Archive for October 2005
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October 18, 2005
Trailblazers: Exhibit of Photographs of the Early Years of the Great Smoky Mountain Park
The sixth floor of Hodges Library on the University of Tennessee campus is the new home for an exhibit of historical photographs--Trailblazers: Jim Thompson and Albert "Dutch" Roth Photographs of the Early Years of the Great Smoky Mountain Park.
Jim Thompson and Albert "Dutch" Roth were two men whose participation in the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park coincided with their love of photography. This outstanding photographic collection documents the early land conservation movement, with images of such
luminaries as David Chapman, who had a Smokies mountain named for him, and Harvey Broome, founding member of the Wilderness Society. The images include many subjects from the 1920s to the 1950s, including: logging, road building, the creation of the Appalachian Trail, the founding of the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club, and of course the majesty and beauty of the Smokies.
Curated by Bill Britten, head of Library Technology Services, the exhibit is a fortunate by-product of a project by the University of Tennesse Libraries to digitize these historical photographs. The result, which is a collection of stunning images, lovingly restored and presented in a manner that exceeds what Thompson or Roth could have imagined, shows how a modern digital project can come full
circle and restore old photographs as both art and historical statement.
Sincere gratitude is extended to the following for permission to use the images: the family of Albert "Dutch" Roth, Ed Thompson and Thompson Photo Products, the McClung Historical Collection of Knox
County Public Library, and the Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project, UT Libraries.
Posted by at 09:25 AM in Library Facility Updates
October 06, 2005
The Commons Adds a Practice Presentation Room
The Commons, 235 Hodges Library, has designated a group room to be a Practice Presentation Room. UT students, faculty, and staff can use a laptop and SMARTBOARD with an interactive screen to project PowerPoint slides and practice making presentations in a realistic environment.
Reservations may be placed up to two weeks in advance. To make a reservation for using the room, simply fill out the form at http://web.utk.edu/~start5/commons/Reservation.htm. A brief training session is required for first-time users.
Students from the START program will provide assistance with the presentation equipment. (START--Student Technology Assistants for Research and Teaching--is an Innovative Technology Center-sponsored program that employs technology-savvy students to assist others in using technology to enhance instruction.)
The Commons, a collaboration between the UT Libraries and the Office of Information Technology (OIT), brings together some of the most frequently used library and technology resources in a single location, open around the clock for much of the week.
The Commons offers more than forty computers with over sixty different software packages, as well as loaner laptops, scanners, and laser printing capabilities. Available services include reference assistance, computer support, statistical consulting, and book retrieval during late-night hours when the libraries' other floors are closed.
Posted by Martha Rudolph at 10:30 AM in Library Facility Updates
University of Tennessee Libraries Wins Prestigious IMLS Grant
A $928,080 Grant Will Help Digitize Tennessee's Important Historical Legacy
The most notable figures in Tennessee’s history might be Davy Crockett and Presidents Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and James K. Polk. But the state’s rich history, from the earliest pioneers of the frontier days to the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, tells a story that is both uniquely Tennessee and uniquely American.
Thanks to a $928,080 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the University of Tennessee Libraries can begin a $1.8 million project called “Growth of Democracy in Tennessee,” which will build a free Web site of 10,000 historically significant items from across the state. This Web site will be integrated into Tennessee’s K-12 history curriculum and can also be used by other educators, students, scholars, and the general public.
Materials for the Web site will be chosen from repositories across the state. The University of Tennessee as well as the grant’s nine partner institutions, Middle Tennessee State University, the Knox County Public Library, the East Tennessee Historical Society, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the University of Memphis, the Memphis and Shelby County Public Library, Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt University, and the Brentwood Public Library, will gather materials from their collections and from smaller libraries, archives, and historical societies across Tennessee. In the process of gathering and scanning historical materials, project leaders will provide participating institutions with training, support, and grant resources. These scanned materials will be part of he Volunteer Voices initiative, sponsored by TENN-SHARE, and searchable through its Web site at, http://www.volunteervoices.org.
“Documenting the past two hundred years of Tennessee’s cultural, social, political, and intellectual history is no small feat,” Aaron Purcell, Interim Assistant Head of Special Collections at UT and one of the grant’s principal investigators, said. “By using documents from institutions across the state we can provide access to materials that many people wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to see. By gathering materials from smaller repositories, we hope to provide local ties to larger historical periods that may seem very distant or foreign. A student in Maury County, for example, will be able to see how their hometown played a significant role in Tennessee’s history,” Purcell said.
The University of Tennessee Libraries was one of only 11 institutions nationwide to receive an IMLS National Leadership Grant award that is specifically designed to build digital resources. It represents the Libraries’ largest grant award from a Federal agency for this kind of digitization project.
Contact:
Aaron Purcell, University of Tennessee Libraries, 865-974-3674, purcell@email.lib.utk.edu
Eileen Maxwell, Institute of Museum and Library Services, 202-606-8339, emaxwell@imls.gov
Posted by Martha Rudolph at 09:52 AM in Good News
October 02, 2005
Exhibit on Knoxville's Only U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Edward Terry Sanford, 1865-1930
An exhibit on Knoxville's only U.S. Supreme Court Justice opens Monday, October 3rd, in the upper lobby of the Special Collections Library. The exhibit -- "Edward Terry Sanford, United States Supreme Court Justice and Trustee of the University of Tennessee" -- will run through December.
The son of Edward Jackson and Emma Chavannes Sanford of Knoxville, Edward Terry Sanford was the only Justice of the United States Supreme Court to have come from this city. He received the A.B. Ph. B. from the University of Tennessee, 1883; the A.B. from Harvard University, 1885; and the A.M. and L.L.B. from Harvard University, 1889; and was honored with an L.L.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1908.A member of the Tennessee bar, he was in practice for eighteen years, in the firm of Lucky, Sanford, and Fowler. He married, in 1891, Lutie Mallory Woodruff, the daughter of a prominent Knoxville merchant. Among his service on various boards and associations, Mr. Sanford served as a trustee of the University of Tennessee, from 1897-1923. In 1907 he was appointed Assistant United States District Attorney, by President Theodore Roosevelt. Eighteen months following that appointment he became Judge of the United States District Court for the middle and eastern districts of Tennessee.
President Warren G. Harding nominated Judge Sanford to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; and, after congressional confirmation, he assumed this appointment on February 19, 1923, and served until his death in March of 1930. Well regarded by history, Justice Sanford is remembered as one of Knoxville’s most distinguished citizens.
The UT Special Collections Library is located in the west wing of the James D. Hoskins Library, 1401 Cumberland Avenue. For further information, phone 974-4480 or visit www.lib.utk.edu/spcoll/.
Posted by Martha Rudolph at 04:57 PM in Press Releases