Welcome to the final issue of volume 32 of The Medium. This number features reports from the chapter’s 2006 annual meeting, President Schaub’s farewell report, and another installment in the collection profile series covering the Alexander Architectural Archive at The University of Texas at Austin. The issue closes with a stimulating roundup of member news.
As I sit writing my column for the final issue of this year’s Medium I find it hard to believe that my tenure as president is quickly coming to an end. It has been a pleasure serving the chapter and working with colleagues across Texas, especially Vice President/President Elect Sam Duncan. The chapter will be in good hands under Sam’s guidance in 2007.
Our progressive meeting beginning in Austin, traveling to San Marcos, and then on to San Antonio allowed attendees to explore a wide variety of cultural institutions in three notable Texas cities. As always the meeting provided a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with colleagues.
I would like to acknowledge chapter members Craig Bunch, Beth Dodd, Sam Duncan, Mark Pompelia, and Laura Schwartz for assisting with the planning process and Beth Dodd and husband Greg Smith, Carla Ellard, Selene Hinojosa, and Karen Sigler for generously hosting portions of the weekend’s activities.
You can read summaries of the various activities submitted by chapter members in attendance elsewhere in this issue.
I would like to follow up with you regarding a number of items addressed by the chapter at our most recent meeting.
As most of you are now aware, membership in our chapter is contingent on membership in ARLIS/NA. During the course of this year I have been working closely with South Regional Representative Heather Ball to encourage communication between chapters and ARLIS/NA Headquarters regarding membership issues not only so that chapters can ensure that members are in compliance with their own bylaws—as well as ARLIS/NA’s bylaws—but also so chapters and ARLIS/NA can work in concert to support recruitment efforts. At this time I do not feel that a sufficient solution has been implemented, and I am committed to continuing a dialog with the ARLIS/NA Board and Headquarters to encourage necessary and positive change.
In the meantime, if you have renewed your chapter membership but have not renewed your membership in ARLIS/NA I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. ARLIS/NA’s membership form is available online.
Chapter liability has become a topic of discussion in the wake of the ARLIS/NA Chapter Affiliation Agreement. The agreement codifies in legal terms the relationship between chapters and ARLIS/NA so that ARLIS/NA will not be held liable for an individual chapter’s actions.
Following our chapter meeting, I contacted ARLIS/NA Executive Director Elizabeth Clarke via the chapter officer listserv to find out whether chapter officers might be covered under the ARLIS/NA insurance umbrella.
In Elizabeth Clarke’s response on 10/25/06, she stated that “... it [ARLIS/NA’s insurance policy] doesn't cover chapter officers because they are not part of the Governing body of ARLIS/NA. They are the Governing body of the chapter. So unfortunately, no, Chapter officers are not covered by the ARLIS/NA insurance coverage.”
This fact brings to the fore the potential risk chapter officers face if something were to occur that might prompt legal action against the chapter. I have done some preliminary investigation into non-profit unincorporated entities and their legal status as noted in the President’s Column appearing in v. 32: 2 of The Medium. Since then it has come to my attention that the Texas Library Association offers its members professional liability insurance at a very reasonable rate.
Further investigation into the matter of liability insurance for chapter officers and how best to approach the need once a risk assessment has been completed will continue into 2007.
Serving as an ARLIS/Texas-Mexico chapter officer over the last four years has helped me fine tune my leadership skills and has allowed me to cultivate important relationships with colleagues from a variety of institutions.
Thank you to all the members who put their trust in my abilities and as a result helped me grow professionally. I am indebted to my most immediate predecessors Mark Pompelia, Jon Evans, and Laura Schwartz whose standards for service I aspired to meet while in office.
Thanks to chapter Treasurer Craig Bunch for his unflagging service, congratulations and thanks to incoming Secretary Catherine Essinger for stepping in and taking the annual meeting minutes in San Antonio, and thanks to Sam Duncan for his commitment to the chapter as not only Vice President/President Elect but also as the chapter’s indefatigable Webmaster.
Finally I want to acknowledge South Regional Representative Heather Ball. Heather has been a model regional representative providing a conduit for communication between the chapter, the Board, and Headquarters. I've been able to rely on her for guidance and sage advice throughout the year.
It has been a pleasure serving as the chapter’s president in 2006; I look forward to fulfilling my role as past president in the coming year.
Heather Ball
ARLIS/NA South Regional Representative
Dear ARLIS/TX-Mexico Members,
Here in Blacksburg the leaves are turning amazing colors—golden yellows and bright oranges …it’s very pretty, but I still miss Texas! I can’t tell you how much I will miss the chapter meeting this year. I will never forget Marfa and how much fun it was to spend time with you all last year. Have a margarita for me.
Now, down to business. Regarding affiliation: if you have any questions at all, or concerns about this process, please let Elizabeth know. She has been participating in discussions on a chapter leaders listserv and is up to speed on the affiliation process. To date, four chapters have signed affiliation agreements, including one from our very own region: DC-MD-VA, Northern CA, Twin Cities, and Mountain West have all signed their affiliation agreements. We have also heard positive reports coming back from several other chapters who are preparing to sign.
Many chapters are opting to vote on this issue. Voting makes this decision much easier for chapter leaders—I urge you to conduct a vote on the affiliation within your chapter. Additionally, I know that your chapter leaders will be working on bringing the chapter’s bylaws into compliance with ARLIS/NA bylaws. Whatever changes are decided upon, these will need to be submitted to the Board for review in time for us to approve the changes at the pre-conference Board meeting in 2007 (preferably by February 1st so we can send back comments ahead of time, if necessary).
