A View From the Stacks: Kersti's Journal Week 4

Our Library Interns have headed off for the summer. They are missed and certainly not forgotten. They've left us with some great journal entries written during the course of the summer. I hope you'll enjoy reading about their adventures and efforts over the next few weeks. - L. C.

Week 4- Collections Development and Management

 
This week I focused on how the library builds its collection and deals with acquisitions. One thing I’ve noticed while I’m here is the library gets a LOT of book donations. All of the books are interesting, but the library’s limited space and scope means that some of them can’t be added to the stacks. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the library focuses first and foremost on subjects related to objects in the museum’s collection. If a text can’t be tied into the library’s scope some way, it needs to be deaccessioned.

The Library’s Goals (from the Collections Development Policy)

·         Provide a primary source of information for the public about Chrysler Museum collections.

·         Provide resources, reference service, and collections management services to enable all museum activities including study, care and interpretation of Chrysler Museum collections.

·         Provide the public with intellectual and physical access to arts-related information through communication and sharing of a wide variety of available resources.

Part of my job this week was to determine if some of the recent acquisitions could be included in the collection. This task was surprisingly difficult; for the assignment I picked a book of architecture, a book about one artist’s focus on American folk art, and a glossy book of recipes. Surprisingly, I had to determine that none of them could be included. The book of folk art was a duplicate of what we already had in the collection; the book of architecture was a “lookbook”, almost an advertisement, for an architectural firm, and perhaps less startlingly, the cookbook was entirely outside of the library’s focus. I also needed to come up with some suggestions of how to deal with those books the library is unable to retain and must deaccession. This, too, proved tricky. My first thought was to donate them, but many organizations that accept book donations have very specific guidelines for what they will and won’t accept- one organization wouldn’t accept anything older than a decade! A sale could work, but would be difficult to organize. I even found that many people use old books to make items like lamps or other pieces of art.

The end of the week was devoted towards something that others have already blogged about…. Making our bookcart! Sarah, Jamie, and I tossed around a lot of ideas, but finally decided on the pirate ship from Muppet Treasure Island, one of my all-time favorite movies. We're keeping our fingers crossed...

The Intern Submission to the 2011 Book Cart Contest:  The Hispanola

The Intern Submission to the 2011 Book Cart Contest: The Hispanola

The Intern Submission to the 2011 Book Cart Contest: The Hispanola

 - Kersti Francis, Summer 2011  Library Intern

 As you may already know, the intern's Book Cart Contest submission, the Hispanola sailed into second place in our annual competition.

A View From the Stacks: Jamie's Journal Week 4

Our Library Interns have headed off for the summer. They are missed and certainly not forgotten. They've left us with some great journal entries written during the course of the summer. I hope you'll enjoy reading about their adventures and efforts over the next few weeks. - L. C.

Walter P. Chrysler Jr. with former Museum Director Dr. David Steadman and an unidentified woman.

 

For Whom in Which Will?

        Continuing on my journey through Walter P. Chrysler Jr’s records, I came across another interesting bump in the road: his will. After a life filled with the constant buying and selling of art, by 1988 Walter had accumulated quite a distinguished personal collection.  Upon his death in September of 1988, it was assumed that he would donate most, if not all, of this collection to the museum he worked so hard to build and maintain.

          In his will, Walter named the Chrysler Museum as beneficiary of over 75% of the Chrysler family trust fund along with $1.6 million for endowment and 17 of his remaining personal works of art.  Also in the will, of the 785 works of art from Walter’s personal collection on loan to the museum, 768 were named to Jack, Walter’s nephew.  Many people, including the Chrysler Museum’s director at the time, Dr. David Steadman were surprised by this decision.  It was reported that before his death, he led his closest friends to believe that he would leave the majority of his artwork collection to the museum.  So, what did he truly want?

       Here is where it gets really interesting.  There was a second, unsigned will that emerged months after his death.  If signed, this will would have given most of Walter’s personal collection to the museum instead of to his nephew, Jack.  751 works, on top of other money given to Jack, would have gone to the museum.  Walter died two days prior to an appointment designated for signing the will.  If the contents of this will were what he truly wanted, why wouldn’t he have taken care of it already? Was his death just unfortunate timing?

           And another thing. Thomas H. Willcox Jr., board of trustees president, said that Walter was an “avid writer of wills” and had made lots of unsigned wills in his life (Daily Press, 4/11/89).  So was this unsigned will just another one of those? We are fortunate enough to have a draft of this controversial, unsigned will in the Chrysler’s archives.

