All posts by Will Hansen

The Great Art Move, or, How Few Can Really Be More

May 29, 2013 Will Hansen

This week marked the final chapter of the Rubenstein Library relocation project of 2013, when the Library’s portrait collection was relocated from the Gothic Reading Room to the Rubenstein Library’s temporary space on the third floor of Perkins. It was a poignant and, at moments, spirited end to a process that began many months ago.

The portrait collection has been with the Gothic since the very beginning. Upon the library’s opening in 1930, the well-known artist Douglas Chandor was commissioned to paint portraits of The Duke Endowment trustees, Mary Duke Biddle and Nanaline Duke, and the architect and builder of the campus, Horace Trumbauer. These portraits were completed between 1930 and 1932 and hung in the Gothic, then functioning as the library’s general reference room. Over the years, portraits of the University’s founders and presidents were added, along with those of other notable figures in the University’s history. By the time of our move, 32 auspicious figures awaited the careful attention of the professional art handlers we brought in for this assignment.

Because of the scale of the room, scaffolding was needed to even reach the pictures. After that came rebacking the canvases, vacuuming the gilded frames, and replacing the hanging hardware. Finally, the portraits were ready for their voyage across the library and to their new spots, all purposefully selected to allow for their safe storage during the time of the Gothic’s renovation.

While most of them are now in staff-only spaces, visitors who wish to see a particular portrait can do so by contacting the Rubenstein Library to make an appointment. Portraits of Washington, James B., and Benjamin N. Duke are hanging outside the Rubenstein classroom, and are viewable during regular Rubenstein hours without an appointment.

One painting, however, did not go so quietly to storage—a life-size, full-body portrait of President Few. It took scaffolding, ladders, and five people to remove him from his long-time rest, and once on the ground it became immediately clear that the portrait is nearly a half foot taller than the ceilings on the third floor of Perkins, where he was headed. An alternative spot was needed and quick! Thanks to the University Librarian, a suitable location was soon found. President Few now greets guests on the main floor of the Library, immediately behind the Perkins reference desk. It is perhaps fitting that the visage of the man who presided over the Gothic Room’s opening in 1930 was the last and most dramatic to take his leave from this room.

Post contributed by Kat Stefko, Head of Technical Services, Rubenstein Library.

From Our Collections, Hartman Center

Mad Men Monday Tuesday, Episode 9

May 28, 2013 Will Hansen

A number of characters faced choices between two people, while others faced rejection or criticism. Peggy is encouraged to choose between Ted and Don’s ideas for Fleischmann’s margarine. Megan’s performance as twins is criticized. Arlene tries to console Megan, but her sexual advances are spurned. Betty’s slimmed down figure gets a lot of attention from a man at a dinner party, which excites Henry. In frustration, Pete consults with headhunter Duck Phillips about alternative positions. Ted tells Peggy that he has feelings for her, but also that he regrets kissing her. Betty and Don visit Bobby at summer camp. They reconnect in a happy family moment over lunch and later spend the night together. Don is nostalgic and sentimental about Betty, while she is frank about his shortcomings. The next morning she happily eats breakfast with Henry, while Don eats alone as if nothing ever happened. Joan and Bob go to the beach with her son, Kevin. Roger tries to reconnect with Joan with a gift for Kevin, but she rebuffs him. Roger is also reprimanded by his daughter after taking his grandson to see Planet of the Apes. Peggy is fearful of the crime in her new neighborhood. After a rock is thrown through their apartment window, she arms herself with a knife and accidentally stabs Abe in the abdomen. In the ambulance Abe breaks up with Peggy, calling her the enemy because of her advertising career. The next day Peggy tells Ted that she and Abe broke up, but Ted seems unmoved by the news and wishes her well in finding someone new.

Episode nine’s plot referred to Esso gasoline, menthol cigarettes, knives, 1965 Cadillacs, and chef salads, among other things. Here is a selection of ads that illustrate some of the products and cultural references mentioned in Sunday night’s Mad Men. A gallery of our highlighted images may also be found on Pinterest and Flickr.

Archive of Documentary Arts, Events, Readings and Talks

A Conversation with Photographer Edward Ranney

May 1, 2013 Will Hansen 3 Comments

Moray, 1975. Toned gelatin silver print by Edward Ranney.

