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Showing posts with label News and Features. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News and Features. Show all posts
Monday, January 10, 2011
We're Moving!
So long, Blogger, and thanks!
Dear readers, you'll now be able to find The Devil's Tale at http://blogs.library.duke.edu/dukelibrariesrbmscl/. Update your feed readers, change your bookmarks, and we'll see you soon at our new online home!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
RBMSCL Travel Grants: $$$ to Visit Us!
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| Photo by Mark Zupan. |
The Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture, and the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History will award up to $1,000 per recipient to fund travel and other expenses related to visiting the RBMSCL. The grants are open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, independent scholars, artists, and activists living outside a 100-mile radius from Durham, NC with research projects that would benefit from access to the centers’ collections.
More details—and the grant application—may be found on our grants website. Applications must be postmarked or e-mailed no later than 5:00 PM EST on January 31, 2011. Recipients will be announced in March 2011.
We're also excited to announce that the RBMSCL will be offering three new grants this year for scholars interested in using our German Studies and Judaica collections. Additional information about applying for one of these three grants will be available on our grants website soon. These new grants will have a later deadline.
Labels:
Bingham Center,
Do Your Research,
Franklin Research Center,
Hartman Center,
News and Features,
Rare Books,
Travel Grants
Monday, October 25, 2010
Congratulations to the 2010 Middlesworth Award Winners!
On Friday, the RBMSCL celebrated with students and parents at one of our favorite events of the year: the Middlesworth Award and Durden Prize Reception.
Given annually, the Middlesworth Awards recognize the authors of the best undergraduate and graduate student papers based on research in the collections of the RBMSCL. Funding for the awards has been generously provided by Chester P. Middlesworth (A.B., 1949) of Statesville, NC.
Undergraduate student winner Adrienne R. Niederriter plumbed the depths of the Hartman Center's Ad*Access image database for her paper, "Speak Softly and Carry a Lipstick: Government Influence on Female Sexuality through Cosmetics during World War II."
Undergraduate student winner Hannah C. Craddock received her award for her senior honors thesis, "'A New Self-Respect and a New Consciousness of Power': White Nurses, Black Soldiers, and the Danger of World War I.” Craddock's study focused upon the Ann Henshaw Gardiner Papers and the Samuel Loomis Hypes Papers.
Graduate student winner Bonnie Scott's paper began at the heart of Duke's West Campus, as she compared sermons preached in the Duke Chapel to those preached by North Carolina minister Kenneth M. Johnson during the Civil Rights Movement.
Their papers will now become part of the RBMSCL's collections.
We know that great papers are being researched and written this semester as well. If you are a Duke student, submit your paper and we might be toasting you next fall! Details about submitting your paper can be found here.
Given annually, the Middlesworth Awards recognize the authors of the best undergraduate and graduate student papers based on research in the collections of the RBMSCL. Funding for the awards has been generously provided by Chester P. Middlesworth (A.B., 1949) of Statesville, NC.
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| 2010 Middlesworth Award winners Adrienne Niederriter, Bonnie Scott, and Hannah Craddock. |
Undergraduate student winner Hannah C. Craddock received her award for her senior honors thesis, "'A New Self-Respect and a New Consciousness of Power': White Nurses, Black Soldiers, and the Danger of World War I.” Craddock's study focused upon the Ann Henshaw Gardiner Papers and the Samuel Loomis Hypes Papers.
Graduate student winner Bonnie Scott's paper began at the heart of Duke's West Campus, as she compared sermons preached in the Duke Chapel to those preached by North Carolina minister Kenneth M. Johnson during the Civil Rights Movement.
Their papers will now become part of the RBMSCL's collections.
We know that great papers are being researched and written this semester as well. If you are a Duke student, submit your paper and we might be toasting you next fall! Details about submitting your paper can be found here.
Labels:
Do Your Research,
Events,
News and Features,
students
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Filmmaker James Longley: Portraits from the Middle East
Date: Friday, 29 October 2010
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
Contact Information: Kirston Johnson, 919-681-7963 or kirston.johnson(at)duke.edu
Join the Archive of Documentary Arts for an evening with documentary filmmaker James Longley. Known for his intimate and poetic portraits of individuals and families caught in the political turmoil of Iraq, the Gaza Strip, and Pakistan, Longley was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant in 2009. His Oscar-nominated film, Iraq in Fragments, won the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Grand Jury Prize in 2006. Arts advocate, author, and accomplished television interviewer Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel will facilitate the discussion.
