Category Archives: Faculty

Qualities of a “record”

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Let’s all admit it, archivists may think they’re speaking English but a lot of our terminology sounds like gibberish (MPLP, anyone?) or is industry-specific (e.g., archival value vs. legal value) or can just be misunderstood due to other, non-industry usages (e.g., appraisal–it’s not always about monetary value or processing–we’re not using it in the psychotherapy sense!). Every profession has its unique vocabulary and this post is about an unusual twist to a word that’s used in my profession but not easily understood: recordness.

I subscribe to several professionally-oriented listservs, and one that just started a year or so ago is something the Society of American Archivists calls the “Word of the Week.” It’s all part of an effort by a team of SAA members to enhance professional understanding via standardized terminology. This will culminate in a dictionary of terms used in archives and builds on the amazing work of the original “Glossary of Archival Terms” which can be found at http://archivists.org/glossary.

“What kinds of records do you keep” is a common question, and even more “Why isn’t something like a database considered a record?” There seems to be a lot of confusion about the kinds of things that are official records. I created a blog post about them last year and used an image adapted from another archives to illustrate document lifecycles.

records flowchart

How to tell if something is a record in the archival sense of the word. [click to enlarge]

So in the interest of augmenting the definition of a record, I give you the SAA Dictionary Work group’s definition of the larger concept behind records:

Recordness

n. ~ the quality of being a record; the state of having the characteristics of a record

Related Term
record

Notes
The definition of “recordness,” just as the definition of “record,” changes according to purpose, law, and context, yet there are some features that most archivists agree are defining features of a record: a record preserves the content of some human action or activity, its content is fixed, and it encompasses at least some of the context needed to make it comprehensible beyond itself. However, meaning is pliable in both the content and the definition of a record. Especially with regard to electronic records, for example, fixity is more a property of ensuring that a record does not change over time after capture by an archives rather than the property that a record (say, in the form of a database or a webpage) does not change during its active use.

Cited In
Bearman, David, “The Implications of Armstrong v. Executive of the President for the Archival Management of Electronic Records,” The American Archivist 56 (Fall 1993): 679.

Gilliland, Anne J., Conceptualizing 21st-Century Archives (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2014): 170.

Kumar, Sushil, Archives: Principles & Practices (New Delhi: Isha Books, 2011): 8-10.Sternfeld, Joshua, “Archival Theory and Digital Historiography: Selection, Search, and Metadata as Archival Processes for Assessing Historical Contextualization,” The American Archivist 74 (Fall/Winter 2011): 549.

Williams, Caroline, “Chapter 1: Records and archives: concepts, roles and definitions,” in Caroline Williams, ed., Archives and Recordkeeping: Theory into Practice (London: Facet Publishing, 2013): 14.

45 years after Kent State #May4Matters

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1971Wesleyana_flagpoleIn the early days of May 1970, Illinois Wesleyan University joined more than 1,250 colleges in protesting the shootings at Kent State and Jackson State. In coordination with the May 4 Visitor’s Center, today the archives is remembering four students who died at Kent State University and looking back at the effects that these killings had on students at IWU.

Below is a timeline of student activities and images drawn from the collections in IWU’s archives. If you have memories, documents, or photos of your own to share, feel free to comment but use the #May4Matters so that IWU’s recollections will join others who are commemorating this day.

“The Kent State killings set off a planned program of protest and community education unlike anything previously seen at Wesleyan. It brought together an unlikely coalition of ex-Senate officers, freshman activists, moderates, radicals, tired seniors and enthusiastic underclassmen.” — Kathy Larey Lewton. IWU 70, in the 1971 Wesleyana, pp 6-8)

The events of May 5-8 were reported on in the Friday, May 8 issue of our weekly student newspaper The Argus. The links for each day in the timeline below lead to the pages in that issue containing the stories mentioned.

