Monthly Archives: September 2009

Celebrate Home Movies in Portland!

We’ve got a full month of fun for you on our end of the Valley, but check out the Home Movie Day event the U of O has organized in Portland!

“Whether it is footage of grandma blowing out candles at her 80th birthday party or a cops-and-robbers movie made by grade-school kids, the Home Movie Day in Portland is an opportunity to share, preserve and celebrate old films.”

Want to know more? Check out “Home Movie Day in Portland celebrates amateur filmmaking.”

Want to know more about Home Movie Day? Click here!

Common Ground Countdown

It’s true, it’s happening, it’s in one week! And we can’t wait to meet you…

As a Commons member institution, we will show our Common Ground slide show on the south side of Kidder Hall, the building on the north side of the Library Quad on Friday October 2nd. The event time is 5:00pm to 9:00pm. If you want to know more, please check out our Common Ground web page.

Kidder was the site of the library until 1963! Anyone know the answer to this trivia question: where was the library before it was in Kidder? If you know, send me an email to tiah.edmunson-morton@oregonstate.edu

Want to see us? Check out the new Flickr set… It’s full of Dot heads…

What to expect? What’s happening? Want the specifics? Want ideas?

This is an open and free event similar to an open-air cinema experience — think drive-in without the sound, or cars, or a motion picture.

You need to bring something comfortable to sit on if you’d like to stay for the whole loop — 25 images from 27 Archives, Libraries, and Museums from around the world.

Hungry? Check out food options on campus or local eateries on Monroe Avenue.

We’re Oregonians! If it rains on the night the event will still happen, so look for us under the rain tent!

So what is The Commons again?

It’s hard to imagine there are some out there who might not know given how often I write about Flickr, but The Commons is a program with two main objectives: to increase access to publicly-held photography collections and to provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge to these collections. To learn more, please visit The Commons page at http://www.flickr.com/commons/.

Getting “Powered by Orange” — Flickr-style!

“People up and down the Willamette Valley celebrated Powered by Orange on Monday as events in Portland and Corvallis brought people together to celebrate the many contributions of Oregon State University. From free cupcakes in the Memorial Union Quad to a night of jazz at Jimmy Mak’s in Portland, the day was full of ways to demonstrate how Oregon is Powered by Orange!”

And, in keeping with all of OSU’s love of Flickr … There is a great set of images from the Oregon State University’s account from Monday’s events!

What’s Powered by Orange?

“You are Powered by Orange – the students, alumni, faculty and friends of Oregon State University – making a positive difference in Oregon and beyond. Conserving our natural resources. Finding better ways to generate clean energy. Addressing climate change with sensible science. Promoting healthy living and disease prevention. Feeding a hungry world. Protecting our water supplies. Driving innovation to create new products, new companies and greater prosperity. And living the land-grant mission to provide education and opportunity for all Oregonians.”

Want to know more? Check out OSU’s Powered by Orange site!

Going for 300,000 views!

It’s true, we passed the 200,000 view mark last weekend in our Flickr Commons account. It seems like only yesterday that I was writing 100,000 …

What’s coming in Flickr? Trust me when I say that October will be a great month!

October 2nd we are kicking off Oregon Archives month and hosting Common Ground, the multi-continent slideshow with Commons member institution images chosen by the Flickr-verse users. Look for it 5-9 projected onto the side of Kidder Hall — site of the library until 1963. Library and Archives staff will be out in force, with goodies to raffle and great pictures to look at. And, rumor has it zyrcster might make an appearance (yes, a real life Flickr celeb).

What else? Two new sets will launch from our new “People Doing Stuff” collection. Not surprisingly, the images are of people — and they are all doing stuff.

Keep watching this blog for more information on other Oregon Archives Month activities, keep looking at cool digital images, visit the Archives and we’ll show you the old stuff in the boxes! So many choices, so much cool historical stuff.

Oregonians: we read, write, work — and we can cheese?

Check out the latest set in Flickr Commons, Oregon Industries circa 1940. Again, we’re looking at the labors in our land, including textiles, food production, mining, and (of course) a little bit of logging.

Women working at the Portland Woolen Mills,” what a beautiful shot!

This set concludes both the Oregon Industries run, as well as the “Take a Trip: Traveling and touring with the Visual Instruction Lantern Slides Collection” photos we’ve been releasing all summer.