Date: Tuesday, May 7
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217 (Click for map)
Contact information: Kirston Johnson, 919-681-7963, kirston.johnson@duke.edu

Edward Ranney is an internationally recognized photographer who has photographed the natural and man-altered landscape for over forty years. His work of the 1970s in the southern Andes of Peru resulted in the book Monuments of the Incas (1982), which was reprinted in an expanded edition in 2010.

Since 1985, Ranney has dedicated himself to a comprehensive photographic survey of pre-Columbian sites along the Andean Desert Coast. His recent work with Lucy R. Lippard in the Galisteo Basin, near Sante Fe, was published in Down Country in 2010.

Edward Ranney has received numerous awards, including two Fulbright fellowships for his work in Peru, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowship. His work has been presented in individual exhibitions at the Princeton University Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and the Centro Cultural of Miraflores in Lima, Peru. His other books include Stonework of the Maya, Prairie Passage, and Pablo Neruda’s Heights of Macchu Picchu.

This event is free and open to the public.

Human Rights Archive, New at the Rubenstein Library

Southern Poverty Law Center Donates Extremist Literature Collection to Rubenstein Library

April 30, 2013 Will Hansen 2 Comments

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project has donated its extensive collection of materials documenting extremist and hate groups in the United States to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University.

The collection includes nearly 90 boxes of periodicals, pamphlets, flyers and other documents intended for distribution to group members and recruits over the past 30 years.

At the Rubenstein Library, the collection will allow researchers to examine the histories of hate groups and efforts to monitor and infiltrate them adding to the Library’s Human Rights Archive, its rich collections for social movements in the United States, and its large existing collection of materials documenting the Ku Klux Klan from the 1860s to the present day.

The SPLC collection includes materials on many types of extremist groups such as neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separatists, border vigilantes and others.

“We are very excited that Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library has decided to house the extremist materials we’ve been collecting for decades,” said Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project. “We are especially pleased that these relatively rare materials will finally be made available to scholars who research America’s radical right. We look forward to learning from their scholarship.”

The collection will be made available to researchers after being prepared for use by the Rubenstein Library staff.

The SPLC Intelligence Project has been called “one of the most respected anti-terror organizations in the world” by National Review. It monitors hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposes their activities to law enforcement agencies, the media and the public. The project posts its investigative findings online, on the Hatewatch blog and in the Intelligence Report, an award-winning quarterly journal. The Project has crippled some of the country’s most notorious hate groups by suing them for murders and other violent acts committed by their members.

This post previously appeared on Duke Today.

From Our Collections, Hartman Center, University Archives

Mad Men Monday, Episode 5

April 29, 2013 Will Hansen

Episode 5, which aired on April 28^st, depicted the Mad Men characters reacting to the news that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Across the board, everyone was upset and unnerved, but there was considerable awkwardness in their interactions with each other in the aftermath. Pete and Harry argued about what was an appropriate reaction to the death. Joan hugged Dawn. Don tried to send Dawn home, but she really wanted to stay at work. Megan took Sally and Gene to a vigil. Don took Bobby to the movies. Peggy fretted over an offer to purchase an apartment. Betty and Henry saw an opportunity for his political career to blossom. Ginsburg tried not to bungle a date that his father set up for him. There were references to wallpaper, formal wear, Milk Duds, Planet of the Apes, and Chinese food, among other items. Here are a selection of ads and images that refer to some of the products and cultural references mentioned in last night’s episode of Mad Men. We’ve even included a program from the April 4, 1968 ANDY Awards and some photos of a vigil that occurred on Duke’s campus in the days after the assassination. Paul Newman really was the keynote speaker! A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Pinterest and Flickr.

The Duke Vigil was a silent demonstration at Duke University, April 5 - 11, 1968, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Up to 1,400 students slept on the Chapel Quad, food services and housekeeping employees went on strike, and most students boycotted the dining halls in support of the employees. Duke University Archives, University Archives Photograph Collection, box 54. — The Duke Vigil was a silent demonstration at Duke University, April 5 – 11, 1968, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Up to 1,400 students slept on the Chapel Quad, food services and housekeeping employees went on strike, and most students boycotted the dining halls in support of the employees. Duke University Archives, University Archives Photograph Collection, box 54.

Duke Vigil, April 5-11, 1968. Duke University Archives, University Archives Photograph Collection, box 54.

New at the Rubenstein Library

Newly Rediscovered Papers of a Game Theory Pioneer

Aside April 26, 2013 Will Hansen

Oskar Morgenstern, n.d., from the Oskar Morgenstern Papers.

