Digitization continues

Hello everybody,

A quick update about the DSpace digital repository- I'm moving forward with a second collection!  Back in February I completed the digitization of the yearbooks and I watched to see how the community would use them.  I'm happy to say that these digital resources have been a game changer for both administrators and alumni.  Both constituent groups are able to independently conduct research.

I am now advancing the digital repository further by adding course catalogs. The catalogs describe not only the courses of study and credit counts, but also the physical campus, faculty credentials, expenses, rules for students, and social activities. In the case of our earliest catalogs, there are also annual reports from the president.

As of today, there are 25 course catalogs uploaded to DSpace.  The digitization of the catalogs is currently ongoing and the content will be uploaded as it is created.  Check back regularly to see new additions to the collection.  https://desu.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.12090/399

Yours,
Joy

Delaware State College/University Yearbooks now being Digitized

Visit the digitized University Archives at: https://desu.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.12090/348

 I am excited to announce that the DSU archives has launched a new tool for sharing digitized content and making it just a little bit easier for long-distance patrons to access archival collections.  DSpace is a digital repository or what could be described as a virtual representation of the physical archives. Although it will take some time, the most prominent collections of the DSU archives will be digitized and made available online. 

Last month I conducted a survey of 50 constituents to learn how you, the users, might use the repository and to determine what content would be most valuable.  The overwhelming majority (90% of participants) specified that yearbooks would be the most useful collection.  As a result, I made the digitization of the yearbooks a top priority.  To date, the 1985-2007 yearbooks have been digitized and uploaded to the repository.  More are on the way! You can view them here.

Thank you to all who participated in the survey.  Please know that your input is valued and I will do my best to meet your requests.  If you didn't participate in the survey but would like to comment or offer suggestions you can do so in the comments below or email me at rscherry@desu.edu. Any feedback is welcome. 

Lastly, the archives has several gaps in the yearbook collection.  I would love to hear from you if you possess or have any information about the Statesman yearbooks listed below.  Even if you are not willing to be parted with your yearbook, would you consider loaning it so that may be digitized?

• any Statesman made prior to 1960 except for 1947
• 1962 Statesman
• 1963 Statesman
• 1964 Statesman
• 1965 Statesman
• 1977 Statesman
• 1978 Statesman
• 1984 Statesman

***3/18/2019 UPDATE: All of the yearbooks have now been digitized.  https://desu.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.12090/348

A 9-Month Update

It is nine months into the grant, which marks the end of the first Archival Fellowship. Much has been accomplished since February! Here are just a few bullet points:

•  The Archives has taken the first steps to getting its collection descriptions online and up to professional standards.
•  Many collections have been described and preserved – including a collection of over 20,000 photographs!
•  Our digitized collection has exploded! You can check out a near-complete run of our collection of The Echo here. Over 100 issues were digitized this month alone. That’s over 1000 pages! Access them anywhere and download them as PDFs. Some are even full-text searchable!

Processed collections, October 2014

The Archives remains committed to making the history of Delaware State University accessible to all interested parties. Going forward, we aim to serve this goal even further by re-evaluating our digitization priorities, incorporating collections into the library catalog, and designing a more interactive guide to the history of the campus. With that, the first Archival Fellow bids DSU adieu!

Creation of the Black Studies Program

During the spring of 1968, students protested dormitory conditions and regulations. The unrest reached its height in May when students occupied Grossley Hall, prompting the governor to dispatch the National Guard.

Black Majestic Society editorial, The Hornet, October 10, 1969

Among the most organized of the activists was the Black Majestic Society, who demanded the creation of a Black Studies Program. Their October 10, 1969, editorial in The Hornet, pictured here, represents their displeasure with the college, to put it mildly. 

By the 1970-1971 academic year, the Black Studies Program was approved as a multidisciplinary concentration that called upon a variety of fields in the humanities. You can read the Black Studies Planning Committee proposal here, as part of our digitized collection.

Digitization update

Written by: Emily Cottle

Since beginning our digitization work in January 2014, we are excited to report that we have grown our collection from our initial five items to over one hundred!

Items available include all issues from The Echo dating 1909-1912, items from our photograph collection, and inauguration programs from some of our presidents.

You can browse our available items here.

Click to browse digitized items.

Treasure: The Echo, 1909-1912

Written by: Emily Cottle

This post is the first in our Treasures series. Each post in this series will focus on a particular item (or in this case, group of related items) that are considered important treasures of our collection.

The homepage of the Delaware Heritage Collection
displays a selection of recently added items.

This week’s treasures are the early issues of The Echo, which was the early school newspaper of Delaware State (or more accurately, the State College for Colored Students, as it was then known). In our collection we have 48 of these very early issues dating from 1909-1912. As you read about last month, we are currently scanning these valuable resources and uploading them to our Delaware Heritage Collection site. Thirty-seven issues have been digitized thus far with the final batch expected to be posted in March.

These newspapers contain a wide array of important information about the university at this time. It includes listing of the administration, faculty, and staff members, as well as detailed accounts of campus events and other local happenings. Issues also include essays or other articles often written by notable college personnel such as President William C. Jason and Lydia P. Laws, among many others.

You can view each page of the issue separately or download the complete PDF.

The digitized issues can be viewed here. 

Digitization: Delaware Heritage Collection

One aspect of our grant objectives includes digitization of collection items. Once scanned, items will be made freely available online through the Delaware Heritage Collection.

The homepage for the Delaware Heritage Collection.

The Delaware Heritage Collection is a program sponsored by the Delaware Division of Libraries. It is described on their website as follows:

Documents, artwork, maps, newspapers, slides, photos, audio/video and other important items documenting Delaware’s rich history and culture can now be explored online! Through the Delaware Heritage Collection, items previously available only in local libraries, archives, museums, historic sites and other cultural institutions are being digitized and made available to anyone who has access to a computer.

This exciting project creates an online portal that makes it easy to search, discover, retrieve and view items and information. The technology offers many user-friendly tools and options that help bring Delaware’s history and heritage to life.

The Delaware Heritage Collection is a wonderful resource for students, educators, historians and anyone who enjoys exploring the people and events that created the Delaware we know today.

So far, DSU has contributed only a few items, but we will be consistently adding to it throughout the course of our IMLS project. Items to be digitized will be selected based on a number of criteria, including fragility, anticipated use, and correlation to scheduled exhibits or outreach initiatives. Fragile items will include those that are in danger of being irreversibly damaged through additional handling. Having digital surrogates in place will help lessen the burden of use on items found to be particularly susceptible to damage.

You can view Delaware State’s collection here.

Delaware State's collection within the Delaware Heritage Collection.

The first items to be scanned are going to be early issues of our school paper, The Echo, dating from 1909-1912. We expect to have the first batch uploaded by the end of the month, so stay tuned for an announcement here with a link when that happens.

Update: As of January 23rd, the first batch of The Echo is available in the Delaware Heritage Collection. Issues will continue to be added in the coming months.