masters Oct. 14</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2018-09-27T12:55:02-04:00" title="Thursday, September 27, 2018 - 12:55">Thu, 09/27/2018 - 12:55</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Grammy Award-winning violinist James Ehnes will perform works by four masters with his longtime duo partner and pianist Andrew Armstrong at 91ֱ�� on Sunday, October 14.</p> <p>Part of the 141st season of 91ֱ��’s <a href="/artsguide/artist-recitals">Artist Recital Series</a>, the 2:30 p.m. performance takes place in historic Finney Chapel.</p> <p>Ehnes, long revered for his virtuosity and lyricism, also delights audiences with his utter lack of pretension with each astounding performance. He and Armstrong have set out to commemorate the 250th birthday of Beethoven in the coming year by performing all 10 of the composer’s violin sonatas in engagements around the world.</p> <p>The 91ֱ�� audience will be treated to their performance of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 1 in D Major, along with early works for violin by two other masters: Brahms’ Sonatensatz, and Corigliano’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. They will also play Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 2, a work notable for its “Blues” movement—and the piece that concluded Ravel's contribution to chamber music.</p> <p>“Sometimes I like to put together programs that are thematic, or at least show what I consider to be important interrelationships,’’ Ehnes says. “But sometimes—often—I feel like recitals are a great opportunity to present the audience with a ‘musical buffet,’ presenting great examples of the tremendous variety of music written for the violin and piano.</p> <p>“This program Andy and I will play in 91ֱ�� is one of the latter: a program that we hope showcases the great variety of masterpieces written for our instrumental combination. We hope that listeners will be intrigued by the different styles of music presented and will be inspired to further their exploration of the repertoire.”</p> <p>Ehnes will perform on a recently restored “ex-Vallot” violin made by Antonio Stradivarius in 1722 and owned by 91ֱ��. The opportunity came about through the invitation of 91ֱ�� Professor of Violin <a href="/node/6986" target="_blank">Marilyn McDonald</a>, who has known Ehnes since his teen years, when he devoted summers to performing at the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin and other festivals. This will be the first public performance of the ex-Vallot in nearly two decades and since its full restoration. There are about 650 Stradivarius violins in the world.</p> <p>In recent years, 91ֱ��'s Strad underwent a complete restoration in the shop of noted restorer John K. Becker, with whom Ehnes also entrusts his "Marsick" Stradivarius, which dates to 1715. McDonald recalls that Ehnes encountered the 91ֱ�� instrument on a visit to Becker's Chicago shop. "He saw ours and played it, and he said, 'Oh yeah, I’ll play that!'"</p> <p>In addition to his intensive recital schedule, Ehnes today finds himself in demand with the world’s top orchestras, among them Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York, and the London Symphony. He won a 2007 Grammy Award for his recording of concertos by Barber, Korngold, and Walton with the Vancouver Symphony for CBC Records.</p> <p>A native of Canada who graduated from the Juilliard School, Ehnes has been honored by the Royal Society of Canada and is a fellow of the Order of Arts & Letters.</p> <p>“The trajectory of his career has been meteoric,” says McDonald. “He’s technically at the top of the field, but what is particularly attractive about James is his warm and personal attitude toward interpreting the music.” (For a sense of the unassuming superstar’s approach to music and life, check out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdnjTwZT_iY">the Violin Channel’s game of 20 questions with Ehnes</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-file-video-o"></span>.)</p> <hr> <h5>Reserve Your Seats</h5> <p>Tickets for James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong at Finney Chapel are $35 ($30 for seniors, military, and 91ֱ�� alumni and staff), with student tickets just $10. Get yours by calling 800-371-0178, visit <a href="https://oberlinconservatory.secure.force.com/ticket/#details_a0S0h00000S6wQ4EAJ">oberlin.edu/artsguide</a>, or stop by 91ֱ��’s Central Ticket Service in <a href="/node/3796" target="_blank">Hall Auditorium</a>, 67 N. Main St., from noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.</p> <p>It’s also not too late to take advantage of prorated season ticket packages or Pick 3 packages to the 2018-19 Artist Recital Series, at a considerable savings compared to the price of individual tickets.</p> <p>The Artist Recital Series continues with the royal family of classical guitar: The Romeros on November 18. The season lineup also features visits by the Doric String Quartet (Feb. 22), soprano Joyce DiDonato (Feb. 27), pianist Piotr Anderszewski (Apr. 3), and the Spring Quartet (Apr. 17), featuring drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist Leo Genovese.</p> <p>In addition, opera legend Marilyn Horne will host her annual master class with 91ֱ�� Conservatory singers on December 9.</p> <p><a class="view-more" href="/artsguide" target="_blank">Browse 91ֱ�� Arts Guide</a></p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2018-09-27T12:00:00Z">Thu, 09/27/2018 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>This Artist Recital Series performance also features pianist Andrew Armstrong; James Ehnes to perform on 91ֱ��’s Stradivarius instrument.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2364">Artist Recital Series</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=35116">Violin</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/strings" hreflang="und">Strings</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/keyboard-studies" hreflang="und">Keyboard Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Benjamin Ealovega</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Reunifying 91ֱ��’s Natural History Collection</h1> <p>hhempste — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 17:22:49 +0000</p> <span>Reunifying 91ֱ��’s Natural History Collection</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-08-29T13:22:49-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - 13:22">Tue, 08/29/2017 - 13:22</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Inside King Hall, Associate Professor of Anthropology Amy Margaris ’96 sifts through bins of plastic sleeves. In each is a carefully preserved object from the department’s ethnographic collection. Margaris gingerly holds a colorfully threaded <a href="https://danglingcollections.