It was not the year we anticipated, hoped for, or a year we would want to repeat. The first rumblings of the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, escalated in February, and eventually erupted in our community in March when the Center closed its doors to in-person visits and staff began working remotely. What happened next was a natural shift to expanding the Center’s online presence throughout the year. [Read more…] about Highlights from an unprecedented year
Conservation
Hands-on research designed to preserve the Center’s collections
This essay is part of a slow research series, What is Research? Learn about the series and click here to add your voice to the conversation. [Read more…] about Hands-on research designed to preserve the Center’s collections
Preserving fragile phonographs of T. S. Eliot, Paul Bowles, Norman Bel Geddes, and others
Recordings of T. S. Eliot, Paul Bowles, Pablo Picasso, and other notable 20th-century figures have been preserved after the Harry Ransom Center recently digitized 2,800 unique sound recordings in a variety of formats (read more here). Unlocking Sound Stories, a project funded in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities is preserving and providing access to 2800 recordings (click here for more on the grant ). Among the sound formats preserved were cassette tapes, reel-to-reel audio tapes, and phonograph discs. [Read more…] about Preserving fragile phonographs of T. S. Eliot, Paul Bowles, Norman Bel Geddes, and others
Unlocking sound stories
In part one of a two-part blog post series, NEH Audio Digitization Project Coordinator Katie Quanz chronicles the progress of Unlocking Sound Stories, a NEH grant funded project digitizing and preserving more than 2000 rare recordings. [Read more…] about Unlocking sound stories
The Conservation of Daguerreotypes: Objects in Mirror are More Complex than They Appear
One of many strengths in the Ransom Center’s collections is early photography. In addition to the earliest surviving photograph produced in a camera, The Niépce Heliograph, the Center holds many beautiful examples of daguerreotypes.
Conservators painstakingly remove glue that binds
Kress Paper Conservation Fellow Emily Farek, working with paper conservators Ken Grant and Jane Boyd, describes the painstaking work of removing modern adhesive from the back of this very large (10′ x 7′) 1648 Dutch map titled, Nova totius terrarum orbis tabula, commonly known as the Blaeu World Map. [Read more…] about Conservators painstakingly remove glue that binds