Another summer just came to a close in the Archives, but it was not without its many activities, as always…
On August 2, we gave a presentation on the Wright Brothers and gave a tour of original Wright Brothers materials to attendees of the WSU Alumni College.
August 4 was a very busy day. We had a group of visitors from a local genealogical society. We hosted a presentation and tour of resources for a group of local 4th grade teachers. And we gave an overview of the Archives to a group of international students who were touring campus. Later that evening, at the Huffman Prairie Aviation Society meeting, Don Willis presented “To The Moon and Back.”
On August 5, one of our digital projects — the 91st Observation Squadron World War I Photographs — was completed and made available online in CORE Scholar. (More info & photos concerning this project can be found in our original announcement.)
In mid-August, two of our archivists, Toni Vanden Bos and Lisa Rickey, traveled to Washington, DC, for training in the preservation of electronic records, by the Society of American Archivists. They documented part of their trip with the aid of a miniature cut-out of Wilbur and Orville Wright. One of the photos is below; you can see more on Twitter under hashtag #WilOrvDC. Lisa stayed in DC to attend the annual SAA conference as well (#saa14).
On August 13, the Archives served as a host site for the Certified Archivist examination given by the Academy of Certified Archivists. Six archivists sat for the examination, and we hope they all receive good news on their results!
On August 19, we met with new faculty members at the New Faculty Orientation Fair under the Dunbar Library overhang. We shared information about the Archives’ holdings and how the Archives can support teaching and learning.
On August 24, we celebrated our 1-year “Twitterversary” — one whole year of sharing the Archives’ news, collections, & mission via Twitter as @WrightStArchive! On the day of our Twitterversary, we had 262 followers!
August 25 was the first day of Fall semester, and you know what that means: more hours that you can visit the Archives! We are now open on Wednesday evenings until 9:00 and Sundays from 1:00-5:00. (You can also check our hours for a particular day anytime on the online calendar.)
The start of Fall semester also brings us a new group of student workers. We were so pleased to welcome our new student workers: Fayelee Conley, Sara Fisher, Samantha Green, and Leigh McCormick; and to welcome back for another year Adam Becker and Nina Herzog. All of our student workers this year are graduate students in the WSU Public History program. We look forward to working with all of them this year!
The Archives coordinates the contents of the large exhibit cases throughout the Dunbar Library, and in August we assisted reference librarian Kathy Reynolds in the creation of a spectacular exhibit about this year’s WSU common text, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Kathy’s exhibit is engaging and eye-catching, and you should check it out next time you are on the second floor; it is just around the corner from the elevators:
- TFIOS Exhibit
- TFIOS Exhibit
We look forward to finding out what September and the rest of this academic year will hold for us!