Author Archives: edmunsot

Microfilm Magic

bees-2551It’s true, all the magic really does happen in the microfilm area!

On October 28th, we had a visit from The History Detectives, and we’ve posted a few pictures and videos to our Flickr site. They were researching the history of a piece of bee’s wax and recording their findings for the hungry public television audience.

What did the detectives detect?
You’ll have to watch the episode next summer to find out, but we can report that part of the filming involved Elyse Luray doing microfilm research, as well as other general research, all under the glaring lights of the cameras.

What did she look at?
The McMinnville Telephone Register, The Wheeler Reporter and The Yamhill County Reporter.

Do we have those reels at OSU?
No, but that’s the beauty of ILL! A request to the UofO, a few days wait, and those reels made their way 45 miles north and into library lore and public tv fame.

What to watch?

ccc2534.jpgCivilian Conservation Corps on OPB, November 3 at 9:00 p.m.

“During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps put millions of young men to work improving public lands. In its short existence, enrollees planted three billion trees earning the name Roosevelt’s Tree Army. Today, their work is still enjoyed in parks and forests around the state.”

OPB used images from the Gerald Williams and College of Forestry photograph collections!

The grand recap: what happened in the Archives last month?

Historic Walking Tour 2008I wanted to personally thank everyone who participated in our Oregon Archives Month activities! Bookended by building tours, the month was full of walks, eats, and fun.

Starting us off on October 8th, Larry led us on a historic building tour. Not only did we learn something, the clear blue skies and early fall colors made for a great walk! For those of you who couldn’t make it, please visit the Flickr photo site and check it out! You can also see tour photos and historic archives photos on our Flickr Map. On the map you’ll find the locations for the images that you see in the slide at the bottom of your screen; to see more images and their locations, use the left or right arrows to change the images and the map.

And, of course, who can forget the Taste of the ‘Chives? Campus and community guests joined us to sample a bit of history. Again, for those of you who weren’t there, please check out the Gazette-Times article (look to the bottom for the video) and visit our Flickr site for pictures and recipes. There are also plenty of recipes on our blog—an entire month, in fact!

October 22nd brought “reel” fun and four great movies from our collections featuring Mount McKinley National Park, Cowboys in Central Oregon, National Dairy Champions (circa 1925), and an odd early Disney short from the 1920s. If you are looking for more films you can watch from the comfort of your chair, check out our freshly digitized films:

And last, but not least, was last night’s ghost tour—led by me! No pictures on the Flickr site yet, but we did make the front page of the Gazette-Times and the Barometer. To quote the G-T: “Nighttime tour of OSU shows the spooky side of Oregon State University.” Yes, people were scared, very scared! From Benton Hall and the ghostly sounds of band practice to personal stories of fright in front of Waldo, it was quite fun. We had about 40 join us to wander around campus before the rains hit…

New Collection Descriptions for the Month!

The following 12 finding aids were prepared during Oct 2008 and loaded to NWDA (with PDFs on our website). All have MARC catalog records in the OSU Libraries catalog, Summit, and Worldcat – or will have them very shortly.

Agricultural Research Foundation Records, 1936-2007

Anderson, Roberta Frasier, Papers, 1959-1974

Athenian Literary Society Records, 1892-1895

Chemistry Department Records, 1937-1997 (RG 098)

Cutler, Melvin, Papers, 1951-1958

Dean of Women’s Office Photographs, 1941-1916 (P 097)

Education, School of, Photographs, 1962-1967 (P 108)

Finance and Administration Videotapes, 1997 (FV P 247)

Human Resources Videotapes, 1992 (FV P 223)

Rice, Charles M., Papers, 1977

Rice Family Photograph Album, 1935-1947 (P 272)

University Archives Videotapes (FV P 169)

Other notes: 10 are new finding aids and 2 are updates of existing finding aids (Chemistry Department Records and Human Resources Videotapes), 11 are collection-level finding aids and one (Chemistry Department Records) is a full finding aid with a folder-level inventory, and 5 are for collections for which we previously had no information available online other than a title (Rice Papers; P 097; P 108; P272; RG 061).

We now have 343 finding aids in NWDA.

Thanks for the memories!

Putting meringue on lemon piesThis is the last recipe for Oregon Archives Month … We hope you’ve enjoyed all these delights, and have even tried your hand cooking a few of them. They represent a small slice of what is in our collection, so if you have a hankering for some more, please contact us and we can set you up with more than you bargained for!

Pumpkin-Corn Meal Dodgers

Based on an old southern recipe handed down through several generations.

  • 1½ cups cooked pumpkin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1½ cups corn meal
  • 3 tablespoons shortening
  • 2 tablespoons syrup
  1. To the pumpkin, which has been cooked very tender and mashed free from lumps, add the salt, syrup, melted shortening, and corn meal and mix thoroughly.
  2. Have mixture just soft enough to take up by spoonfuls and pat into flat cakes in the hand.
  3. Place on a griddle or greased baking sheet and bake about 20 min. in a hot oven.
  4. If desired, the corn meal may be added to the hot pumpkin and allowed to steam with it for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients.
  5. Also cooked or baked sweet potato may be used as a substitute for pumpkin.

Farmers’ Bulletin 955 Use of Wheat-Flour Substitutes in Baking March 1918

“Keeping the User in Mind: User Experience and the Modern Library” takeaways

Keep it simple, usable, useful, desirable, valuable, findable, credible, and accessible.

We can learn from the Google User Experience Team:

  • focus on people
  • every millisecond counts
  • simplicity matters
  • engage, beg, and attract experts
  • dare to innovate
  • design for the world
  • plan for today and tomorrow’s biz
  • delight eye without distracting mind
  • be worthy of people’s trust
  • add a human touch

For the virtual users, aim for simplicity and convenience. In our physical spaces, aim for comfortable and productive environments.

Users are more interested in shared experiences and less interested in material stuff/products (not sure I agree with this one!)

If you’d like to know more, included how to learn more, check here:

  • Sadeh, T (2008) “User Experience in the Library: a Case Study” New Library World 109 (1/2)
  • Usability Professionals Association
  • The Interaction Design Association
  • The User Experience Network
  • Bell & Shank (2007): Academic Librarianship by design: a blended librarian’s guide to the tools & techniques
  • Kunlavsky, M (2003). Observing the User Experience: a Practitioner’s Guide to User Research

Heard of P, B, & J?

Corvallis BakeryHow about baking up a P, B, & Cake?

Peanut Butter Cake

  • ½ cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 cups flour
  • 6 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 eggs, separated and beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream peanut butter and sugar; add egg yolks, water and vanilla, then flour and baking powder sifted together, lastly the beaten egg whites. Bake in a loaf.

More Comfort Food for a Cold, Foggy Morning in the Valley!

Ferry on Willamette RiverCheese with Potato Puffs

  • 1 cup mashed potatoes
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup grated cheese
  1. Beat the potatoes and milk together until thoroughly mixed.
  2. Add the egg and the salt and beat thoroughly.
  3. Add the cheese.
  4. Bake in muffin tins in a slow oven for 10-15 minutes.

Farmers’ Bulletin 487 Cheese and Its Economical Uses in the Diet February 1912