This event inaugurates the Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel Visiting Filmmaker Series, established by Duke University with generous funding from the Diamonstein-Spielvogel endowment fund. The series will feature artists whose work addresses significant contemporary topics of social, political, economic, and cultural urgency. Filmmakers chosen to participate will have a recognized body of work and show promise of future contributions to documentary filmmaking. Visiting filmmakers will be invited to Duke for a two-day residency.
The Diamonstein-Spielvogel series is unique in its exclusive attention to documentary filmmakers with a global perspective. By giving Duke faculty and their students an opportunity to explore the films of socially-engaged filmmakers and discuss the work with them, this new series hopes to inspire and encourage the next generation of young documentarians.
The series is co-sponsored by the RBMSCL, the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image, and the Center for Documentary Studies.
Screen / Society will screen several of Mr. Longley's films in the weeks leading up to his visit. Check the Screen/Society Fall 2010 schedule for additional details and contact information:
Iraq in Fragments **TONIGHT!**
Date: Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University
Sari’s Mother and Gaza Strip
Date: Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
Contact Information: Kirston Johnson, 919-681-7963 or kirston.johnson(at)duke.edu
Join the Archive of Documentary Arts for an evening with documentary filmmaker James Longley. Known for his intimate and poetic portraits of individuals and families caught in the political turmoil of Iraq, the Gaza Strip, and Pakistan, Longley was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant in 2009. His Oscar-nominated film, Iraq in Fragments, won the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Grand Jury Prize in 2006. Arts advocate, author, and accomplished television interviewer Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel will facilitate the discussion.
This event inaugurates the Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel Visiting Filmmaker Series, established by Duke University with generous funding from the Diamonstein-Spielvogel endowment fund. The series will feature artists whose work addresses significant contemporary topics of social, political, economic, and cultural urgency. Filmmakers chosen to participate will have a recognized body of work and show promise of future contributions to documentary filmmaking. Visiting filmmakers will be invited to Duke for a two-day residency.
The Diamonstein-Spielvogel series is unique in its exclusive attention to documentary filmmakers with a global perspective. By giving Duke faculty and their students an opportunity to explore the films of socially-engaged filmmakers and discuss the work with them, this new series hopes to inspire and encourage the next generation of young documentarians.
The series is co-sponsored by the RBMSCL, the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image, and the Center for Documentary Studies.
Screen / Society will screen several of Mr. Longley's films in the weeks leading up to his visit. Check the Screen/Society Fall 2010 schedule for additional details and contact information:
Iraq in Fragments **TONIGHT!**
Date: Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University
Sari’s Mother and Gaza Strip
Date: Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University
Friday, October 8, 2010
The Devil's Tale Turns One!
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| Virginia Dare Advertising Card. From the Advertising Ephemera Collection. |
Where else would you hear about extracting sunbeams from cucumbers or hear the real back story of the Duke-Alabama football rivalry? Blog followers were the first to hear that Duke had acquired the papers of South Carolina author Dorothy Allison, Nobel-laureate economist Paul Samuelson, and jazz master Frank Foster. Together we marked holidays large and small with selections from our collections, from Thanksgiving to Free Comic Book Day, proving that there’s something in our collections for every occasion (and almost every research interest).
Thank you to everyone who has posted a comment or passed on a post to a friend. We invite you to become a Devil’s Tale follower so we can keep you up-to-date on upcoming events and exhibits and all the latest news. Happy birthday, Devil’s Tale! (And three cheers for our intrepid blog editor Amy McDonald!)
Post contributed by Naomi Nelson, Director of the RBMSCL.
(Intrepid editor's note: And thanks to everyone at the RBMSCL for their daily help with the care and feeding of The Devil's Tale!)
Monday, September 13, 2010
My RBMSCL: Reading Dorothy Allison
Today, we're starting a new feature: mini-essays from friends of the RBMSCL on the collections they've used and treasured. Below, Sharon Holland's mini-essay about Dorothy Allison was inspired by the RBMSCL's recent acquisition of Dorothy Allison's papers.
I first encountered Dorothy Allison's major work, Bastard Out of Carolina, on an overnight train (the Orient Express, no less) from Vienna to Paris. I wasn't prepared for what would eventually happen in the book and when I got to the fateful scene in the car outside the hospital, I impulsively threw the book out of the window—it is still in a field somewhere along the train line. My reaction is a testament to the importance of the scene of violation that Allison wanted to construct for the reader—it was real, and sudden and devastating. I purchased the book upon my return to the United States and it has been one of my favorites since. Acquiring her papers is a serious accomplishment for Duke. Thank you for preserving the work and ultimately the memory of one of the most important feminist authors of the 20-21st century.
