The Texas Capitol and Visitors Center are worth a visit while you’re in Austin for SAA. The Capitol, built in the Renaissance Revival style, was completed in 1888, and the dome is taller than the national capitol in Washington, D.C. It is the largest state capitol building (360,000 square [...]]]>  Crossposted from Austin is for Archivists

The Texas Capitol and Visitors Center are worth a visit while you’re in Austin for SAA. The Capitol, built in the Renaissance Revival style, was completed in 1888, and the dome is taller than the national capitol in Washington, D.C. It is the largest state capitol building (360,000 square feet) with approximately 400 rooms and 900 windows.

The Capitol was constructed of “Sunset Red” granite that was quarried in Marble Falls, Texas. Construction was not paid for in cash, but in the exchange of 3,000,000 acres of land in the Texas Panhandle that later became the famed XIT Ranch.

The lush Capitol grounds include, among others, statues to the Heroes of the Alamo, volunteer firemen and Texas Rangers. The Visitors Center is located in the southeast corner of the grounds and has both permanent and rotating exhibits, including Voices from San Jacinto, covering the final battle of the Texas Revolution.

Some links for further reading:

Texas Capitol History- Texas State Preservation Board

Monument Guide and Capitol Grounds- Texas State Preservation Board

Beyond the Dome: Hidden Places and Secret Spaces in the Texas State Capitol (exhibit & video link)

How to get there from the SAA meeting hotel (Hilton; 500 East 4th St):

The distance from the Hilton is close to a mile, but easily navigable on foot or by public transportation, and the process is similar– so if you walk there, but want a ride back, you can take the ‘Dillo. Keep in mind that the ‘Dillo runs from 7am-7pm on weekdays only. The ‘Dillo is 50¢ for a two-hour pass.

Link to ‘Dillo information and pdf map here.
Map of area and distance

 Economy hurts effort to preserve the past- The Columbus Dispatch

“Preserving the past is important, but if governments don’t start spending and borrowing less, there won’t be much of a future left for our kids to enjoy,” Sepp said.

One “solution” that I think we’ll be hearing more about as the economic climate gets tougher: attempting to sell parts (or all of) a collection. The General Motors Heritage Collection has announced that they are selling cars from their collection this month, including hundreds of concept and rare vehicles that have been stored [...]]]>  

One “solution” that I think we’ll be hearing more about as the economic climate gets tougher: attempting to sell parts (or all of) a collection. The General Motors Heritage Collection has announced that they are selling cars from their collection this month, including hundreds of concept and rare vehicles that have been stored by GM since being built. One way to look at this is from an appraisal and collections management standpoint: is this sale accomplishing goals such as the narrowing of the collection scope or removing vehicles that do not contribute to the strength of the collection? Perhaps the two-millionth Saturn from 1999 or the 2007 Yukon “CSI Vegas” aren’t the most important pieces of the collection– but it depends. Showing the progression of Saturn as a car from the first one in 1991 to the two millionth one in 1997 could be vitally important for some reason– it’s the job of the curatorial/museum staff to figure out what makes sense, and perhaps also to figure out whether the original reasoning for keeping these vehicles is still sound. Articles in the media seem to focus on the fact that GM is having a crisis, and the sale of these heritage vehicles could raise a little bit of cash– but even if they sold all of them, it would be a drop in the bucket (probably less than $5 million dollars by one estimate). I think this is more important in terms of discussing history in broader terms: whose responsibility is it to make sure that history isn’t being lost by selling off pieces to the highest bidder? Are we still able to understand and interpret in the same manner without having the physical object? What is the import of a single object, and does that differ from the importance that it holds within the context of the rest of the collection, particularly considering that all of the items in this auction have an ironclad provenance attached? (They’ve been in the custody of GM since they were conceived and “born”). I think we’ll see a lot of individuals trying to part with items perceived to have historical value, and probably more institutions doing the same, particularly corporate collections.

A few articles and posts about the sale:

Cash-Starved GM to part with trove of historic, unique vehicles- Detroit Free Press

Museum: Portion of GM heritage car collection up for sale- Lansing State Journal

GM’s own heritage collection is up for sale- Huffington Post

Classic GM cars to go on the block- Los Angeles Times

The roads are icy here this morning, and classes won’t start for another two days, so campus is a fairly quiet place. I’ve found that this is a great time to get work done in my office. Sadly, the campus Starbucks has restricted hours until the students return… so [...]]]> Welcome back from the holiday break!

The roads are icy here this morning, and classes won’t start for another two days, so campus is a fairly quiet place. I’ve found that this is a great time to get work done in my office. Sadly, the campus Starbucks has restricted hours until the students return… so I’ve brought my own caffeine supply from home.

So, a few thoughts from the break.  First, an article about the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is relevant because items were given and money promised by a donor who committed suicide and was then sued for swindling investors. According to the article, the museum settled with the estate and paid some of the money back in order not to lose either the donated items or other items purchased with money from the donor. If this happened to your institution, how would you handle it?  Many archives, libraries and museums are self-insured, meaning that a lawsuit like this could be a really big problem.

Next up, an article about the Library of Congress/American Folklife Center‘s “Inauguration 2009 Sermons and Orations” project, which aims to collect sermons and speeches made between January 16-25th about the new Obama administration. I think that this is an interesting project, and I wonder what kind of diverse geographical response they’ll receive (if any), and what other outreach has been done to congregations outside of the Beltway?

Last, an op-ed titled “Hard Times, a Helping Hand” that details an old story of a mysterious benefactor in Canton, Ohio. While the op-ed is about the author’s discovery that the man who helped out his neighbors in 1933 was in fact, his grandfather, I was of course also interested in the suitcase full of documents and what they held. I hope that a regional collection like the University of Akron Special Collections or the Western Reserve Historical Society will talk to the author about donating this interesting piece of Canton history.

Do you have collection development plans for the new year? Have your plans changed based on recent economic factors? Now is a good time to reassess the goals and needs of your repository for 2009. What’s next?