Summer Internship Report in Special Collections

The following post was written by Luke Moses, who worked this past summer full-time in the Langsdale Library Special Collections Department. Luke is currently a graduate student in NYU's Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program.

This summer at Langsdale was my first time working in a university setting, and by far my most extensive hands-on experience with film inspection/repair and videotape digitization. Siobhan Hagan [Audiovisual Archivist for Langsdale] is an incredibly smart, talented, and resourceful archivist and I cannot thank her enough for her tutelage. Working with the collections of local television stations WMAR and WJZ was a fantastic experience, giving me a chance to dive in to Baltimore’s history. One of the last U-Matic tapes I digitized of WJZ’s Evening Magazine program is a perfect example of this, and can be seen in full here. Most episodes of Evening Magazine are fantastic (I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I refer to it as both a local and national treasure), but this episode from 1977 is particularly interesting. Highlights include a best-in-show cat competition and an explanation of punk music. 

A fundamental goal of archiving is to preserve markers of specific times and places as historical evidence, and the modus operandi of Evening Magazine, which explored Baltimore with an impressive breadth, makes it a veritable goldmine of an archival collection. The utilization of the Internet Archive as both a preservation platform and access portal is a smart move for the University of Baltimore; in some cases I was able to digitize a tape and have it viewable online the next day. As just one small example of the remarkable range of the audiovisual collection, consider the juxtaposition of the intensely specific local stories of WJZ’s Evening Magazine with the raw news footage of WMAR (many hours of which are also accessible via the Internet Archive), and you can see how important an audiovisual collection can be in illuminating local history and culture on a truly sublime level. 

Working with this collection over the summer was such a wonderfully immersive way to experience Baltimore, and I am really looking forward to seeing more of the collection as it continues to expand on the Internet Archive.

Documenting Community Arts in Baltimore

Screen capture from the exhibit, normaneross.wordpress.com

For the past two years, the library’s Special Collections department has worked with members of the community to recognize and preserve the legacy of community arts in Baltimore, with particular focus on the contributions of African Americans to the arts.

Last year, we hosted a pre-Artscape event and worked with researchers who conducted oral history interviews in the library. This year, we received a UB grant to digitize 16 mm films from the Cultural Arts Program and worked with a UB undergraduate student to create an exhibit highlighting a community arts leader.

Film Project

When 19 reels of motion picture film returned to the library after digitization, we were thrilled to discover more than 40 individual movies! The collection documents not only poetry, dance, and visual arts from the Cultural Arts Program, but also a wide range of human services and programs from CAP’s parent organization, the Baltimore Urban Services Agency.

Much of the digitized film was created by Baltimore City youth, under the director of producer Rachel Wohl, for Baltimore’s public access television channel, WBFF. Archivists in Special Collections had the opportunity to meet Ms. Wohl and get additional historical details about the films, which can be viewed and downloaded in their entirety here, on the library’s Internet Archive site.

Intern Exhibit

Special Collections was also lucky to have the opportunity to work with UB Integrated Arts intern, Hannah Smith, on an exhibit to honor the legacy of Norman Ross. Mr. Ross devoted his life to Baltimore’s community arts, as a musician and founder of the Cultural Arts Program, the Eubie Blake Museum, and AFRAM, the city’s African-American festival.

In addition to the materials Hannah created for the display case in the Special Collections Research Room on the 4th floor of the library, she also put together a digital exhibit. The exhibit website brings together her biographical research into Mr. Ross’ life, as well as highlights from over 10,000 archival photographic negatives she carefully examined!

As an archivist, I appreciate how working with the recent past affords opportunities to make connections to the present day. Our collaborative efforts to recognize the history of Baltimore’s community arts have connected Special Collections to many talented and committed individuals, and each one of them deserves recognition. Thank you, Norman Ross, Angela Koukoui, Breck Chapman, Pete O’Neal, Rachel Wohl, Janikka Simms, Hannah Smith, and Skip Elsheimer!