Post contributed by Sharon Holland, Associate Professor, English and African and African American Studies, Duke University.
Interested in contributing a mini-essay? E-mail me at amy.mcdonald(at)duke.edu!
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| Photo courtesy of Sharon Holland. |
Post contributed by Sharon Holland, Associate Professor, English and African and African American Studies, Duke University.
Interested in contributing a mini-essay? E-mail me at amy.mcdonald(at)duke.edu!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Dorothy Allison Papers Arrive at Duke
In the early 1990s Ginny Daley, then director of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, was convinced that Duke should acquire Dorothy Allison’s papers. "I saw her as the quintessential Southern writer,” Daley wrote recently. “Her personal papers and literary works fit well with Duke’s collections of Southern literature and women’s culture, while bringing fresh perspectives on queer culture and truth-telling to the mix.” Through campus visits and other seed-planting efforts, Ginny Daley introduced Ms. Allison to the possibility of Duke as the permanent home for her collection.
Now, after a nearly twenty year period of considering this momentous decision, Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina and other works and renowned activist in the LGBTQ community, has selected the RBMSCL to be the repository for her papers. Bingham Center and literary curatorial staff collaborated on the initial acquisition of nearly 60 boxes of Allison's papers, including drafts of her writings, extensive correspondence and research files, personal journals documenting her life and creative process, and more. For Allison, a South Carolina native now living in California, it's a relief to have the papers at the RBMSCL: “All I know is that now I feel that all that . . . I saved is going to be safe and of use. Since we are entering high summer here with 90 degree temperatures and high risk of fire, I can also stop worrying that a wildfire might sweep through the redwoods and erase all that history. Safe and of use is infinitely preferable.”
The papers will be a rich resource for those interested in Allison’s life and work, as well as for researchers exploring the development of LGBT and Southern literatures, lesbian communities and families, and the history of American sexuality, among many other topics. Materials will be added to the collection as Allison continues to write and publish (a new book of short stories and a novel coming soon!).
A preliminary finding aid for the collection is now available here. In the coming months staff will review, process, and revise the finding aid for the collection to make it available for research. Researchers interested in using the papers should contact the Bingham Center staff to discuss their availability.
Post contributed by Will Hansen, Assistant Curator of Collections.
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| Photo by Brett Hall. |
The papers will be a rich resource for those interested in Allison’s life and work, as well as for researchers exploring the development of LGBT and Southern literatures, lesbian communities and families, and the history of American sexuality, among many other topics. Materials will be added to the collection as Allison continues to write and publish (a new book of short stories and a novel coming soon!).
A preliminary finding aid for the collection is now available here. In the coming months staff will review, process, and revise the finding aid for the collection to make it available for research. Researchers interested in using the papers should contact the Bingham Center staff to discuss their availability.
Post contributed by Will Hansen, Assistant Curator of Collections.
Labels:
Bingham Center,
From Our Collections,
Manuscripts,
New at the RBMSCL,
New Finding Aids,
News and Features
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Hostage Nation Receives WOLA-Duke Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America
Hostage Nation: Colombia’s Guerrilla Army and the Failed War on Drugs, written by Victoria Bruce, Karin Hayes and Jorge Enrique Botero, has won the third annual WOLA-Duke Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America.
The book, published last month by Alfred A. Knopf, is the story of three American contractors and Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt held hostage by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) for over five years before their rescue in 2008. The book draws on Botero’s exclusive interviews with the American contractors, as well as extensive research on the FARC and the Colombian drug trade, to illustrate the impact of Colombia’s war and the U.S. war on drugs in Colombia.
The Washington Office on Latin America and Duke University created the prize to honor the best current, non-fiction book published in English on human rights, democracy and social justice in contemporary Latin America.The WOLA-Duke Book Award aims to draw the general public’s attention to good writing on contemporary Latin America. Francisco Goldman won the first award in 2008 for his book, The Art of Political Murder. Heraldo Muñoz’s The Dictator’s Shadow was last year’s winner.
Later this fall, the authors will visit the Duke University Libraries for an event co-sponsored by the Archive for Human Rights at the RBMSCL and the Duke Human Rights Center. We'll have all the event details as they are announced here at The Devil's Tale!