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/heart-sack/">sack</a> made from the pericardium—the membrane that surrounds the heart—of an animal. The once pliable bag, Margaris explains, used to flex and bend to hold whatever was placed inside.</p> <p>Alongside the delicate bag are other objects, including a bentwood cedar box, whose purpose was likely for berry collecting, and an oblong wooden bowl whose dark stains suggest it was a vessel for holding meat.</p> <p>These are just three items of 36 in 91ֱ��’s Arctic collection, an assemblage of ethnographic items that came to the college in 1889 as part of a collection exchange with the Smithsonian Institution (at that time called the United States National Museum). Each of the pieces in the collection was obtained by a who’s who of 19th century Smithsonian naturalists who travelled to various Native communities in Alaska and eastern Canada to meet Yup’ik, Inuit, and Innu peoples.</p> <p>“Their sister objects are still at the Smithsonian in a <a href="http://alaska.si.edu/">famed collection</a>,” Margaris says.</p> <p>And while this collection is noteworthy, it is not the only impressive collection that exists on campus. It’s just one of many that Margaris has dubbed the college’s “dangling collections”— objects and specimens spread across various campus buildings that at one time had a home in the college’s natural history museum. You may even walk past artifacts from the former museum without even realizing it. Those bird specimens you see in the hallways of the Science Center? Part of the museum. The fossils on the fourth floor of the Carnegie Building? Those too were once in the museum.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-left"> <figcaption>Objects in 91ֱ��'s Arctic collection were once part of the Smithsonian Institution and still possess their handwritten tags. Photo by Jennifer Manna.</figcaption> </figure> <p>So why do we have these collections? And what happened to the museum?</p> <p>In the 19th century, there was a campus museum called the 91ֱ�� College Museum, explains Margaris. It began as a small-scale natural history “cabinet” and was administered by Albert Wright, a professor of geology. Wright gathered the bulk of the early items from Northeast Ohio and from trips to Jamaica in 1863, to the West in 1868, and to upstate New York in 1869. All of the items were kept in what was termed the “College Cabinet.” (Collections of natural history specimens and curiosities were called “cabinets” in the 18th and early 19th centuries.)</p> <p>Contributions from 91ֱ�� alumni, many doing missionary work across the globe, helped the collection expand rapidly. In 1875, the collections were moved to <a href="http://www.oberlinlibstaff.com/omeka_oca/items/show/32">Cabinet Hall</a>, a structure built specifically for exhibition and recitation space. The building caught fire three times but, miraculously, no specimens were damaged. The collections continued to grow, and the College Cabinet was eventually termed a “museum,” as was the fashion in the 1880s.</p> <p>The collections were moved to various locations after that, including to a “fireproof” building at <a href="http://www.oberlinlibstaff.com/omeka_oca/items/show/151">Spear Library</a> on Tappan Square. When the collections outgrew the space in the library, there were attempts to fund the museum and erect a dedicated building to house the collections, but plans never came to fruition.</p> <p>“Many schools at the time were building these kinds of collections,” says Margaris. “But like at a lot of colleges, the 91ֱ�� museum eventually faded away. As the sciences changed and methods of inquiry changed, they were seen as out of date and as taking up too much space. Those collections that were retained were dispersed among departments. The taxidermied bird specimens went to biology, the mineralogical specimens went to geology, and anthropology received the ethnological objects.”</p> <p>Margaris along with other faculty and staff members on campus have embarked upon an effort to bring these objects to the forefront and assemble them—at least digitally—into a “Cabinet 2.0.” While this effort actually began in the early 2000s when Margaris’ advisor, Professor of Anthropology Linda Grimm, and Albert Borroni ’85 the director of 91ֱ�� Center for Technologically Enhanced Teaching (OCTET) digitized the Ethnographic Collection, there has been a renewed interest in digitization. Now, with Margaris’ students working on the initiative, this project has spanned decades.</p> <p>Digitizing objects from the long-dispersed collections presents numerous opportunities. “We not only make it possible for researchers at 91ֱ�� and beyond to find and use our collections in research, we can also learn more about what we have,” says Digital Initiatives Librarian Megan Mitchell. “We’ve been contacted by scholars abroad who have used our digital collections and provided us with additional information about objects. There’s a lot of potential for making connections with people, places, and things.”</p> <p>Professor of Geology Karla Hubbard is one such faculty member who has been part of the digital initiative. Hubbard is working to digitize the thousands of objects in the paleontology collection of the former 91ֱ�� College Museum.<br> <br> “It is a very slow and careful process,” says Hubbard. “The collection has been languishing without serious curatorial attention for a very long time, so as we work on digitizing the specimens, we also update the information associated with each [object]. The database we create will be available to students for research projects and laboratory exercises, as well as something available to the global research community interested in fossil specimens from all over the world.”</p> <p>As for the 36-piece Arctic collection, the Department of Anthropology and Mudd Center library staff plan to work with a student research assistant in this fall to incorporate the objects into the online database in the <a href="http://www2.oberlin.edu/library/digital/ocec/">91ֱ�� College Ethnographic Collection</a>, a hub for 91ֱ��’s many ethnological materials that were once housed in the former museum.