It’s been quite a trip! From the wonders of the Lakeview Terrace of the Lewis and Clark Expo in 1905 …

Or to Table Mountain …

To the rose gardens of Portland …

To the image that will adorn many cards this holiday season!

Thanks for coming along! Watch for a new collection, launching the first Wednesday of October … Sneak peak? Not yet, but I can tell you it is entitled “People Doing Stuff.” Let your imagination go.

The Interactive Archivist

Yesterday someone pointed out that the last two blog posts were all about books I was reading or wanted to read — so to divert slightly from that pattern I wanted to point to something I actually wrote! The Interactive Archivist, a Society of American Archivists e-publication, was just released.

And it happens to be all about how archivists interact with users with Web2.0 tools.

And it happens to feature a chapter by me comparing Flickr and the Libraries’ image management system (CONTENTdm).

[me smiling because I am thrilled with the project — and always happy to talk about Flickr]

Of course, it’s not all by me or about Flickr, you can also read how archivists are using tools like wikis, podcasts, RSS, blogs, mashups, social networking, and other online photo management sites.

Here’s the official blurb on the SAA site:

The Interactive Archivist: Case Studies in Utilizing Web 2.0 to Improve the Archival Experience, edited by J. Gordon Daines III and Cory L. Nimer.

“Blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking sites, and a host of other Web 2.0 technologies have revolutionized the way that students and scholars access information. This innovative e-publication introduces archivists to practical solutions for integrating Web 2.0 technologies into their everyday work. Featuring case studies by archivists discussing actual implementations of Web 2.0 technologies it is sure to foster an ongoing dialogue about the best ways to meet patron needs.”

This e-publication is available at http://interactivearchivist.lib.byu.edu.

Oregon Industries: circa 1925

Where can you find logs, ladies, and lumber? Cows, carcasses, and chickens? Stacks of wheat and a pile of wool? In Oregon, of course!

This week we launched the latest addition to our Flickr Commons account! The 1925 Oregon Industries set focuses on logging, agriculture, and textiles production – quite familiar topics to those of us at the OSU Archives…

And, as I have mentioned many times before, the instruction booklet gives us gems of information about the images. For example, here’s the description for the “Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem, Oregon” image, which give information about the picture above, but also for the set as a whole.

It was in 1873 that work began on the erection of the State Capitol, commonly called the State House, at Salem. It was accepted by the state from the contractor on August 26, 1876. Of course later additions were made to the building and this picture shows it as it is today after a half century of service. During the fifty years the industrial growth of Oregon has been gradual until today, in proportion to population, the quantity and quality of the products of the state are very gratifying.

The lumber and timber products industry, including logging camps and sawmills, is the leader in manufacturing when measured either by value of products or the number of wage earners employed.”

“The basic industry of Agriculture continues to increase its production, in spite of the fact that there were about 8000 less farm owners in 1925 than in 1920. While transportation companies in Oregon rank next to timber in the number of employees, the farms make possible the grain mills and flour mills, the output of which ranks next to timber products in value.”

“Standing third in value in factory products is the slaughtering and meat packing industry, while butter-making flows closely and is steadily gaining in the value of its output.”

“The pictures following give glimpses indicative of a few industrial activities of Oregon.”

We’ve been busy riding!

Check out our new set “OSU Libraries Staff: Flickr Folks Ride!” — it’s our nod to the BTA Bike Commute Challenge…

Why? Many of the folks who work at the OSU Libraries bike to work, though we come at “commuting” with a slightly different bent… Some are committed throughout the rainy season (Larry Landis and Chris Petersen are foul weather riders), some ride loooong distances to reach their desk (Terry Reese rides many, many, many, many miles each day, all year), some only ride in the sun (okay, not really, this is Oregon after all), some cart boxes full of archival documents (that’s me)!

So when I read about the Bike Commute Challenge, a friendly competition to see who can get more people biking to work in September, I thought it might make a fun Flickr set to take pictures of all the biking folks that grace our stacks. And really, it’s easy, fun, and free, so we decided to give it a try! But, never one to miss an opportunity to show off our great archival collections, I thought I’d give it a try with a “Then & Now” twist… Enjoy!

Want to know more about the Bike Challenge? Check out their site.