Dei-Anang

Staff person was looking for something for social media use, and I suggested Michael Dei-Anang. He was instrumental in establishing the black studies program here, and was a noted poet, literary figure and politician from Ghana. Supplied some basic text, facts, and photos.

Follow up from Academy - Normal school presentation

Contacted by member of Clarkson Historical Society who wasn't able to attend my recent presentation, about giving a talk to them, on academies. Their building, by the Clarkson Community Church, is the building of the old Clarkson Academy, a contemporary of the our Collegiate Institute forerunner.

Athletics history

Athletics staff asked about having a student assistant come over to work on a project they have going to do with the history of college athletics. I will be meeting him today.

Update: this turned into a several page long list of photos they wanted, their student has been here quite a bit, and I've scanned easily 50 images or more for them, from yearbooks, prints etc.

Elm tree section

The elm tree section outside the archives currently is an ongoing project. It is from one of the trees cut down behind Alumni House in 2017 (?) as part of an expansion project. The wood was saved to use for lumber to build benches (which is underway as well, the Art Placement Committee has selected 7 artist's designs.) Jason Dauenhauer, Social Work, is the lead on all this. Two cross sections of an elm were cut as well. The college has one, the Brockport Community Museum the other.

The sections will be mounted and serve as timeline displays. A local man, John Rombaut, is going to build mounts for them. The location of the college one is not yet decided, the other will go in the Seymour Public Library. I will supply a timeline for ours, of notable college dates, e.g. 1942 we became a Teachers College etc.

Coach Van Gundy

Athletics, needing photos of Van Gundy in response to a request from ESPN. He was a coach here in the '70s, '80s, had some photos scanned from an earlier project and sent to them.

Alum to interview

Student from Martin's HST 390 on Oral History contacted me asking about an alum of the '60s to interview, I have contacted a possible candidate to interview.

Jigsaw

Contacted again by the current president of the English Club about their literary magazine. He wants to come in soon to look at the collection here, and also was asking about the possibility of support from the library Friends group, as apparently their sources of support aren't what they were.

Photos of Happiness Fountain statues

Researcher looking for images of the "Happiness" statues around the Special Olympics fountain on the east side of Drake. Found and sent several images.

HST390, Martin

Had this class in today, the subject is oral history. Discussed both "how to" elements, the nature of oral history, memories... Shared some of my own experiences, links to digitized interviews, the work of others like the Brockport Community Museum...

Library photos

Staffer for design office came by looking for photos of the library, especially older photos, for some promotional materials they will be working on. Showed some of what I have already digitized, sent to him via email.

Rochester Birding Assoc. presentation

Attended the RBA monthly meeting last night and presented the slide show I did here at the college for the library Friends last fall. The slide show is based on the lantern slides of birds, by regional birders and ornithologists, that we have in the archives. The power point was well received, and I did bring our 1920s Balopticon which was a big hit!

Lantern slides

Had a question from someone viewing the lantern slides in Digital Commons asking about the extent of our collection... Answered with a general overview, it is curious, I suppose a lot of the slides simply were thrown out or taken by people over the years. It seems odd that for example we have dozens of shots of rural NY, and of NYC, but almost none of Albany, or Rochester etc.

Request for student photo

Was contacted re a Myrtle Goldstein, said to be '57. There is a listing for her as '56, but didn't find a photo of her in any of the 4 relevant yearbooks. That seems a little unusual, that she would have missed all four times! Responded that couldn't find them...

Gamma Sigma - book

More working with the Gamma Sigma folks. A couple of them have asked about that "Red Manual" book, the Gamma Sigma: the first one hundred years title that we have 2 copies of in local history. I suggested that I could digitize it and put it on Digital Commons where it would be freely accessible. They're celebrating their 150th anniversary, seems like a good idea, but I want to have permission from the current fraternity leadership.

Fannie Barrier Williams

College staffer needing FBW materials to use in social media. Sent photo of her, the two Erie St houses, a copy of her autobiography article etc.

Saga Yearbooks - how many, where...

A staffer from Advancement contacted me, they had an alum looking for the '84 yearbook. The primary collection of Saga yearbooks on campus is here in the archives (other than the digitized versions online.) There used to be a lot of them in the attic of Alumni House, but those were brought here.


It is hit and miss, for some years there is a shelf full of copies, for others there are only a few. I decided to keep at least 3 copies for the archives. If there are more then those can be given out. I did have many copies of some earlier years, but decided that for classes 50 years and older there really isn't a need to keep 20 or 30 of that year, it's been 50+ years and it's unlikely that there will be a flood of people looking for a yearbook to replace one that was lost. I do keep 10 or so of older years, no more. There were some years as well in the '70s where a yearbook was not produced.

College yearbooks

A question from a reporter from the D&C, inquiring about looking at our yearbooks. Responded that they are all online, in the Digital Commons.

Rathskeller "Pink Lady"

An alum of the early '70s emailed asking if I had photos of the "Pink Lady" that was on the back wall of the Rathskeller (the campus bar that was once in the basement of Seymour Union.) I had never heard of the subject, and had to admit that the only Rathskeller photos I've seen are a couple of random shots of the bar itself, no "Pink Lady!" Will keep an eye out for that one!

Sharon Belle Render's retirement

Sharon Belle Render of the Counseling Center is retiring in March and I was asked about photos, bio information etc. as part of the event. Have supplied a couple things I had on hand in faculty bio files, will look for more.

Allan Karstetter '49

A patron came in on the weekend recently and received some help from the librarian on duty then, who referred them to me for further help. The patron was a student in the '50s, became friends with Karstetter who came back to Brockport to teach in the speech program c1955-1961. Karstetter also directed some plays. The patron is looking for photos from the plays, and we do have some for Finians Rainbow and the Death of a Salesman, and perhaps for the third, Glass Menagerie, in the unidentified group.


The patron is going to come back at some point to look at them, he wants to share some with Karstetter's widow. This is one of the more meaningful things archives can do perhaps, to add to people's memories and reminiscing as they get old, and recall their time or their spouse's time here.

Johnston Harvester

Researcher stopped by, looking for post card and other images of Johnston Harvester. That plant used to be on Main Street, north of the canal. It burned in 1882 and they moved to Batavia, later merged with Massey0Ferguson. I only have a scan of the engraving in the 1877 county history. Suggested working with the folks at the village museum, they might have something. Also made some suggestions and fielded a couple questions about powerpoint.

Walter Rodney

Interesting, he was a prominent Guayanese historian and activist, who spoke here at Brockport a few times c1978. Someone giving a talk on his contacted me today, asking about his appearances here. I shared some links from and help with using NYS Historic Newspapers.

Clarkson Bicentennial

This year is the Town of Clarkson's bicentennial, and I have volunteered to be on the committee. We meet soon, I have shared a list of links to useful information sources in the local history part of the Digital Commons, eg Hasting's "Old Houses," which includes a number of historic Clarkson homes. I also offered to set up a Facebook group for the event and Clarkson history.

ROTC

Most inquiries are via email, occasionally phone, but once in awhile I do get a drop in. Today was a ROTC student looking for historical information and photographs of that program. Let him look at the (not very extensive) files I have, checked the Jim Dusen list, there are some ROTC photos there, so I will be scanning some for him.