Visual Resources Update December 2023/January 2024
In Memoriam: Malcolm (Mac) Bell III
Malcolm (Mac) Bell III passed away in Rome on January 7, 2024. During his time as a Princeton student (AB in 1963, PhD in 1972) Mac worked on the Morgantina, Sicily excavations of which he would eventually take over the directorship in 1980. Mac visited and corresponded regularly with staff in Visual Resources: we will remember him fondly and offer our deepest sympathies to his family. This tribute issued by the Archaeological Institute of America honors his memory and many achievements.
Wintersession 2024
Leigh Lieberman and Yichin Chen organized two successful workshops for this year’s Wintersession: Sicilian Stories: Tales and Treats from the American Excavations at Morgantina and Fans of Chinese Painting. We will have a separate posting with photographs of all the fun coming soon.
New Year, New Public Domain Works
It is that time of year again: time to get excited about which artists will be out of copyright in the New Year. It is absolutely thrilling to say that the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie, who has been so influential in the world of copyright, is out of copyright on January 1, 2024. Here is a good roundup of what else will be available, put together by Public Domain Review.
A Review of Requests and Inquiries into VR Collections in 2023
Every January the statistics of archival requests are compiled and it is helpful to see which collections are in high demand (for both research purposes and publication). We anticipate that, when our comprehensive digital collections platform is up and more populated, there will be a greater number of collections represented in these requests.
Additions to the Michigan-Princeton Sinai Archive
We are very excited to say that an additional 654 images of Sinai manuscripts from the University of Michigan have been added to the Michigan-Princeton-Alexandria Expeditions to Sinai website, adding 265 previously unrepresented folios. That brings the total number of images in the digital collection to over 13,000. In fall 2023 the first batch of 77 liturgical objects was added, and we hope to have a second batch finalized by the end of the spring 2024 semester. None of this work would be possible without the help of talented graduate students, so if you are interested in Sinai or the Weitzmann collection in general, please reach out.
Interesting resources and projects
If you want to learn more about UK copyright and image fees, this is a helpful article by Bendor Grosvenor.