</p> <p>Moving these objects online not only allows for access to the collections by students and researchers, but it also give access to those people whose ancestors created the objects.</p> <p>“These objects are cultural treasures,” says Margaris. “What we see happening more and more is Native people are visiting collections such as this as a way to learn old techniques and gather new knowledge. They’re not repatriating the objects. Instead, they’re repatriating the associated knowledge so that young people can learn about their ancestors and how they lived and carry that knowledge forward into the future.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2017-08-29T12:00:00Z">Tue, 08/29/2017 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Hillary Hempstead</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2583">College of Arts and Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25296">Archaeological Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=24656">Anthropology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25366">Geosciences</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/amy-margaris" hreflang="und">Amy Margaris ’96</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/anthropology" hreflang="und">Anthropology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/geosciences" hreflang="und">Geosciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/archaeological-studies" hreflang="und">Archaeological Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Associate Professor of Anthropology Amy Margaris ’96 sits amid objects in a 36-piece Arctic collection that she’s leading the effort to digitize. </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jennifer Manna</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Opens Selch Center for the Study of American Culture</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:01:20 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Opens Selch Center for the Study of American Culture</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:01:20-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:01">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>An expansive collection of artifacts spanning centuries of American music was gifted to 91ֱ�� in 2008 to enable study by scholars for generations to come. That collection will now be made readily accessible to researchers through the creation of the Frederick R. Selch Center for the Study of American Culture.</p> <p>The Selch Center’s opening will be celebrated with an inauguration event at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 5, in Stull Recital Hall (77 W. College St.) on the campus of 91ֱ�� Conservatory. The program will feature a selection of artifacts from the Selch Collection and a talk on late singer and activist Paul Robeson (pictured), presented by noted music historian Thomas Riis, a 1973 91ֱ�� graduate.</p> <p>The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit the <a href="https://calendar.oberlin.edu/event/guest_lecture_tom_riis_oc_73_paul_robeson_artist_and_activist_for_our_time#.V-0iwY41h8U">91ֱ�� Events Calendar</a>.</p> <p><b>ABOUT THE SELCH COLLECTION:</b> Throughout his life, New York City publisher Frederick Selch—known to friends as Eric—was fascinated by music, and he amassed with his wife Patricia an enormous collection of unique instruments and seminal books that document the history of North, Central, and South American music through the ages.</p> <p>In 2008, the Selches gifted their collection to 91ֱ��. Included are some 800 instruments, 9,000 rare books, and a large collection of artworks depicting musical themes. Since its arrival on campus, the Selch Collection has been used for research by 91ֱ�� students and faculty, as well as visiting scholars.</p> <p>The Selches also established the Frederick R. Selch Professorship of Musicology, a faculty position held by James O’Leary. In 2012, 91ֱ�� unveiled the Selch Classroom, a technologically superior learning space in the main conservatory building, Bibbins Hall. The Selch Classroom serves as the symbolic home of the new Selch Center.</p> <p>The Selches made their gift to 91ֱ�� with the confidence that it would foster study not merely of American music, but of American culture in a broader sense. To that end, 91ֱ�� has convened a panel of faculty, staff, and students from both sides of campus to facilitate the implementation and support of cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research across the sciences, humanities, and the arts.</p> <p>“What I love about the center is that it includes not only people from a broad category of academic disciplines, but also from all branches of 91ֱ��: students, faculty, staff, and administration,” says O’Leary. “What brings us together is our passion for what we all study, to remind us that we are a community of scholars and thinkers, and that our work is devoted to knowledge and performance.”</p> <p>This fall also marks the first class of Selch Fellows, student scholars selected by a faculty panel through an application process in spring 2016. These fellows—Julian Cranberg, Nora Cooper, Isabelle Harari, and Sofia Pierson—all hail from 91ֱ��’s College of Arts & Sciences and will pursue research projects involving Peruvian music, linguistics, folk literature, and the intersection of legal and religious policy in present-day Massachusetts.</p> <p>“Given the range of interests and talent here at 91ֱ��,” O’Leary says, “I think the center will be an exciting place in the years to come.”</p> <p><b>ABOUT THE TALK:</b> The October 5 program will feature a talk by Riis, a professor of musicology at the University of Colorado Boulder and a member of 91ֱ��’s Board of Trustees. Riis will present “Paul Robeson: Artist and Activist for Our Time.” A remarkable figure for numerous reasons, Robeson was born in 1898 and graduated first in his class at Rutgers College, where he was a two-time All-American football player and one of only three black students at the school. He graduated from Columbia Law School while playing in the National Football League and acting on stages in the U.S. and England. Celebrated around the world for his artistry, Robeson made 11 feature films, recorded hundreds of songs, and could speak and sing with his deep bass voice in 20 languages. He also became an outspoken advocate for human rights long before the Civil Rights Movement took hold in America. But Robeson’s political principles—he supported various Soviet policies—led to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, transforming him from international stardom to relative obscurity in the U.S.