 

 - Jamie Sawyer, Summer 2011  Library Archives Intern

A View From the Stacks - Kersti's Journal Week Three

Our Library Interns have headed off for the summer.  They are missed and certainly not forgotten.  They've left us with some great journal entries written during the course of the summer.  I hope you'll enjoy reading about their adventures and efforts over the next few weeks.  - L. C.

                                                                              

Intern Journal- Week Three

Week three at the JOC Library was incredibly busy. This week’s theme was cataloging, and so I spent the first part of the week learning about the library’s catalogue system from behind the scenes. This was really interesting to me- I use libraries all the time, but never really thought about what goes into the process of creating a functional catalog.

Laura showed me the library’s cataloging program, which, like most programs in use by the OCLC consortium, uses MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging), a type of cataloging language. In MARC, categories are described by a series of numbers  (go here for a full description of the MARC process- it’s a little complex! : http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um11to12.html#part11) which ensures that data can be translated into catalogs across the globe. MARC’s useful because it provides a standardized system for libraries to use- before it was developed by the Library of Congress in the 1960s, this process was done by sharing “union catalogs”, copies of card catalogs that were both difficult to change and expensive to create.  I spent some time updating our catalog, but then turned to the project that dominated the week.

VERTICAL FILES

The Library’s Vertical Files contain information about artists, whether they’re represented in the Museum’s collection or not, and their works. My fellow intern, Jamie, is working on organizing the information the library has on hand about the Chryslers, so to help out we both tackled the seemingly endless files to determine whether or not a file would be helpful to a researcher looking for relevant material on the Chryslers.  The files are made up of various clippings and letters, so digging through to find any reference to the Chryslers took some time.
This project took up the rest of the week- although we didn’t finish the process (to be honest, we were only able to get through about the first 6 letters of the alphabet even though we spent all week on it) Jamie was able to get enough information to begin creating a database of those files deemed useful.

Just one of the many files we dealt with

The vertical files are incredibly useful because they’re the first stop for anyone looking for information on an artist or a work exhibited in the Museum. Although Jamie is still working on putting the database together, I moved on the next week to the wild world of… COLLECTIONS DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT!

These files are just on Picasso alone!

-Kersti Francis, Summer 2011 Library Services Intern

Postscript: Jamie and Kersti very diligently finished this project before the end of the summer. The database will help researchers looking for information about Walter P. Chrysler Jr.'s collection and will also help focus future cataloging of the Vertical file collection.  More Intern adventures next week!

  - L.C.

A View From the Stacks: “The Controversial Century”

The building that formerly held the Chrysler Museum at Provincetown, today.

         Walter Chrysler’s exhibition titled “The Controversial Century” was quite the controversy itself.  It began as a show at his Provincetown museum in 1962, showcasing works by extraordinary artists like Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Matisse. It moved to Ottawa, Canada a few months later, as a traveling exhibit.  One problem.  Experts declared many of these works to be forgeries.

This week, after finishing the processing of Garbisch-related archives, I began work with archival material having to do with Walter, himself, I found most interesting his involvement in the 1962 scandal mentioned above.  It raised many questions in my mind.  How could such a distinguished art collector have fallen into this trap?  What can be said about standards on ethics in the art world (both past and present)?

At the time of “The Controversial Century” exhibition, the Art Dealers Association of America was just forming.  This organization was formed in order to ensure higher ethical standards in the art world.  The ADAA caught wind of certain rumors pertaining to the authenticity of a good number of the paintings in Chrysler’s 1962 show.  Teaming up with Canada’s Parliament, U.S. income tax officials, and the New York County’s district attorney’s office, the ADAA found that some of the paintings in the exhibit had no “pedigree” and were stylistically unlike the work of the pronounced artists. The works that were pronounced fake were then removed from public view.

A painting’s “pedigree” is a listing of all of its progressive owners, traced back to the original buyer.  The authenticity of a painting can be guaranteed by its “pedigree”. Most of the questionable art came from a New York gallery, known as Hartert Galleries.

Reading headline after headline about this incident made me begin to feel bad for Chrysler.  For someone who had the reputation of being a wonderful art connoisseur, striving to educate the public about art’s importance to society, Chrysler was hit hard by many harsh words in and out of the art world.

Walter P. Chrysler Jr. c. 1970

Fortunately, despite this controversy in the early 60’s he was able to bounce back, becoming one of the most distinguished art collectors in America.  Yet, it still makes you wonder: how could he have made such an outrageous mistake?  It still remains a mystery.