Regarding liability coverage for the chapter. A chapter may decide to go ahead and consult with a lawyer to have a waiver created for a chapter activity – that is at the discretion of the chapter. However, the lawyer that the Board consulted says he does not have much confidence in waivers. Here are some other options that chapters may want to pursue:
Please also remember that the chapter should notify the Board of new chapter leaders by March 1st. This is so we are certain to invite the appropriate individuals to the Leadership Breakfast (aka: pile o’ eggs) next year at the conference in Atlanta.
I hope you have a great chapter meeting! See you in Atlanta!
Best,
Heather
Alexander Architectural Archive, University of Texas Libraries,
The University of Texas at Austin
PO Box P (BTL200 S5430)
Austin, TX 78713-8916 USA
Telephone: 512-495-4621
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/apl/aaa/
Alexander Archive Stacks
Beth Dodd's Office
The Alexander Architectural Archive at the University of Texas at Austin is an architectural research center of national importance. As a unit of the University of Texas Libraries within the Architecture and Planning Library, the Archive supports research and education about the history of the built environment by acquiring and preserving research collections and by making them accessible. The Archive also supports learning opportunities and scholarly activities for students studying preservation of the cultural record and archival enterprise.
The Alexander Architectural Archive is a repository of over 100 collections of material preserved to enrich and serve our architectural heritage. Holdings include documentation involved in the management of a firm, the development of a project design through the finished product, and other activities occurring in the lives of architects, landscape architects, planners, designers, preservationists, historians, educators, and related businesses. These documents may also reflect personal travel, writings, educational activities, professional associations and other related interests.
The Alexander Architectural Archive supports instruction in the School of Architecture through the doctoral level in architectural design, history, preservation and community and regional planning; and the bachelor level in Interior Design. The Archive also supports research in history, art history, American Studies, anthropology, and engineering, as well as that undertaken by design professionals, governmental agencies, and others involved in the preservation and restoration of properties. The Alexander Architectural Archive is available to all serious inquirees for research and scholarship.
Preservation activities and issues are essential to the mission of the Alexander Architectural Archive. The Archive currently oversees and performs archival preservation work with assistance from the Kilgarlin Center for the Preservation of the Cultural Record. Additionally, the Archive offers storage and care guidelines to other institutions, caretakers of architectural records, and the general public. The Archive also supports the preservation of architectural records by sponsoring the Texas Committee for the Preservation of Architectural Records (TxCOPAR), which serves as a cooperative resource for institutions containing architectural, planning, and landscape records in Texas.
Blake Alexander started what has become known as the Alexander Architectural Archive in 1958, after he directed a team of student architects recording historic buildings in Pennsylvania for the Historic American Buildings Survey. Professor Alexander adapted the HABS format to his own course at UT, requiring students in his architectural history class to measure and draw historic Texas buildings as one of their assignments. Known as the Texas Architecture Archive, this rapidly expanding collection soon outgrew his office and was moved into a small storage room, otherwise known as “Alexander's closet. ”
In the mid-1960s, one of Professor Alexander’s students arrived with large paper sacks filled with tattered, water-damaged drawings. As Professor Alexander examined them, it became apparent that they had in fact been through a flood - the great Galveston hurricane of 1900. These drawings, by the well-known Galveston architect Nicholas Clayton, had been given to the student by Clayton's granddaughter and became the first professional records to be deposited in his collection.
The Clayton drawings opened up the prospect of seeking original drawings of other important Texas architects whose records needed to be preserved. In 1979, the General Libraries (now the University of Texas Libraries) became the repository of the records, and it was moved to the Architecture and Planning Library and named “The Architectural Drawings Collection.”
Other collections became available as word spread of this new resource. The family of Robert Ayres generously donated the records of the San Antonio firm of Ayres and Ayres. About the same time, Professor Alexander contacted a descendant of James Riely Gordon, one of the premier designers of Texas courthouses to obtain his vast collection of documents. Professor Alexander also helped secure the acquisition of the original design drawings for The University of Texas campus by Paul Philippe Cret.
Today, the Alexander Architectural Archive is the largest such resource in Texas, containing over a quarter of a million drawings and nearly 2,000 linear feet of papers, photographic material, models and ephemera, representing thousands of projects in Texas as well as New York, Chicago, California, Great Britain, and some Latin American countries. Professor Alexander was a pioneer in recognizing the importance of preserving architectural records. The resources he collected have played an important role in the restoration of many of Texas' most important buildings and continues to be essential for the study of American architectural history.
In 1997, the Texas Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians sponsored a campaign to name this valuable archive after its founder. The University, in support, recognized that without Alexander’s initiative, records of our architectural heritage would have perished from neglect. It is with great appreciation and celebration that the collection he founded is named the Alexander Architectural Archive.
The ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico Chapter meeting began Friday, October 20 with a presentation from Thomson-Gale representative LuAnn Harrison, who presented a few of their databases including Eighteenth-century Collections Online, Sabin America, 1500-1926, and Corbis Images for Education. Our chapter was interested in ways that these databases would be beneficial to the patrons we serve.
Sabin Americana, 1500-1926, is based on Joseph Sabin’s Bibliotecha Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America From Its Discovery to the Present Time. The database contains books, pamphlets, and serials from a variety of genres including memoirs, travelogues, and sermons all predominantly in English. Currently a user can search the full-text of 27,459 titles, but this number will keep growing as they add new titles. Based on the ESTC (English Short Title Catalog), Eighteenth-century Collections Online allows full-text searching of over 138,000 titles which cover the American and French revolutions and the industrial revolution. As far as being beneficial to the art community, these databases may contain materials with biographical information on artists or materials that reference works of art in collections or exhibition catalogues, which could prove valuable for provenance research.