To read the entire press release from the Washington Office on Latin America, click here.
The book, published last month by Alfred A. Knopf, is the story of three American contractors and Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt held hostage by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) for over five years before their rescue in 2008. The book draws on Botero’s exclusive interviews with the American contractors, as well as extensive research on the FARC and the Colombian drug trade, to illustrate the impact of Colombia’s war and the U.S. war on drugs in Colombia.The Washington Office on Latin America and Duke University created the prize to honor the best current, non-fiction book published in English on human rights, democracy and social justice in contemporary Latin America.The WOLA-Duke Book Award aims to draw the general public’s attention to good writing on contemporary Latin America. Francisco Goldman won the first award in 2008 for his book, The Art of Political Murder. Heraldo Muñoz’s The Dictator’s Shadow was last year’s winner.
Later this fall, the authors will visit the Duke University Libraries for an event co-sponsored by the Archive for Human Rights at the RBMSCL and the Duke Human Rights Center. We'll have all the event details as they are announced here at The Devil's Tale!
To read the entire press release from the Washington Office on Latin America, click here.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
"Deena Stryker: Photographs of Cuba, 1963-1964"
Date: 31 August-12 December 2010
Location and Time: Special Collections Gallery during library hours
Contact Information: Karen Glynn, 919-660-5968 or karen.glynn(at)duke.edu
Journalist and photographer Deena Stryker’s black-and-white photographs of Revolutionary Cuba open a window into an unsettled time in that country’s history, after the Bay of Pigs and before Che Guevara's departure for the Congo, when Fidel Castro was solidifying his control over the new revolutionary government.
This new exhibit of thirty gelatin silver prints from the Archive of Documentary Arts’ Deena Stryker Photograph Collection documents this extraordinary change, bearing witness to both the vitality of Cuba's leadership and the optimism of the Cuban people. The exhibit is curated by Holly Ackerman, Librarian for Latin America and Iberia, and Heather Settle, visiting scholar in Cultural Anthropology.
Can’t visit the exhibit in person? Check out the virtual exhibit, which includes an additional eleven photos from the Deena Stryker Photograph Collection.
Keep up with The Devil’s Tale for news about the exhibit’s opening reception on Thursday, September 16th at 4:00 PM in the Rare Book Room. Deena Stryker, the exhibit’s curators, and several local experts on Cuba will come together to discuss the photographs and place them in their historical context.
Location and Time: Special Collections Gallery during library hours
Contact Information: Karen Glynn, 919-660-5968 or karen.glynn(at)duke.edu
Journalist and photographer Deena Stryker’s black-and-white photographs of Revolutionary Cuba open a window into an unsettled time in that country’s history, after the Bay of Pigs and before Che Guevara's departure for the Congo, when Fidel Castro was solidifying his control over the new revolutionary government.
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| A woman watching a military parade, Havana, January 1964. From the Deena Stryker Photograph Collection. |
Can’t visit the exhibit in person? Check out the virtual exhibit, which includes an additional eleven photos from the Deena Stryker Photograph Collection.
Keep up with The Devil’s Tale for news about the exhibit’s opening reception on Thursday, September 16th at 4:00 PM in the Rare Book Room. Deena Stryker, the exhibit’s curators, and several local experts on Cuba will come together to discuss the photographs and place them in their historical context.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
From the RBMSCL Wire
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| Boy lying on couch, reading comics. From the William Gedney Photographs and Writings, 1950s-1989. |
A profile of Susie King Taylor appears at TheAtlantic.com. (Read the post here). Taylor's Reminiscences of My Life in Camp is part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture's Black Voices Collection.
Our new exhibit, "'As Far as Possible from Forgetfulness': The Trinity College Historical Society," found itself on the front page of the Durham Herald-Sun. (Read the article online.)
And Hartman Center travel grant recipient Ari Samsky wrote about his two-week research visit to the RBMSCL for web magazine Splice Today. You'll find his essay—which makes us glad that Durham's cooled off considerably in the past few days—here.
Let us know if you find any other mentions of the RBMSCL during your wanderings across the Internet and through print.
Labels:
Exhibits,
Franklin Research Center,
Hartman Center,
News and Features,
RBMSCL Wire,
Travel Grants
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
New and Improved AdViews!
