Visual Resources Update April 2021

Visual Resources Update April 2021

COLLECTIONS

Black and white image of the Genesis
Smyrna, Evangelical School A.1. fol. 2v

Justin Willson, Postgraduate Research Associate in medieval art, recently asked us for a quality image of Smyrna, Evangelical School A.1, fol. 2v, the Creation. Since the actual manuscript was destroyed by fire in 1922 he was hoping for a better quality image than what he could obtain from existing publications. Some images can be found online, but those of folio 2v are quite poor. Lo and behold, there is an envelope of photographic prints of this manuscript in the VR Weitzmann image collection. On the back of each print is a stamp with the name Paul Buberl, an Austrian art historian. From the stamp it is unclear whether Buberl took the photograph, or whether it was simply in his collection or produced by him and given to Weitzmann. Regardless, the quality of all the prints is quite good, so John Blazejewski photographed and edited the print to produce a quality image.

The move out of McCormick Hall has required the reorganization of VR collections which have filled all corners of the second floor. In one of the less accessible storage rooms a handful of large images of architecture on old particle board were leaning in between the cabinets of oversized mounted prints. On the back of each is a sticker from the Museum of Modern Art. We have not completed the research, but we believe these are associated with the 1932 MoMA exhibition on Modern Architecture.

Of note: this recent NY Times article, addressing the living situations in which many Syrian refugees currently find themselves, with ancient sites once again providing shelter. As the VR Butler Syria Location Concordance Project continues, here is a view of a private house at Deir Amman from Howard Crosby Butler’s 1905 expedition, and again today, with a little girl looking out from her family’s encampment (photograph by Ivor Prickett). Through the online publication of Butler’s photographs and journals we hope to shed some light on these sites, some of which have been changed by war, others which have very much stayed the same.

NEW VIDEO TUTORIAL: TIMED POWERPOINT SLIDESHOWS

INTERESTING PROJECTS AND RESOURCES:

  • Explore the extensive digitization efforts of the Louvre.
  • Wildenstein Plattner Institute offers an online archives/auctions viewer.
  • Have you heard of fingernail art?
  • Update to Zotero: fantastic built-in PDF reader with many annotation features; better notes; a new tabbed interface so you can have multiple items open at the same time; full support for embedded images. Also, iOS app is coming soon and Princeton is now offering free unlimited storage!