The third Thomson-Gale database that our chapter looked at was Corbis Images for Education. The Corbis resource is somewhat similar to ARTstor, an image database with downloadable images and brief information about the image. The major difference is that Corbis does not currently contain nearly as many fine art images as ARTstor. Corbis plans to add more fine art images in the future but for now, with its large collection of predominantly historical photographs, it is more comparable to the database AP Photo Archive.
Meeting held Friday, October 20, 2006. 10-11:30 a.m.
This year’s progressive conference was rich with interesting and informative tours. What better way to warm the trail than with the incredible visual materials found at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The HRC Web site identifies the collections as “one of the world's finest cultural archives ... [which] houses 36 million literary manuscripts, one million rare books, five million photographs, and over 100,000 works of art.”
It was with great pleasure that we were treated by curators’ selections from the Art, Photography and Performing Arts collections.
The Art Collection, introduced by Associate Curator Peter Mears, includes original works of art, prints and artists’ books, as well as associated works such as manuscripts. We were presented with literary portraiture, art by writers, fine press illustrations, and architectural drawings. Larger holdings include those of Max Beerbohm, Eric Gill, Mexican art, twentieth century posters, and the collections of Texas artists Tom Lea, Elisabet Ney and Frank Reaugh.
Linda Briscoe Myers, Assistant Curator for Photography, provided a wonderful selection of prints that led the discussion on the history of collecting photographic material at the HRC. The bulk of the material arrived in 1963 with the purchase of the collection of renowned photo historian, photographer and collector Helmut Gernsheim. Today, over 5 million prints and negatives, a library of over 40,000 volumes, and over 400 pieces of original photographic apparatus now make up the Department of Photography. One of its treasures is the world’s first photograph captured from nature in 1826 involving an exposure of over 8 hours. Collection strengths are nineteenth-century holdings, including British and French. Almost too numerous to mention, our presentation included works by Charles Dodson (Lewis Carol), Julia Margaret Cameron, a Victorian scrapbook album, a Carlton Watkins mammoth plate print, prints by Russell Lee, Walker Evans, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and contemporary photographers Susan Meiselas and Binh Danh. It was as if we were walking into a history of photography textbook.
Our visit was topped off by the selections of Rick Watson, Research Associate for the Performing Arts Collection. This subject-driven research collection is also rich in visual materials, as it overlaps with works on paper, paintings, photographic material, costume and scenic design, models, and topics of circus and magic. Material spanned from Norman Belle Geddes, whose work ranged from experimental theater to streamline industrial design; to a collection of playbills and programs; to a selection from the over 34,000 costume designs of B.J. Simmons & Co.
We thank our hosts for their thoughtful presentations and for choosing a selection that represented only the tip of the iceberg from the HRC holdings. That must have been difficult! For more information, please see the Ransom Center’s Web site.
Tour held Friday, October 20, 2006
Tours de force is perhaps the best way to describe the expert and enthusiastic Blanton Museum of Art tours by Blanton curators Kelly Baum and Jonathan Bober. Kelly focused on the collections of modern and contemporary American and Latin American art, while Jonathan concentrated on the major exhibition of Luca Cambiaso, which he co-curated. The following are among the highlights they provided.
The Blanton Museum of Art opened in 2006 after a quarter-century of planning, designing, and fundraising. Designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects to complement existing buildings, the museum houses some 17,000 works of art, with only a fraction on display at any given time. There are four main departments: prints and drawings, European art, twentieth-century Latin American art, and American art. With virtually no acquisitions budget, the Blanton has relied on major donations which include the James and Mari Michener Collection of American Art, the Barbara Duncan Collection of Latin American Art, the C.R. Smith Collection of Western Art, the Suida-Manning Collection of Renaissance and Baroque Art, and the Leo Steinberg Collection of Prints.
The American and Latin American collections have been integrated to show conjunctions and disjunctions. Wall labels show not nationality but a series of geographic locations in which the artist was born, worked, and in some cases died. Among the artists Kelly Baum singled out were Joaquin Torres-Garcia (his School of the South advocated not just making a painting but a template for some future reality), Philip Evergood (Dance Marathon), Alfred Jensen (Mayan Temple, Per II: Palenque), George Sugarman (Two in One (a hand-carved, multicolored wood installation)), Peter Dean (a depiction of the Oswald assassination), Cildo Meireles (How to Build Cathedrals (an installation of 600,000 coins, 800 communion wafers, 200 cattle bones, 80 paving stones, and black cloth)), Gyula Kosice (kinetic sculptures), Richard Tuttle (the minimalist Light Pink Ocatagon), and Christian Silva (Black Sun—Green Flamingo).
Jonathan Bober, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and European Paintings, took us through the Luca Cambiaso exhibit with great knowledge of and enthusiasm for his specialized subject. Cambiaso worked in Genoa and Liguria, “the most insular and isolated of Italian cultural centers.” Cambiaso was “at least as significant a draftsman as a painter.” His nocturnes “anticipated de La Tour and Caravaggio’s by 25 to 45 years.” Many of the paintings and works on paper reside permanently at the Blanton, while far more are on loan from Genoa and elsewhere. Publication of the major catalog was expected very soon.