</p> <p>“I got excited about doing work on him in 2006, after learning of an archive of his letters in Berlin,” says Riis, who is writing a book about Robeson. “My research is focused on fleshing out the details of how Robeson became the great musical figure that he was—especially during his almost 10 years of living abroad, from 1929 to ’39.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-09-29T12:00:00Z">Thu, 09/29/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Learning from Activist Mary Church Terrell</h1> <p>Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:01:50 +0000</p> <span>Learning from Activist Mary Church Terrell</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:01:50-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:01">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>This weekend, scholars, historians, and activists will gather on campus to attend the symposium <a href="https://calendar.oberlin.edu/event/complicated_relationships_mary_church_terrells_legacy_for_21st_century_activists#.Vssh0owrJaR">Complicated Relationships: Mary Church Terrell's Legacy for 21st Century Activists</a>. Beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, February 26, and concluding early evening on Saturday, February 27, the symposium will celebrate a significant gift of Mary Church Terrell’s papers to the 91ֱ�� College Archives and closely examine Terrell’s life for guidance on how activists can better work toward social justice today. The symposium is a featured event of <a href="https://calendar.oberlin.edu/search/events?search=Africana+Unity">Africana Unity and Celebration Month</a> and the Think/Create/Engage series on the Framing of Race.</p> <p>Born to mixed-race formerly enslaved parents in 1863, the year of the Emancipation Proclamation, Mary Church Terrell was an educator, feminist, and civil rights activist who worked tirelessly across lines of race and gender to achieve a more just and equitable society. An 1884 graduate of 91ֱ�� College—the same year as lifelong colleagues Anna Julia Haywood Cooper and Ida Gibbs (later Hunt)—Terrell went on to become the founding president of the National Association of Colored Women, founder of the College Alumnae Council, charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and a member of the Women’s Committee for Equal Justice, the Civil Rights Congress, and the Women’s Republican League of Washington, D.C. She was the first African American woman to serve on the Washington, D.C., Board of Education. In 1891, she married Robert H. Terrell, the first African American man to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard University, a justice of the peace (nominated 1901), and a municipal court judge (nominated 1901).</p> <p>Mary Church Terrell is drawing attention today for her role in the case <em>District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., Inc.</em>, which she brought against the D.C.-based Thompson’s Restaurant in 1950 after she and three compatriots were refused service. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in that case in 1953 that invalidated the capitol’s segregated restaurants. This was one year before the <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em> ruling, six years before the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, and a decade before sit-ins “<a href="http://time.com/4196840/mary-church-terrell/">rocked lunch counters in the South</a>.”</p> <p>The Mary Church Terrell papers being celebrated in this symposium were donated to the college by Raymond and Jean Langston at the suggestion of Alison Parker, professor of history at the College at Brockport, State University of New York, and Stephen Middleton, biographer of Robert H. Terrell and professor of history at Mississippi State University. Parker learned from Middleton that the Langstons still had private holdings of Terrell’s papers at their home in Highland Beach, Maryland—formerly Terrell’s summer house, where she died at age 91—after Parker had been working on a biography of Mary Church Terrell for several years.</p> <p>The Langstons welcomed Parker and Middleton to their home shortly thereafter to examine the collection. “The Langston family’s Mary Church Terrell papers include a wonderful collection of artifacts and papers, some from the 1890s or earlier. They are of great historical value and were in need of a permanent home. Stephen Middleton and I agreed to ask the family if we might help facilitate finding a safe long-term home for these primary source documents. Ray and Jean Langston enthusiastically consented,” Parker says.</p> <p>“I immediately thought of offering the papers to 91ֱ�� College because Terrell was very proud of having graduated from the college and was thrilled when she was honored with an honorary doctorate in 1948. I knew that 91ֱ�� has a well-respected archive that could handle a new donation and take good care of it. When I returned from Highland Beach, I contacted my friend and colleague, [Professor of History and Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies] Carol Lasser, on behalf of the Langstons to extend an invitation to 91ֱ�� College to house the papers.”</p> <p>College Archivist Ken Grossi traveled to Highland Beach, Maryland, to retrieve the papers in June 2015. Once he had arrived, Grossi says he, with the help of Ray Langston, was able to parse through the entire collection in just a little more than an hour. He returned to 91ֱ�� with six boxes that contained letters, diaries, photographs, flyers, awards, and more.</p> <p>Grossi says he finds Terrell’s diary entries and writings of particular interest and that the collection provides some evidence of the complicated relationship Terrell had with 91ֱ�� College throughout her lifetime. “We have a letter in another collection sent to Henry Churchill King (91ֱ�� College President, 1902-1927) where she is conveying her thoughts about her conversations with the then secretary of the college, George Morris Jones, about his feelings toward African American students and minorities. She was not happy with [Jones], and she made that clear in the letter,” Grossi says.