a natural history of the stephen jay gould papers at stanford university libraries jenny johnson,...
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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