Other highlights of the Blanton not covered on the tours were the selections of Renaissance and Baroque painting, largely from the Suida-Manning Collection, and prints, largely from the Leo Steinberg Collection, magnificently integrated and displayed in the beautiful new building. A gem-like exhibition of Rembrandt prints from the Blanton rounded out a great visit.
ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico members reconvened on the morning of Saturday, October 21, for breakfast and tours and information sessions about the Southwestern Writers Collection and the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography. These two collections, along with the University Archives, comprise the Special Collections at Texas State University. The Southwestern Writers Collection and Wittliff Gallery are housed on the 7th floor of the Alkek Library.
This year, the Southwestern Writers Collection and Wittliff Gallery are celebrating their 20th and 10th anniversaries respectively. These collections have been housed in the Alkek Library since 1991 when the Library opened. Katie Salzmann, Archivist at the Southwestern Writers Collection, provided an excellent overview and summary of the Writers Collection. She began by showing us a ten minute video introducing the Special Collections at Texas State. In addition, she lead the group on an outstanding behind-the-scenes tour of the facility’s preservation and processing areas.
The Southwestern Writers Collection consists primarily of manuscripts and supporting materials, such as books and journals. All of the writers represented are listed on their Web site. This collection is organized into three groups including
The criteria for acquisition of materials is twofold: first, writers collected must create works that have stood or will stand the test of time; second, these writers must be from the Southwest or write about the Southwest. Additional collections within the Writers Collection include the Texas Monthly archives and bodies of work of individual writers who write for Texas Monthly. Bill Wittliff started the Writers Collection with papers he bought at an estate sale of J. Frank Dobie and Wittliff’s Encino Press publications.
The Special Collection employees ten full-time professionals and two catalogers who report through the technical services unit. One of these employees is a development officer. The collection is funded through foundation support, individual support, and other grants. They also have a graphic designer on staff.
At present, the collection treasures are on exhibition to celebrate the anniversaries of the collections. Some of the materials in the current exhibition include J. Frank Dobie papers, Kathryn Anne Porter materials, song manuscripts of Willie Nelson, John Graves’s paddle that inspired Goodbye to a River, Sam Shepard’s notebooks and drafts of manuscripts, and their most recent acquisition, the King of the Hill archives.
A small reading room that is open to the public is also a component of the Special Collections suite of services. Public service is conducted by appointment and the collection does accept drop-in researchers as well. The reading room is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (on Wednesdays and Thursdays until 7 p.m.). Patrons are encouraged to have a research consultation before beginning their work. Primarily, the Southwestern Writers Collection supports research and teaching at Texas State but they do see a handful of outside researchers every month. A fee is charged for scanning materials for publication, and photocopying is done on behalf of users.
On October 21st, 2006, the ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico Chapter visited the Special Collections area of the Alkek Library at Texas State University in San Marcos Texas. As you have already read, we visited the entire Special Collections area which includes the Southwest Writer’s Collection, Special Collections Archives, and the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography. Our hostess for this part of the tour was Carla Ellard, Assistant Curator of the photographic and book collection, which all focus on Mexican and Southwestern photography and photographers.
The day we visited, was the day before the Graciela Iturbide exhibition iofficially opened. The exhibition called Ojos Para Volar (Eyes to Fly With) is also published under the English title as a book (UT Press, 2006). The only things missing from the exhibition at the time our group viewed it were some of the quotes that Ms. Iturbide included with many of the photographs. The quotes were based on conversations she had with Fabienne Bardu.
The first quote, on the wall just as you enter the first gallery, was: I dreamed a sentence over and over: “in my country I shall plant birds.” This begins a series of images incorporating birds, some frenzied (Jaipur), some stark and solitary (Peros Perdidos).
The second quote, again to the left, walking into the second room, is “It was as though death was saying to me: you wanted to photograph me, here I am.” This was originally written for the first image to the left, called “La Muerte en el cementerio,” but speaks to the many unflinching images of death that follow.
The third quote, “There are many solitary moments when you are photographing, moments of constant reflection during the journeys,” sums up the exhibition for me. I know I wasn’t seeing everything the photographer saw, or even what she intended me to see, but it was very much worth the effort. The current exhibition is viewable in its entirety on a Web site created Tara Spies, librarian and member of the Alkek Library reference staff.
Magic Lantern Castle Interior
On Saturday, October 21 at 4:00 p.m., the group met at the Magic Lantern Castle, where we were greeted by owner/curator Jack Judson. Mr. Judson gave us a chance to walk around and look at his beautifully presented Magic Lantern collection before we were seated. He spoke about the history of his collection. He told us that he'd bought his first lantern slide projector in London in 1986 and the collection has grown to 75,000 items, including 65,000 lantern slides. He opened the Magic Lantern Castle museum in 1992; it is accessible by appointment only for private tours and researchers.
Mr. Judson explained the history and technical evolution of magic lanterns and slides and noted that they have been around since the fifteenth century. In 1641, Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit priest wrote The Great Art of Light and Shadow and referred to the “laterna magica” in his book. In the second edition of the publication, printed thirty years later, the book included a drawing of a magic lantern. It wasn’t until the 1700’s that someone decided that they could make money from lantern slides. Traveling itinerant showmen with lantern slides were popular at the time, and there is a complete traveling showman’s trunk in the collection. Mr. Judson described the magic lantern as the father of motion pictures and the grandfather of television.
Mr. Judson pointed out a wall of magic lantern illustrations that were on display. He owns all the originals, which were produced 1700-1900 from around the world. He also pointed out that he also owns Japanese wood block books on rice paper, European illustrations, and a copy of the Kircher book.