 -Jamie Sawyer, Summer 2011 Library Archives Intern

A View From the Stacks - A Hairy Situation in the Archives

Sarah continues her work with the Myers Collection. Two interesting excerpts from her daily journal are below, but you can read full entries at http://saosorio.wordpress.com/ .


Day 9: Week 3
"I think I am making improvements from the folders where name abbreviations were used. It is difficult to look up someone named Thomas when the abbreviation is “Thos.” I think many researchers would know the abbreviation, but spelling out is probably useful during searching. There are several other names where abbreviations have been used, such as “Corn” for Cornelius. I made a fairly nice dent into getting the box list done at the folder level, but it will still take a few more days until completion. I am also using the newer way to express materials that are not dated (undated, rather than n.d.) because it follows DACS and I am a proponent of not using abbreviations and sticking to conformity so that searching will be easier on researchers and any future librarians/archivists. I am starting to think about how best to utilize my time with what time I have remaining. It is difficult to believe that I am almost halfway through this internship!"

Day 10: Week 3

"...One interesting tidbit from the end of yesterday was going through the letterbooks. I came across a clump of hair randomly stuck in a letterbook (I think the letterbook belonged to Samuel Myers). I told the librarian about it today, and she went with me to have another look. The librarian said that back in the day it was fairly normal to cut off hair, particularly of deceased persons in order to make jewelry… ??? Anyway, the hair will be kept, and after the location of the hair is properly documented, it will be stored separately. I thought it was gross, and really wild! I am sure that continuing in archival work, there will be stranger things I come across in the future."

Lock of hair found in the Myers Collection

A View From the Stacks: Walter Chrysler Jr. Was Not the Only Collector in the Family…

After leafing through Jean Outland Chrysler’s records in our library last week, this week I turned to four heavy folders sitting next to her files. These folders were chalk-full of documentation on Edgar and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. Bernice was Walter’s older sister, and like Walter, made a significant impact on the art world. She and her husband, Colonel Edgar Garbisch, compiled a very impressive naïve art collection, a personal collection which is still considered to be one of the most extensive in the United States.

As an inseparable duo, Ed and Bernice were known for doing everything as a team. They gained the reputation for being generous and friendly, taking an active interest in collecting art together. In one interview, Ed stated, “We pick our art as we do everything else – together” (Palm Beacher, 1975).

The couple became very passionate about collecting art, maintaining much of it in their beautiful Cambridge home, Pokety Farms. Although they had an impressive Impressionist collection, they were particular charmed by American naïve paintings.

As an art history major, I admit that before this week I did not have much knowledge of naïve art. But as I read more about it, I quickly began to understand why it greatly charmed Ed and Bernice. Colonel and Mrs. Garbisch were inspired by the paintings’ ability to capture early-American daily life in a genuine way. Thought to generally be done by self-taught artists, naïve art typically takes on the form of genre-painting, implementing a strong use of color and flat detail.

Regarding their introduction to American naïve paintings, Colonel Garbisch remembered, “we saw in these works of art those unique qualities of simplicity, forthright directness, and creative vitality in color and design which set them apart as being indigenous to our country” (Palm Beach Life, 3/1967). They found much pride in collecting this type of art, which they saw as a celebration of our past as a nation.

So, while Walter may have been the largest art collector in the Chrysler family, Bernice was not far behind. Currently at the Chrysler, over ten works from the Garbisch collection of naïve painting are on display. These include Edward Hicks’s famousWashington at the Delaware (oil on canvas, 1849) and Joshua Johnson’s Mrs. Abraham White & Daughter Rose (oil on canvas, c. 1808-09). Make sure you stop by to take a look at these charming examples of American folk painting!

 - Jamie Sawyer, 2011 Library Archives Intern






Washington at the Delaware (oil on canvas, 1849)











Mrs. Abraham White & Daughter Rose (oil on canvas, c. 1808-09





 

 

 

 

A View from the Stacks: Getting Started with the Myers Papers

The Myers Papers

This summer, Library Archives intern Sarah Osorio,  a graduate student at the University of North Carolina Chaple Hill, is doing some in-depth work with the Myers collection. Over the course of the summer, Sarah will be working to compile a overall finding aid for the collection, creating box lists and topical guides, and incorporating recent additions.  Her work will make the more accessible and will help researchers use the amazing historical documents in the collection.  Sarah is keeping a detailed journal of her work. Below you will find a few excerpts from her first week in the Library. If you'd like to keep up with her daily archival adventures, however, you can read a more in-depth journal of her experiences here:  http://saosorio.wordpress.com/



