Visual Resources Update November 2023
We are excited to announce two wintersessions:
Sicilian Stories: Tales & Treats from The American Excavations at Morgantina (Monday, January 22, 1-4pm)
Presented by Digital Project Specialist Leigh Lieberman and A&A PhD candidate Will Pedrick
Archaeologists from Princeton University began excavating at Morgantina, a small town in east central Sicily, in 1955. The excavations at the then unidentified settlement were intended to provide training for American students, especially those in Princeton’s Department of Art and Archaeology. While the department maintains the archival records from these early efforts at the site, a new campaign sponsored by The American Excavations at Morgantina (The Agora Valley Project) aims to address some of the questions left unanswered by the site’s previous excavators. Participants in this workshop will learn about Morgantina’s rich history as well as Princeton’s important legacy at the site. Moreover, participants will take a behind-the-scenes tour of The Agora Valley Project’s ongoing work, all while sampling some traditional Sicilian sweets and learning about opportunities to contribute to this cutting-edge research program.
Fans of Chinese ink paintings (Wednesday, January 24, 1-4pm)
Presented by Yichin Chen, Curator of Asian Collections and Digital Specialist, and A&A PhD candidate Yutong Li
This hands-on workshop is for anyone interested in how to paint and appreciate Chinese ink paintings. Participants will get their own tool kit, learn how to hold and use a brush, and paint on a take-home handheld paper fan. Guest presentations by artist Mansheng Wang and A&A graduate student Yutong Li round out the day.
ASOR Membership Service Award for Leigh Lieberman
Leigh Anne Lieberman participated in the American Society of Overseas Research Annual Meeting this past month in Chicago. While there, alongside two of her colleagues (Melissa Cradic and Tiffany Earley Spadoni) and with the support of The Alexandria Archive Institute/Open Context, Leigh received the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) Membership Service Award. This award recognizes individuals who have made special contributions on behalf of the ASOR membership. Leigh and her colleagues received this award for designing and implementing “Digging Up Data”, an innovative professional development program that aims to provide critical education and mentorship in data literacy and digital scholarship to early career scholars in the ASOR community.
Art400
Leigh Lieberman and Julia Gearhart enjoyed speaking to students in Prof. Kitzinger’s Art400, Junior Seminar, on November 20th and relayed some of the history of image use in teaching art history as well as how data, and data management, could play a role in their scholarship.
Art and Archaeology Slide Collections
Prior to the pandemic, with the immense help of longtime Media Specialist Marilyn Hansen, VR weeded through the collection of glass lantern slides that was being stored in a warehouse off campus. Weeding followed guidelines set forth by faculty in committee meetings, and only copystand and poor quality slides were de-accessioned (i.e. made available to students and faculty to take home). Those de-accessioned slides that still remained were brought to the artist Jean Shin for repurposing in her work. We now have a more manageable 15,000 glass lantern slide collection that we invite anyone to explore. That said, we will have even less space in the new building, and our slide collections will have to remain offsite, with limited access. We encourage anyone interested in these collections to try to see them before the move, which could be as early as late summer 2024.
Interesting projects and resources:
Open Access article related to Sinai: New Light on Old Manuscripts: The Sinai Palimpsests and Other Advances in Palimpsest Studies (Claudia Rapp, Jana Gruskova, Giullia Rosseto, Grigory Kessel, Eds)
Artlas – BasArt is a collaborative database of exhibition catalogues from the 19th century to the present day. Its aim is to gradually decentralize the sources available to researchers, thus decentralizing their focus often too centered on Europe and North America. It is in open access, available to all, through a simple mapping and statistical interface that facilitates global research.