Just in time for the premiere of the fourth season of Mad Men, the last batch of 3,200 newly digitized D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) commercials has been uploaded to AdViews!
More commercials than ever! Now there are almost 8,800 commercials in AdViews.
Essential new products! New ads for Oreo, Continental Airlines, Raisin Bran, Mattel, Fresca, Pop Rocks, Legos, Clearasil, Volkswagen, Budweiser, Hardee's and so much more!
Act now and see expert interviews! Professors Jason Chambers of the University of Illinois and Peggy Kreshel of the University of Georgia give context to advertising targeted towards African Americans and women.
But wait, there's more! Highlighted content includes a 20-minute film about the creation of a 1970s Post Grape Nuts commercial featuring Euell Gibbons.
After you’ve checked out AdViews, stop back here and let us know your favorite commercials!
More commercials than ever! Now there are almost 8,800 commercials in AdViews.Essential new products! New ads for Oreo, Continental Airlines, Raisin Bran, Mattel, Fresca, Pop Rocks, Legos, Clearasil, Volkswagen, Budweiser, Hardee's and so much more!
Act now and see expert interviews! Professors Jason Chambers of the University of Illinois and Peggy Kreshel of the University of Georgia give context to advertising targeted towards African Americans and women.But wait, there's more! Highlighted content includes a 20-minute film about the creation of a 1970s Post Grape Nuts commercial featuring Euell Gibbons.
After you’ve checked out AdViews, stop back here and let us know your favorite commercials!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Dear Diary: Girls Rock!

7/13/10
Dear Zine Diary,Today was one of my favorite days of the year: zine workshop day at Girls Rock Camp. Amy and I spent the morning doing a zine workshop for about 45 young girls at Durham’s Girls Rock Camp. The day started with everyone standing in a circle, holding hands, and then turning to the person beside them and telling them "You rock!" What a way to start the day. We were able to talk with the girls about zines, as well as more about the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture and how they can come and look at zines in our collection. The girls were so excited to work on their own zine pages. We brought tons of markers, stickers, stamp pads, magazines, and glue sticks for them to make their own zine pages, and they did not disappoint! The zine pages they created included lots of things, such as their band names (Black Lizards, Beach Girls, 24/7, and The Flaming Moonshiners) and stickers proclaiming their love of music (and animals), and included statements like "I want to be a singer, an actress, and an architect." I was asked how to spell words like "appreciate" and "different." It was so great. Oh Zine Diary, every day should be like this!
Until next year. . .
Rachel
Kelly and I spent yesterday morning at Girls Rock Camp in Chapel Hill. I was amazed at how eager, smart, and enthusiastic the girls were to learn about women’s history and zine-making! We went around the room and introduced each other and Kelly and I found out the names of the girls’ bands. We talked about the three waves of feminism and we even did the wave! We also talked about female stereotypes and how we can fight them together. Then the girls got down to business with markers, stickers, magazines, glue sticks, and stamps. They made pages for their bands as well as individual pages, and as Rachel mentioned, their pages were creative and inspiring. I was so excited to hear the girls talk about everyday injustices and how they want to fix them. Kelly told them that since they are part of the Third Wave they are the future of feminism and will help to decide the future for women. After yesterday, I’m glad to know the future is in good hands.
Rock on,
Alex
For more photos from Girls Rock Camp, visit the Bingham Center's Flickr photostream!
Post contributed by Rachel Ingold, former Bingham Center intern and Conservation Technician, and Alex Krensky, Bingham Center intern.
Labels:
Bingham Center,
Instruction,
News and Features,
Workshops,
zines
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Commercials in the Classroom
How have TV commercials changed over time? The answer to part of that question is found in this video about AdViews. Five Duke undergraduates discuss their small group project using commercials found in AdViews as primary sources for a fall 2009 Markets & Management Studies class taught by George Grody.
Using AdViews, the students compared a number of historic 1960s and 1970s commercials with corresponding ones from today. The students analyzed commercials for Hardees, Schick, Bounce, Pledge, and perfume, finding both interesting similarities and drastic contrasts that reflect the branding strategies of each time period.
AdViews, a digital archive of over 8,000 vintage television commercials dating from the 1950s to the 1980s, is one of the newest resources available from the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
The Hartman Center collects and provides access to commercials, print ads, books, and other documents chronicling the advertising and marketing of products from the mid 19th century to the present. Our staff also provides targeted presentations to a wide range of classes each semester, helping to integrate primary source material into subjects ranging from Anthropology to History to Visual Studies, and most anything in between. Students are able to discover not only how TV commercials have changed, but how advertising tracks the evolution of not only the ad industry but also of society itself.