"Day 1: Week 1

Today was my first day interning at the Chrysler Museum of Art! I will be working there for the next seven weeks from 10am-4pm Tuesdays through Fridays. I left early from my home because I didn’t know how traffic was going to be in the morning, and before today I had never physically visited the museum. I gave myself over an hour to get to the museum, but it only took 25 minutes, so I sat in my car for awhile re-reading the syllabus that my site supervisor wrote for me several weeks ago .
...
After touring the museum and eating some lunch, the interns met with their supervisors. My supervisor gave the three interns a tour of the library, and I got a small glimpse of what I will be working on for the next several weeks. I am looking forward to tomorrow, when hopefully I will be delving more into the manuscripts and conversing with my supervisor on ways to enhance accessibility to the collection."

"Day 2: Week 1



Most of today was dedicated to reading a transcript about Moses Myers. The transcription that I read is given to docents training to give tours for the Myers House, which is located about half a mile from the Chrysler Museum. I thought the reading was very informative and insightful, and I really enjoyed reading about the city of Norfolk from the 1790s through the 1820s; it gives me a very different perspective from what I have seen of Norfolk in the past few years. For example, I have been down Church Street several times before, but I never knew that the origins of Church Street began during the years of the early American republic. In addition, I came across Bank Street in the reading, which as the name suggests, is home to a number of banks. I feel that I have a better background about the time period in which Moses Myers lived, and I think this background is an important basis for future decision-making about the collection that I will be making."
 
"Day 3: Week 1

I have lots of information about the collection to go through still in order to try to piece together how the collection has been processed, arranged, and described over the years. It seems that several individuals have gone through the collection to create order, but altogether there is not a one, central finding aid that can help individuals coming in to look at the collection find what they need. Right now I believe my task is very large, but I think when I sit down and work on it more closely, it will become easier and less daunting. "
 
"Day 4: Week 1
Today I continued to go through some of the administrative documents for the collection, trying to figure out the context of the Myers papers from the 1950s to the present. I looked at an itemized list in bound volumes created by ODU, and I determined that the list was not in any particular order. The list did not correspond with any of the other notebooks, so I am interested to see how the logic behind how the items were arranged in those books. I think it will be quite a challenge compiling a finding aid that includes the papers, music collection (approximately 900 pieces), and library of about 1,000 books. Still, I think going through the documentation has been helpful, and I will still need to go through more things when I get back on Monday. I know that I will need to look at the Access database, some administrative history from the library’s network drive, and perhaps other final documentation.


One thing that I thought was particularly interesting about the documentation I found is that there was a transcript of a master’s paper written by a UNC-Chapel Hill student in library science. The paper was submitted in April 1970, and the paper was about the Myers’ collection of books. The library science student created an inventory of books, creating an arrangement system where she organized the books in alphabetical order (I think it was organized by author’s last name). As the books are today, they are actually arranged by publication date. Still, it was interesting to see that a library science student from 40 years ago was able to make use of the collection for her master’s paper."

 - Sarah Osorio, 2011 Summer Libary Archives Intern

Sarah's doing great work, and we look forward to seeing how her project unfolds throughout the summer!

A View From the Stacks: Jean Outland Chrysler- The Woman Behind the Man?

 During my first week in the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, I have been sorting through old newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, pamphlets and magazine articles relating to the Chrysler family. As an archival intern this summer, I am working to improve and enable better access to records relating to Walter P. Chrysler’s Life and Collections.



So, when faced with boxes of material, where did I choose to start? Wondering why this library was dedicated to Jean, I set forth immersing myself in archival materials pertaining to her. After reading numerous thank-you letters addressed to Jean, along with articles praising her for her active role in the museum world, I began to understand just how important Jean was to the Chrysler Museum. In fact, if it wasn’t for Jean, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. may have never come to Norfolk.

Jean grew up in Norfolk, later serving there as a physical education teacher. In 1944 she met Walter, who at the time was in the navy. The couple married in 1945. As Walter’s art collection grew, Jean and Walter threw their energy into maintaining a small but impressive museum in Provincetown, MA. They remained there until the late ‘60s, when Walter began looking to move his large collection to a different location.