</p> <p>“In 1911 on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Terrell wanted to come to 91ֱ�� and give a series of lectures. Henry Churchill King and his dean put her off. They didn’t want her to come because they thought there was too much attention to matters of race on campus already,” Lasser explains. “She brought her daughters to look at 91ֱ�� as a place to attend college in 1914, not our finest hour. When she came she discovered that the school provided segregated housing for male and female students of color. That reflected a loss of commitment to racial equality. But she hung in there and when the college was celebrating its 100 years in 1933, she was named as one of the 100 most important graduates of the college.</p> <p>“There are moments where 91ֱ�� has been more positive than others. Really from the 1910s through the 1950s, there was more ambivalence about racial equality at 91ֱ�� than you would have expected from the first college to admit students of color. What’s amazing is she still believed 91ֱ�� is capable of better and she kept pushing. She did not give up. It’s lovely to have these papers because some of them document that very interesting and conflicted relationship.”</p> <p>A curated display of the newly acquired collection can be viewed in the Academic Commons on the first floor of Mudd library this week and throughout the symposium. Students who have used these and other Mary Church Terrell papers housed in the 91ֱ�� Archives in research projects will discuss their projects at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Azariah’s Cafe.</p> <p>The presentations will conclude a morning of reflecting on Terrell’s life, as the remaining panels focus on how today’s activists can emulate Terrell’s strategies and tactics for achieving her goal of a more just and equitable society. “As much as we love this history, we know we live in 2016,” Lasser says. “We think Terrell can help us think about social justice and engage in issues of social justice.”</p> <p>Pam Brooks, Jane and Eric Nord Associate Professor and chair of Africana studies and member of the Advisory Council for gender, sexuality, and feminist studies, cochairs the symposium and will serve as chair of the panel Conversation & Reflections on Terrell’s Legacy for Today’s Activists, which begins at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday. The panel, Brooks and Lasser explain, will open with a discussion of Terrell’s strategy of, as Lasser puts it, “radical respectability.”</p> <p>“Terrell knew that…black women could be disparaged in ways that refer to their sex, their sexuality, their a-sexuality, their lack of chastity—a myriad of ways of dehumanizing and insulting the humanity of black women,” Brooks says.</p> <p>“Terrell embodies respectability. She’s the wife of a judge, a college-educated woman. She is smart, interesting, well read, well traveled, and she speaks three languages. To charge your attackers with lacking respectability, to charge your attackers with being the people who are violating respectability is a turnaround that is a weapon,” Lasser says.</p> <p>Brooks will transition the conversation on how this legacy can help one think about the challenges to gender, social, and racial justice faced on campuses and beyond today. “What many contemporary activists think about as the so-called politics of respectability is not at all what Terrell and her cohort were doing. Terrell accused her opponents of the lack of decency, of having a rapacious sexual appetite. She was turning respectability on its head.”</p> <p>Brooks and Lasser agree that the symposium, particularly the afternoon panels, will be of enormous interest to students to attend. Grossi agrees. “Hopefully many students will come because it is an opportunity to reflect on how Terrell’s life and accomplishments are an inspiration for all of us today.”</p> <p>To register for Complicated Relationships: Mary Church Terrell's Legacy for 21st Century Activists, visit the <a href="http://new.oberlin.edu/office/alumni/events/mct-symposium.dot">Alumni Association website</a>. To view the preliminary symposium schedule, <a href="http://new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/d0b4d118-7089-4b0d-a328-fbd9ba378176.pdf">see this PDF</a>. This symposium is cosponsored by the Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; the Africana studies department; 91ֱ�� College Archives; 91ֱ�� Alumni Association of African Ancestry (OA4); and the Alumni Association. The symposium received support from the Comparative American Studies Program, the history department, 91ֱ�� College Libraries, the Office of the Dean of Students, the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the President.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-02-13T12:00:00Z">Sat, 02/13/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Lisa Gulasy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2404">Cultural Celebrations</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4821">Africana Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25361">Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25311">Comparative American Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/africana-studies" hreflang="und">Africana Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/comparative-american-studies" hreflang="und">Comparative American Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">A portion of the Mary Church Terrell exhibit that will be on display during a symposium February 26-27.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Lisa Gulasy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Learning through the Letterpress</h1> <p>Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:52 +0000</p> <span>Learning through the Letterpress</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:52-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>One of the best resources for hands-on learning at 91ֱ�� hides in plain sight behind large glass windows on the second floor of Mudd Center library. This is the Letterpress Studio, containing three manual printing presses surrounded by cabinets of moveable type. Special Collections and Preservation Librarian Ed Vermue presides over the studio, which is accessible to students through an Experimental College (ExCo) class, a winter-term group project, and opportunities for class visits.