Author Archives: Houston Archivist

Digital Frontiers Conference, Sept 22-24, 2016

Register now for Digital Frontiers 2016. We’re celebrating our 5th Anniversary at Rice University with Keynote Speakers Roopika Risam (Salem State University) and Patrick Meier (author, Digital Humanitarians). Join us September 22-24, 2016.

Click here to register now!

Opening Keynote
Burning Down the Tent: New Futures for Social Justice and Digital Humanities
Roopika Risam (Salem State University)

Closing Keynote
From I, Robot to WeRobotics: Humanitarian Robotics in Action
Patrick Meier (WeRobotics & Humanitarian UAV Network; author, Digital Humanitarians)

Our diverse program includes workshops on digital pedagogy, making coloring books from digital archives, and using MOUs to manage projects, along with panels, papers, and posters by 59 presenters representing 27 institutions in 8 US states.

We’re also partnering with the Texas Digital Humanities Consortium and the Resilient Networks to Support Inclusive Digital Humanities initiative for a THATCamp on Saturday, September 24! Registration for THATCamp Digital Frontiers is free, but limited to the first 50 registrants. Visit http://digitalfrontiers2016.thatcamp.org/ to register.

Registration for Digital Frontiers closes September 9.

For more information, please visit the website, email digtalfrontiers@unt.edu, join our Facebook Group, and follow @DigiFront and #DF16RU on Twitter.

We look forward to seeing you in Houston in September!

Art Libraries Society of North America Conference

The Art Libraries Society of North America Texas-Mexico chapter invites you to join us for our forthcoming conference in Mexico City from October 12-15. The planning committee has organized a rich event featuring visits to numerous art libraries and cultural institutions, as well as sessions devoted to Latin American collection building and collaboration.  And, of course, we’ll have the opportunity to connect with and learn from our Mexican colleagues while there as well.

Highlights of the site visits will include the libraries and collections of the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Banamex, Museo Franz Mayer, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, and Museo Nacional del Virreinato.  Click here for full program and registration details.

We hope you will consider joining us in Mexico City!

Regards,

Jon Evans
President, ARLIS/NA Texas-Mexico
Chief Librarian
Hirsch Library
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Job Announcement: HMRC

Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC) and the Houston Public Library are seeking a customer service oriented Librarian II (Preservation Librarian) to:

  • Lead and direct the HMRC’s preservation and conservation efforts including possible supervision of staff and volunteers;
  • Contribute to HMRC’s programming activities by assisting with programs and outreach efforts, and representing the library and HMRC at public events; Provide specialized reference services and research assistance to the general public in-person and electronically;
  • Participate with the manager in unit strategic planning specifically concerning conservation, preservation, and disaster preparedness and response efforts

For a full job description and to apply for this position, please visit City of Houston Career Pages at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/houston/jobs/ 1490167/librarian-ii- preservation-librarian. This position closes August 8, 2016.

Upcoming Local DAS Course: Command Line Interface

Rice/WRC is sponsoring a DAS course at the Fondren Library on October the 7th. It’s an all -day class on Command Line Interface. Folks who are working toward DAS certification or who need post-certification courses should attend. Click here to learn more about this course.

Course Description
In this course you will learn hands-on skills for working with digital archival objects at the most basic levels: files, data, and the computer operating systems in which they live. These basics establish manual and automated capacities for protecting the bits, automating/extracting metadata, and preparing for the next steps of building and managing digital archives.

MFAH Disaster Response and Recovery Workshop

THE MFAH TO HOST TRAINING FOR MUSEUM, LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES PROFESSIONALS, CULTURAL LEADERS AND EMERGENCY PROFESSIONALS AUGUST 1-2, LED BY THE TEXAS CULTURAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE ALLIANCE

What

The MFAH will host a disaster response and recovery workshop, led by Texas Cultural Emergency Response Alliance, on Monday, August 1 and Tuesday August 2. Library, archive, and museum professionals in Houston and the surrounding counties are invited to share expertise and resources in this unique partnership.

The 2-day workshop will focus on disaster response and recovery situations specific to the region, including hurricanes, tornadoes, and flash floods, and will show participants how to respond to such large-scale natural events to both protect and preserve the objects in their care and to connect to a larger network of national emergency management professionals.

Program, Day 1:

Speakers

  • Jennifer Suter, Training and Program Manager, Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management
  • Robert Emery, VP for Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management, UT Health Science Center
  • Paul A. Tabor, State Critical Incident Stress Management, Director Texas Department of State Health Services
  • Kirk Lively, Director of Technical Services, Belfor USA
  • Trey Johnson, Executive General Adjuster, York Insurance Group

Program, Day 2:

  • Lectures and Training Exercises
  • TX-CERA, Assessment and recovery techniques for wet recovery and salvage of cultural heritage collections.

When

  • Monday and Tuesday, August 1-2, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Where

The American General Meeting Room
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Audrey Jones Beck Building
5601 Main Street Houston, Texas 77005

Cost

  • $80.00, lunch is included. Free parking in MFAH parking lot.

Details
The MFAH is an experienced disaster management leader and advocate for protecting cultural heritage resources in the region.

The Texas Cultural Emergency Response Alliance (TX-CERA) is a statewide resource for cultural heritage and disaster management and part of the nationwide Alliance for Response program. Through a series of regional forums, it builds bridges between the cultural heritage and emergency response communities before disasters happen. Their programs lead to new partnerships, policies, and cooperative planning efforts. For more information, visit:

Contacts

  • Steve Pine, Museum of Fine Arts, spine@mfah.org,
  • Olivia Primanis, University of Texas, Austin, primanis@utexas.edu, or
  • Melanie Sanford, Textile Preservation Services of Texas – info@conservingthreads.com

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2-day-disaster-preparedness-and-recovery-workshop-hosted-by-tx-cera-tickets-26365409650

MFAH Hosts Disaster Recovery Conference, Annoucement

The Texas Film Round-Up Comes to Galveston!

roundup

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image is excited to bring the award-winning Texas Film Round-Up to Galveston on June 23 – 25! Beginning Thursday, June 23, we are providing FREE digitization of any Texas-related films and videos, including home movies, advertisements, PSAs, educational films, and more at the Rosenberg Library at 2310 Sealy Street, Galveston, TX 77550 during library hours.

