Archives Open House a Success

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

(from l-r) Photo 1: Sam Charters, Nanette Addesso Photo 2: Marisol Ramos, Sergio Mobilia Photo 3: Lesyn Clark, Anna Kijas, Sam Charters Photo 4: Laura Smith, two graduate students

On April 16, 2010, the staff of Archives & Special Collections held our second Open House to showcase archival materials in University archives, natural history, children’s literature, railroad history, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian studies, the alternative press, human rights, and other curatorial areas. Our reproduction services were highlighted as well as our extensive multimedia collections. The new search feature on our web site that allows keyword searching across all finding aids was demonstrated as well as how to access photographs, maps, and other digital collections. Sam Charters (in the blue shirt above ) delighted the audience by playing the Victrola he donated for the Samuel and Ann Charters Multimedia Room and discussing the music of the era. Marisol Ramos is shown with graduate student Sergio Mobilia, and Laura Smith speaks to two graduate students in Psychology about her collections.

Remembering Whitney Harris

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Whitney Harris, UConn President Michael Hogan, October 1, 2007

The Dodd Research Center is involved with many causes, none of which is more powerful than the struggle for human rights. U.S. Senator Thomas J. Dodd, for whom we are named, devoted his life to public service, the rule of law, and the rights of the oppressed. It is while serving as a member of the Executive Trial Council in Nuremberg, Germany, Senator Dodd met Whitney Harris, a lawyer in the U.S. Navy. And because of that unique connection between two men, the Dodd Research Center had the occasion to bring Mr. Harris to the University of Connecticut.

In Senator Christopher J. Dodd’s book “Letters from Nuremberg: My Father’s Narrative of a Quest for Justice,” letters from Dodd to his wife, Grace reference Mr. Harris. From these writings, we learn that the two spent much time together during trips and at official dinners. Mr. Harris even shuttled an anniversary gift back to the states for Grace. Mr. Harris attended the program in which we launched the book with a series of readings, and read the following excerpt from a letter dated June 3, 1946: “Whitney Harris has been away all weekend. He is a nice chap but not much company. He sings all the time – and is generally too young for me.” His laughter after recounting the late Senator’s words, gave the audience a glimpse of the humor and good nature that was Mr. Harris’ hallmark.

We were honored to have Mr. Harris deliver a lecture in 2006 on the 60^th anniversary of the judgment at Nuremberg, where he spoke to an auditorium overflowing of students, who learned so much more from his lecture than from any text book. He joined us again in 2007, when we awarded the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, an event that keeps alive the idea that the rule of law and pursuit of human rights is still a necessity.

As an archive, we know that it is through history that we can often learn about today, and we owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have gone before us and fought for what is right and true. According to Matt Sepic of St. Louis Public Radio, Mr. Harris’ experience in Nuremberg made him “a leading advocate for international law and the modern war crimes tribunals that are Nuremberg’s legacy.” We are saddened by the loss of such a true human rights activist, and extend our deepest sympathy to his family and friends.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd and Whitney Harris, April 10, 2006

l-r: Whitney Harris, October 1, 2007; Justice Robert Jackson decorating Lt. Colonel Whitney Harris (1945-46), from the Thomas J. Dodd Papers

The “Poetess” of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Lodge #201

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Laura Smith

Louise Gaffney Flannigan, born in 1867 and died in 1949, lived her whole life in New Haven, Connecticut. As the sister and wife of men who worked for the New Haven Railroad, she wrote flowery poems as odes to the courage and fortitude of railroad trainmen, and for good reason. Working for the railroad in the late 1800s was dangerous — this mode of transportation was still very new and laws regulating the railroads to ensure the safety of the workers were few. Many of the poems Louise wrote were memorials to the men who died on the job. Sadly, even her husband, Frank Flannigan, died in 1915 when he was hit by a train.

The Louise Gaffney Flannigan Papers, part of the Railroad History Archives, is a very unique collection, quite unlike the typical railroad collection of timetables, track maps and photographs of locomotives and stations. Louise’s papers consist of her poems and writings, almost all about her admiration of her beloved trainmen and her despair when one falls while on duty. The poems tell us a lot about Louise herself, about her resilience and her humor. Despite her constant fear that another man will die while working for the railroad, she had a real respect for the trains, their power and their beauty.

Shown here is the first stanza of “A Brakeman’s Death,” undated but it must have been written before 1889. Louise writes “Whenever I pass near the railroad track, and see the trains pass by so fast, I love to wave to the jolly brakeman, seated on the cartops, as one by one they pass, Their eyes are ever on the alert, To see each bridge and dodge down low, They run quickly also to their brakes, Over cars covered with ice and snow.”

Hard work, indeed.

For more information about the Louise Gaffney Flannigan Papers, see the finding at https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/530

Copies of the items in her collection can be found in the UConn Library digital repository, at http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:20070066

Voices of Rwanda Presentation on April 20, 2010

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

Please join the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center for a special presentation and discussion with Taylor Krauss, Founder of Voices of Rwanda, for a discussion of his work to document stories of the survivors of the Rwandan genocide.

