banner for department blog

Special Collections Welcomes Two, New

Department News
Lisa Cruces, new Hispanic Collections Archivist at the University of Houston Special Collections

Lisa Cruces, new Hispanic Collections Archivist at the University of Houston Special Collections

There has been a lot of excitement back in the Special Collection offices as of late as we have two new additions on our team.

We are very pleased to be bringing in Lisa Cruces, who officially joined us last week, as the new Hispanic Collections Archivist.  As Esmeralda Fisher initially reported back in December, the addition of Cruces will have our Hispanic Collections poised for the future in an exciting and emerging area of research.  Lisa comes to us from the University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Libraries where she served as Librarian-in-Residence since July 2012.  She has been appointed Member of the Pinkett Award Committee (SAA), served multiple appointments on the Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable (SAA), and has served as Chair of the Scholarship Committee for the Society of Indiana Archivists.  Lisa earned her MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012.

Matt Richardson, photographed in the Special Collections Reading Room

Matt Richardson, photographed in the Special Collections Reading Room

Matt Richardson joined our team at the end of January to assist archivists with the accessioning of born-digital materials in our various collections and to manage our online finding aids.  In this regard, it should be noted that the University of Houston Special Collections is a charter member of ArchivesSpace (a new, open source archives information management application) and our own Mary Manning (University Archivist) has been appointed to its User Advisory Council for a two-year term.  Matt will work with Mary and the rest of Special Collections as we transition from one finding aid tool and begin breaking new ground for researchers with ArchivesSpace.  Matt earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Liberal Studies from Northwestern University where he also cut his teeth in the Preservation Department at the Northwestern University Library.

If you’re visiting us and you happen to see Lisa or Matt, please let them know how excited we are to have them at the University of Houston!

American Experience and the Engineering Map of America

Department News, Events
Star on top of the San Jacinto Monument

Pictured here is the 220 ton star atop the San Jacinto Monument (from the George Fuermann “Texas and Houston” Collection and our Digital Library)

University of Houston Special Collections and dozens of other academic institutions have partnered with PBS and American Experience to create a crowd-sourced, interactive map of some of the most significant engineering feats in the history of the United States–the Engineering Map of America.

Part of the Mapping History project, the Engineering Map of America will explore the marriage of science and technology that allowed the greatest engineering marvels to come to fruition.  Similar to their previous Abolitionist Map of America, Mapping History is developing this resource through the contributions of the community at large.  Complete with an app for your iPhone, this Mapping History endeavor will officially launch alongside the premiere of The Rise and Fall of Penn Station on February 18, 2014.  However, in hopes of soliciting resource material prior to the premiere, American Experience is sponsoring a contest.  The individual and institution with the most contributions to the map will win an American Experience DVD (see complete rules and details) as well as the envy of the larger engineering community.

American Experience initially approached our office about partnering on this project after discovering materials in our Digital Library.  Since then, the University of Houston Special Collections has contributed resources on the Astrodome, the San Jacinto Monument, the Houston Ship Channel Turning Basin, as well as the Galveston Seawall.

Join in on the fun and be sure that your personal favorite engineering challenges and innovations are highlighted by adding your own resources to the interactive map.

The Strange Demise of Jim Crow

Events, Houston History Archives

cole001-ccThe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will screen the film The Strange Demise of Jim Crow on Sunday, February 9th at 5pm in the Caroline Wiess Law Building.

Directed by David Berman, this 1998 film delves into the quiet inner-workings and subtle, sometimes shady, machinations of the process of desegregation of southern cities like Houston, where quiet compromise and media blackouts replaced the bombastic violence of fire hoses, police dogs, and street battles that engulfed other southern locales and burned themselves into the nation’s television screens.  Tickets may be reserved in advance for free at the MFAH website.  A panel discussion will follow the screening of the film, moderated by co-producer Thomas R. Cole.

At the University of Houston Special Collections, we are proud to make available for study the Thomas R. Cole Desegregation Papers.  Part of the Houston History Archives, the Thomas R. Cole Desegregation Papers contain the research materials that went into the making of this film.  As we have written previously, these papers are an excellent starting point for anyone interested in researching the unique path to desegregation that cities like Houston followed.  The collection contains drafts of scripts for the film, correspondence related to fundraising, and a variety of materials related to the topic of segregation as well as publicity for the film.  We invite you to review the detailed finding aid and visit us at your leisure to study these rich materials.

«« Newer Posts