Tag: Stauffer

The Book Traces Event

Dr. Stauffer visited Stevenson, with books in hand, ready to discuss not only the 19th century texts, but also the various former owners as well. He explained how many books during that time period weren’t just used for reading alone. According to Dr. Stauffer, while books were considered valuable, they weren’t seen as precious heirlooms or artifacts yet. So, many people would annotate within the margins, doodle on the pages, etc. There were even books that would be passed back and forth between multiple people and they would write out conversations on the pages like a primitive form of text messaging. But, people didn’t stop there when it came to utilizing a book.

Many owners would leave personal objects in their books such as flowers, photographs, paper doll clothes, and locks of hair. There was even a book that Dr. Stauffer brought in that contained a sewing needle with a bit of thread that had been “stuck” in one of the pages (I’d love to know how they were able to do that without ripping the paper). During his presentation, Dr. Stauffer went into greater detail about the botanicals that were discovered within those books. Apparently, it was a very common practice within the 19th century to press flowers and leaves between the pages of a book. It was usually for sentimental reasons or for a decorative purpose, particularly if the book contained poetry or some flowery type of language. The poets of the day soon caught on to the idea and would write with the flower-pressers in mind. Publishers and editors reflected the practice by having flowers already printed on the page. But, I wonder if people appreciated that initiative?

The main idea behind Book Traces is to not only manage books from the 19th century, but to recognize that these physical copies have a historical purpose. They are artifacts from that time period. They don’t just reveal what was popular to read at the time, but what the personal histories were of the people who held those books. Dr. Stauffer’s project holds great evidence of how people would communicate not only with the text they were reading, but also with the other people in their daily lives.

 

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

Questions for Andrew Stauffer

Will there come a point when all of our books, past and present, will become digitized?

Libraries and their resources are free to use but many databases require a paid subscription or a subscription via the university to use the material. Will we ever do away with this?

Does a digitized book still hold the same meaning as having the physical copy in hand?

Why do we teach annotation today?

3 Questions for Professor Stauffer

  1. Will evidence of life in the early 21st century that is presented by digital copies of books be difficult to convey? There are resources that allow people to annotate pieces of text online, but would that be enough for future scholars?
  2. Should librarians alone really get to decide which books are valuable enough to continue being housed and cared for? And what happens to the books that are “weeded” out? Could this lead to libraries simply having computers available for their patrons to use?
  3.  Has the use of books impacted any major historical events? Which ones?

Questions for Andrew Stauffer

  1. Do you work with any books outside of the 19th century? Do you have any Victorian era books in your own personal collection?
  2. Do you foresee specialized collections of 19th century works springing up to acquire these vulnerable texts? Or current collectors of 18th century books expanding their collections to include 19th century ones?
  3. What is your favorite/coolest piece of social-historical content you have found or worked with, within a 19th century book?
  4. How heavily do you personally annotate books that you read? Do you leave messages or evidence for future scholars to find?

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?