Voices of Rwanda:
A Conversation and Film Screening with Taylor Krauss

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
4:00 PM, Konover Auditorium

Sixteen years ago, in April 1994, genocide broke out in Rwanda. Over the course of 100 days, an estimated 800,000 people were brutally killed by their neighbors. Today, survivors, bystanders, rescuers, and perpetrators are all searching for ways to live with one another and with their difficult past.

Taylor Krauss, founding director of Voices of Rwanda, will be presenting clips from his filmed testimony from survivors of the Rwandan genocide. Krauss founded Voices of Rwanda in 2006 to record and preserve testimonies of Rwandans to ensure that their stories inform the world about genocide and help prevent future human rights atrocities. Voices of Rwanda currently has a large film archive of testimony and is working with organizations and schools in Rwanda and the United States to make the testimonies available for education and research, as well as community healing.

To find out more information on Voices of Rwanda please visit:
http://www.voicesofrwanda.org/

Archives & Special Collections Open House!

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

Please join us for an Open House! The event will include interactive displays, presentations and one-on-one conversations to facilitate the discovery of the rich resources in the Archives that will help with your classes and your own personal research.

Wednesday, April 14
4:00-6:00pm

You are welcome to come and go as your schedule allows, but if you have a particular interest in the presentations, the schedule is as follows:

4:15-Welcome
4:30-Exploring the collections with our new search feature
4:45-New tools for using our digital resources
5:00-The distinctive sounds of the Victrola

Refreshments will be provided.

Storrs Agricultural School Established

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

An Act establishing Storrs Agricultural School, 1881

Following the offer of land and funds from the Storrs brothers, the General Assembly officially established the state agricultural school in Storrs, Connecticut on April 6, 1881. The following fall, the buildings were prepared and 12 boys enrolled for classes. The inaugural class included: Frederick B. Brown (Gilead), Frank D. Case (Barkhamste), Charles H. Elkins (Brooklyn, NY), Charles S. Foster (Bristol), John M. Gelston (East Haddam), Samuel B. Harvey (Mansfield), Henry R. Hoisington (Coventry), Burke Hough (Weatogue), Arthur S. Hubbard (Glastonbury), Andrew K. Thompson (West Cornwall) and F. M. Winton (Bristol). The formal public opening of the school was October 7, 1881.

An Act Establishing Storrs Agricultural School (p.2), 1881

Poetry Broadsides Featured in Exhibition

Posted on April 2, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

‘The Dancer’, 1951, poem by Joel Oppenheimer, drawing by Robert Rauschenberg, printed at Black Mountain College by Oppenheimer and Jonathan Williams, Jargon 2.

Found among the literary broadside collection in Archives and Special Collections are works that represent unique, unusual and innovative collaborations between poets and artists. Poetry broadsides produced between the 1950s and early 1970s offer some of the most diverse examples of poem and picture combinations. Visual artists, printmakers, typesetters, and graphic artists emerging from American schools and cities experimented with forms and techniques influenced by their association with other artists, writers, and performers.

Black Mountain College in the 1950s is often described by those that attended and taught there as a laboratory for artistic collaboration. The print shop at the small college in the foothills of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains was a space where experimentation and collaboration were encouraged, producing small-run editions of poetry and poetry broadsides alongside the works of print-makers and visual artists. Joel Oppenheimer partnered with the painter Robert Rauschenberg, both students at the time, and the poet and emerging small-press publisher Jonathan Williams, to create ‘The Dancer’.

Join us in celebration of the exhibition ‘Poem and Picture’ at the Benton Museum at the University of Connecticut featuring ‘The Dancer’ (“The Dancer”, 1951, poem by Joel Oppenheimer, drawing by Robert Rauschenberg, printed at Black Mountain College by Oppenheimer and Jonathan Williams, Jargon 2), and National Poetry Month.

Human Rights Film Series Presents Michael Moore’s “SiCKO”

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

Please join the Human Rights Institute and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center for the March film for the 2009-2010 Human Rights Film Series: Human Rights in the USA.

Film: “SiCKO” (2007)
Directed by Michael Moore

Tuesday, March 16, 2010
4:00 pm, Konover Auditorium
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center

The words “health care” and “comedy” aren’t usually found in the same sentence, but in Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore’s film ‘SiCKO,’ they go together hand in (rubber) glove. While Moore’s ‘SiCKO’ follows the trailblazing path of previous hit films, the Oscar-winning BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and all-time box-office documentary champ FAHRENHEIT 9/11, it is also something very different for Michael Moore. ‘SiCKO’ is a straight-from-the-heart portrait of the crazy and sometimes cruel U.S. health care system, told from the vantage of everyday people faced with extraordinary and bizarre challenges in their quest for basic health coverage. Watch the film trailer at http://sickothemovie.com/dvd/trailer.html

For more information on the full film series, including upcoming films, a downloadable poster is available on our website at http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/events/hr_usa_film_series.htm