There were many purposes for the lantern slide including entertainment, advertising, education and scientific uses. There was an entire wall glass exhibit case devoted to lanterns and slides for scientific and education use. He related how in science and education use, a lecturer would have a lectern (with it’s own lighting to be able to read in a darkened room) facing the audience and used a small bell to indicate to the projectionist in the back, when to change the slide. Mr. Judson’s collection included such a lectern, and was part of his demonstrations. The other topics of slides vary from biblical scenes to animation scenes. Usually the content being projected was aimed toward a popular audience. There was no standardization of the size of slides; some were 3 1/4" square in Britain and the US, and they were 3 1/4" x 4" and a few were even 3 1/2' tall! Many were made in black and white and were hand-painted. Others had decals stuck to the glass. The glass used for slides was thinner than window glass.
Judson Demonstrates Limelight
Mr. Judson gave a demonstration of the light for lantern slides and explained how the increase in light helped stabilize the image. He started by lighting an oil and wick lantern with a match but later gave a demonstration using an original magic lantern with limelight, when gas burning against a cylinder of lime incandesces oxygen and hydrogen. This produced a brilliant, steady light to display the slides.
Mr. Judson described his exhibition room. There is a wall of the original prints and illustrations mentioned earlier, dating from 1700-1900’s. He pointed out other cases that include lantern slides, an area of children’s slide lanterns and slides, a scientific area, a “secret society” area and many items in between. He explained that secret societies used lantern slides to describe their history. He showed us the one and only 3-D stereo magic lantern in existence. He also pointed out a case that displayed of Joseph Bogue Beals slides who was the pre-eminent American artist from Philadelphia. There was also a silver cup given to the Magic Lantern Society from renowned photographer, Alfred Stieglitz.
Mr. Judson explained that magic lantern slides were no longer produced after 1980, but the Yale art school still uses lantern slides today.
Mr. Judson gave us a tour of his library and mentioned that he wrote a book titled America’s Lantern Enterprise and is working on another. He gets calls daily from universities and museums and is always looking to expand his collection.
The tour ended at 6:00 p.m., and most of the group headed to dinner at Silo’s.
The Art Libraries Society of North America, Texas-Mexico Chapter Annual Business Meeting 2006 was held at the Emily Morgan Hotel, San Antonio, Texas at 8:30 A.M., October 22, 2006.
The meeting was called to order by President Elizabeth Schaub, who then prompted discussion of the 2005 minutes. Laura Schwartz noted the misspelling of Marianne Stockebrand’s name on page four. After that correction was made, Mark Pompelia moved that the minutes be approved. Gwen Dixie seconded the motion.
The members of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Texas-Mexico Chapter at the meeting introduced themselves. Those present were Craig Bunch (Coldspring-Oakhurst CISD), Margaret Culbertson (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston), Gwen Dixie (Dallas Public Library), Beth Dodd (University of Texas at Austin), Sam Duncan (University of Texas at Austin), Carla Ellard (Texas State University), Catherine Essinger (University of Houston), Jon Evans (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston), Selene Hinojosa (Texas State University), Ann Jones (McNay Art Museum), Katherine O’Dell (Southwestern University), Mark Pompelia (Rice University), Elizabeth Schaub (University of Texas at Austin), Laura Schwartz (University of Texas at Austin), Karen Sigler (Texas State University), Tara Spies (Texas State University), and Allen Townsend (Amon Carter Museum).
President Schaub reported that her presidency focused on issues related to the ARLIS/NA Chapter Affiliation Agreement, communication between chapters and headquarters regarding member status, and chapter concerns about the role headquarters plays vis-á-vis chapters’’ Web responsibilities.
President Schaub stated that she discussed the ARLIS/NA Chapter Affiliation Agreement via a chapter officer listserv. She also participated in a conference call relating to the Agreement on August 22, 2006 with attorney Michael Deese, as well as NA colleagues Barbara Rominski and Trish Rose, ARLIS/NA President Ann Whiteside and ARLIS/NA Executive Director Elizabeth Clarke.
The Affiliation Agreement raised issues surrounding chapter versus NA membership. The ARLIS/NA bylaws stipulate that “membership in a chapter is conditional upon membership in the Society.” The ARLIS/NA Executive Board has determined this clause must be observed by each chapter. The Texas-Mexico Chapter’s bylaws state that membership is open to all members of ARLIS/NA and are, therefore, in compliance with NA’s bylaws. President Schaub expressed the need for a better mechanism by which Headquarters and chapters communicate about individuals interested in membership, in order to enhance recruitment activities. She has been working with South Regional Representative Heather Ball to address these concerns with Headquarters.
President Schaub discussed the chapter Web site and noted that ARLIS/NA requires the Texas-Mexico Chapter maintain the 2005 Web site in perpetuity. The ARLIS/NA management recognizes challenges related to this issue. President Schaub and Vice President/President Elect Sam Duncan have been working with ARLIS/NA South Regional Representative Heather Ball to suggest beneficial solutions for review by Headquarters and the NA Board.
President Schaub also reported that she has investigated liability issues related to the relationship of ARLIS/NA and the chapters. A more detailed discussion of these issues followed in New Business.