Tuesday, May 5: 11:40AM The flag was lowered to half mast “in mourning of the four students killed at Kent State University and those who have died in Southeast Asia.”     Following a 3:30PM meeting with 200 students attending, “The consensus was that the goals should be campus and community education, rather than alienation.”

Wednesday, May 6: Memorial services led by Chaplain William White. “Students scattered in the audience then read ‘some words for reflection in a time of. crisis.'”

Thursday May 7: President Robert Eckley cancels classes “to permit those who wish to participate in the activities planned by the Action Committee for Peace.” The decision followed a vote by Student Senate Wednesday calling for classes to be recessed all day Friday to acknowledge the incident at Kent State and the expanded Southeast Asian war.

Friday, May 8: The Action Committee for Peace (ACP) announces organizes a group assembly on the Quad at 3:45PM for a march to downtown Bloomington. 7:00PM rally with faculty and students speaking on campus.

The May 8th Argus also includes a range of feelings among students, such as those expressed in a Letter to the Editor shows that some found the responses at IWU disrespectful:
         The tragedy of Kent State should not be blown out of proportion by a                                small minority of dissenters who find it to their advantage to martyr four violent                  demonstrators as heroes of their cause. – Richard Reinert and 64 other students,              May 8 Argus, p. 2

Another student used artistic expression:

1970-05-08 Argus p.3

1970-05-22_p7

 

The killings at Jackson State University in Mississippi received less coverage in the Argus but one photograph of a class walkout appears on May 22, p. 7. Other images are in the gallery below.

 

 

 

“…the whole issue of what kind of free speech students could have, and what kind of political activity and political involvement or political activism students [should] have, I would argue, was basically redefined by that era here at Wesleyan.” — former ACP member Mark Sheldon, Class of 1970, oral history interview, August 2012.

Friday, May 22: Honors Day Convocation, Ron Klipp wore an American flag upside down (universal distress symbol) upside down, walked in last and started an uproar.

Tuesday, May 26: “Seniors received a ballot Tuesday concerning whether or not Commencement should be held.”

Wednesday, May 27: “They suggested a senior caucus be held Wednesday afternoon to decide on a third alternative for a possible new ballot.” (photographs below)

Ultimately, Commencement takes place as planned on June 7 with divisions over the controversies expressed in word, deed and dress. (see photograph below and more in the 1971 Wesleyana)

Below is a gallery of images selected from the photographic negatives in the University Archives:

 

 

May Day preservation tips

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MayDay_History_12

The Society of American Archivists promotes May 1 as a day for all cultural heritage institutions to take time to consider how well their collections are protected. At IWU’s University Archives, (located in Tate Archives & Special Collections, 4th floor, The Ames Library) we conduct collection assessments and use high quality boxes and other material to protect items on our shelves. Physical Plant’s Heating/Cooling crew conducts regular maintenance to make sure our environmental conditions are efficient and effective. Other maintenance personnel and cleaning crews from Physical Plant keep our building in good condition, too.

Here at the Ames Library, we also take a building-wide approach to disaster preparedness and there are probably many students, staff and faculty who’ve been inconvenienced by our fire drills, but we hope everyone values their significance in keeping people safe! We have regular site visits with the crews of Bloomington’s Fire Department both to familiarize them with our floor plans and collection concerns and to give us their opinions on our safety practices.

Also at this time of year, The American Library Association and partners that include the Library of Congress, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The American Institute for Conservation, Heritage Preservation, and the Society of American Archivists, are promoting Preservation Week to highlight collections of all kinds, and suggest simple steps to help you make sure your treasures and memories last a lifetime and are passed on to future generations.

What can you do?

1. Take a look around your home or wherever you store the mementos of your life and the lives of people who are important to you. Is a lot of it in long-term storage? Is the storage room subject to temperature and humidity fluctuation?

TIP: You don’t need to have cold storage to make paper and print photographic collections last. Constant levels of each are the most important thing. 70 degrees F is the upper recommended limit, but keeping spaces well-ventilated and preventing frequent fluctuation can help your stuff go a long way into the future.

