Day 21: Our last day in Akron!

Posted on June 5, 2015 by mhorhota

Wow, time flies! Tuesday was our last day at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology. We enjoyed lunch with the staff and our students shared what they learned. Our students also posted their blog posts for you to enjoy! Be sure to check them out to see the cool stuff they found in the archives.

Our group with the Center staff!

Although it was time to go, we couldn’t leave without perusing some of the rare books in the cabinets that have surrounded us while we worked these last two weeks.

The tiny book that Dov and Jenn are holding is oldest book in the collection — from 1533! And the book that Alissa W is holding is a copy of a book by Wilhelm Wundt that belonged to William James!!! (Check out a blog post about it here.)

The Center also has a second edition print of the Origin of Species by Darwin!

And then, it really was time to go! Some students had to get to the airport! Others had to do one last “only-in-Akron” activity (you are correct if you guessed that it was cruising by LeBron James’ house) before packing up for the drive back to Greenville. All in all, a successful May X!

That’s all for this installment of Psychology in the Archives. But until next time, you can get your history of psych fix by visiting the CHP blog: https://centerhistorypsychology.wordpress.com/

Day 20: Finalizing FUSE and blog posts — and learning about copyright!

Posted on June 2, 2015 by mhorhota

We spent our last full day at the center finalizing our FUSE documents. This included finishing up the narrative documents that the students have been working on and learning about the details of copyright law. Lizette was our guide to the ins and outs of what we can and cannot post and how to find out who holds a copyright and how to request permissions.

Lizette and the group surrounded by acid-free boxes. We will be preserved forever!

For photographs, the copyright belongs to the photographer. This means we have to figure out who the photographer is so that we can request permission to post the photo. This is an easy task if the photo is stamped with this information on the back….but involves some detective work when it isn’t. Reading all of those Nancy Drew books in my childhood is going to come in handy!

We ended the day with dinner at a Mexican restaurant — our last dinner as a group before people start heading home on Tuesday afternoon. Somehow no pictures were taken? We have become lax as the trip ends. It certainly wasn’t the margaritas.

(Disclaimer: That was a joke. Obviously if margaritas were involved pictures *would* have been taken.)

Day 19: A quiet, rainy Sunday in Akron

Posted on June 1, 2015 by mhorhota

It was our last Sunday in Akron and the weather did not cooperate! It was raining and grey all day.

The day does not look promising.

This means it wasn’t a good day for taking pictures. Luckily, I have a photo from earlier in the trip that hasn’t been shared yet!

Akron is an art-friendly city. There is a great art gallery (that several of us attended on Thursday when admission was free!) and everywhere you look you can find outdoor sculpture. On the UA campus they even have a 40 foot tall outdoor sculpture by renowned glass artist, Dale Chihuly!

This is actually made of polymer materials and is located outside of the Goodyear Polymer Center on campus.

Day 18: Our final Saturday in Akron

Posted on May 31, 2015 by mhorhota

It was our final Saturday in Akron, so a group of us went back to the Countryside Conservancy Farmers Market for some more delicious food. Between the chocolate-hazelnut croissants, fresh strawberries…

Fresh strawberries and a chocolate hazelnut croissant. Yum!

Yum!

…dumplings, and pies it was hard to know where to start! But several of the students opted for…

Blackberries and cream popsicles! That’s breakfast-y…right?

After the market we were back at the Center for a bit more work on the blog posts (they will be posted later this week!)

It looks so empty without all of our piles…

…and then to the Mustard Seed for dinner and some shopping. Another successful day – only 4 more days to go! Where has the time gone?

Day 17: Finished, for real this time!

Posted on May 30, 2015 by mhorhota

Huzzah! WE DID IT! The Schopler collection is officially processed!

We received a lot of behind-the-scenes help from the wonderful staff at the Cummings Center. We couldn’t have done it without Rhonda Rinehart, the special collections manager,

Our group with Rhonda — even the emotion display models are happy that we have finished!

and Emily Gainer, the Special Collections Librarian.

The wall of boxes around Emily’s desk has not kept us from asking her lots of questions!

After finishing up we celebrated with some coffee at Starbucks! We also met with Dr. Ray Stanley, a human factors psychologist, who spoke with us about what it is like working in an applied psychology field.

Our group with Ray Stanley at the Starbucks (which is also our regular breakfast spot)

Next up, finalizing the FUSE content and blog posts so that we can share all of the cool stuff that we have learned. Stay tuned! The adventure isn’t over quite yet!

Day 16: We did it!! But wait! There is ONE LAST BOX. Arg!

Posted on May 29, 2015 by mhorhota

After 7 full days of sorting and organizing…

Jenn and Alissa are relieved that the piles are getting smaller!

Jenn and Alissa are pleased that the piles are getting smaller!

…plastic clipping…

So many discarded metal paperclips! (Can you find the lone “approved” plastic clip in the picture?)

…foldering, labeling, boxing up…

How did Alyssa get stuck with the task of filing all of the slides?

Poor Alyssa got stuck with the task of boxing up all of the slides!

…and entering the data into the finding aid, we thought that we had finished processing the Schopler collection!

Hooray! Look at all of that organization!!

Could it be that we have finished???

But wait…

Mary and Kieran receiving some bad news…

What is that in the corner???

Noooooo! One last box!!!

So close!!!

Day 15: Could it be? The end of sorting is in sight!

Posted on May 28, 2015 by mhorhota

After four days away from the Center we were back at sorting with a vengeance. We had three sections to finish organizing — Biography, TEACCH, and Correspondence — and we made a significant dent! Only professional correspondence remains. The rest of the collection is in folders and boxes.

Mary and Kieran started working on the finding aid,

Yes! Creating a finding aid IS as fun as Mary makes it look…

…and Dov began scanning images for our FUSE page.

There is a lot of enthusiasm today! Perhaps the progress is going to our heads…

With only three full days left at the Center it will be a sprint to the end. Do you think we will finish in time???

Psychology in the Archives

What will we find in the boxes?

Author Archives: mhorhota