President Schaub thanked Sam Duncan for redesigning the chapter Web site. She thanked everyone who helped make her presidency a success, particularly her colleagues Beth Dodd and Laura Schwartz. She thanked Beth Dodd and Greg Smith for hosting the chapter dinner on Friday, October 20th, Laura Schwartz for arranging the Blanton Art Gallery tour and providing members with notecards, Mark Pompelia for coordinating the hotel arrangements, Carla Ellard, Selene Hinojosa, Karen Sigler, and Tara Spies for hosting the Texas State University tours, Craig Bunch for being a responsive Treasurer, Catherine Essinger for volunteering to take minutes, Sam Duncan for being a wonderful collaborator, and past presidents Schwartz, Evans, and Pompelia for inspiring leadership in others. She also thanked all those present for attending the annual meeting.
Treasurer Bunch distributed his report of account balances, income, and expenses from January 1-October 18, 2006. He explained that recent changes altered several figures on the report. He will revise and re-submit the report in the coming weeks. The relatively healthy balance now held by the chapter inspired discussion. It was suggested that the chapter may increase the Lois Swan Jones Award in coming years or use the money to provide a new service.
| ARLIS/Texas-Mexico Treasurer’s Report January 1, 2006—October 23, 2006 |
|
| Beginning balance (acc. To Treasurer’s Report) | 1,569.51 |
| (acc. To Washington Mutual) | 1,644.03 |
| INCOME | |
| Membership dues 2005 | 40.00 |
| Membership dues 2006 | 520.00 |
| Lois Swan Jones Travel Award 2006 | 5.00 |
| Lois Swan Jones Travel Award 2007 | 971.00 |
| Conference registration | 590.00 |
| Meals | 1202.00 |
| Total income | 3328.00 |
| Sub-total (acc. to Treasurer’s Report) | 4897.51 |
| (acc. to Washington Mutual) | 4972.03 |
| EXPENSES | |
| Lois Swan Jones Travel Award 2006 | 750.00 |
| ARLIS/NA Welcome Party | 200.00 |
| Hostway cancellation | 15.95 |
| AN Hosting, Chicago | 95.40 |
| Palmers, San Marcos deposit | 125.00 |
| Meals | 1128.38 |
| Total expenses | 2314.73 |
| Ending balance (actual amount in account) | 2791.30 |
Elizabeth Schaub read a statement of resignation from former chapter Secretary Charles Burchard, dated October 16, 2006.
Editor Sam Duncan announced that two issues had been published since the 2005 annual meeting. He created two new features, “Collection Profile” and “From the Archives.” The last issue also contained tributes to Lois Swan Jones. Contributors can now input content directly. The new content management system creates a more streamlined publication process, as well as a table of contents and printer-friendly links. Editor Duncan has also begun to migrate older issues to the Web site. He has completed migration of all digital issues through Fall 2000.
By changing the Web site’s host in February 2006, the chapter has saved $167 and acquired additional features. The new content management system, Drupal, has several new modules, a member directory, comments capabilities, date-stamping, a solid search engine, and RSS feeds. It also allows users to attach documents, promote content to the front page, and create easy to remember URLs. The style sheet results in better printing. The Google translator is sufficient to address the chapter’s desire to provide content in both English and Spanish. The forum software may also take the place of the Listerv. Sam Duncan agreed to continue to serve as Webmaster during his presidency, unless another member volunteers.
The members discussed the possibility of allowing people to join the chapter with an online payment service. Mark Pompelia noted that such an arrangement must be approved by the ARLIS/NA Membership Services Taskforce. It was noted that Sam Duncan serves on that committee.
Beth Dodd moved that the chapter allow a member directory on the chapter’s public Web site. Jon Evans seconded the motion. Discussion of privacy issues and bylaws compliance followed. No vote was taken. Elizabeth Schaub amended the motion to create a directory of the institutions members represent on the public Web site. Allen Townsend seconded. Gwen Dixie moved that the chapter president further investigate the ramifications of providing a permanent directory of members and/or members’ employers on the public Web site. Beth Dodd seconded the motion. Both motions were unanimously approved.
President Schaub read a message from South Regional Representative Heather Ball, who was unable to attend the meeting. See Heather’s report in this issue.
On behalf of the Nominating Committee, Jon Evans announced that Selene Hinojosa had accepted her nomination as Vice President/President Elect and Catherine Essinger had accepted her nomination as Secretary. There were no other nominations and both candidates were unanimously elected.
Beth Dodd, chair of the Lois Swan Jones Professional Development Award Committee, distributed her report to members, as well as Janine Henri’s Recipient Report. The report summarized the year’s activity and provided recommendations for the next committee.
Lois Swan Jones Professional Development Award Committee
Report for 2005-2006, Submitted October 22, 2006
Committee members:
At the Fall 2005 chapter meeting in Marfa, the attendees voted to award $750 for travel to the 2006 ARLIS/NA conference to be held in Banff. The consensus was for a single, larger award since travel to Canada would be more expensive. This decision was made in conjunction with the prior year’s smaller award of five hundred dollars for the relatively inexpensive Houston conference.
In keeping with the eligibility criteria of the award, the recipient must be a member in good standing of both ARLIS/NA and ARLIS/Texas-Mexico Chapter, and only receive partial funding support from their institution.
The 2006 award went to Janine Henri, who met the above criteria and was committed to actively participating at the Banff conference. Janine chaired the Membership Committee’s business meeting, as well as served as a panelist in the ASK ARLIS Session Reaching Out: chapter Links to Local Library Schools. Finally, Janine also volunteered her assistance in the Exhibits Hall and participated in the conference’s mentoring program.
As a condition of the award, Janine reported her activities as well as the impact of this award in the summer 2006 issue of The Medium.
Additional activities of this committee included the production of guidelines for administering and serving on the committee, a planning calendar, and a tool to assist in documenting criteria and ranking applicants.