2. Are your mementos sitting on the ground? Try putting a pallet underneath boxes or raising them 4-6 inches off the floor with something else.

3. Avoid stacking boxes directly on each other if at all possible. Open shelving is optimal: leaving space on all sides of stored material promotes air circulation and limits the chance that mold will develop.

4. Do you have digital files? Do you back up your hard drive or use a commercial company for online storage? If you’ve got a back up hard drive, is it located near your primary digital storage place? Explore ways to back up your important files and keep them in a separate location to lessen the chance for loss if there’s a fire or natural disaster in your area.

5. Are your digital images labeled? File names like DSC7723, DSC7724, and so on can accumulate faster than you think. After awhile, how will you know what you are saving?

TIP: At a minimum, make folders with event names and dates to store photos in or create an index that associates this information with the program-generated file names.

6. Are your physical collections falling apart? Books, photo albums, scrapbooks and textiles need attention if they are to last. Taking photos out of old albums whose adhesives are failing and making sure they’re labeled is a good start. Some books may be rebound, but many will survive well into the future in a box or wrapper designed for them. Photocopying or scanning newspaper clippings can preserve their information without the worry of deterioration due to typically acidic scrapbook pages and/or newspaper itself.

TIP: Don’t seal anything in a plastic bag! Condensation forms quickly in plastic and damp, airless environments promote mold growth.

If you have concerns about any of your personal collections, I’m happy to talk with you about them. Use Preservation Week as a time to take stock of what you’re keeping, why it’s important to you and how you can act in ways that will keep your stuff safe for years to come!

Note: more ideas are available in one of my previous blog posts.

Photo project complete!

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In 2011 the archives acquired a group of photographic material from the Office of Communications. Since then a succession* of diligent archives student assistants have worked steadily to place the contact sheets and negatives together in high quality sleeves, transfer information from the old filing sleeves, and then to store them in hanging file drawers for ease of access. Actually, many people** at IWU deserve the thanks of all future IWU photo seekers.

Below are a few then-and-now pictures to give a sense of this effort. The years spanned in these image files are 1966-2002, though the bulk of the negatives are from 1970s-1990s. A rough estimate of the total comes to about 40,000 images. Some information is searchable in a database (available in the archives) created by a couple of generations of photographers, but most images are at least in chronological order and correspond with activities that occur regularly each academic year. This order itself, even without complete descriptions, is significant for the work of the archives in satisfying the many research inquiries we receive each year.

* Students (now alumni!) assisting in this project were Kaylee, Kenny, Kirsten, Melissa, Rachel, Shirley, and Tia.

**Special thanks to the photographers who took the images and saved their log books, Physical Plant for moving everything so carefully, and University Librarian Karen Schmidt for making it possible to purchase the supplies that will help keep our history safe and in order for future use! Karen also alerted me to the policies of State Farm that allow non-profits to acquire used furniture from their surplus warehouse. We wouldn’t have all the vertical file cabinets without them!

 

 

Departmental History: French

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This post summarizes changes noted in the French Department by examining the Catalogue of Courses. Course catalogs from 1851-1954 are available online; the rest are available in print in the University Archives.

  • There is no evidence of any French courses until 1871 but then it was not offered as part of the main courses of study. In the 1871-72 course catalog, it is stated that “classes will be organized whenever desired in either of all of them,” which includes French, Italian, and Spanish. This course was offered by a Professor Merriman. However, this only lasted for two school years and ended in 1873.
  • French was offered again in the 1879-80 academic year during student’s sophomore year. Students could take French, German, Greek, or Latin. Taught by Professor Reymond.
  • In 1881, French is offered as a post-graduate area of study, or could replace Greek, German, or Latin courses. No instructor was listed.
  • The 1889-90 academic year French was offered again and then was consecutively offered until present day, with an exception of the 1922-23 academic year where no French was offered.
  • Often French was accompanied by/interchangeable with German, but there was a much heavier emphasis placed on German. For instance, in the course descriptions, the German department would receive almost a full page of description whereas French would receive 2-3 sentences. Also, German would have 5+ courses offered whereas French would only have 2 courses.
  • The February 1, 1889 Elite Journal (p. 12) notes students interests in having French courses offered.

