Newsletter: March 2008
Grant Application to the State Library
We have completed and submitted a grant to the State Library for a fourth year of funding. The request covers the purchase of hard drives and a workstation for the Museum of the Cherokee, funds to hire on-site scanning staff and a consulting archivist, and funds to host a project “launch” next spring.
The grant narrative is posted to the Library Insider page at http://library.wcu.edu/libraryinsider/craftrevivalgrant/index.htm
Grant to the Cherokee Preservation Foundation
We have received a favorable review of our grant proposal to the Cherokee Preservation Foundation and are awaiting official word that the Hunter will receive almost $50,000 from this private foundation. This grant will be administered by the Hunter Library, in partnership with the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual. Funds will be used to support the research and documentation of Cherokee arts and crafts during the Craft Revival period, produce a booklet that can be sold in the museums’ sales shops, host an event for teachers at Qualla, and add lesson plans focused on Cherokee crafts to website.
The grant narrative is posted to the Library Insider page at http://library.wcu.edu/libraryinsider/craftrevivalgrant/index.htm
Home Team activity
The Home Team has continued its work responding to suggestions from the site review team in January, as well as making improvements to the site, database, and workflow in response to our own team discussions. We have improved the clarity of metadata construction by combining the Creator and Creator Group fields. The team is working on improvements to the pan-and-scan viewer as well as reviewing how a larger image is accessed. We anticipate having a discussion with project Advisors and Partners with regarding the use of 72 and 300 dpi images.
Format field
Ginny Daley reviewed the idea of adding a Format field to the project’s metadata scheme with Kathy Wisser. While we already have a required Dublin Core format field imbedded in the metadata schema, we don’t have a “user-friendly” means of identifying the type of image that appears on the screen to the viewer. Ginny, Tim, and Anna have reviewed and adapted terms from the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus and selected a number that will serve the needs of the project. These will be presented at the next meeting.
Target numbers
Thanks to all the hard work coming in from project Partners, we are at or near our target numbers. Based on Ginny’s calculations, we have over 2,700 items. These include almost 2,000 scans of text, over 500 scanned photographs, and over 300 scans of craft objects. Partners, please remember that in order to process disks before the end of this school year, mail your Year III submissions by April 30th.
New web pages
Michelle Frances completed and submitted a series of pages that detail the history of Penland’s Weaving Institutes. Working with Melissa, they’ve created a dynamic access to this material. Anna has written and edited material for a new Basket page that is up. Several other pages are almost complete but have taken a back seat to grant deadlines this month.
See the Basket page at: http://craftrevival.wcu.edu/crafts/baskets.html
See the Weaving Institute pages at: http://craftrevival.wcu.edu/story/penlandweavinginstitutes.html
Cherokee basket index
Tonya Carroll has been working with Anna to identify Cherokee basket patterns. We expect to have this page up before the end of the month. Tonya will be moving back into part-time status this summer as she returns to her job at the Oconaluftee Indian Village.
Help page
The Home Team has been talking about adding a technical page to the website to explain both how to use the site and to record technical information about the project. The details about what should be included on this page will be discussed at the upcoming Advisory/HP meeting. We anticipate sections on:
Outreach
Anna’s talk on women of the Craft Revival was the keynote address at WCU’s Gender Conference as part of Women’s History Month. She will be presenting to a Folklore class this month as well as giving a talk in Asheville.
Meeting
The project is hosting an all-day Advisory/HP meeting on April 2nd. We will introduce and welcome to our meeting, Dr. Dana Sally, Hunter Library’s Dean of Library Services.
Most all of the above items will be discussed at the morning session. During the afternoon, Heritage Partners will move to the Mountain Heritage Center to try their hand at creating 3-D rotations of objects. (HPs, please remember to bring an item or two to the meeting.) Peter Koch will give us a demonstration and then everyone will take a turn.
Advisors and Partners, we will see you Wednesday, April 2 at 10 am.
Anna
Hunter Library | Library Insider | Last updated: 4/1/08 Melissa Young