* This is an archived copy of a previously released newsletter*
Fall 2023
Welcome to our newsletter!
We’re so excited to share a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in St. Olaf’s Special Collections & College Archives. The stories featured here are just a fraction of what we do! Interested in learning more?
Upcoming Exhibits
This December marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 217A at its 3rd session in Paris on 10 December 1948. In coordination with this anniversary, we will display two print sets that are inspired by and comment on universal human rights. This Fall we’re showcasing Meredith Stern’s 2017 set, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes a print for each of the international human rights adopted in 1948. In the Spring semester, we will display Carving out rights a portfolio of block prints created by a diverse group of artists at Stateville Prison. This project was led by Aaron Hughes through the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project and inspired by Stern’s earlier print set.
You can view these prints on the second floor of Rolvaag Library, directly across from the elevator.
This fall we are also highlighting the history of our former campus radio station, WCAL. Explore Tuned in: WCAL and St. Olaf online in our virtual exhibit curated by Bre Teynor ‘24, or browse the physical exhibit outside the Rolvaag Library reference room. St. Olaf College WCAL radio station records (US-MnNS-049) were re-processed by Sara Skindelien. Her work was made possible by a generous grant from the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Fund. You can view the records in our new archival database, FRAM.
Jillian Sparks | Distinctive Collections Engagement Librarian
Minnesota Historical Society Grant Update
Thanks to the efforts of Mary Barbosa-Jerez (Head of Strategy for Library Collections and Archives), the Minnesota Historical Society awarded the St. Olaf Special Collections and College Archives department a grant to describe the hundreds of objects and textiles in our care. In March, two new object cataloging archivists joined our team, Elizabeth Black and Palmer Hittesdorf, and they’ve been hard at work processing a wide variety of items having to do with the history of the College, such as Norwegian-American artifacts, commemorative china, and textiles.
It takes a team to do this work: Kristell Benson (Lead Archivist) has been gathering records about the items’ provenance and sharing her findings with the cataloging archivists; Don Bezanson (Special Collections Cataloging Associate) has been re-housing these objects and planning out space for them in our new vault; Alicia Zachary-Erickson (Librarian for Public Programming Support) and Joanna Hunt (Public Programming Librarian) have been taking photographs of the newly described items, which will be linked to the records Elizabeth and Palmer create in our archival database and will be available for browsing in December.
In the meantime, check out some of our recently re-processed collections, including the St. Olaf College alumni scrapbook and photograph album collection or the Inez Frayseth staff papers.
Alicia Zachary-Erickson | Outgoing Librarian for Public Programming Support
Internship Program
Congratulations to our very first Special Collections & Archives Interns, Kaylyn Scourbys ’24 and Charlie Knieff ’26, for a semester of great work! Working together, they created transcriptions for 20 oral histories collected through the 2020 Stories Project. Kaylyn presented on her experience for St. Olaf Libraries & IT staff, and you can watch her presentation here. Charlie conducted their own oral history with Ken Johnson, a Research and Instruction Librarian at St. Olaf. Many thanks for Kaylyn and Charlie for their hard work and willingness to be the guinea pigs for our very first internship program!
If you’re interested in working in Special Collections & Archives as an intern, be on the lookout for more information this fall! Please email Sophia Hayes (hayes3@stolaf.edu), our next Student Associate for Project Management & Strategy Support, with any questions.
Shelby Louk ’23 | Student Associate for Project Management & Strategy Support
Greetings, and welcome to Cami’s Corner! A series where I–Cami–serve as your miniature tour guide, showcasing the new and notable items entering our collections at the St. Olaf College Special Collections & Archives.
In July of 2022, the College Archives received an inconspicuous copy of The Lutheran Hymnary, published by authority of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Hauge’s Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, printed by the Augsburg Publishing House in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1925. The front flyleaf includes an inscription from Gertrude Hilleboe (Dean of Women, 1915-1958) and Ingeborg Ellingson to Evelyn Ytterboe. The inscription reads:
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto Jehovah,
And to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High;
To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning,
And thy faithfulness every night.” Psalm 92:1-2,
May a joyous Christmas season be yours!
Gertrude M. Hilleboe
Ingebord J. Ellingson
Christmas 1927.
Evelyn Ytterboe Tetlie [sic]
To learn more about Evelyn Ytterboe Tetlie, Gertrude M. Hilleboe, or Ingebord J. Ellingson, contact the Student Associate for Archival Support at college_archives@stolaf.edu.
To donate to the Special Collections or College Archives, contact the Student Associate for Collection and Donor Support at librarycollectiondonor@stolaf.edu.
Cami Stokes ’24 | Student Associate for Donor & Transfer Support
2022-2023 was another excellent year of Special Collections and College Archives Instruction! Thank you to all of our partners in Art & Art History, Asian Studies, English, Environmental Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, History, Kinesiology, Religion, Sociology & Anthropology, and the First Year Seminar and Writing programs for collaborating with us! Students engaged with a range of materials from manuscripts and artists’ books to early photography at the College. Special thanks to Noam Sienna in Art History and Religion for being our most frequent collaborator this past year! Additionally, we were all impressed by the rephotography projects Robb Campbell’s Remote Sensing and GIS students completed over Interim. The students geolocated and recreated photographs from our Ole G. Felland Glass Negative Collection.
Our artists’ books collection, zines, and alumni scrapbooks continue to be some of our most loved and used collections in Special Collections and College Archives. We worked with Booklyn again to add more artists’ books and activist art to our holdings. Rima Day’s Scriptum XIV is a favorite new acquisition in addition to Marshall Weber’s Coast to Coast.
I’m excited to share that our BookBeetle Press is ready to use this Fall! If you are interested in incorporating letterpress printing into your course, or Special Collections and College Archives material in general, let’s get in touch!
2022-2023 Outreach and Instruction Stats
Fall: 25 classes, 2 pop-ups, 3 events
Interim: 3 classes
Spring: 17 classes
Jillian Sparks | Distinctive Collections Engagement Librarian
So what is a VAULT anyway?
Greens wilt, meats rot, fruits dry out and blacken. But did you know books and paper also deteriorate and degrade? All natural materials degrade over time, especially when exposed to heat and light.
The Libraries’ Special Collections are home to medieval manuscript fragments, books from as far back as the 15th century, and – even more fragile – a huge collection of Nordic-American Imprints published during the industrial era. The College Archives holds the record of our institution, captured on paper produced during that same industrial era. Nearly a century later, we discovered the revolution in inexpensive publishing carried a hidden downside: the acids in paper made from wood pulp slowly eat away at the paper itself, and the iron in iron gall ink rusts on – and through! – the page. Books and papers produced from about 1850 through about 1960 are turning to dust at a rate much faster than those hundreds of years old.
So how do we make artistic and historical treasures last as long as possible? We keep them cool, dry, and dark, just like when you put food in your fridge! In our profession, these specially designed spaces are called vaults, and add an additional layer of protection: a lock to keep these rare (and often quite valuable) items secure.
We’re completing construction of our own new 48,000 cubic foot vault for the Libraries’ Special Collections, and College Archives. It’ll also store and protect the archival materials of the Norwegian-American Historical Association. Watch this space in future issues! We’ll be sharing information about this amazing facility (have you ever heard of sniffer pipes?), and the materials it protects. We’ll also be creating virtual “tours”, since, like your fridge at home, best-practice doesn’t allow folks to stand with the doors open, or climb inside!
Mary Barbosa-Jerez | Head of Strategy for Library Collections & Archives
Edited by Shelby Louk ’23 & Sophia Hayes ’25 | Student Associates for Project Management & Strategy Support
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