Collection now available: Political papers of 1960s DNC Chairman, John M. Bailey

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

“Bailey looked and often acted like the traditional ward politician. Tall and rumpled with an ever-present cigar in his mouth, his glasses pushed up on his forehead and speaking in a hoarse confidential tone, he was at home in the smoke-filled rooms of convention hotels. He was an artist at balancing a ticket to conform to Connecticut’s ethnic composition. He worked hard at disguising the facts that he was the son of a well-to-do-physician, had been educated at Catholic University and Harvard Law School, and maintained a lucrative Hartford law practice. Yet in reality he was a new-style boss who combined mastery of parochial political detail with astute knowledge of the legislative process and enough national vision to become one of the members of President Kennedy’s inner circle of advisors,” Herbert F. Janick.

The collection of the Democratic giant from Connecticut, John M. Bailey, is now available.. Bailey worked for John F. Kennedy’s successful presidential campaign in 1960, and then went on to serve as chairman of the National Democratic Party from 1961-1968. The collection includes boxes of correspondence from the 1960s including letters with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, speeches at numerous conferences nationwide, as well as photographs, press releases, and travel schedules.

For more information please see: https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/400

Children’s Literature Blast From The Past

Posted on March 3, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

In 1999, Curator Terri Goldich joined Mrs. Billie M. Levy’s program “Children’s Books: Their Creators and Collectors”. The show, which began in 1993 on West Hartford Community Television, hosted hundreds of well know authors, illustrators and collectors over the years. Billie Levy, a retired librarian, children’s book collector and host of the popular show, is well-known to the UConn Archives. Her donation of over 10,000 children’s books is the backbone of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection (NCLC). And on a personal note, her southern hospitality brightens up any room she joins.

In this video from the archives, courtesy of the University Libraries’ new video streaming service, you can hear from our own NCLC Curator, Terri Goldich, just shortly after the new facilities of the Dodd Research Center were dedicated in a plea to authors and illustrators to “Save That Draft“.

Happy Birthday to Ted and George…

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

Two men from UConn’s early history share March 2 as their birthday. So we offer up best wishes to the memory of Theodore Sedgwick Gold, an unsung founder of the Storrs Agricultural School, and George W. Flint, second president of the school when it became Connecticut Agricultural College.

Theodore S. Gold

Gold, one of the first trustees of the school when it was established in 1881, was born on March 2, 1818 in Cornwall, Connecticut. In 1845, he joined his father, Dr. Samuel Gold, in founding an agricultural school for boys, the Cream Hill School, in West Cornwall. Even before the school closed in 1869, Theodore was a champion for establishing a state agricultural school for boys, and, in his 50^th anniversary history of Connecticut Agricultural College in 1931, Walter Stemmons wrote that “Gold was in a position, at least after 1866, to impress his educational ideas upon the Storrs brothers. The striking similarity in form and substance between the Cream Hill School and the Storrs Agricultural School is evidence which cannot be ignored.” As a member of the state school’s initial Board of Trustees, Gold headed a subcommittee charged with the new school’s organization. For many years he was secretary of the board, and in 1900, he wrote the first history of the college. A copy of that history is part of the Gold family papers in the University’s archives.

George W. Flint

George Flint’s tenure with the college was much briefer than Gold’s, and a good deal more controversial. During his first year as president, Flint saw what had been Storrs Agricultural College since 1893, become Connecticut Agricultural College in 1899. But by then, he was at the center of a dispute that became known as the “War of the Rebellion.” Flint’s interest in classical education over agricultural, and his efforts to incorporate them into the curriculum of CAC brought him into direct conflict with members of the faculty.

The “war” was played out, in part, through letters-to-the-editor columns of newspapers in Connecticut New York, and Boston. Long-time faculty resigned, and, at the request of trustees, Flint resigned in 1901.

Spanish Women’s Magazines Digital Collection Available Online

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Jean Cardinale

An incredible collection of Spanish periodicals and newspapers from the Archives are now available online at http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:NewspapersSpain

In the early 1970s, the Archives acquired this rich collection from the famous bibliophile, Juan Perez de Guzman y Boza, the Duque de T’ Serclaes, which reflects the complex history of Spain through its periodical and newspapers during most of the 19^th century. Of great interest and research value is the wide selection of women magazines written by men to appeal to a female elite audience. The range of materials you can find in these literary and general interest magazines is limitless. Full of things such as short historical stories, poems, good advice for both men and women about the proper behavior of ladies at any age, beautiful colored and engraved images with the latest news of Paris fashion, music sheets of polkas and other music specifically composed for the magazines, and patterns for needlework to name only a few. These magazines are an amazing window to understand the social dimensions of women in 19^th century Spain.

Because of their significance to international researchers unable to travel to the University, the Dodd Research Center has been digitizing many of the titles in the collection. Nine titles, including Correo de las damas o poliantea instructiva, curiosa y agradable de literatura, and ciencias y artes published in Cadiz, Spain have been digitized with 12 or more titles to be completed.