Visual Resources Association Bulletin

Letter from the Editors

2024-06-04

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Visual Resources Association Bulletin, the editors take the time to reflect on the past, present, and future of the VRAB.

2024 VRA State of the Association Address

John Trendler — 2024-06-03

During the remote 2024 Spring Business Meeting of the Visual Resources Association, the VRA president highlighted the accomplishments and challenges of the Association in a State of the Association address. This article provides the transcript.

Fiscal Year 2023 Visual Resources Association Treasurer's Report

Ann McShane — 2024-06-03

This article contains the Visual Resource Association (VRA) Annual Treasurer's Report originally given at the VRA’s Mid-Year Business Meeting on March 22, 2024. The report summarizes the end-of-fiscal-year finances for 2023.

“Members Helping Members” – The VRA Travel Awards Program

Allan T. Kohl — 2024-06-03

Beginning in 1993, the Visual Resources Association’s Travel Awards program has provided financial support to hundreds of members, enabling them to attend and participate in the Association’s annual conferences. This history follows the program’s growth, from an initial gift by Luraine Tansey through fundraising efforts, including the legendary Tansey Dinners/Events and the VRAffle and related skits, with a significant portion of travel awards funding coming from members themselves in support of their peers. The recent creation of the VRA’s Travel Awards Endowment is the most recent development in our cherished tradition of “members helping members.”

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Sara Schumacher — 2024-06-03

In 50 years of publication, the Visual Resources Association Bulletin (VRAB) has documented and preserved the history of the association and the triumphs, struggles, and experiments of visual resources professionals worldwide. This article traces the history of the VRAB through transition points, charting editors, name changes, and topical columns that provide glimpses into the concerns and unique knowledge of the profession. As we look back at the milestones, and more importantly the people, that got us to the current iteration of the VRAB, we also look forward to the next phases of the journal.

Encouraging Flexibility in Our Approach to Copyright

Sara Schumacher — 2024-06-03

In this interview, Nancy Sims, Director of Copyright & Scholarly Communication at the University of Minnesota Libraries, delves into current topics in copyright and scholarly communication including open access, fair use, and artificial intelligence (AI). Her assured and succinct answers reveal the ways visual resources professionals can thrive within the changing legal and cultural intellectual property landscape by employing “flexible mindsets.” Sims acknowledges that the nuances within copyright law are difficult for humans to reckon with, but she finds hopeful paths forward even within the gray areas. We are all creators and users. Can that be our superpower as we advocate for equity and accessibility in our professional and personal lives?

Toward a Decolonial Archival Praxis

Christina Bleyer — 2024-06-04

This article explores the implementation of a decolonial archival praxis through the digitization of the Lloyd Best Archive in Trinidad and Tobago. Traditional archival practices, rooted in colonial attitudes, have historically marginalized indigenous knowledge systems and narratives. Through a post-custodial approach, this project challenges the colonial structure inherent in archival practices by prioritizing collaboration with local communities and empowering them to maintain control over their own stories.

Drawing on concepts of epistemic sovereignty and coloniality, the article examines the limitations of traditional archival theory and practice, which often exclude marginalized voices and perpetuate dominant narratives. By shifting towards a post-custodial model, which involves partnering with local organizations and communities, the project aims to decolonize the archive and reclaim agency for those whose stories have been historically marginalized.

The partnership between Trinity College and the Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean exemplifies a new approach to archival digitization, one that prioritizes cultural context and community involvement. By providing resources, training, and support, Trinity College enables the local team to digitize and describe their own materials, ensuring that the archive remains rooted in its cultural origins.

Utilizing platforms like JSTOR Forum facilitates the preservation and accessibility of digitized materials while also offering opportunities for collaboration and feedback. The integration of culturally relevant metadata, such as the term "Trinbagonian," underscores a commitment to representing diverse perspectives within the archive.

Overall, the digitization of the Lloyd Best Archive serves as a model for decolonial archival praxis, enriching our understanding of Caribbean history and culture while advancing equitable and inclusive archival practices worldwide. By centering marginalized voices, initiatives like this work towards a future where epistemic sovereignty is recognized and respected, and where archives serve as instruments of empowerment and social justice.