We offer the following considerations for next year:
Beth Dodd has offered to continue serving on this committee if needed, but would be happy to cede to other interested parties. Committee work usually involves posting the award announcement, reviewing submissions in the late fall, participating in some e-mail exchanges, posting the recipient and reporting the committee’s efforts at the next meeting.
Dodd would like to thank her fellow committee members and this year’s impressive applicants.
Respectfully submitted,
Beth Dodd
Mark Pompelia distributed a letter sent to Craig Rember, Judd Foundation Collections Manager, in November 2005 on behalf of the Donald Judd Library Project participants. He reported that the Judd Foundation had not communicated with the project team since that time, but the team still hoped to move forward with the plan to catalog Donald Judd’s library. Laura Schwartz suggested that the team approach the new Foundation Director. Jon Evans also recommended that the team communicate by telephone, as well as in writing. Pompelia agreed to draft a follow-up letter and would forward it to President Schaub, Jon Evans, and Beth Dodd for review before sending to the Judd Foundation Director.
Treasurer Bunch noted that the chapter donated $200 for the 2006 Conference Welcome Party. Jon Evans moved that the chapter donate $300 for the 2007 Welcome Party. Allen Townsend seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
The 2007 chapter meeting will be held in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. President Elect Duncan has investigated museum exhibits scheduled at that time and also suggested programming at the UNT and TWU campuses. Members also suggested tours of the Nasher Sculpture Center, the photo conservation facility at Amon Carter, and a Gwen Dixie-led tour of the Dallas arts district. Members were very positive about the multi-location format of the 2006 meeting and suggested following the same model in 2007.
President Schaub presented the Agreement, which codifies the legal relationship between ARLIS/NA and its chapters. Three elements of the Agreement inspired discussion. Section II states, “Members of CHAPTER also must be members of ARLIS/NA.” President Schaub observed that some chapters are heavily peopled by members who are not members of ARLIS/NA. Section IIIB, which states that ARLIS/NA must approve changes to chapter bylaws, also generated discussion. Section V states, “Unless expressly agreed to in writing by the parties, neither party is authorized to incur any liability, obligation or expense on behalf of the other …” By signing the Agreement, therefore, the chapter may find it appropriate to conduct a risk assessment and acquire its own insurance. Mark Pompelia moved that the chapter approve the signing of the Agreement. Allen Townsend seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Craig Bunch and Elizabeth Schaub are working to update information filed with the Comptroller of Public Accounts for the State of Texas, related to the chapter’s name change from ARLIS/Texas to ARLIS/Texas-Mexico. Members discussed the history of the chapter’s name change. It was suggested that it might be appropriate for the ARLIS/NA Membership and International Relations Committee to become more involved in recruiting members from Mexico.
President Schaub updated those present conference call related to chapter liability with consulting attorney Michael Deese (referenced in her President’s report). She defined general and officers’ liability and stated that officers might be considered volunteers under the ARLIS/NA umbrella. She also stated that ARLIS/NA Executive Director Elizabeth Clarke is investigating the issue on behalf of the chapters. President Schaub asked those present whether they supported the leadership continuing their investigation. Members approved the effort without a vote.
The current membership categories are Member and Subscriber. The latter cannot vote or hold an office, but may receive the newsletter and attend meetings. Allen Townsend moved that the chapter eliminate the subscriber category. Jon Evans seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. Mark Pompelia moved that the next meeting planners create a category for non-members who wish to attend the meeting, but are not guests of chapter members. Katherine O’Dell seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
Mark Pompelia noted that the local chapter of the Visual Resources Association may soon dissolve. There was general agreement that ARLIS/Texas-Mexico should reach out to VRA Texas members interested in joining another professional arts organization. An ad hoc committee was formed to address the issue. The committee members, Katherine O’Dell, Mark Pompelia, and Elizabeth Schaub, are all members of both chapters.
President Schaub asked that members observe a moment of silence to remember Lois Swan Jones.
Mark Pompelia moved that the LSJ Award Committee offer two awards of $500 each in 2007. Tara Spies seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
After discussion, it was agreed that previous LSJ Award winners were desirable as Committee Chairs, but that a previous win not be required to serve as Chair. Members agreed to offer leadership to Janine Henri, the most recent winner. Beth Dodd agreed to continue to serve as Chair, if Janine Henri is unable to serve.
Beth Dodd, Katherine O’Dell and Allen Townsend volunteered to serve on the Committee.
Laura Schwartz volunteered her staff to assist with the migration project. Tara Spies agreed to continue to assemble the Exhibits features.
Sam Duncan thanked Elizabeth Schaub for her year of excellent service and led the members in a round of applause.
President Schaub adjourned the meeting at 11:30 am.
Laura Schwartz, Chair of the ARLIS/NA Nominating Committee, announced to the Society in November that Elizabeth Schaub will be serving as ARLIS/NA South Regional Representative, following in the footsteps of Heather Ball. Schaub's tenure on the Executive Board will begin in April 2007 at ARLIS/NA's annual conference in Atlanta; she will hold the position for two years. As South Regional Representative, Schaub will represent the following chapters: ARLIS/NA DC/Maryland/Virginia, ARLIS/NA Southeast, and ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico. Her primary duties are to act as liaison between the chapters and the ARLIS/NA Executive Board, address the needs of individual chapters, and serve as an ex-officio member of all chapters in the region.