Jean Outland Chrysler unpacking library books



With just under 150 cities interested in Walter’s collection, Jean asked about moving it to her hometown, Norfolk. When Walter told her that he hadn’t heard from that city yet, Jean was immediately on the phone with Roy Martin, a former classmate of hers. After talking with Martin, who stood as the current mayor of Norfolk, Jean pulled Walter onto the line in order for Martin to formally invite Chrysler down for a visit. And in 1971 a large portion of Walter’s collection was moved to Norfolk, laying down the foundations for the Chrysler Museum we know so well today.

So, just from week one, I have begun to understand the magnitude of Jean’s role in her husband’s success as an art collector. In weeks to come, I will continue to look through the archives, hoping to find more Chrysler family treasures, much like the story of Jean Outland Chrysler. Stay tuned!

 - Jamie Sawyer, 2011 Summer Archives Intern

A View from the Stacks - Intern Journal Kersti's Week One

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Library! I'm Kersti, the Summer 2011 Library Services intern, and I- along with my fellow library interns- will be blogging my experiences here every week! When I'm not spending time here in the stacks, I'm a rising junior at Bryn Mawr College, where I double-major in English and Medieval/Renaissance Studies and work in Bryn Mawr Special Collections.

I didn't know what to expect coming into this internship; although I grew up in the area, my last visit to the Chrysler was on a high school field trip over five years ago, and I'd never visited the library before! So far, it's been great- even though it's only been a week, I've learned so much about the special challenges and opportunities faced by a library centered around a museum. There are a ton of unique collections housed here, from the Myers Collection (on which Sarah, one of the library archive interns, will share more soon) to the seemingly endless assortment of auction catalogues-detailing sales of everything from major Old Masters works to civil war photography to surprisingly expensive paperweights- that spans centuries. 

The fun part about my internship is that each week focuses on a different aspect of librarianship, like preservation or outreach. This first week served as a general overview of the JOC Library and its functions. I spent the first few days getting my bearings (although I still get lost almost daily), observing the reference desk and cross-checking library donations with the online catalogue to check for any duplicates (Laura outlined the library's acquisition policy for me- the library only houses books that are relevant to objects owned by the museum-for example, because there are illuminated manuscripts either on display or in the archives, the library has shelves of books about manuscripts and illumination in general as well as any texts about the manuscripts owned by the Chrysler), shelving the books we had on display about the objects in the Tiffany Lamps and Life of Christ exhibits that just finished their run, and began working on a summer-long research project of my choice, which I'll write more about as I figure it out (I think I'll work on some aspect of illumination). Thursday introduced me to some of the most important traits required for a librarian- patience and organization. Organization because I spent the day sorting auction catalogues, some of which were a hundred years old; patience because even after several hours of categorizing and shelving, the job is still a work-in-progress.

Friday was, I think, my favorite experience so far. The library hosts its own exhibit in the reading room, and on Friday we changed it from the existing Civil War exhibit to Chelsea's planned rare children's books display. I got to work with documents that included a letter by Robert E. Lee, a flag fragment from the USS Cumberland, which sank in battle with the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack), personal letters from both Union and Confederate soldiers, and government documents.  

That afternoon, Chelsea and I began work on the new exhibit, themed "The Golden Age of Illustration: 1880-1914", which includes one of the first pop-up books published in America, several books by prominent children's illustrator Edmund Dulac, and the first book in the popular "Brownies" series, the popularity of which was so wide-spread that the Kodak "Brownie" camera took inspiration from it.

Here we're in the process of preparing the books,

creating book supports and securing them with mylar. 

The exhibit will be up for the rest of the month, so be sure to stop by!

The final exhibit!

The upcoming week's theme: preservation (I promise this week's blog post won't be so long, haha)! 

 - Kersti Francis, 2011 Summer Library Intern

Intern Collections

During the summer, we asked Interns Chelsea and Casey to create a virtual collection by collecting digital images of some aspect of the library collection to be decided by them. For example, they could collect images of bookplates in the collection, of details on binding, books with funny titles, or books on a particular subject – the possibilities were endless. In July, at the Library Open House, each collection was presented.  You can see both collections scrolling below, or click on them to take a closer look. Thanks to our Summer interns for all of their hard work!


Casey’s Collection



Chelsea’s Collection

A View From the Stacks: Intern's Journal Week 7

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library. This is the last edition of "A View from the Stacks", but I'll be posting the wonderful collections Casey and Chelsea created next week!  

Week 7 - End of the Summer
I’ve reached the last week of my internship and I have one more task and a few more loose-ends to attend to. While we also got to finish the Docent Library and dismantle our book cart, the most exciting portion of the week (so far) was our rare book project, and the hardest is this blog, as it is sadly my last project!