</p> <p>The <a href="https://libraries.oberlin.edu/services-amenities/special-spaces/letterpress-studio">Letterpress Studio</a> was organized in 2010. “It was a long time coming,” Vermue explains. Faculty members had been interested in teaching the history of the book through hands-on experience with a printing press for a while, but the idea finally fell into place after a series of fortuitous donations were made. Cabinets of type and bookworking tools came from husband and wife Dewey and Carol Ganzel, an English professor at 91ֱ�� and journalist, respectively. Two small hand presses, along with more type and tools, came from the family of Gus Brunsman II, which ran Trailside Press in Kettering, Ohio. Finally, with help from the English department, Vermue bought a vintage Vandercook press, the largest press in the studio.</p> <p>Using the three presses, students in the ExCo and winter-term class learn how to set type, ink up a press, and print the way it was done from Johannes Gutenberg up until the computer. Letterpress printing is a time-consuming process: Each letter has to be set individually, and the type must be set backwards for the final product to appear correctly.</p> <p>The winter-term class is intensive: Students spend full days in the studio working on a book commission with a deadline, which, in the past, has been anything from printing poetry from alumni authors to creating broadsides of poems from <a href="http://www.oberlin.edu/ocpress/">91ֱ�� College Press</a>. “The idea is to introduce a little bit of stress to the experience,” Vermue says. “They’re actually working the way printers used to work. ”</p> <p>While students participating during winter term are required to work together on one large project, students in the ExCo have the opportunity to work individually and pursue their own interests. Senior studio art major Sarah Lejeune, who took the ExCo in 2013, now works as an assistant in the Letterpress Studio. Lejeune’s art focuses on nostalgia and exploring the ephemeral nature of memory and experience. She is drawn to letterpress printing for its long history. “It is deeply tied to the passing on of information,” she says. “I really like letterpress as a process because of how intricate [and how much of a] technical skill it is.”</p> <p>Many professors say they are also eager to take advantage of the letterpress as a learning tool for their classes. Assistant Professor of English Laura Baudot brings her Eighteenth-Century British Novel and Print Culture class to the Letterpress Studio to help students to think about how books were made before mechanical printing. “There are a lot of eighteenth-century authors, such as [Laurence] Sterne, who were hyperconscious of the status of the book, both as a commodity and a possible artistic media. They wanted to draw your attention to the physical appearance of the book,” Baudot explains. While reading Sterne’s Tristam Shandy, which famously features a unique marbled page in volume three of every original edition, students learn how to make marbled paper and view one of the original marble pages during a visit to special collections.</p> <p>According to Vermue, the point of modern letterpress printing is not to turn back the clock but to have a point of reference for how printing was executed for hundreds of years. Without a computer to do everything for you, you need to think about each decision in the printing process, such as spacing, typeface, and illustrations. Letterpress printing is a framework and a tool that can help students better understand the literature of the past and create art in the present. “Nobody hates computers, but some are glad to be away from them for a little bit,” Vermue says. “Students are nostalgic for doing things with their hands.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-04-15T12:00:00Z">Wed, 04/15/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Madeline Raynor</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2384">Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2580">Experimental College (ExCo)</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25436">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25346">English</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25216">Book Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/ed-vermue" hreflang="und">Ed Vermue</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/english" hreflang="und">English</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jeong Hyun Hwang</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ��'s Celebration of Milt Hinton Continues With Full Slate of Events</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:03:39 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ��'s Celebration of Milt Hinton Continues With Full Slate of Events</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:03:39-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:03">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:03</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>In early 2014, the 91ֱ�� Conservatory of Music announced a major partnership with the estate of legendary jazz bassist Milt Hinton, whose seven-decade career intersected with the greatest jazz musicians of the 20th century and whose camera lens captured the joy and inconceivable pain of life as an African American musician traversing the segregated southern United States.</p> <p>This fall, 91ֱ��'s relationship with the Hinton estate continues with a series of free public exhibitions, musical performances, lectures, and more dedicated to the late musician and taking place on the campus of 91ֱ��.</p> <p>The lineup of fall events is as follows:</p> <p><b>EXHIBITIONS</b></p> <p><b><i>An Insider’s Lens: The Jazz Photography of Milt Hinton</i></b>, featuring 99 photographs taken by Hinton and on loan from the Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection, are on display in the Allen Memorial Art Museum (87 N. Main St.) through December 23, with additional images by the prolific photographer exhibited in the conservatory lounge across campus.</p> <p>Another exhibition, <b><i>Milt Hinton: On the Road</i></b>, consists of artifacts from the Hinton collection focusing on the musician’s early life and experiences on the road with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong. It can be viewed in the main library (Mudd Center, at 148 W. College St.) through November 26.</p> <p>A third exhibition, <i><b>Selections from the Milton J. and Mona C. Hinton Papers</b></i>, includes instruments, recordings, and other artifacts from throughout Hinton’s career. It can be viewed on the lower level of the Bertram and Judith Kohl Building (77 W. College St.) through December 12.