Special Event with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective

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Maureen TaylorHow well are people discovering and understanding the photographs in your digital collections? There are currently more than 100,000 photographs in Digital Commonwealth. How can you improve the chances of users finding the ones that are relevant to their research?

Join the Digital Commonwealth at a special program called Enhancing Photograph Descriptions: Advice from the Photo Detective, which will be offered at three locations in different parts of the state.

Join us at one of these events, where photograph expert Maureen Taylor will show us how to create the best metadata we can for the photographs in our digital collections. Maureen Taylor, known as the Photo Detective, is an internationally renowned expert in historic photo identification, preservation and genealogical research. She is the author of several books on identifying, organizing and understanding photographs, and has been featured on television programs, newspapers and magazines.

Here are the details and registration links for the two sessions that have been scheduled so far:

Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Time: 10:30 – 11:30 AM
Location: New England Historic Genealogical Society
99-101 Newbury Street, Boston
Members/Non-members: $25/$40
Register

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Forbes Library
29 West Street
Northampton
Members/Non-members: $25/$40
Register

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Time of event: 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Schedule: 10:00-10:15 – Registration;
10:15-11:30 – Tour of Nickerson Archives and discussion of its digitization projects
11:30-12:30 – Lunch on your own
12:30-1:30 – Maureen Taylor lecture
Location: Wilkens Library, Cape Cod Community College, West Barnstable
Directions | Campus Map
Lunch options: Cafeteria on campus (in Grossman Commons); restaurants (Subway, Burger King, etc.) down the street
Register

New Collections Added to the Digital Commonwealth in July and August

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These past two summer months, Digital Commonwealth has added some new collections. Check them out!

Cereus, by Mrs. Duffield.
Cereus, by Mrs. Duffield. From the new Botanical Prints collection, from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Library.

Phillips Academy Andover

Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection at Phillips Academy : 2 items added to existing collection

Massachusetts Archives

Massachusetts Metropolitan Water Works Photograph Collection : 92 items added to existing collection

Massachusetts Horticultural Society Library

Botanical Prints : 756 items

Bridgewater State University, Maxwell Library

204 items added to existing collections

Pine Manor College

Pine Manor College Photograph Collection : 2,923 items

Hatfield Historical Museum

Hatfield Historical Museum Civil War Collection : 2 items

Holyoke Public Library

Holyoke History Newsprint Collection : 2 items

Holyoke Public Library Books and Pamphlets : 2 items

Boston Public Library

Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts Collection : 2 items added to existing collection

Alphonse Legros (1837-1911). Prints and Drawings : 22 items

Stereograph Collection : 823 items added to existing collection

Mural Cycles at the Central Library in Copley Square : 56 items

Looking at Eyeglasses

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Philadelphia Phillies player examines his glassesAugust is National Eye Exam Month, which seemed like a good enough reason to go looking through the Digital Commonwealth for pictures of eyeglasses — and there’s a lot to see.

The photo on the left shows Philadelphia Phillies player Morrie Arnovich examines his glasses in front of the dugout at Braves Field. It was taken in 1939 by news photographer Leslie Jones and is from the Leslie Jones Collection of the Boston Public Library. There are some other eyeglass photos in the Leslie Jones Collection, including an undated woman with giant eyeglasses (perhaps from a trade show?), a 1932 photograph of Commandant Finlay, Quincy Yacht club, wearing new type of glasses (which look like a cross between eyeglasses and binoculars, a fish wearing glasses and smoking cigar and a dog playing piano wearing glasses.
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