Our final library task involved investigating the value of one of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library’s rare books, and writing a label describing what we found. I chose to research a signed copy of Margaret Bourke-White’s Shooting the Russian War for my interest in the subject and the opportunity to see the famous photographer’s signature up close—it was awesome.

Overall, this project—to me—felt like saving the best for last. It was a thrill to handle a book that is certainly a piece of history in its own right, but also a treasure for its signature. But of the many great opportunities I have had this summer to get acquainted with the museum and its staff, my work in the library has been the most educational and rewarding. I am so grateful to Laura and Sara for their time and guidance, and so sad to be leaving such a great institution!

- Chelsea Reinhardt 2010 Summer Library Intern

A View from the Stacks: Intern's Journal Week 6

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library. Stay tuned for future editions of "A View from the
Stacks" which will continue to appear on the blog during the next few weeks.

Week 6 - Outreach

This was a busy week for the interns in the library! With the library open house scheduled for Wednesday night, Chelsea and I scrambled to finish our independent projects, which included a Book Trailer and Book Collection. For my book trailer, I chose a 1918 book called, Das Werk Von Gustav Klimt. I wanted my trailer to resemble a movie poster. Using Photoshop, I collaged images found within this book and others from Klimt’s oeuvre. For my Collection, I decided to highlight images within the stacks corresponding with the alphabet. Both my Book Trailer and Collection were displayed alongside Chelsea’s at the open house and seemed to receive positive reviews (and should be posted online for viewing). The quiet library was shaken up Wednesday as the open house was a success and we received many visitors!
The second half of our week was spent getting our hands dirty by preparing materials for the upcoming exhibition of Victorian paintings. Chelsea and I looked through the stacks to find interesting books published in the 19th Century – many of which were covered in red rot. We started by pulling every book published during the Victorian era. This, however, proved to be a never-ending task and we switched to pulling attractive books, books with “creative” titles, art books, and books that could only be produced by the Victorians themselves. This narrowed our findings down to about 200 books – a much more manageable task. Each book was photographed, entered into a spreadsheet, and labeled so they could be pulled for later use during the Victorian show. The prettiest books will hopefully be displayed in the library and the others will be accessible to the public online. We hope all our hard works pays off and you enjoy our selections.

  - - Casey Nye, 2010 Summer Library Intern


 Casey and Chelsea's book trailers are below. I'll be posting their collections in the coming week - so stay tuned! The Victorian Books they selected are on now view in the Reading Room.

Chelsea's Art Fraud Trailer (Above)  and Casey's Das Werk Von Gustav Klimt Poster (Right).

A View from the Stacks: Intern's Journal Week 5

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library. Stay tuned for future editions of "A View from the

Stacks" which will continue to appear on the blog during the next few weeks.

Week Five - Archives and Vertical Files

After a week’s vacation spent relaxing beach-side, week six of my library internship was spent easing back into my work and my winter wardrobe. After spending a day in a stylish loaner sweater, I’m comfortable saying the process of sorting archives was the easier transition.

We began our study of archiving by reintegrating the vertical files from the Women of the Chrysler Show with the rest of the Library’s massive collection of manila folders containing academic articles, exhibition flyers, news clippings and other information on artists and works relevant to art research. After dealing with a few finicky filing drawers and some alphabetizing doubts, Casey and I moved on to a couple large office boxes of newspaper clippings. For the rest of the week we learned about the nature of archival work as we sorted through years of art-world news comprising the hard work of long-time library volunteer, Gizella Pongracz.
We sorted the boxes first by subject and artist, and then by the relevance of their content to academic research in Yes,” “No,” and “Maybe,” piles. Though my education in academically useful material began on day one of my internship when I returned dust jackets to books (in case any included an important image), my doubts about archiving led to a massive “Maybe” pile. Almost every article had an important fact or unique picture, but without knowing what else was in an artist file or if anyone would be interested in reading fifteen articles on the same modern Chinese art exhibition, definite answers eluded me. At the end of the week I had made a rather large dent in the box, and read some really great articles. I have also learned a little about the purpose and importance of archival sorting.


- Chelsea Reinhardt 2010 Summer Library Intern

Intern's Journal - A View From the Stacks Week 5

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library. Stay tuned for future editions of "A View from the Stacks" which will continue to appear on the blog during the next few weeks.