The heirs of Houston architect Karl Fred Kamrath (1911-1988) donated manuscript materials and other documents pertaining to Kamrath's professional career to the University of Texas at Austin Libraries. These materials, produced in the Houston offices of MacKie and Kamrath include sketchbooks, photographic prints, negatives, slides, drawings, papers, and books. Of particular interest is the MacKie and Kamrath job list that documents 1,000 projects between 1938-1983. This collection joins the Karl Kamrath Library of books, magazines, and ephemera relating to architect Frank Lloyd Wright that was donated to the Libraries in 1987.
MacKie and Kamrath were among the first Houston architects to design modernist buildings. After Kamrath met architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1946, he devoted himself to Wright’s Usonian architecture. Many of MacKie and Kamrath's projects received national recognition and their buildings are consistently Wrightian in character. The Kamrath Collection joins nearly one hundred other archival collections consisting of more than a quarter of a million drawings and thousands of photographs and related materials in the Alexander Architectural Archive and more than 88,000 volumes in the Architecture and Planning Library.
“The Kamrath Collection enhances our holdings relating to organic architecture,” states Architecture and Planning Librarian Janine Henri. “The University of Texas at Austin is already a primary location for research on Wrightian architecture, with a combination of scholarly expertise on the faculty and a concentration of rare books and archival materials found at no other institution of higher education. Generations of scholars will now have an incomparable foundation upon which to base future research and study on America's best known architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Karl Kamrath, his most prominent advocate in Texas.”
Once processed and cataloged, the Kamrath collection will be available by appointment within the Alexander Architectural Archive.
In the October 12 issue of Rice News: The Faculty & Staff Newspaper of Rice University, the University’s Visual Resources Center, directed by member Mark Pompelia, was featured in the article “Art History’s Visual Resources Center Offers Bounty of Images.” Quoting from the article:
Mark Pompelia, director of the Visual Resources Center, said that even though the collection was born from the needs of art history professors, it is an encompassing anthology of images that is open to Rice faculty and students for use in courses and projects.
“We like to say that we are a local department resource with university-wide ambitions,” Pompelia said.
That may be an understatement.
With the help of Kelley Vernon, associate curator, and Kathleen Hamilton, assistant curator, the three-person team is adding about 1,000 digital images each month to the approximately 350,000 slides and 15,000 digital images the center has amassed since the department and collection were founded 30 years ago.
Each image is accompanied by a full catalog record that adheres to the latest data standards in the profession.
In recent years the acquisition rates between slides and digital have reversed. Nearly all images added now are scans from slides or books or high-resolution images from a digital camera. Slide acquisitions have decreased to a trickle.
“We are really seeing a change in the number of professors who want to use digital images instead of slides,” Pompelia said. “However, the challenge is to build a critical mass of images that is meaningful to each professor in order for digital to be a viable teaching option. The fact that our digital collection is fully cataloged and searchable increases its attraction.”
Check out the full article.
Observatory, Chichén Itzá, Mexico, 700-1200 C.E.
ARTstor and the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin are pleased to announce that they will collaborate to digitize and distribute approximately 9,000 images from the Hal Box and Logan Wagner Collection of Mexican Architecture and Urban Design Images. These images richly document outdoor communal spaces in Mexico, focusing on both Pre-Columbian sites and 16th-17th century Colonial sites.
Hal Box, a practicing architect, was Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin from 1976 to 1992. In 1988, Box began to study and document the 16th-17th century open air churches of Mexico under the auspices of Earthwatch with additional funding from the Graham Foundation, the University Research Institute and the University of Texas Institute for Latin American Studies. Logan Wagner, a native of Mexico and an architect-builder with degrees in anthropology, architecture, and a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies, led the field work for the next twelve summers. Box, Wagner, and volunteer groups carried out photographic documentation, and preparation of measured drawings of open air churches and other civic spaces in the states of Morelos, Mexico, Michoacán, Yucatan, Quinatna Roo, and Hidalgo. Wagner extended the study with archival research.
In reaching this agreement, Elizabeth Schaub, Director of the Visual Resources Collection at the School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin, and Max Marmor, ARTstor’s Director of Collection Development, expressed their enthusiasm in collaborating to preserve this unique archive and to make its contents available for educational and scholarly use through ARTstor. “I’m very excited that the School of Architecture has an opportunity to collaborate with ARTstor. Our joint venture will result in a broader audience gaining access to unique content that finds a new life in digital form,” comments Elizabeth Schaub. “Our partnership with the School of Architecture at UT Austin will significantly advance ARTstor’s effort to provide a rich body of images of Latin American architecture and art, from Pre-Columbian to contemporary, for use by teachers, students and scholars,” affirms Marmor. “We hope this will be the first of several important ARTstor projects involving the rich collections of the University of Texas at Austin.”
The Visual Resources Collection of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin is comprised of more than 235,000 slides and approximately 50,000 digital images. The main purpose of the collection is to support the teaching needs of the School of Architecture's faculty members and students
As I close out my year as editor for volume 32 of The Medium, I want to offer my deepest gratitude to all the members of the chapter who dutifully contributed writing to each issue. It was a honor to work with each and every one of you. I think we managed to consistently produce a quality publication. A round of thanks also for being patient as we worked out the kinks in our new Web publication system.
Samuel Duncan
The University of Texas at Austin
samuel.duncan@austin.utexas.edu
Academic Libraries
Laura Schwartz
lschwartz@austin.utexas.edu
Architecture Libraries
Janine Henri
jhenri@mail.utexas.edu
Museum Libraries
Jon Evans
jevans@mfah.org
Public Libraries
Gwen Dixie
gdixie@dallaslibrary.org
Visual Resources
Mark Pompelia
pompelia@rice.edu