A project on the history of Mathematica Policy Research recently unearthed a historical treasure — a cache of personal papers, professional files, and correspondence by celebrated economist and mathematician Oskar Morgenstern, a founder of Mathematica. They will now join the existing collection of Morgenstern Papers in the Economists’ Papers Project at the Rubenstein Library.

The newly rediscovered papers are linked to Morgenstern’s longstanding connection to Mathematica. Along with several other Princeton University economists and mathematicians, Morgenstern founded Mathematica and served as chairman of its board. He maintained an office at the company’s Princeton headquarters until his death in 1977. “The materials, which we believe are from his Mathematica office, were recently discovered in our archives when we began compiling a history of the firm,” explained Paul Decker, president and CEO of Mathematica.

The additional papers comprise seventeen boxes of Morgenstern’s files and correspondence dating from 1940 through 1970. The discovery of these new materials serendipitously matched a period of research on Morgenstern’s travels and correspondence conducted by his daughter, Karin Papp, who assisted in transferring the files from Mathematica’s offices to the Rubenstein Library. The remainder of Morgenstern’s papers were donated to the Rubenstein Library by his widow Dorothy in the late 1980s. Among his many achievements, Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, co-authored with John von Neumann, is a pioneering work on game theory.

This addition fills an important gap in the Morgenstern Papers, and will be made available for research use after being prepared by our staff.

Post contributed by Will Hansen, Assistant Curator of Collections, adapted from a press release prepared by Mathematica Policy Research.

News and Features, Publications

RL Magazine, Issue 2

April 3, 2013 Will Hansen

The second issue of RL Magazine is now in print and online (pdf, 3MB).

In it you’ll find:

Passionate Wisdom: Abraham Joshua Heschel
India Through a British Lens: The Photographs of Samuel Bourne
Out of the Shadows: Economist Anna Schwartz
A Historian Who Made History: John Hope Franklin
Digitizing the Long Civil Rights Movement
Madison Avenue Icons Help Celebrate Milestones
MacArthur “Genius” Visits Duke in Filmmaker Series

We hope you enjoy learning more about our collections and the ways they are being used in teaching, research, business, and the arts!

Bingham Center, Events, Readings and Talks

Mandy Carter, Peace Walker

April 1, 2013 Will Hansen 1 Comment

Since starting my internship with the Sallie Bingham Center last August, I’ve spent time each week processing the papers of Mandy Carter, a self-described “southern out black lesbian social justice activist.”

This year Carter celebrates 45 years of social, racial, and lesbigaytrans justice organizing, and it’s almost impossible to summarize all that she has done—beginning with peace activism in the late 1960s and continuing today in her role as National Coordinator for the Bayard Rustin Commemoration Project of the National Black Justice Coalition. So instead, here’s one small peek.

Though based in Durham for much of her career, Carter has traveled up, down, and around the country in support of her activism–and in the summer of 1983, she walked from Durham, North Carolina to Seneca, New York as part of the Women’s Peace Walk.

From left to right: Judy Winston, Mandy Carter, Elana Freedom. The trio completed the entire 600+ mile walk. Along the way, other women joined for a day, weekend, week, or longer. Newspaper clipping, 1983, Mandy Carter Papers — From left to right: Judy Winston, Mandy Carter, Elana Freedom. The trio completed the entire 600+ mile walk. Along the way, other women joined for a day, weekend, week, or longer. Newspaper clipping, 1983, from the Mandy Carter Papers.

Organized by the Southeast Regional Office of the War Resisters League—where Carter worked at the time—the Women’s Peace Walk aimed to draw attention to and protest the build-up of nuclear arms and specifically, the planned deployment of Cruise and Pershing II missiles to Europe later that year.

Women’s Peace Walk brochure, 1983. From the Mandy Carter Papers.

Organizers timed the end of the walk to coincide with the beginning of the Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice, and the destination itself held particular significance. The area was not only home to the Seneca Army Depot, a nuclear bomb and missile storage site, it was also where women of the Iroquois Nation met in 1590 to demand an end to war among the tribes and where more than 300 men and women came together in 1848 for the nation’s first women’s rights convention.