If you are interested in learning more about AdViews, classroom presentations, or research assistance, please contact the Hartman Center Reference Archivist at hartman-center(at)duke.edu or 919-660-5827.
Post contributed by Lynn Eaton, Hartman Center Reference Archivist.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
A Jazz Master's Papers Come to Duke
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| Frank Foster, ca. 1970s. From the Frank Foster Papers. |
The Jazz Archive at Duke University announces the recent arrival of the Frank Foster Papers. Foster is one of the leading jazz saxophonists, big band leaders, and composer/arrangers of the post-World War II era. While serving as the primary arranger for the Count Basie Orchestra since the 1950s, Foster continued to compose and arrange for a variety of ensembles, receiving two Grammy Awards in the 1980s for his work. In 2002, Foster received the Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The papers (which range from 1927 to 2009) reveal Foster's personal and professional lives. Scores and parts composed or arranged by Foster for jazz big bands, as well as business records, publicity, reviews, and news clippings documenting Foster's career, are complemented by personal correspondence, photographs, and a variety of Foster's own prose writings. There are also roughly fifty hours of concert recordings featuring various bands Foster performed in.
While portions of the papers are currently open for research, the entire collection should be processed and available for use by the fall of 2010. If you'd like to arrange a visit to view the collection, or if you have any questions, please e-mail us at special-collections(at)duke.edu.
Post contributed by Jeremy Smith, Jazz Archivist.
Monday, May 10, 2010
$999.99 More Than a Penny for Your Thoughts
Just think how many loads of laundry you could do or how many cases of . . . soda you could buy with $1,000.If you, like the gentlemen on the left, have pored over RBMSCL manuscripts, books, broadsides, maps, etc. (with or without a magnifying glass) and turned your brilliant discoveries into a brilliant paper, why not submit it for a chance to receive one of two Chester P. Middlesworth Awards?
The two awards, one for an undergraduate and one for a graduate student, each carry a cash prize of $1000.00. The awards will be given at a reception held during Parents' and Family Weekend (22-24 October 2010). Click here for our post about last year's happy recipients!
A few stipulations:
- Your paper must have been prepared to meet requirements of a course in any academic department at Duke University or of an independent study project for credit at Duke University.
- Your paper must be based largely or wholly on sources in the RBMSCL.
- Your paper must be nominated by a faculty member. Faculty may use this nomination form.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
2010-2011 Franklin Research Center Travel Grants Awarded
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| John Hope Franklin. From the John Hope Franklin Papers. |
- Shanna G. Benjamin, Department of English, Grinnell College, for work on a biography of the late Nellie Y. McKay, Bascom Professor of English and Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Derek Charles Catsam, Department of History, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, for a chronicle of the events of 1985 in South Africa, a tumultuous year in that country's history.
- Jametta Davis, Department of History, Howard University, for research for her dissertation detailing the effects of New Deal policies and programs on African American women.
- Jacob S. Dorman, Department of History, University of Kansas, for an examination of the formation and development of black Jewish religions in the past 45 years.
- Elizabeth Herbin, Department of History, St. John’s University, for an analysis of racial conflicts and segregation among small Southern farmers from 1900 to 1945.
- Karen Kossie-Chernyshev, Department of History, Geography, and Economics, Texas Southern University, for an account of "boomerang migration": the return of African American Southerners from their new homes in the North to participate in social and political uplift activities during the Jim Crow era.
- Deborah Lee, independent scholar, for a study tracing the networks of anti-slavery activists in the Potomac River basin from 1810 to 1870.
- Joseph Moore, Department of History, University of North Carolina at Greensboro,for research on the 1850 trial of George Grier, an enslaved South Carolina man, for seditious speech, with emphasis on an exploration of the community of Abbeville County, South Carolina.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
2010 Hartman Center Travel Grants Awarded
The John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Hartman Center Travel Grants. These grants allow scholars to travel to Durham to conduct research using the Hartman Center’s collections.JWT Fellows:
- Ferdinando Fasce: Department of Modern and Contemporary History, University of Genoa
“JWT Italy between Reconstruction and the First Oil Shock, from the late 1940s through the 1970s”
- Eva von Wyl: Social and Economic History, University of Zurich
“Rationalization, Self-Service and American Way of Life: American Eating Habits in Postwar Switzerland (1950-1970)”
- Shannan Clark: Department of History, Montclair State University
“The Creative Class: White-Collar Workers and the Making of America’s Culture of Consumer Capitalism”
- Liza Featherstone: Journalism School, New York University; School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
“Behind The Mirror: Focus Groups and What They Reveal, 1930s to present”
- Michelle Ferranti: Division of Fine and Performing Arts, Marymont Manhattan College
“History of Women’s Motivations for Douching following the Medicalization of Birth Control in the U.S.”