Week 5 – Research


        Research week! My favorite part of art history. While this process feels daunting at first, I’ve found that research always leads me through unexpected avenues and leaves me questioning even long after the project has been completed. For our project, Laura instructed us to find one piece in the collection to research. Our research would be added to the Library’s vertical files in the hopes of bringing them up-to-par with Registration’s files, and helping to lead future researches in the right direction. Once again, I was faced with choosing one piece in a collection of thousands!

Rather than selecting a piece by an artist I was familiar with, I decided to choose one I knew little about, and one whose vertical file was in need of expanding. I wrote down several and then narrowed my choices. In a Northern Renaissance gallery (of course) I stumbled upon a tiny painting by Frans Francken II called Death and the Miser. This painting, with its grim subject, is not one I would ordinarily be drawn to, but one that certainly interested me at first glance. It shows a skeleton serenading a seated old, feeble man. Presumably the same man and skeleton are seen out the window, but the man appears much younger. This image’s small size does not detract from its psychological impact, nor it’s ability to show the artist’s skill. It was a front-runner in my choices, and I soon found out it was lacking a vertical file altogether. I felt that this painting’s ability to attract my attention at such a small size and with such a strange subject earned it the right to live among the library’s vertical files.

After researching online and looking through files in the Registrar's record, I found out there are several reproductions of Death and the Miser, and also that there are several Franz Francken’s – a problem that has plagued connoisseurs and researchers for generations. For the purposes of this project, I decided to note this information, but to coincide with the Chrysler’s identification panel, to attribute the painting to Frans Francken II (or the Younger) . My Pathfinder for future researchers included websites containing relevant information, other paintings by Frans Francken the Yonger, useful publications within and outside the JOCL, and other artists and paintings from Northern Europe depicting similar subjects. I hope this research will help to further the interest of others looking for information about this painting and those of similar subjects.

Also this week, Chelsea and I constructed our Book Cart, inspired by a German do-it-yourself doll-house book. Our dollhouse, while not as glamorous as the dollhouses in this book, was done on a budget of only $10. We used cardboard and masking tape to create faux bricks and hardwood floors. We printed out pictures of windows, appliances, cabinets, wallpaper, and tile floors for the interior, and included my childhood dollhouse furniture. Members of our house include, Dr. Scott Howe, Dr. William Hennessey and even our cataloguing fellow, John Curtis. We hope you enjoy our home-made Puppenhaus!

- Casey Nye, 2010 Summer Library Intern

Interns Journal - A View from the Stacks Week 4

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library. Stay tuned for future editions of "A View from the Stacks" which will continue to appear on the blog during the next few weeks.



For week four of our internship we were loosed from the Library and sent to the Education department to perform the seemingly simple task of sorting the Docent library. What at first seemed like a few shelves of roughly categorized material that just needed to be stood upright and recorded soon turned into a week-long foray into the minefield of library cataloging, as well as my favorite internship experience yet. Our work began with an examination of the collections’ materials and purpose. A collection of donated books, the Docent library serves both as a source of quick reference and more in-depth study for Chrysler Museum’s dedicated Docents. Our task was not only to organize the books but to make them quickly accessible by arranging them logically and then cataloging them.

The Docent library before we set to work.

As we got down to the work of recording titles and deciding subjects we encountered the great plague of library organization. While the Library of Congress system provides a structure that arranges books by subject beginning with general art history and moving into mediums, countries of origin and individual artists, some books (and many of the Docent books) cover multiple of these organizing subjects. Placement in the library eventually comes down to individual logic and an executive decision, an issue that complicated work for two beginner-perfectionists

As we made our way though tough names like Mary Cassatt (who, as an American impressionist painter exhibiting in France, was eligible for four of our categories of organization), we settled our disagreements and questions with our supervisor, Laura until, finally, the nearly 600 books of the docent library were recorded and placed in order. For now, we await our second crack at their organization and the completion of our first mini-catalogue. In the meantime, the kinesthetic learner in me cannot wait for my next chance to get hands-on, while the perfectionist in me is eager to complete my task.

- Chelsea Reinhardt 2010 Summer Library Intern

A View from the Stacks - Intern's Journal Week 3

Our wonderful interns Casey and Chelsea have completed their internships and are headed back to school, but they left us with a vivid journal recounting their summer adventures in the Library.  Stay tuned for future editions of  "A View from the Stacks" which will continue to appear on the blog during the next few weeks.

