Originally Written 2/7/16:
Above is a box from Michael Woodcock’s Route 66 class from around 15 years ago. The class collected materials representing this section of the the famous highway that we commonly recognize as Foothill Blvd. Some highlights not seen in the picture include an In-n-Out Christmas to go bag, sunkist candies, and Pitzer memorabilia.
The box represented a larger theme for me this week. I had the opportunity to survey a variety of materials and learn how they are stored. There are DVDs, CDs, reel to reel, cassettes, film and even a floppy disk. In order to list what is in the collection I had to learn some AV basics like how to distinguish 8mm and Super 8mm film.
This weeks challenge was to begin to develop a plan of how this collection should be arranged ideologically and physically. I focused more time than expected on the physical arrangement part- there are so many different types of boxes! Although I have an outline of the collections arrangement, I am interested to see how this will change over time when I begin the process.
Originally written 1/29/2016:
First week of CCEPS done!
This week I got a look behind the scenes at Special Collections beyond what I had been able to see as researcher in previous years. After looking at a few collections, I decided to spend my time with CCEPS working on the collections of Carl Hertel, the late Pitzer and CGU professor of Art and Environmental Studies and, as I recently discovered, a Pomona College graduate ’52. I have done research projects on Pitzer’s history and also contributed to the Pitzer History Project, so working with materials of such an important figure in the Pitzer community is a special opportunity. I am in the process of surveying the materials, which has been interesting and fun to see bits of Pitzer culture over a range of about 30 years. I have heard references to the external studies program in which students lived and studied in the New Mexico for a semester, but now I have seen photos, projects, lessons, etc, for the course. It makes me wish we still had such a program! So far the challenge this week was the control of my curiosity to read every single word, look in detail at every single photograph, and so on. If I did that, I would never have made it past the first box! There is such a variety of materials in format and topics, there is so much to learn and so much to do! I am excited to see what next week brings.
Lora Funk, Pitzer ’16