Book Traces – Stauffer

The book traces event held by Dr. Stauffer was enjoyable and piped my interests as an archivist. The event was well described by Dr. Stauffer as he outlined his goals to us in the class. The goals were to use texts dating from the 1800’s up to 1929, the age of copyright, to find annotations written by their original owners and to interpret the meaning of these annotations and what the book represented in the 19th century. He explained how books back then were shared possessions and that they often switched hands. People used to communicate using books and was a common form of messaging, such as how we have electronic texting and emails today. His books were host to a variety of materials, love letters, lecture notes, analytical satire, physical  we can better understand 19th century culture and values. The class event went really well, with each of us receiving a copy of one of his historical books from his library in Virginia. He was incredibly excited to share his findings and for us to interpret them.

He gave me a book that was heavily transcribed by the original owner. It seems as if he was making fun of the book by adding lines of his own and adding his own form of humor between the pages. It seemed like this copy was meant to be passed to a friend because of the way it is written. Its a lot of language devices to make the text humorous and more enjoyable for the next reader. The book is a book of poems and are very sappy and romantic in nature. Its possible to believe that this person hated that form of writing and wanted to make light of it and belittle the lesser known author.

The lecture after class was a little less comprehensive due to time constraints and topics he was focusing on. the presentation regarding flowers in books was somewhat shaky towards the end and I felt that he got really nervous presenting to the large group that appeared. Every teacher from the history department was there and there felt like a pressure from the back of the room. He wasn’t a 100% confident on the flora in the books which also lead to a rough patch in his lecture since it was focusing on that exact flora he couldn’t name. The flora is often symbolic as he describes in his speech and is used to mark a passage often in memory to the life of a loved one or to add depth to a poem or piece of scripture. It seems like an easy fix with some identification help and I could be misinterpreting the situation at the end of the lecture. In comparison to his class lecture, I felt that he was much more enthusiastic and dealt with the smaller group on a personal level and a fluidity that you couldn’t find in his group lecture. I left the class feeling inspirited to help with archival work and better prepared to keep an eye out for annotations in books. They provide insight to that era’s thoughts, feelings, and culture. To me these things are irreplaceable and once we lose them, they’re gone forever to history. understanding the feelings of an era allows us to better understand our future. Another reason history and culture need to be respected and observed.

-Review by Cory Price

Book Traces, Questions -Cory Price-

Is the book traces and other such facilities similar to it, supported by the federal government? Are they full time jobs? What wages do they demand?How are print copies not an essential component to mission of academic research libraries?

Would you consider the view of the library as a place to hold physical records an archaic viewpoint? Will it continue to shift to Digital? Is there such thing as a classic novel anymore?

Is it wrong to keep books in collections off limits, if there’s digital copies to be found? Of course you can still special request a book, but if its in critical condition, why not preserve it? Also what is a free VS paid subscription? How many of these texts can I access today?

 

 

Herman Melville – Transcribed Interpretation of a Primary Source – Manuscript C –

                                                      Pittsfield Nov 24th 1853

Gentlemen; – In addition to the work which

I took to New York last Spring, But which I was

prevented from printing at that time; I have one

in hand, and pretty well on towards completion,

another book – 300 pages, say – partly of nautical

adventure, and partly–or, rather, chiefly, of fortune

Hunting Adventure. It will be ready for press

some time in the coming January. Meanwllile,

it would be convenient, to have announced to me

when it $300. -My acct: with you, at

present, can not be very far from zmaze(?). For

the abbreviated advance – if remitted me now –

you will have security in my former works, as

well as security perspective, in the one to come,

(The Fortune-Hunters) because if you accede

to the announced request, this letter shall be

your voucher, that I am willing your house should

publish it, on the old basis – half – profits.

                   Reply immediately, if you please,

                                     And Believe Me, Yours

                                              Herman Melville

Letterpress Review – Cory Price

The letter press demo was enlightening on many levels. The letter press allowed for us to realize just how ling it took for pages of newspapers to be run and caused a greater appreciation for how far technology has come. The Letter press took all of us around a solid hour to compose and then align in the press. The time it took for that only made one page and this was a group of some 12 or more people working together. Quite impressive that companies were able to churn out daily and weekly newspapers without a cut to quality and quantity. One of the most fascinating parts of the printing press we had on hand were the rollers. Normally just using black is enough to suffice, but when adding color, some amazing effects began to appear on our papers. The hues would mix like traditional paint and create a burst of color while we printed. A very nice addition. The machine also seemed so simple with the addition of applying paint by hand and the manpower of moving the wheel back and forth. Another important aspect that plagued one of the groups was the quality of the letters when assembled. The letters were chipped and worn down since they are made of a soft lead. Henceforth they weren’t printing when they needed to. Simply because they had been mishandled or overused. The specific design spacing was also incredibly interesting when using the spacers while writing our words backwards. The spacers varied depending on the gaps you wanted in your paper. There was no space left unfilled. It kept it tight so the machine wouldn’t knock loose some type and ruin the print.

McLuhan Quote – Cory Price

“Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness”

This quote by McLuhan is very simple and can be taken at face value. Assumptions in our lifetimes are often pointless and should be re-evaluated sometime in our lives. To me there is a much deeper meaning behind this quote. After reading McLuhan and his takes and world views, it’s my opinion that this quote measures much deeper than what is on the surface. I believe that this is a stab at society and at in particular, the government and the church. This particular attack is based on the fact that churches and government positions have always operated on the assumption that “This is simply how it is, so it must be.” Or to put it another way, “Since we don’t comprehend something, we should assume its under this pretext and leave questions out.” Now that technology has advanced and we’ve become a more technologically advanced race, the assumptions that have reigned supreme for so many years must now be re-evaluated. There are answers to what was once only described as God’s will or by the King’s demand. Look out for yourself and understand what is going on around you. Embrace new views through science and your own self enlightenment.