We will continue accepting films and videos through Saturday, June 25. We encourage all of you to dig up your family films and videos out of closets, sheds, or drawers and bring them to the Texas Film Round-Up. To qualify for free digitization, participants must be willing to donate a digital copy of their materials to TAMI’s archive. We also collect copies of Texas-related films that have already been digitized.

TAMI will also host a public screening, “What does Waikiki have that Galveston doesn’t?,” on Saturday, June 25 from 4:30 – 6:00 pm in the Rosenberg Library’s Wortham Auditorium that will help raise funds to restore an early and rare film of the 1931 Pageant of Pulchritude from the Rosenberg Library’s collection to full color, a new digital technique that has only recently been developed.

Help us restore this treasure, never before seen in color, to its intended state. The screening will feature many films from the Rosenberg Library, including fun, mid-century tourism films, an interview with filmmaker King Vidor about the 1900 storm, and footage of the 1925 Galveston Bathing Girl Revue transferred from 35mm nitrate film.

Get more program details on the Round-Up page!

FREE Grant Proposal Writing Workshop

The Texas Historical Records Advisory Board (THRAB) is proud to announce a FREE Grant Proposal Writing workshop geared toward archivists, librarians, and other staff members in Texas archival repositories. An emphasis on NHPRC and other federal grants is stressed.

Location: Rice University (Houston, TX)
Date: Monday, June 20, 2016

Attendees will be able to:

  • Understand the grant review process
  • Differentiate between types of grants and funders
  • Know parts of a grant proposal and where to look for resource
  • Identify alternative sources of funding

Spaces are available on a first come, first serve basis. Class size is limited to 30 attendees.

For more information or to register, visit https://www.tsl.texas.gov/thrabworkshop. Questions can be directed to Ashley Stevens, THRAB Principal Assistant, at astevens@tsl.texas.gov or call at 512-463-9807.

**Upon receipt of completed registration form, attendees will receive a confirmation email.** Feel free to circulate to others.

Register now for the RAAC/SGA symposium – August 2, Atlanta, Georgia

Please join the Regional Archival Associations Consortium and the Society of Georgia Archivists for a symposium focusing on the interests of our nation’s regional archival organizations. Sessions will focus on advocacy, public awareness, education, disaster planning and recovery, and grant development. This symposium will take place on Tuesday, August 2, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Coca Cola Headquarters in conjunction with the Society of American Archivists Annual Conference.

Registration is now open. To view the schedule and register, go to the registration site. Registration is open to anyone interested in attending. The symposium is free. Lunch can be purchased at the Coke café. Credit cards only.

Please feel free to distribute this to your regional’s mailing lists and encourage others to register.

If you have questions, please contact Jennifer Brannock at Jennifer.Brannock@usm.edu or 601.266.4347.

Emergency Response & Recovery Workshop

TX-CERA or Texas Cultural Emergency Response Alliance is preparing a workshop on Emergency Response and Recovery. Please find detailed information at the link below.

Please feel free to forward this email to other interested parties. All are welcome!

Mon, Jun 13 at 9:00 AM, Denton, Texas

An Introduction to Emergency Response and Recovery of Material Cultural Objects
A Texas Cultural Emergency Response Alliance (TX-CERA) Sponsored Workshop

The purpose of this one-day workshop is to introduce participants to emergency response and recovery for material cultural objects in private and museum collections. Participants will learn protocols for responding to disaster scenes and working with local emergency responders. Health and safety issues associated with disasters and collection techniques associated with various types of material collections will also be covered. The day will end with a museum mock-disaster table-top exercise and a question/answer session with the instructors.

From more information and to register for the workshop:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-intro-to-emergency-response-and-recovery-of-material-cultural-objects-tickets-24853320952

Contact TX-CERA

TX-CERA is an affiliation of institutions and persons interested in preserving the cultural heritage of Texas. Through education and advocacy TX-CERA hopes to serve as a resource for cultural institutions in order to mitigate loss of cultural and heritage collections due to disaster. The organization will develop a roster of heritage and collections professionals in Texas to create a network of ready support in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Please contact us if you wish to volunteer with TX-CERA

Members of the TX-CERA Steering Committee

  • Steve Pine, Senior Conservator of Decorative Arts, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
  • Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa, PhD, Associate Director Conservation and Preservation, Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
  • Laura DeNormandie, Chief Curator, Texas Historical Commission
  • Diana Diaz, Photo Conservator, Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
  • Frances Gale, School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin
  • Jennifer Lee, Preservation Services, University of Texas, Austin
  • Jessica Phillips, Head, Preservation, University of North Texas, Denton
  • Olivia Primanis, Senior Book Conservator, Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
  • Shelby Sanett, PhD, Lead Security Management and Program Analyst, (NARA) College Park, MD
  • Melanie Sanford, Conservator, Textile Preservation Services of Texas, Allen

Preservation Week at HMRC : The Blue Tile Project

The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is hosting an event for Preservation Week featuring the Blue Tile Project. You know those really cool tiled street signs that can be spotted around Houston? This group is trying to find and preserve them. The event will be Wednesday, April 27th from 6-8 at the PreservationWeekFlyer. The flyer is attached. Hope to see a lot of AHA! Members there!