</p> <p><b>FILM</b></p> <p>At 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 5, the documentary <b><i>Keeping Time: The Life, Music & Photographs of Milt Hinton</i></b> will be screened in Hallock Auditorium in the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies (122 Elm St.). Combining rare footage, photographs, and compelling interviews, it follows Hinton throughout his remarkable career on stage, on the road, and in the studio.</p> <p><i>Keeping Time</i> will be followed by a Q&A with David G. Berger and Holly Maxson, who co-created the film and serve as executors of the Hinton estate.</p> <p><b>DEDICATION</b></p> <p>The Milton J. and Mona C. Hinton Collection will be formally dedicated in Clonick Hall (Bertram and Judith Kohl Building, 77 W. College St.) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, November 6.</p> <p><b>A DAY OF HINTON</b></p> <p>Saturday, November 8, consists of a pair of activities dedicated to the music and legacy of Hinton. It starts with a 10:30 a.m. recital in Kulas Hall (77 W. College St.), with the 91ֱ�� Bass Ensemble featuring faculty and students performing on Hinton's basses. The afternoon continues with a 1-3 p.m. lecture and guided tour of Hinton exhibits across campus, led by Jeremy Smith, 91ֱ��'s special collections librarian.</p> <p><b>“FIRST THURSDAYS” AT THE ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM</b></p> <p>In November and December, the <a href="https://amam.oberlin.edu">Allen Memorial Art Museum</a>’s monthly “First Thursdays” series will take on a special Hinton focus. On Thursday, November 6, Berger and Maxson will speak about their many years with Hinton. Their talk, <b>The Hinton Photo Collection: Nothing Beats a Trial but a Failure</b>, will be followed by a Q&A and reception featuring a performance by 91ֱ�� jazz faculty member Peter Dominguez, playing the bass Hinton adored throughout his career.</p> <p>The evening of December 4 will be highlighted by a performance by bassist Dominguez with fellow faculty member Bobby Ferrazza on guitar.</p> <p>Both First Thursday events take place from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Allen Museum complex.</p> <p><b>LECTURE</b></p> <p>On Thursday, November 20, renowned jazz critic, author, and director <b>Gary Giddins</b> will deliver 91ֱ��’s fall 2014 Harold Jantz Memorial Lecture, titled "Picturing Jazz," about the convergence of jazz and photography. The talk will begin at 4:30 p.m. in King Hall (10 N. Professor St.).</p> <p><b>ABOUT OBERLIN AND MILT HINTON:</b> In early 2014, the 91ֱ�� Conservatory acquired four of Hinton’s prized basses and countless artifacts—known collectively as the Milton J. and Mona C. Hinton Papers—which were amassed throughout the late musician’s extraordinary career.</p> <p>In June, the conservatory hosted the inaugural <a href="/news/conservatory-host-inaugural-milt-hinton-institute-june">Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass</a>, a biennial event geared toward young bass players and featuring a who’s-who of top bassists from across the musical map. Returning in summer 2016, the institute is supported through a $250,000 scholarship fund donated to 91ֱ�� by the Hinton estate.</p> <p>For more information about Milt Hinton and 91ֱ��, please visit <a href="/news/oberlin-celebrates-jazz-legend-milt-hinton-june-12">oberlin.edu</a>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2014-10-29T12:00:00Z">Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Conservatory Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2378">Allen Memorial Art Museum</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2387">Conservatory Summer Programs</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/jazz-studies" hreflang="und">Jazz Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">The Milton J. Hinton Photographic Collection</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>The Selch Connection</h1> <p>Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:04:39 +0000</p> <span>The Selch Connection</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:04:39-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:04">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:04</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>This article is excerpted from the 2013 edition of the</em> 91ֱ�� Conservatory <em>magazine. The entire issue will be available soon for online exploration.</em></p> <p>Frederick and Patricia Bakwin Selch devoted a lifetime to creating one of the world’s most comprehensive collections chronicling American music history. Now, a decade after the death of her husband, Patricia Selch has ensured that their treasures will illuminate that rich history for future generations at 91ֱ�� and beyond.</p> <p>In September 2012, the 91ֱ�� Conservatory unveiled the Frederick R. Selch Classroom, a technologically superior learning space that represents the final component of an expansive gift made by the Selches—a gift that underscores 91ֱ��’s position as a key center for the study of American music.</p> <p>Gifted in 2008, the Selch Collection includes some 800 instruments, 9,000 rare books, and a large collection of artworks depicting musical themes. Patricia Selch is also the benefactor of the new Frederick R. Selch Professorship of Musicology, a critical component in the expansion of music studies at 91ֱ��.</p> <p>“I’m so happy that the collection will be made available in these ways,” says Selch. “People have traditionally gone to places like Oxford to study American music history. Why go there when now they can come here?”</p> <p>Last fall, the conservatory hosted public and private events in celebration of the Selches’ gift. Five exhibits showcasing key components of the collection were featured across campus throughout the fall semester.</p> <p>“We are enormously grateful to the entire Selch family for their extraordinary generosity to 91ֱ��,” says David H. Stull ’89, the conservatory dean who orchestrated the donation. “[Frederick] and Pat Selch’s vision for a center for the study of American music history will finally be brought to fruition, and their support will immeasurably advance the study and performance of music at the highest level.”</p> <h2>A Stunning Learning Space</h2> <p>An accomplished publisher and creator of early television commercials, Frederick Selch—known to friends and family as Eric—also nurtured a profound passion for music throughout his life. Along with his wife, he reveled in the thrill of the hunt for unique and often forgotten instruments and seminal books. He earned a PhD in American studies at New York University, helped found the American Musical Instrument Society, and created an ensemble of professional and amateur players known as the Federal Music Society. Through it all, he demonstrated a remarkable desire to share his collection, his knowledge, and his enthusiasm with others. Today, that passion is evident in the Selches’ wide-ranging contributions to the learning environment at 91ֱ��.