- Ann McDonald: Department of Art Design, Northeastern University
“The Role of Publically Displayed Information Visualization in Eliciting Individual and Communal Action”
- Ari Martin Samsky: Global Health Studies Program, University of Iowa
“Working Through Responsibility: Advertising, Medicine and The Social Good, World War II-the Present"
- Abby Bartholomew: College of Journalism and Mass Communications, Advertising Department, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
“JWT’s Application of Psychological Principles to Advertising, the Work of John B. Watson and his Behaviorist Theories”
- Rebecca Burditt: Program in Visual and Cultural Studies, Department of Art and Art History, University of Rochester
“Seeing Difference: Postwar Hollywood and the Commercial Delay”
- Berti Kolbow: Institute for Economic and Social History, Georgia Augusta University Goettingen
“Transatlantic Transfers of Marketing Concepts between Eastman Kodak and Agfa, 1880-1945”
- Shawn Moura: Department of History, University of Maryland
“Target Market Brazil: Postwar Advertising and Consumer Culture in the Country of the Future”
- Cory Pillen: Department of Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“WPA Posters: A New Deal for Design, 1936-1943”
- Elizabeth Spies: Department of English, University of California, Riverside
“Advertising Stigmatas: The Evolution of Poetic Advertising throughout the Twentieth Century, 1890-1980”
Monday, April 19, 2010
RBMSCL Photos: The Scribe is Here!
Above, Abigail, who is on loan to us from the Internet Archive, begins our Scribe scanning project. Over the next few months, we'll be digitizing our collections of Utopian Literature and Confederate imprints—and so much more! Remember to visit The Devil's Tale often for more news about the Scribe.And have a look at Beth Doyle's post about the Scribe installation over at Preservation Underground. We're glad they finally got the Scribe through the doorway.
Photo by Mark Zupan.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
2010-2011 Mary Lily Research Grants Awarded

The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Mary Lily Research Grants. These grants allow scholars to travel to Durham to conduct research using the Bingham Center’s collections.
- Katie Anania, Art History, University of Texas-Austin, for dissertation research on the rise of feminism as a framework for evaluating contemporary art.
- Lori A. Brown, Architecture, Syracuse University, for research for a book examining the relationships between space, abortion, and issues of access.
- Kate Eichhorn, Culture and Media Studies, The New School, for research comparing zines and scrapbooks as archival collections of ephemera.
- Julie Enszer, Women’s Studies, University of Maryland, for an examination of lesbian-feminist print culture in Durham, NC, 1969-1989 as part of a historical narrative of lesbian-feminist publishing.
- Karen Garner, Historical Studies, SUNY Empire State College, for an examination of U.S. global gender policy in the 1990s.
- Rebecca N. Mitchell, English, University of Texas – Pan American, for research for an article examining the proto-feminist aspects and eroticism of Victorian mourning attire.
- Michelle Moravec, History and Women’s Studies, Rosemont College, for research on feminist art activism as a U.S. social movement, 1967-1991.
- Whitney Strub, Women’s Studies and American Studies, Temple University, for research for a book examining the relationships between queer sexuality, LGBT activism, and antigay activity in post-WWII United States.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Patricia Derian Papers Coming to Duke
The Archive for Human Rights has signed an agreement with Patricia Murphy Derian to serve as the repository for her papers, which document her long career in human rights.Patt, as she is known to friends and family, was involved in the civil rights struggles in Mississippi prior to being tapped by President Jimmy Carter to head the newly-minted Bureau for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. In 1977, she became the nation's very first assistant secretary for human rights.
Her papers consist of country files, general files, correspondence, and a collection of audio and video interviews. Processing of the collection will begin immediately and should be complete by summer of 2010. If you'd like to arrange a visit to view the collection, or if you have any questions, please e-mail us at special-collections(at)duke.edu.
Post contributed by Patrick Stawski, Human Rights Archivist
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