Titles of French Departments:
1889-1895: French (courses)
1895-1899: French and German
1899-1910: Modern Languages (included both French and German, with subheadings for
both)
1910-1918: Department of French
1918-1921: Romance Languages (French and Spanish)
1922: No French offered
1923-1939: Modern Languages (French, German, and Spanish)
1939-1995: Foreign Language Department (Classical and Modern languages subheadings)
1995-2005: French Department
2005-Present: French and Francophone studies

Department Chairs/Heads:
1871-1873: Professor Merriman
1879-1880: Professor Reymond
1889-1891: Professor Wait
1891-1892: Professor Steele (head of Modern Languages and Latin)
1892-1895: Professor Heidel
1895-1896: Professor Snyder
1896-1899: Madame de Blumenthal (listed as instructor)
1899-1900: Ms. Shephard
1900-1905: Ms. Smith
1905-1908: Ms. Mitchell
1908-1909: Professor Graham
1909-1911: Professor Eggert
1911-1913: Professor Corstvet
1913-1914: Parlin (listed as instructor)
1914-1916: Professor W. Ferguson
1916-1918: Laitem (listed as instructor)
1918-1921: Professor Norton
1923-1934: Professor W. Ferguson
1934-1944: Professor C. Ferguson and Professor W. Ferguson
1944-1951: Professor C. Ferguson
1951-1952: Professor Norwood and Professor Bettger
1952-1955: Professor Norwood
1955-1957: Professor Labarthe (Professor Norwood on leave)
1957-1959: Professor Deitz
1959-1966: Professor Bettger
1966-1971: Professor Holm
1971-1976: Professor Troyanovich
1976-1979: Professor Moretto
1979-1984: Professor Huseman
1984-1988: Professor McDonald
1988-1990: Professor Fajardo
1990-1993: Professor Klingenberg
1993-1999: Professor Matthews
1999-2002: Professor Callahan
2002-2013: Professor Sheridan
2013-Present: Professor Matthews

Advice from the past

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Recent readings in old  IWU student publications are yielding time-tested advice. It is difficult when you’re caught up in the hurried days of deadlines and commitments to think of the broader implications of college on an educated person’s development. Take a look at some of these ideas and see if there’s an intersection with your 21st century life.

An October 1888 editorial offers this series of thoughts: “In study, college students slight nothing more than they do themselves….The student who has done nothing but study has little notion of what he is capable of doing. His school work so absorbs his attention that he fails to study himself….To accomplish the most possible, one must have a practical and general knowledge of things. A broad foundation is essential….Finally, and briefly, don’t hurry through school. It is better to be an educated graduate at tweny-five, than an inexperienced one at twenty. Young people at twenty are apt to make unfortunate ventures….”

Here is another excerpt from some advice given by another Editorial Board in 1890: “The aim of all college students should be to gain knowledge…We are here as a body of students to cultivate our minds, so that we may be able to cope with the outside world….”

1890-02-25_Athenian_right_col

 

 

Cover page of this Athenian issue.

Cover page of this Athenian issue.

 

Hot off the presses!