If you’re interested in learning more about Mandy Carter, her lifelong activism, and social change in Durham over the past 30 years, head down to the Durham County Library at 5:30pm on Wednesday for a panel discussion featuring Carter, Caitlin Breedlove (Co-Director, Southerners On New Ground) and Steve Schewel (Founder, Independent Weekly). Event details are available here.

Post contributed by Stephanie Barnwell, Bingham Center Intern.

From Our Collections

Street Exposure: The Photographs of Ronald Reis

March 8, 2013 Will Hansen 3 Comments

Exhibit Dates: March 18-May 18, 2013
Opening Reception: March 22, 2013, 6:00PM
Location: Photography Gallery, Perkins Library
Contact Information: Kirston Johnson, kirston.johnson(at)duke.edu

Ronald Reis, New York City: Lower East Side, 1964.

Ronald Reis was born in New York City in 1935 and began taking photographs when he was twelve years old. He received his first camera, an Argus A2, as a gift from his father, sparking a lifelong interest in photography. From an early age, Reis focused his lens on ordinary people and the routine tasks that make up daily life. Inspired by documentary photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helen Levitt, and Louis Stettner, Reis dedicated himself to street photography while studying at the University of Pennsylvania.

After graduating from college, Reis went into the family apparel business, which enabled him to travel extensively in Europe and frequently visit both New York and London. He quickly became a serious self-taught photographer, and his images were featured in numerous magazines and exhibits. For over fifty years, he has continued to photograph streetscapes in the United States and abroad. The result is a documentary record that captures the essence of everyday life and highlights the commonalities between different people and geographic locations. At the end of the day, the ordinary rituals of urban living are strikingly similar all over the world.

This exhibit focuses on photographs taken in New York and London over a ten-year period, mainly during the 1960s. At the time Reis was making many of these images, photography was witnessing a movement towards creating a documentary record of the everyday. In 1967, photo curator and historian John Szarkowski unveiled his influential exhibition New Documents at the Museum of Modern Art, featuring photographers Lee Friedlander, Diane Arbus, and Garry Winogrand. Like Reis, these photographers were interested in the art of observing and documenting the commonplace—the extraordinary within the ordinary. Szarkowski wrote in his introduction to the exhibit, “Their aim has not been to reform life but to know it, not to persuade but to understand.” Likewise, Reis trained his lens on the ordinary people and events around him, in order to more deeply know and understand them.

The Ronald Reis Photographs collection is preserved in the Archive of Documentary Arts in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and the collection has been digitized and is available in the Duke University Libraries Digital Collections.

Post contributed by Kirston Johnson, Curator, Archive of Documentary Arts.

In the Conservation Lab

In the Lab: The Mad Dog, or, Take Care of Yourself

March 7, 2013 Will Hansen 2 Comments

This delightful manuscript item came to conservation for some minor repairs and housing. It is an eighteenth-century card game with a sheet of instructions describing itself as “The Mad Dog, or Take Care of Yourself: A Company Play with coloured Plates on 12 Cards in a Paper Case.”

The faces of the cards are delightfully hand-drawn and painted in watercolors. The instructions describe them thus:

To this play belong 6 principal Cards and a few vacant ones, the latter distinguished only by 2 different colours…. The objects represent: 1. The Courthouse, 2. The Police Officer, 3. The Hunter, 4. The Physician, 5. A man bit by a mad dog and 6. The mad dog itself, represented exactly with all the symptoms of madness.

Cards and instructions for "The Mad Dog," ca. late 1700s. — Cards and instructions for “The Mad Dog,” ca. late 1700s.

The game consists of a person bit by a dog making a complaint to the court, asking for monetary restitution and seeking to have the dog killed, either by the police officer, the hunter, or the physician, all with various fines and rewards. The winner seems to be the person who ends up with the most money.

The cards and instruction page were in good condition, having only a few minor tears, but the little box was in a poorer state. It had split at the seams, and at some point in its history someone with good intentions had neatly sewn it together with thread (which I like much better than tape)! It was interesting to peek inside and see that the box was made of discarded print and manuscript papers layered together.

I removed the threads and hinged the broken sides back together, mended the instruction page, and provided a polyester “sling” for the cards to slide in and out of the box without abrasion. Then I made a thick new folder to house the case in a recessed opening and the instructions in a polyester sleeve. The folder will go back into the manuscript box it came from. This was such a fun little project!

Post contributed by Grace White, Conservator for Special Collections, as part of our ongoing “In the Conservation Lab” series.

Dispatches from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University