</p> <p>The Selch Classroom, on the newly renovated second floor of Bibbins Hall, is a technology-enhanced “smart” classroom that allows networking, audio-visual, and audience-response capabilities. It features towering walnut cabinets, which house a portion of the Selch Collection, and wide-plank walnut flooring; custom lighting illuminates the room’s UV-filtered glass cabinet fronts. More than just a beautiful addition to campus, it’s a highly functional one too.</p> <p>“The new Selch Classroom provides dedicated space for dialogue between students, and between students and teachers,” says Professor Steven Plank, chair of 91ֱ��’s Department of Musicology. “At the same time, it nurtures ongoing dialogue with the artifacts housed there.”</p> <p>The five initial exhibits featured on campus spanned the 16th through 19th centuries. Created by Selch Curator Barbara Lambert, they included instruments—both strange and familiar—and artifacts that provide a fascinating glimpse into the scientific and cultural practices of early America.</p> <p>Installed in the Selch Classroom, the exhibit <em>Beginnings of American Music and Musical Instruments</em> contained a timeline of musical evolution experienced by early American colonists. Chronicling a period highly influenced by the Protestant church, it depicted the progression from simple psalms and tones played on pitch pipes to more poetic song-style hymns that were complemented by string and melody instruments.</p> <p>The exhibit’s theme was derived from Selch’s doctoral work at NYU. The objects “captured Eric’s imagination,” says Lambert, pointing out the basic but elegantly carved wooden pitch pipes displayed alongside a 1690s psalm book that is startlingly well preserved.</p> <p>The other four fall-semester exhibits revealed their own fascinating stories.</p> <p><em>The Musical World of Actress and Abolitionist Fanny Kemble</em> described in portraiture, playbills, and manuscripts the life of a remarkable woman. Born in Britain into a dynasty of major actors, Kemble married American Pierce Butler, heir to cotton, tobacco, and rice plantations worked by hundreds of slaves. Despite Kemble’s enormous popularity as an actress, her true calling was as a writer; her personal journal, which includes firsthand accounts of the slave industry, had a profound influence on British attitudes toward slavery.</p> <p>The exhibition <em>Frederick R. Selch</em>, in the conservatory library, introduced viewers<br> to the collector himself. Among the items on view were photos of Eric and Patricia Selch in their New York City brownstone, along with books hand-bound by the couple. A clarinet by the important early 19th-century maker William Whiteley, a baroque-style violin made and played by Tarahumara natives from Mexico, and a “tenor violin” represent significant areas of scholarly work by Selch and important parts of his collection.</p> <p>The science of music was showcased in the Science Center exhibition <em>Musical Instruments and the Harmonic Series</em>. In collaboration with physics professors Bruce Richards and Chris Martin, the exhibit complemented a course on acoustics.</p> <p>The Selch Collection’s central home at 91ֱ�� is found on a workshop-type floor in the belly of the Bertram and Judith Kohl Building. There, a jingling johnny, cittern, bumbass, and a bass viol shaped like a pumpkin rest among hundreds of other instruments, including those of Native and Central American peoples. Steel engravings, woodcuts, oil paintings, playbills, and programs are among other artifacts and ephemera too numerable to list.</p> <p>Floor-to-ceiling glass display cases at the entrance of the workshop housed the exhibit 19th-Century European and American Music. It was created as a final exam by students in a new course called Hands-On Music History, taught by Lambert and Professor of Musicology Claudia Macdonald. In spring 2013 alone, three classes on campus directly incorporated the Selch Collection into their curriculum.</p> <p>“Eric was not just a collector,” Patricia Selch said in a 2008 interview with critic Heidi Waleson. “He was very much a scholar, and he built his collection to be used.”</p> <h2>Inheriting the Vision</h2> <p>James O’Leary, 91ֱ��’s newly appointed Frederick R. Selch Assistant Professor of Musicology, boasts an enthusiasm that matches his knowledge of American music history. He likens the collection to “an anthropology of music.” His course, and the way that he guides students’ interaction with the collection, offers extraordinarily deep insight into how music in America not only was performed, but how it was bought and sold, and depicted in art and in other cultural iconography, such as cartoons and music trading cards.</p> <p>O’Leary encourages study not only of the what of music, but also the ways in which people interacted with it and the influences it had on their actions and beliefs. And he marvels at the possibilities for the collection that will continue to emerge over the years.</p> <p>“The potential for using the collection is somewhat unknown at this point,” he says. “It’s a gift that keeps on giving.”</p> <p>*Jessica Downs is former assistant director of conservatory communications. A Juilliard-trained oboist, she earned her master of music in teaching at 91ֱ�� College in 2010. *</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2013-06-29T12:00:00Z">Sat, 06/29/2013 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jessica R. Downs</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2374">Archives & Special Collections</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28856">Musicology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/musicology" hreflang="und">Musicology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Assistant professor James O’Leary discusses the Bay Psalm Book, which became the first book printed in the New World when the Puritans published it in 1640. The Selch Collection boasts two copies. O’Leary used a 1912 facsimile edition in his talk; a 26th edition volume, from 1744, is on display in the conservatory.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Dale Preston</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>