Time Line: – Newspaper – Steam Press – Windows –

Each of these inventions have become intricate parts of society and have had dramatic impact on the way people receive media. Either they’ve died down in recent years, or are continuing to expand, each of these publication methods have reached millions of people worldwide.

Newspaper dates back to ancient dynasties in China, where they would use block printed into paper and this occurred during the Tang dynasty. Since then, with the invention of the printing press in  1440, newspaper made its day view in Strasbourg Germany. What was then, the Holy Roman Empire. In 1605 Johann Carolus began printing what would later be credited as the first ever official newspaper, “Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien.” This was a news publication and has influenced the way people tell the news since its start. The printing press was the direct cause of newspapers and they were bound to come into existence as long as printing methods became easier and easier to mass produce large quantities of papers. This helped develop a need for average citizens to at least be able to read. That way they could keep up with the biggest new stories and keep in touch with whats happening in their nation. This is the first time where something that happened yesterday, possibly even in another country, would then reach a commoners doorstep and inform them of the things going on in the world. It was an extremely empowering tool and one that became widely popular. It took less than a hundred years for it to spread across the world to the Atlantic ocean and then eventually into Asia.

Steam Press. This invention goes hand in hand with the Newspaper. In 1810, Friedrich Koenig invented the first steam printing press. This allowed for rapid printing and for daily newspapers rather than weekly copies. The machine was a simple hand press machine made of cast iron, but simply hooked up to a steam press for faster printing. The steam engine, a brand new invention at the time, was being implemented in every form of machinery. Steam engines were attached to many numbers of gadgets to improve efficiency and made life much easier for many Americans. This era is also what many video games refer to as Steampunk. Everything was adapted to fit steam engines (Geoghegan). This phase in history didn’t ignore the printing press. The steam powered rotary printing press was made in the United States in 1843 by Richard M. Hoe. Mr. Hoe revolutionized the industry by adding a rotary press into the mix. The cylinder which replaced the common flat press, started to churn out numerous copies and massive amounts of paper. He tripled the output of the average flat printing press. It allowed millions of copies to be run in a single day.(Moore) This opened up news channels like never before and inspired reading and writing among all social classes.

Jumping ahead to Windows. Windows is the most common operating system in computers worldwide. Made by Bill Gates and his Microsoft team back in 1985. Windows was designed as a simple graphic interface and wouldn’t become a hit until Windows 3 in 1990(Fitzpatrick). This was also the birth of the Word document. This interface allowed for people to create text documents and a number of features, never before seen. This interface opened up and made the creation of printable documents considerably easier for anyone with a computer. Handwriting was no longer an issue and printing became more easily accessible. Windows continued to evolve as a operating system. The operating system(OS) is what everyone is familiar with today. The OS simplifies coding and command functions in computers. The OS basically over simplifies the use of a computer for average people without computer experience. Some of the backlash involved with this is the complaint that people won’t understand the coding involved with the creation and functions of a computer. While this is true, it allowed for computers popularity to hit mainstream with large companies pushing OS’s forward. Such as IBM and Microsoft.

  • Cory Price

Newspaper

Image result for old newspaper

Steam Press

Windows Logo

Image result for Microsoft windows

 

Works Cited

Bgfons. bgfons.com/download/2828. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

DiBacco, Tomas V. “Banned in Boston: America’s First Newspaper.” Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition, vol. 266, no. 73, 25 Sept. 2015, pp. 1-6. Academic Search Complete, web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=95b9c901-9284-475d-bfdb-165a495def2b%40sessionmgr4009&hid=4204&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=109932474&db=a9h. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Fitzpatrick, Alex. “It Took Microsoft 3 Tries Before Windows Was Successful.” Time.Com, 20 Nov. 2014. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=99555396&site=ehost-live.

Moore, Keith. “Rolling Thunderer.” Professional Engineering, vol. 13, no. 22, 29 Nov. 2000, p. 65. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=3945617&site=ehost-live.

Teleanalysis. www.teleanalysis.com/news/microsoft-christmas-gift-windows-fans-india-23958. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

WordPress.aehistory.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/screen-shot-2012-10-08-at-1-12-36-am.png?w=298. Accessed 23 Feb. 2017.

Clay Tablets

1: How did writing on clay force you to deal with the technology at the same time trying to get the writing done?

The Clay was incredibly limiting. First of all, attempting to bring the clay into a workable format was tedious and difficult to accomplish. Then after laboring away at the shape of the medium, writing in it was even more intensive. The medium makes communication intensive and a tedious process. unfortunately this caused for a select few people in history to record anything.

2. How does technology affect the the content of the writing as well as the writing process.

It makes it considerably more primitive. The amount of information that I was able to communicate became increasingly smaller with the less tools i had. There are fountain of issues I’d never be able to explain without being there in person to give a walk trough of my drawing.

3. How does the type of writing they are doing influence the technology they are using?

The writing back in older ages was often pertained to laws or codes. To have them written in stone or on something permanent meant that they could always refer back to it. There would be no confusion. “An eye for an eye” Just like Hammurabi. Henceforth they needed the material to last for a certain extent of time anyhow. Writing in clay or on stone kept it from being tampered with.

4. How does technology affect the way that we read a document or text?

In the modern era, there are standardized forms of text and certain fonts that we use to get our meanings across to one another. Back in older times, many couldn’t comprehend or understand written documents due to handwriting and illiteracy. With more legible and standardized materials, literacy goes up dramatically since everything is nearly the same and information is processed in one familiar way.