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Read on for an announcement about a digital preservation project that The Ames Library participated in on IWU’s behalf!
POWRR project logo
The Digital POWRR Project (Preserving digital Objects With Restricted Resources), is a multi-institutional, IMLS National Leadership Grant project that has been working in the field of digital preservation (DP) since 2012. Its focus has been on investigating scalable DP solutions for small and mid-sized institutions that are often faced with small staff sizes, restricted IT infrastructures, and tight budgets. These institutions hold unique digital content important to their region’s cultural heritage, yet many of the practitioners are unsure how to approach the stewardship of the content and are overwhelmed by the large number of DP tools/services available. As the project progressed, the team uncovered the particular challenges, advantages, needs, and desires of under-resourced institutions. They worked to address and overcome obstacles that often prevent practitioners from taking even initial steps in preserving their digital content. POWRR sought to create a well-marked, realistic path towards sustainable digital stewardship for this often overlooked group. For example,
tool_grid
– The team delivered a well-received, graphic-based tool grid that shows, at-a-glance, the functionalities of over 60 DP tools and services and how they fit within an OAIS-based digital curation lifecycle.
– POWRR successfully petitioned select DP-solution vendors for scaled-down and transparent pricing geared towards smaller institutions.
– The team created materials to aid practitioners as they attempt to build awareness around the need for a DP program and advocate for the necessary resources.
– They developed a pragmatic, hands-on workshop to teach the initial steps necessary to accession and inventory digital content as well as how to realistically approach developing a DP program. Recognizing that many of their target institutions currently have little-to-no travel and training budgets, the POWRR team is traveling across the country to conduct these workshops for very little cost to the practitioners.
– Because institutions can achieve economies of scale by working together (not to mention the value of the “we’re all in this together” approach!), POWRR is producing collaboration models and the underlying legal framework often needed for these endeavors…all directed at small and mid-sized institutions.
These are just a selection of the efforts put forth by the POWRR team to guide and empower their peers on the path to digital stewardship. Stay tuned to the POWRR website for further activities and developments!
IWUNIU

Departmental History: Religion

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This timeline tracks changes listed in the Catalogue of Courses for the Department of Religion and Religious course offerings at Illinois Wesleyan University from 1851-2000. Course catalogs from 1851-1954 are available online; the rest are available in print in the University Archives.

1850s

  • In the very first catalog, from 1851, there were only a few courses that were taken that were related to religion; Evidences of Christianity, taken during the first quarter of a student’s senior year, Natural Theology, taken during their junior year, and a few Greek and Mythology classes taken freshman year, and a Greek Testament course taken fourth quarter senior year. There were no mentions of any departments or course descriptions.
  • No records of catalogs from 1852-1856
  • From 1857 until 1859 there were only Natural Theology courses

1860s

  • 1860 and 1861 there were no religious courses in the scientific course study, but a course called Natural Theology for those in the classical course study.
  • From 1862 until 1865, there was only a Greek Testament course being offered
  • From 1866 till 1869, students in the scientific course study were required to take Evidences of Christianity, listed as an Ethical Sciences, and all students were required to attend a lecture called Relation of Natural to Revealed Religion, under the ethics category, where the lecture eventually disappeared towards the end of the decade.
    • It is noted in the Course of Study description that the Scientific course had been rearranged so that it was more similar to that of the Classical course, in order to make them more well-rounded.

1870s

  • Throughout the 1870s, the courses offered remained the same as they were in the previous decade
  • In 1874, the University offered to make special arrangements for those aspiring to join the Christian ministry, and offering to arrange a special theological course if needed.

1880s

  • Until 1883, there was only one class related to religion: Christian Evidences,
  • In 1884 students were still required to take Christian Evidences, but there was also the first appearance of the Department of Ethics and Metaphysics
    • In the description it reads that: “This department embraces a course of instruction in the external, internal and experimental evidences of Christianity”
  • In 1888 the department description changed. Instead of the previous statement, there is a description of the Evidences of Christianity
  • 1889 the description changed again to a professor giving instruction in Christian Evidences

1890s

  • From 1890 until 1893, the description and classes remained the same as it was from 1889
  • In 1894 there were sections under the Department of Ethics and Metaphysics called Philosophy of Theism and Christian Evidences
  • From 1895 until 1897,there was the Department of Ethics and Metaphysics (for philosophy majors), where there were sections called Theism and Philosophy of Theism
  • In 1898 Department of Ethics and Metaphysics included one section called Theism and Christian Ethics

1900s

  • From 1899 until 1907, there was the first sighting of a religion department, although it was grouped together with philosophy to make the Philosophy and Religion Department. Under the philosophy department, students still took a course on religion, Theism and Christian Evidences. Students were still required to take religion courses that varied depending on the year of the student, whether or not they majored in Philosophy and Religion. The number of courses offered under the department started out with very small and increased over the years.
  • In 1908 the Philosophy and Religion Department was combined with the education department, split into two parts
  1. Philosophy and Education
  2. Religion
  • In 1909 the department separated philosophy, education, and religion into three categories under one department.

