Earlier this year, we announced the launch of the ICFA Oral History Initiative (http://www.doaks.org/icfa/oral-history-initiative) in Dumbarton Oaks, a project that began in 2011 with the support of the Dumbarton Oaks Archives (DOA) Oral History Project. This fall, we have added four (4) additional interviews, which complement three (3) of ICFA’s archival collections. In December 2014, ICFA …
The Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) is pleased to announce the publication of four (4) new finding aids. To view the complete PDF finding aids, click on the thumbnail at the top of the following collection-level records in our online inventory, AtoM@DO. You can also check under the “Finding Aids” field for the direct …
Written by Ariel Polokoff, ICFA Intern (Spring 2015), The George Washington University, Class of 2015 This past Spring semester, I had the privilege of interning in the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C. This internship offered a two-fold benefit to my undergraduate education—it was both …
Written by Thomas Busciglio, ICFA Intern (Spring 2015), University of California, Santa Barbara – Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) Seeing a professional scanner for the first time is intimidating. A new user like me always wonders how to make the most adequate use of it. In the archival world, the flatbed scanner can …
I’m getting ready to wrap things up here with the Van Nice project. My year-long internship at ICFA will be ending in a few weeks, and I’m trying to tie up as many loose ends as I can before I leave. Here’s where things currently stand: all of the materials have been re-organized, but not … Continue reading
We were all interested in a recent series of articles that appeared in the Atlantic discussing the possibility of true “discovery” in archives. In the first article, found here, Suzanne Fischer expresses the annoyance many archivists feel when researchers or reporters describe “stumbling upon” items previously “lost” in “dusty corners” of archives. These particular turns … Continue reading
Gossip, dope, scuttlebutt,* whatever you want to call it, the lives of architectural historians and archaeologists are full of it, apparently! Here are a few gossip-related snippets from the Van Nice Collection that I’ve snapped over the months: *Wikipedia on the origins of scuttlebutt: “The term corresponds to the colloquial concept of a water cooler in an … Continue reading
I’ve finally started the process of physically rearranging the materials in the Van Nice Collection! Here’s a peek at what my work-space is looking like these days: Basically, what I’ve got going on is a list of all the individual folder titles and their original box numbers, in the new arrangement that we’ve been working … Continue reading
I saved the best find from the folder of architectural sketches for its own post. At the very back of the folder, on a crumbling old piece of paper, was a charming drawing of Hagia Sophia. It wasn’t like the thousands of other drawings of Hagia Sophia in this collection, though. It was in crayon, … Continue reading
Lately, I’ve been working on re-titling and alphabetizing the folders of the collection in the finding aid, but occasionally I get to go back into the collection itself to search for things, pull folders for researchers, or clarify something from my notes. Today I was struck by a series of sketches in a folder that … Continue reading
The Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives is excited to announce the opening our newest exhibit: From Clearing to Cataloging: The Corpus of Tunisian Mosaics, which highlights the Margaret Alexander Collection at Dumbarton Oaks. The collection contains documents and photographs that relate to the fieldwork and publication associated with the Corpus des Mosaïques de Tunisie (CMT), or … Continue reading
We are pleased to announce the launch of the official Dumbarton Oaks Library and Archives Facebook page! This page represents the wide variety of collections and projects from the Research Library, Rare Book Collection, Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, and the Dumbarton Oaks Archives. Through this page we hope to continue the overall mission of … Continue reading
Recently, the ICFA team was lucky enough to host two of Van Nice’s former assistants at Dumbarton Oaks. Evgeni and Mahmut were both assistants to Robert Van Nice at Hagia Sophia during the 1950s, as well as classmates at Robert College. Another classmate of theirs, Yavuz, generously sent us scans from their Robert College yearbook … Continue reading
We’re still chugging along with the creation of the finding aid, and physically rearranging all of the materials. These are the last steps, but they are big ones. One of the nice things about working with this collection is that Van Nice rarely keeps us guessing about things. The collection is vast and a little … Continue reading
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