Week 3 – Collections Development and Management


At the beginning of the week, Laura told Chelsea and I we would be helping with collections development by choosing one shelf in the library for an up-to-date inventory. The Library completed a full inventory in 2008, but the shelves are always shifting and changing. We were to go through the shelf, enter basic information about the books into a spreadsheet, flag books in need of relocating or repair, and suggest new books for the shelf. For time and sanity’s sake, Laura encouraged us to choose a shelf that housed books mainly on one subject or a single artist. Since we would be suggesting new books to add, Laura advised us to choose an artist we were familiar with. Based on this information I couldn’t imagine this project taking more than a day – it’s only one shelf, right? The library quickly erased my preconceptions once again.

First – choose one shelf from the painting section of the stacks. This should be the easy part, right? But how does one choose a single shelf in a library of nearly 2,000 shelves! My traditional taste led me towards the exquisite Flemish painters, but choosing a single painter among the thousand of painters within the stacks felt like asking a mother to choose her favorite child. I was afraid of hurting some poor artist’s feelings and worried they would impair my painting skills from the grave forever! So instead of risking any forsaken future, I decided to choose a shelf no one could argue with – 15D – Vermeer. The Chrysler Museum currently has a Johannes Vermeer painting on display in the gallery. Surely there could be no better time to scour through his shelf. I loaded the contents of 15D onto my book cart and went on my way without a trace of guilt.

Several hours into this project, I began to ask myself why I had foolishly neglected to learn French, German, and Dutch. These staples of Flemish art served as roadblocks when trying to read the book titles, but thank goodness Google Translator!

Although this project took much longer than I had originally anticipated, all the listing, flagging, bar-coding, pulling, and re-shelving of books taught me the importance of being meticulous and organized when working in a library. Also, that I need to invest in Rosetta Stone before entering graduate school.

The Vermeer contents of shelf 15D currently sit on the shelves of the library’s reading room for easy public access. Seeing these books specially displayed in the library’s entrance has reassured me that our work as interns is indeed valuable to the Chrysler Museum’s visitors.
 
- Casey Nye, 2010 Summer Library Intern

A View From the Stacks: Interns' Journal - Week 1

Greetings from the Jean Outland Chrysler Library!

My name is Casey Nye and I’ve just started my summer internship and the Chrysler’s Library. I’m currently a rising senior at Virginia Tech majoring in Studio Art, Art History, and Communications. I’ve hoped for an opportunity like this to come my way, and am excited to work with professionals in the art world as I approach graduation.

Having been a frequenter of Virginia Tech’s Art and Architecture Library for the past three years, I thought the Chrysler Museum’s Jean Outland Chrysler Library would be the perfect fit for me. I didn’t know much about the library at first, but knowing that I plan to apply to graduate school for either Art History or Museum Studies, I thought I could gain valuable experience from this type of internship.

Our first day was, of course, a brief introduction to the museum staff and facilities. I met my supervisors, Laura and Sara, as well as other interns here at the Chrysler. After our introductions, we toured the museum, inside and out, and let me say, the public museum space is far less confusing than the building’s inner workings – I hardly have my bearings after one week! After being spun through the galleries, we dizzily headed to the library, which I hoped I would be able to find again on my own. Like I said, I didn’t know much about the library and had never visited.

The Library sits at the end of a hidden hallway off one of the galleries. It opens into a small reading room with general reference books, including a myriad of multivolume encyclopedias, dictionaries, museum catalogues, and trendy art publications, ranging from the Art Bulletin, to Paperweight Quarterly. Gazing at the number of shelves and shallow depth of material, I began to wonder about the whereabouts of all the actual art books. I thought, if I sit in this room of encyclopedias and dictionaries all summer, I will surely drive myself crazy! On the bright side, I would probably become a Jeopardy star. But just as I questioned my decision to spend my summer as a library intern, Laura took us through the STAFF ONLY entrance into the closed stacks, where all the scholarly published authors sitting on the shelves started to laugh in my face. My embarrassment set in. The Chrysler’s library holds over 110,000 items, including thousands of monographs, auction catalogues, folios, oversized books, rare books, and much more. How could I be so foolish as to think we would be working only with Webster’s Dictionaries! The small reading room is only a veneer hiding the enclosed treasures.

As the week progressed and I became more acquainted with the library’s collection, my initial skepticism seemed a distant memory and my fear of monotony turned to a fear of incompetence. There is much to learn from this secret library, and far more than I can hope to glean in a mere two months. So far, I have only seen a fraction of what this library has to offer, but I am certainly excited to explore cache of knowledge. The Jean Outland Chrysler Library is a hidden jewel within the walls of the Chrysler, and has taught me that you really can’t judge a book by its cover.

- Casey Nye,  2010 Summer Library Intern