1910s

  • The departments remained the same until 1914, where a new department was added called The Department of English Bible and Religion
  • In 1915, under the section, Graduation Requirements, students were required to complete four semester hours in the department of English Bible and Religion
  • In 1919 the four course hours of English Bible and Religion was changed to “four hours of biblical literature.” The Department of English Bible and Religion disappeared, and was replaced with two new departments: The Department of Biblical Literature and The Department of Religious education, where they shared the same courses. In the course descriptions, it states that there are classes in other departments that are related to this department, and that students would be required to take.

1920s

  • In 1920, the department changed to the Department of Religion
  • In 1923, this department was replaced with the department of Bible and Christian Missions, although the department of Education and Religious Education was still there
  • In 1929, the department returned to being called the Department of Religion, with the two subtopics being English Bible and Christian Missions.

1930s

  • These departments remained the same until 1931, where the two subgroups under the department of religion disappeared.
  • In 1932 the departments were broken up into divisions, where religion was grouped together with philosophy and psychology. The latter were grouped together under a subheading and religion was by itself. Under religion was also the subgroup religious education.
  • In 1933 the religion requirement for graduation was reduced from four hours to three hours
  • In 1935, religion was grouped under the division of the humanities, along with art, languages, English, music, philosophy and psychology, and speech.
  • In 1939, religion was still under the division of the humanities, but grouped together with philosophy.

1940s

  • The departments and divisions remained the same until 1946, where religion remained under the division of humanities but was separated from philosophy.
  • In 1944, a concentration is offered under religion that prepares young women for the church.

1950s

  • No changes

1960s

  • Churchmanship Training Program introduced; a program that trains students to become members of the church, gone by 1964.
  • No other changes
  • Pre-ministerial training is offered in 1963, a more detailed version of concentrating in religion and includes a half-tuition grant.

1970s

  • The departments and divisions remained the same until 1972, where there were no more divisions and the department of religion was an individual department

1980s-2000

  • No change

Departmental History: German

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The evolution of the German Department as seen in the Catalogue of Courses. Course catalogs from 1851-1954 are available online; the rest are available in print in the University Archives.

Tutoring in German was available on request in IWU’s first course catalog of 1851-52 and then show a dedicated faculty member starting in the second catalog which was published five years later.

1857-65: German and French listed as electives in the “Classical” degree track (the only other track available was “Scientific”) for Junior year.

1892-1893: German and French languages taught together, but a more in-depth time and practice are spent on German even briefly letting students “in which the instructor uses the German language in order the better to familiarize the pupils with ordinary idioms, not necessarily met with in their reading” (16). Also includes an advanced class that studies the works like Goethe’s Hermann und Dorothea and Sesenheim; Freytag’s Journalisten, and Scheffel’s Ekkehard (30).

Focus still on ancient languages of Greek and Latin

1895: First year as a major. Separate listing of German as Course C of language after Greek and Latin. It is also described as adding a third year compared to the previous two year policy and a detailed description of this third year of study consists of reading of historical prose and the study of German Literature. The catalogue says that “German will be largely the language of the classroom throughout the year, and the student will be encouraged to continue in private the study of a most valuable language, which these three years of training ought to make easy and attractive” (28).

1900: Classified as a Modern Language (rather than Ancient language) and has 12 classes of study listed.

1910: Still offered as a three year program, but is more specifically divided into three sections of work. First Year: Mastery of the essentials of grammar, composition, conversation and pronunciation, and 150 pages of easy prose.

