Opening Up the Vault:

Participatory Cataloging and Curation of Public Television Quilting and Needlework Programs for an Open Access Digital Archive

Amanda Grace SikarskieAdjunct Assistant Professor, Department of History, Western Michigan UniversityAdjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Art History, and Design, Michigan State Universityand Mellon Fellow, WGBH Boston, 2013

The Mellon Participatory Cataloging and Curation Project

• Working with scholars with research specialties pertinent to programs in the catalog to:

• Increase public awareness of the vast collections that digital repositories hold

• Publishing the entire WGBH archival catalog in an online, open access format

• Open Vault, – http://openvault.wgbh.org

WGBH Open Vault Collections

• The life of Grete Bibring- Student of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud • The March on Roxbury, Mothers for Adequate Welfare, and the school Stay Outs

taking place in Boston in the 1960s • Postwar television and Joyce Chen Cooks • The birth of MOOCs and IA Richards • Needlepoint with Erica Wilson• Radio personality Eric Jackson and his interviews with Jazz Masters• The legacy of Roger Fisher and his creation of the Advocates• The Prospects of Mankind featuring Eleanor Roosevelt and the Anniversary of

Kennedy's Report on the Status of Women• The Cold War and the French Chef• Poetry and Technology• Tech nostalgia and moving image & sound heritage • Decade of the Brain- Representations of the brian in public discourse• Violence in Television- How violent media shapes research on human aggression• The African Liberation Movement in the 1970s• ZOOM- Children's culture from 1965-1980

WGBH Open Vault Collections

• The life of Grete Bibring- Student of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud • The March on Roxbury, Mothers for Adequate Welfare, and the school Stay Outs

taking place in Boston in the 1960s • Postwar television and Joyce Chen Cooks • The birth of MOOCs and IA Richards • Needlepoint with Erica Wilson• Radio personality Eric Jackson and his interviews with Jazz Masters• The legacy of Roger Fisher and his creation of the Advocates• The Prospects of Mankind featuring Eleanor Roosevelt and the Anniversary of

Kennedy's Report on the Status of Women• The Cold War and the French Chef• Poetry and Technology• Tech nostalgia and moving image & sound heritage • Decade of the Brain- Representations of the brian in public discourse• Violence in Television- How violent media shapes research on human aggression• The African Liberation Movement in the 1970s• ZOOM- Children's culture from 1965-1980

WGBH Open Vault Collections

• The life of Grete Bibring- Student of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud • The March on Roxbury, Mothers for Adequate Welfare, and the school Stay Outs

taking place in Boston in the 1960s • Postwar television and Joyce Chen Cooks • The birth of MOOCs and IA Richards • Needlepoint with Erica Wilson• Radio personality Eric Jackson and his interviews with Jazz Masters• The legacy of Roger Fisher and his creation of the Advocates• The Prospects of Mankind featuring Eleanor Roosevelt and the Anniversary of

Kennedy's Report on the Status of Women• The Cold War and the French Chef• Poetry and Technology• Tech nostalgia and moving image & sound heritage • Decade of the Brain- Representations of the brian in public discourse• Violence in Television- How violent media shapes research on human aggression• The African Liberation Movement in the 1970s• ZOOM- Children's culture from 1965-1980

A Partnership Between Scholars and WGBH Media Library & Archives

• The scholars:• Watching episodes of early programs

produced by WGBH • Tagged each episode with metadata

of our choosing, and • Authored an essay that will help

scholars and viewers understand and use their collection

Erica

• Erica, also known as the Erica Wilson Show, was a television craft program produced by WGBH Boston.

• The show was hosted by Erica Wilson and ran from 1971-2 and 1975-6.

• It was aired on PBS in the United States, on the BBC in Britain, and also on Australian television.

Episodes Digitized

1971Episode 101: Ticking SamplerEpisode 104: BargelloEpisode 105: Graphics from A to ZEpisode 106: Space Age CanvasEpisode 107: Turkey WorkEpisode 108: Just TiesEpisode 109: Christmas TreeEpisode 110: Satin StitchEpisode 111: Thinking BigEpisode 112: Designing NeedlepointEpisode 113: ChainsEpisode 114: Thinking BiggerEpisode 115: Designs from ChinaEpisode 116: Crewel PointEpisode 117: Shisha WorkEpisode 118: Roumanian Stitch 

1972Episode 120: Sentiments in StitchesEpisode 121: Oriental GoldEpisode 122: Geometric NeedlepointEpisode 123: Cross StitchEpisode 124: Needle PaintingEpisode 125: Bell Pulls, Borders, and BandingsEpisode 126: Stitches in Needlepoint 1975Episode 201: Patchwork 1976Episode 203: 3D CollageEpisode 209: New Points in NeedlepointEpisode 211: Native American TreasuresEpisode 212: Fun, Fashion, and CostumesEpisode 213: Creatures Great and SmallEpisode 215: Appliqué

Learning the Metadata Scheme

Scholar-submitted Metadata

• Flexibility is key• Creating new fields• Creating new LOC subject-headings

• But what about interoperability?

• Submission of metadata as a MS Word doc

Examples of Metadata

Program Title: Erica

Episode Number: 106

Episode Title: Space Age Canvas   Program Summary:Canvas was traditionally made out of hemp, linen, or cotton, and Erica informs the viewer, had changed little since Mary, Queen of Scots had done embroidery on canvas. In this episode, however, Erica discusses a new, major innovation in embroidery—plastic canvas. Erica favors the plastic canvas for three-dimensional work because it is flexible, yet stiff, will not fray, and is easy to cut. Erica shows a telephone book cover and a handbag that she made, both in bargello on plastic canvas, and demonstrates how to join to pieces of plastic canvas for a three-dimensional effect using a special joining stitch. For the major project of the episode, Erica shows how to make a three-dimensional needlework replica of one’s own home out of plastic canvas to use as an embroidery box.

Examples of Metadata, cont.

Topics:Needlework – Instruction; Plastic Canvas; Bargello; Embroidery; Replicas – Domestic Architecture   Duration: 00:14:28  Color or B&W: Color       Date Created: 1971     Copyright Notice: Erica Wilson and Copyright WGBH Educational Foundation

People: Host – Erica Wilson; Producer – Margaret MacLeod; Director – James Field; Set Designer – Frances Mahard Selected Textiles Courtesy Of: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Next Steps for Erica

• Roundtable at American Quilt Study Group 2014• Article in Uncoverings• Research on Erica Wilson’s interest in South Asian

textiles• Potential for an Erica Wilson book project

A BIG thank you to the Mellon Foundation and Allison Pekel, Project Manager, WGBH Media Library and Archives!

Questions? Please contact me at amanda.sikarskie@wmich.edu

Peacock embroidery background slide is from the collection of the presenter.