Capturing the Hidden Legacies of Route 66 in New Mexico

Audra Bellmore — 2024-06-10

From southern Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier, the historic U.S. highway Route 66 captures the imagination of travelers and dreamers. The “Mother Road” as it was nicknamed during its heyday (1926-1985), represents an upbeat spirit through its colorful streetscapes highlighting neon signs, diners, drive-ins, courtyard motels, and whimsical road art. Revealing the full story of Route 66 as a symbol of America itself, however, is richer and more varied than even its vibrant material culture might suggest. The road and the people who lived, worked, played, and traveled on it – and continue to do so – tell a profound story.

Ahead of the centennial of Route 66 in 2026, several regional and national initiatives have developed to expand the highway’s narrative. The array of endeavors, many originating in New Mexico where the National Park Service’s Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program is headquartered, are bringing renewed life to the old road. Through hands-on preservation programs, research collaboratives, photographic surveys, and digital story-mapping tools based in public agencies, universities, libraries, archives, and museums, projects are harnessing the story-telling possibilities of the road as a cultural landscape of grand and complicated significance. Leveraging the momentum of the upcoming 100^th anniversary, the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, Research Route 66, Hispanic Legacies of Route 66 in New Mexico, the Albuquerque Route 66 Photographic Survey, Route 66 Connected, and the Hidden Legacies of Route 66 in New Mexico are working together with a shared vision for the future of a historic byway.

Interactive Topography with IIIF

Maureen Burns — 2024-06-05

The Ernest Nash collection documents ancient Roman architectural monuments and associated archaeological artifacts in pre- and post-World War II Italy. What made Nash’s work significant, beyond capturing the present state of the ancient Roman monuments at a volatile historical moment, was the primacy of topographical photography and the systematic order he brought to this subject.

The American Academy’s Photographic Archive has contributed some of Nash's images to an open access, interactive website called the Urban Legacy of Ancient Rome. This geo-referenced digital resource reveals the ancient city of Rome in stunning detail and makes it possible to explore and examine approximately three thousand photographs housed in the Fototeca Unione Collection. They are available for viewing and zooming in but also can be used with IIIF-compatible viewers.

The Academy continues to digitize and describe the extended Fototeca Unione Collection with the generous support of the Kress Foundation and has recently made all of their image collections IIIF compatible. In partnership with Archivision and vrcHost, new high quality digital photography is being added to enrich these historical images with contemporary photographs of the same Roman monuments in order to document changes – whether conserved, restored, altered, reconstructed, re-sited, or destroyed.

This article provides a progress report on this demonstration project which is searching for efficiencies and learning more about what it takes to move digital photography into IIIF. Finding new ways to provide ready access and juxtapose historic and contemporary photography online builds upon the legacy of Nash's quality curation and scholarship to create an accessible, twenty-first century, online educational resource of interest and utility to scholars, students, and a wide audience of ancient Roman enthusiasts.

Acknowledgements:

The Fototeca Unione project has been made possible by a generous grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Moreover, we would like to thank the American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive Staff, and Sebastian Hierl, Drue Heinz Librarian of the American Academy in Rome. We would also like to sincerely thank Scott Gilchrist, founder of Archivision, for taking on the challenge of photographing Roman monuments for the Rome Revisited project and supporting it in so many ways as well as Andreas Knab of vrcHost for readily sharing his technological expertise, importing the new images and metadata into MDID, and making them IIIF compatible. Both of these generous colleagues support VRA conferences and a number of other VRA initiatives/activities–we appreciate their spirit of experimentation and collaboration.

Review of "The Visual Elements – Photography: A Handbook for Communicating Science and Engineering"

Ann Bell — 2024-06-03

This review provides an overview of The Visual Elements – Photography: A Handbook for Communicating Science and Engineering by Felice C. Frankel. A research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Frankel highlights four easily accessible tools – scanner, phone, camera, and microscope – and imparts practical and innovative advice for those who want to enhance their scientific research with captivating photos. Although intended for scientists and engineers, anyone interested in the technical aspects of photography and improving their compositional skills will benefit from Frankel’s instruction in this easy-to-use guide.