Formats, have we got formats

Posted on by
Boston City Council meeting recording, April 15, 2015
Boston City Council meeting recording, April 15, 2015 from City of Boston Archives

We have no newly-added collections this month (the dreaded technical difficulty prevented this), but we do have formats that you may not have checked out yet.  Go to the Explore tab on the Digital Commonwealth home page and select Formats. These are arranged by the numbers, so Photographs are at the top of the list followed by Letters/correspondence and then Documents.

But scroll down and you soon come to Film/video.  Of the 28,400 items here, 23,135 are from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection.  This collection of public media was amassed by WGBH and the Library of Congress to preserve at-risk materials.  There are also tapes from local TV news programs and Boston City Council meetings.

Audio icon
Audio recording icon from Audio recordings (nonmusical) format

Next on the list are Objects/artifacts.  These range from clothing/costumes to furniture to jewelry to samplers.   Some items are unique, like the Aeolian harp from Historic New England or the Native American beaded pouch from the Perkins School for the Blind’s Tad Chapman Collection.

Proceeding further down, we come to Audio recordings (nonmusical).  These are easy to spot by their speaker icon (right).  Most of these are also from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection, but there are several local oral history collections, too.  What about music?  Well, keep scrolling.  That’s listed as Music (recordings).  While some of these also have speaker icons, some are pictured with images of old-fashioned audio cassettes.

Digital Commonwealth: it’s not just pretty pictures.

In the News: David Akiba

Posted on by
Northampton Station
Northampton Station from the BPL’s Along the Elevated collection

David Akiba, a local photographer and teacher, passed away on August 24, 2019.  The Boston Globe published a front page appreciation of his work and career on October 6.  After reading it, I, like many, felt the loss of an uncommon talent.  We at Digital Commonwealth are very proud that we host over 100 of Mr. Akiba’s photographs.  The Globe quoted Mr. Akiba saying he “…liked the railroad yards…” and spent time in “…half-destroyed urban parts of town…”

These interests and his role as mentor are represented by his participation in the Along the Elevated: Photographs of the Orange Line exhibit at the Boston Public Library (and now on Digital Commonwealth), which paired professional photographers with students.  Each pair was given the assignment to chronicle the elevated Orange Line public transit just before it was demolished.

If you spent any time riding the elevated Orange Line or living under it, you’ll want to take a look at what David Akiba captured with empathy and art.

 

Egleston Station between Egleston and Dudley
Egleston between Egleston + Dudley from BPL’s Along the Elevated collection
Egleston Station, outbound platform
Egleston Station, outbound platform from BPL’s Along the Elevated collection
Dover Station
Dover Station from BPL’s Along the Elevated collection
Dover Station abandoned building from the BPL's Along the Elevated collection
Dover Station abandoned building from the BPL’s Along the Elevated collection

 

 

Spotlight On: Herman Parker Collection of Glass Plate Negatives

Posted on by
Parker_00042
Herman Parker, about 1910 Herman Parker Collection of Glass Plate Negatives
Parker_00012
Boats Sailing, Marblehead, MA Herman Parker Collection of Glass Plate Negatives

Scenes from the yachting life of the early 20th century in Marblehead come alive through the Herman Parker Collection of Glass Plate Negatives (Parker Collection).  These images, along with the voluminous Frank Cousins Collection of Glass Negatives (Cousins Collection)  were recently added to Digital Commonwealth by the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM). We spotlighted the Cousins Collection in a previous post and both collections are well worth perusing.

Herman Parker and his wife Lillian (Percival) were listed in the Social Register of Boston and were active in the active yachting scene in Marblehead which kept and still continues to keep Marblehead Harbor hopping. Parker was an architect and clothier in the Boston based Macullar Parker Company. His side pursuits included sailing and photography.

A defining feature of Parker’s photographs is the sense of movement and immediacy he managed to capture– which given the challenges of the glass plate negative process is all the more remarkable. Schooners and boats on the open sea almost appear to be flying and the water churning.  Yacht clubs are thriving and races are still going on in Marblehead. Current sailors should take a look at these vintage photographs.