Second Year: Advanced grammar and syntax when writing German. Reading of more difficult authors covering 250 to 300 pages.

Third Year: Reading of selected poetical and historical prose works.

1920: German classes increase from general study of the language to more specific categorical classes such as The German Novel of the Nineteenth Century, The Drama of the Nineteenth Century, Goethe and Schiller, History of the German Language, Scientific German.

1930: Direct Listing of Major and Minor Status-Major 24 semester hours and Minor 12 semester hours-Same listing of classes.

German Club Present in 1930 catalogue-Described as “The German Club meets the needs of students of this language in providing extra-curricular opportunity for personal contacts and for attaining proficiency in conversation”(112). Club helped by Professor Ferguson-see next page

1940: Additional classes of Survey of German Literature and German Conference added to German course of classes and it is also in this catalog that Spanish appears as an additional modern language of study.

1950: Only listing of German as a foreign language and only First and Second Year German taught-So only 4 sections of basic language study and small compared to French and Spanish department.

1960: Return of 100 to 400 level German Language classes-Additions of German Composition and Conversation, Goethe’s Faust, Senior Review, and History of German Literature. Ferguson not listed-Emeritus- died on May 9, 1944.

1970: German interestingly is now placed before either Greek or Latin in the catalogue listing. Also a few more classes included such as Survey of German Literature Before 1700, Survey of German Literature After 1700, Contemporary German Literature, Independent Study in German Literature, The German Novelle, German Classicism, German Romanticism-obviously close ties to English department studies

1980: German major alongside the other languages of French and Spanish are divided into three major tracks of major sequence in Applied Modern Language, Modern Literature, and Foreign Language Education. With these divisions the courses expand to carter to these areas, but what is interesting is for the first time the mentions of Travel/Study Abroad classes and internships are listed in the catalogue.

1990: Relatively the same set-up of classes, but looks like there is an increase in studying the effect of translation to language studies, etc.

2000: German Department listing and courses offered officially takes up two full pages of content in the 2000 catalogue showing its serious growth and number of classes for students. The same format is still carried in the modern day, 2014.

Further research of the descriptions and images of the German study/club in the past Wesleyana yearbooks and past Argus issues might also be of interest.

Wesleyana digital collection homepage http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_iwu_yearb.php?CISOROOT=/iwu_yearb

Argus and earlier digitized news sources homepage http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_iwu_argus.php?CISOROOT=/iwu_argus

Here are a few interesting facts: According to Argus perusals, etc. enrollment in the German Programs nationwide definitely decreased during the years of World War II, but also most likely during the years of World War I as well. This is due to obvious reasons of conflict, but at least after the official end of WWII, German departments everywhere, including at IWU, did begin to resurface and, even, flourish only 3 or so years after the war ended (see March 10, 1948 Argus article, p4, on German Professor expressing these thoughts).

Another interesting focus was looking at the progression of the professorship of Wilbert Ferguson. He is listed as Professor of Greek, but also began teaching German on campus in 1895. He continued teaching both but isn’t listed with the title of Instructor of German until the 1907/08 catalogue. Ferguson eventually became the head of the German program and remained so until his death in 1944. The University Archives holds a large scrapbook of Professor Ferguson, but I have also featured here a 1941 Wesleyana picture (picture present in earlier editions as well) of Ferguson.

A note about Records — NOT the Olympic or turntable kind!

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Some people find it odd to learn that archivists spend a lot of time thinking about what to throw away. It’s true, though, not everything needs to be saved forever. In fact, if we aren’t consciously making decisions it can actually cost more–in terms of staff time and resources to preserve objects–to take care of things we don’t truly need compared to the cost of caring for what we truly value.

The graphic below is part of a page I created to help IWU offices identify what types of records they create and to determine how long they should keep them. The page also contains terminology to help people think through record keeping decisions.

records flowchartThis does not have to be a solo effort! Questions are welcome and you can contact me to talk these decisions through.