A Natural History of the A Natural History of the Stephen Jay Gould papers at Stephen Jay Gould papers at Stanford University LibrariesStanford University Libraries

Jenny Johnson, Stanford University LibrariesSociety of California Archivists

Annual General Meeting - Berkeley, California 2013

About Stephen Jay GouldAbout Stephen Jay Gould

• Paleontologist• Evolutionary biologist• Historian and philosopher

of science• Harvard faculty and New

York University adjunct faculty

• Rare and antiquarian book collector

• Author, both popular science essayist and scientific texts

• Activist• Baseball fanatic• Musician

Project OverviewProject Overview

Nearly 600 linear feet of material, including:• Textual materials (manuscripts,

correspondence, juvenilia, teaching materials, subject files, data)

• Photographs (prints and slides)• Artifacts, specimens, memorabilia• Audiovisual materials• Born-digital computer media

Processed in two separate phases:First phase: manuscripts, correspondence, and juvenilia Second phase: Everything else (a sprint to the end!)

Team consisted of one Project Archivist and one Processing Assistant

Parallel ProjectsParallel Projects

• Item level cataloging of all Item level cataloging of all audiovisual materialaudiovisual material

• Imaging and processing Gould’s Imaging and processing Gould’s born-digital computer media born-digital computer media

•Cataloging rare and antiquarian Cataloging rare and antiquarian book collectionbook collection

•Scanning rare and antiquarian Scanning rare and antiquarian book collectionbook collection

Audiovisual MaterialsAudiovisual Materials

Variety of Variety of media, media, including:including:

•160 videotapes 160 videotapes

•271 audio 271 audio cassettescassettes

•7 reels 7 reels

•35 compact discs35 compact discs

Born-Digital MaterialsBorn-Digital Materials

Computer media: 1,180 files (52 megabytes)

Variety of media including:•3.5 inch floppy diskettes•5.25 inch floppy diskettes•Punch cards

Rare & Antiquarian Book CollectionRare & Antiquarian Book Collection

Scanning & Delivering Gould’s Scanning & Delivering Gould’s Rare Book CollectionRare Book Collection

CorrespondenceCorrespondence

ManuscriptsManuscripts

•22 Books 22 Books

•Natural HistoryNatural History magazine column “This View of magazine column “This View of Life,” 300 consecutive monthly articles for over 25 Life,” 300 consecutive monthly articles for over 25 yearsyears

•Book Reviews - Many for Book Reviews - Many for New York Review of New York Review of BooksBooks; as well as other publications; as well as other publications

•Articles & reprints by GouldArticles & reprints by Gould

•Figures. Illustrations, charts, diagrams, graphs, Figures. Illustrations, charts, diagrams, graphs, and other visual works and other visual works

JuveniliaJuvenilia

Artifacts, Specimens, Memorabilia, Artifacts, Specimens, Memorabilia, and Ephemeraand Ephemera

Specimens and soil samples from research trips

PhotographsPhotographs

Everything elseEverything else

ChallengesChallenges

• Limited experience working with science-Limited experience working with science-related collections and their unique related collections and their unique considerationsconsiderations

• Privacy issuesPrivacy issues

• Providing reference for this type of collectionProviding reference for this type of collection

• Processed in two separate phasesProcessed in two separate phasesFirst phase: Manuscripts, correspondence, and First phase: Manuscripts, correspondence, and juveniliajuvenilia

Second phase: Everything elseSecond phase: Everything else

Limited Scientific KnowledgeLimited Scientific Knowledge

Issues Specific to Scientific Issues Specific to Scientific CollectionsCollections

Privacy IssuesPrivacy Issues

• FERPA (student records)FERPA (student records)

• HIPAA (family medical records)HIPAA (family medical records)

• Legal mattersLegal matters

• Nominations Nominations

• Tenure HearingsTenure Hearings

• Peer ReviewsPeer Reviews

• EndorsementsEndorsements

Lack of Familiarity with Gould and Lack of Familiarity with Gould and his Corpus of Workhis Corpus of Work

Solution: The Power of my Library Card!

Solution: Set up a Google Alerts notification.

Identifying ManuscriptsIdentifying Manuscripts

Solution: Google Books useful for comparing manuscripts to published works

AppraisalAppraisal

Correspondence CrisisCorrespondence Crisis

Justifying Juvenilia Justifying Juvenilia

Dealing with DataDealing with Data

Data: both raw and observational, Data: both raw and observational, including:including:

•Machine readable (punch-cards)Machine readable (punch-cards)

•Computer printouts (greenbar)Computer printouts (greenbar)

•Field NotebooksField Notebooks

Reprints, Reprints, ReprintsReprints, Reprints, Reprints

Considerations:Considerations:

•Gould’s own research/marginaliaGould’s own research/marginalia

•Correspondence accompanying reprintCorrespondence accompanying reprint

•RequestsRequests

•Unsolicited submissionsUnsolicited submissions

Making Sense of SpecimensMaking Sense of Specimens

Making Meaning of Making Meaning of Born-Digital MaterialsBorn-Digital Materials

Data Visualization projects created by Peter Chan, Digital Archivist

Promoting the CollectionPromoting the Collection

Promoting the Collection to an Promoting the Collection to an Even Wider Audience Even Wider Audience

The Drawbacks of Project WorkThe Drawbacks of Project Work

This is a pervasive challenge for our This is a pervasive challenge for our profession, however, it’s specifically profession, however, it’s specifically challenging for specialized collections challenging for specialized collections in terms of:in terms of:

•Providing expert collection reference Providing expert collection reference

•Processing accrualsProcessing accruals

•Managing related projects in the futureManaging related projects in the future

ConclusionConclusion

Questions? Questions? Email jenny.johnson@stanford.eduEmail jenny.johnson@stanford.edu