Craft Revival News Spring 2010
Digital Collection
Funding for the Craft Revival project “officially” ended as of October 1. Since that time the project has been operating on Cherokee Preservation Foundation funding supplemented by the Hunter Library. We continue to upload material to the Craft Revival database and have uploaded approximately 500 files since last year. These include contextual photographs and news clippings from Special Collections; a selection of weaving drawdowns and drafts from the Southern Highland Craft Guild; 100 pieces of pottery from Qualla Arts (which we had to first photograph); and 20 craftsmen images from the Museum of the Cherokee. We’ve received and uploaded a few things from the John C. Campbell Folk School as well, including a hand drawn map made by Campbell that defines the Southern Highland region.
Website biographies
We’ve added 4 biographies of Cherokee artisans.
The People: Edmund Youngbird
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/people/youngbird.html
The People: Nancy Conseen
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/people/Baskets_NancyConseen.html
The People: Nancy Bradley
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/people/Baskets_NancyBradley.html
The People: Lucy George
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/people/Baskets_LucyGeorge.html
In addition Joel also updated 3 Crafts pages on Banjo, Dulcimer, and Woodwork.
New finding aid
Anna Shearouse submitted a finding aid that describes the Campbell Folk School collection. It is now up on the site
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/collection/JohnCCampbellFolkSchool.html
Weaving drafts and drawdowns
It has taken a while but we’ve finally finished a major section of the website that shows off Frances Goodrich’s original watercolor drawdowns. These are weave patterns that she collected, analyzed, and illustrated. All are in the database, but are also accessible from their own webpage. This Weaving Drafts page functions much in the same way that the Basket Patterns and Weaving Patterns work. Thanks to all who worked on this: Deb Schillo and Barbara Miller at the Guild, Anna Craft and Joel Marchesoni here at the library.
http://www.wcu.edu/craftrevival/crafts/draftindex/index.html
In progress
We are working with WCU archeologist Jane Eastman to make selections from WCU Archeology Lab for uploading into the digital collections database. Lucas Rogers has begun to photograph these and made the metadata forms. We hope to provide context for Craft Revival-era Cherokee pottery by including images of pre-Contact pottery on the site. More to come…
Preservation files
Jason Woolf has completed a digital backup of all Craft Revival files. These are stored on several terabyte drives that were purchased at the close of the project. Kate Carter wraps up the CDs, DVDs, and scan logs, indexes them and shelves them. She will be turning this job over to Lucas and Jason.
Conferences and Outreach
Anna presented “Going Digital” at the Craft Organization Development Association national conference in April and was part of a symposium on American craft at the Georgia Art Education Association last fall. She and Guild Librarian, Deb Schillo set up a poster display as part of the Appalachian Studies Association conference. Anna gave talks at the Gaston Public Library, Jackson County Genealogical Society, Cashiers Historical Society, and the WCU Alumni Luncheon. The project’s Native Dye Plants exhibit is up at the I-26 Welcome Center north of Asheville.
More outreach
Anna was honored as a recipient of the 2010 North Carolina Folklore Society Brown-Hudson Folklore Award. The award is given annually to individuals who contribute to the transmission and appreciation of cultural traditions in North Carolina. Anna was cited for her work producing the Craft Revival digital collection and the From the Hands of Our Elders collaboration with Qualla Arts and the Cherokee Museum.
Grant awards
The Cherokee Preservation Foundation awarded $50,000 to the Hunter Library to continue our documentation of Cherokee material culture. This third year of the project will focus on 20th century Cherokee carvers. The project includes research on collections at the Museum of the Cherokee and at Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual; assistance with collections care, inventory, and training; and uploading of digital images to the web.
Funding strategies
In January, the library submitted a grant to the NEH to fund the development of a new website on Cherokee Traditions. We will not know about this grant until Sept 1. We are poised to submit two more federal grants over the summer.
Year II Evaluations
During the late spring and early summer of Year II, the Craft Revival project underwent a series of evaluations. In May three days were spent on Usability Testing by the mStoner group, which submitted a subsequent report. In June, Ginny Daley evaluated the database, producing an in-depth Database Assessment with recommendations. In early August, the Project Archivist and Project Leader met with NC ECHO Director, Emily Gore to evaluate the project at the end of Year II. Gore’s recommendations were written up for further discussion and review by Project Director, Bil Stahl.
K-12 Component
Also, as part of the evaluation process, Teacher Liaison Mary Jean Herzog submitted all lesson plans to Learn NC and to the project’s Teacher Advisory Group. The lesson plans were approved with minimal recommended changes. Mary Jean is currently revising these for uploading onto the website.
Content Review
The Project Leader submitted all web pages to an in-house review. Pages are being read and edited by Hunter’s Bob Strauss and Ann Hallyburton and by Scott Philyaw of the History Department. Their recommendations are being incorporated into the website.
New Entry Portal
As per the Usability Testing recommendations, a fourth portal is being added to the Home Page. Apparently users were confused by the fact that they could “enter” the site via three of the four blocks of images on the Home Page; the fourth was the project’s “title page.” Working with Melissa, we moved the title up top and added a fourth means of entry. This solution also solved the issue of giving greater visibility to the collection, recommendations by both Ginny Daley and Emily Gore.
New Staff
Jason Woolf completed his work at the Southern Highland Craft Guild this month and returns to full-time graduate studies. He will work as project research assistant during this academic year. Bil assigned someone from IT to work as project administrator who brings much needed experience in budget management to the table. The Hunter Library search for a Metadata Librarian was not successful, so we are still one person short on the project team. Ginny and Tim Carstens, head of Cataloging, will team up to fill this role.
Friends of Mountain History
Anna presented two programs to an audience of 60 public history professionals at the semi-annual meeting: one on digital exhibitions, the other on the Craft Revival project itself.
Heritage Partners/Advisory meetings
We are temporarily suspending our quarterly Advisory meetings so that Heritage Partners can meet as a group. In all-day sessions, HPs will work on issues involving scans that have been uploaded, correcting images that do not meet project standards.
Anna
Hunter Library | Library Insider | Last updated: 9/5/07 Melissa Young