Author: arybin

Assistant Director, Visual Resources Collection, University of Chicago
THATCamp Organizer

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African American American Exhibitions Images on the Web Museums Photography

DuSable Exhibit Explores Visual Culture and the Struggle for Human Rights

The exhibition For All the World to See examines the influence of visual culture and images like that of Emmett Till in shaping and transforming the struggle for racial equality by showing… realities of segregation and racial violence, inspiring activists, and fostering African American pride and the Black Power movement.

This traveling exhibit will be open at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago until May 16, 2011. A comprehensive online exhibition is also available.

Via the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Categories
Images on the Web Innovative Technology Museums

Art Project, Powered by Google

Google recently launched its Art Project, a collaborative venture with art museums from around the world. The project aims to provide both virtual tours of museum galleries using Google’s street-view technology as well as high-resolution photography of artworks, allowing for remarkable zoom capability. The site also encourages visitors to sign in and create collections of favorites to share with friends.

For more information, visit the Art Project’s FAQ page.

Categories
East Asian Images on the Web Museums VRC

Japanese Image Resources Online

We recently updated the VRC’s Other Art Resources Online page with links to several Japanese image resources online. These include a link to the Tokyo National Museum’s website, with a version in English organized by type, region, and what is currently on display at the museum.

Other new links include: Japanese cultural properties, Japanese national treasures in public museums, Kyoto National Museum’s collections database, and Japanese modern art in Japanese public museums.

Questions, or suggestions of other websites to add to the list? Please contact the VRC.

Categories
Images on the Web Innovative Technology Medieval Museums

Turning the Pages: High Quality Version of Lindisfarne Gospels Online

The British Library offers a very high-quality scan of the Lindisfarne Gospels online. Viewers can click and hold the mouse while moving the cursor to the left to “turn” each page. Three buttons at bottom right allow for text description, audio description, and magnification of each page.

A version for dial-up users is also available.

Categories
American Exhibitions Museums Photography

History Coming Home: a Preview of the National Public Housing Museum

History Coming Home at the Chicago Tourism Center Gallery…

reveals public policies, oral histories, and artifacts from public housing in cities from Chicago to Boston and New Orleans to Sacramento.  The core of this exhibition at the Chicago Tourism Center Gallery consists of a 1950s-style public housing apartment that visitors can walk through. Inside the 20 ft X 20 ft installation, a living room, kitchen, and bedroom filled with artifacts from public housing residents and a video capture various aspects of the public housing experience.

Alison Cuddy, host of WBEZ’s Eight Forty-Eight, recently toured History Coming Home with National Public Housing Museum Executive Director Keith Magee. You can listen to it here.

The exhibit includes photographs from the Chicago Housing Authority archives and the Chicago History Museum. It previews the opening of the National Public Housing Museum, a permanent home for the history of public housing in America, set to open in 2012. History Coming Home will be open until April 15, 2011 at the Chicago Tourism Center Gallery, 72 E. Randolph. Tours are available M-F, 11am-3pm and by appointment.

Via the City of Chicago’s Official Tourism Site.

Categories
Ancient Islamic Museums

Iraq’s National Museum to Fully Reopen in March

Iraq’s National Museum is expected to reopen in March, for the first time since Saddam Hussein’s rule. Although the Assyrian and Islamic displays were reinstalled in two main rooms in 2008, they have only been accessible to VIPs and invited groups. “It will be the answer to my dreams when we can finally reopen to the public,” said Amira Edan, the museum’s director.

Discussion of an international tour of Iraqi antiquities is also underway. Chicago’s Field Museum is mentioned in the above article as a potential host for the tour.

Via ArchNet.

Categories
News Orders VRC

Winter 2011 Emergency Scanning Hours

Need images right away? Place an emergency scan order in the VRC! Emergency scans are any image orders that are due in less than two weeks. For the Winter 2011 quarter, emergency scanning hours are from 1pm-3pm, Monday through Friday. These are the hours during which VRC student workers and staff are guaranteed to be available for rush orders.

Please keep in mind that emergency scans are limited to ten per requester, per week. They will be delivered via an emailed link to Webshare. Pink emergency scanning forms are available in the VRC.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the VRC.

Categories
ARTstor Images by Subscription Luna Software Tech Support

Using the University of Chicago VPN

Have you ever had trouble accessing LUNA or ARTstor off-campus? Try using the University of Chicago VPN. The VPN (virtual private network) allows UChicago faculty, staff and students access to restricted services from any computer. Logging into LUNA or ARTstor after connecting to the VPN ensures access even if your ARTstor 120-day off-campus “grace period” has expired.

To connect to the VPN, just point your browser to http://cvpn.uchicago.edu. You will need a Cnet ID and password. The first time you connect, the VPN will install some software; you will need administrative privileges on your computer to complete this process.

Via IT Services.

Categories
ARTstor Images by Subscription VRC

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you the best during this holiday season and a very happy new year!

For a year-end ARTstor roundup, see their 2010 Collections Summary.

Please note: links to images above are viewable only by members of the University of Chicago community.

Categories
Photography

Photographing Archival Materials

Before embarking on a research trip, you might prepare to photograph materials in libraries and archives. It can be difficult to capture quality images of archival materials, especially in low-light situations. A recent guest post on ProfHacker details one way of stabilizing a digital camera, which includes using a clamp, articulated arm and wired camera remote as a sort of portable copy stand.

Keep in mind that some of the processes advocated in the article will not be allowed in all archives or libraries. Check with archives, museums or libraries before your visit to ask about policies; most will have specific requirements for equipment used in reading rooms. If you have questions about cameras or other photography best practices, please contact the VRC.

Via Derivative Image.