Category: UNCATEGORIZED

October 10^th is designated Electronic Records Day by the Council of State Archivists. In recognition, we thought it would be a good time to share some basic tips for managing your own personal digital records.

Computer terminal in the UTSA library, 1980. Office of University Communications Photographs, UA 16.01.01, UTSA Special Collections.

Your cell phone has a software meltdown one night and needs to be restored to factory settings. Your computer will no longer recognize your external hard drive. You accidentally deleted your entire email inbox.

Do any of these situations sound familiar? By now, you’ve probably experienced the reality of losing some of your personal digital archives. As more and more of our daily activities integrate digital technology, more and more of our stuff rests in a precarious position. While not all failures can be prevented, there are steps you can take to help ensure that the next…

Not long after photographic equipment became more portable, commercial photographers began taking pictures of their client’s businesses. Along with the usual studio portraits, these photographs were saved as part of the family records. Multiple copies would sometimes be made for regular patrons of the business, both for gift or purchase. In the 20^th century, business owners saw that such photographs would be useful for other purposes, such as illustrations for company catalogs, reports and advertisements.

These photographs are representative of our images of Texas businesses, from various times and regions.

Rudy Domingez (center) and Joe Domingez pose with customers outside their café and pool hall, 18th Street, Hondo, early 1940s. (General Photograph Collection, MS 362: 096-0815, courtesy of Eva Arcos )

Mrs. M. E. Reed’s City Hotel on North Street, across the street from the Houston and Central Texas Railroad, Elgin, 1880s. (General Photograph Collection, MS 362: 096-1268, courtesy of Elgin Historical Association…

WELCOME TO WUSTAH! WHO WANTS TO LAUGH!!

Massachusetts doesn’t get enough credit for comedy. For some reason, southerners think they have a distinct sense of humor. I can’t remember who said it (maybe Roy Blount), but as one southerner put it, “It’s hard to be funny when it’s cold out.”

Well, maybe not when you’re walking through a blizzard with a -20 windchill factor. But the Bay State ranges from bitter cold to oppressive heat. August days can get to 100 degrees. Bipolar weather can make for bipolar people. And comedy is often born of mental illness. The result is, for its size, Massachusetts has produced some of the best comics and comedians ever.

WORCESTER, BOSTON (AND GREENFIELD?)

Many of those who have made it in the late 20th century comedy scene were born in Massachusetts. Doug Stanhope and Denis Leary were born in Worcester. If you lived in central Mass…

“What is this obsession people have with books? They put them in their houses like they’re trophies. What do you need it for after you read it?”

–Jerry to George on Seinfeld

If you are a historian, you probably have lots of books. The same goes for all academics, historians or otherwise. You might have so many books, in fact, that they have become a problem. A problem to store, a problem to move, a problem to get read. Let’s face it, some of us are book hoarders.

I am a recovering one. Or at least, committed to change. It was easy to buy books when I was in graduate school. Much of my time was spent reading. In my first year at LSU, most of my waking hours were spent reading. And that is not an exaggeration. Grad school is intellectual boot camp and not all enlistees…

The Confederate flag has a long and complex history, much of which is not in its favor. The beloved “Southern Cross” is only one edition of the confederacy’s flags, but it is the most common and relevant to racism in America as a whole.

So here’s a little history:

It is true that the South illegally seceded from the rest of the United States and went to battle over states rights, but they were fighting for states rights to own slaves. In fact, the Corner-Stone of the Southern Confederacy states that the foundation of the Confederacy is based upon, “The great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man.”

Slavery was obviously widespread throughout the nation prior to the Civil War, but the southern states of the Confederacy were endeavoring to maintain that “right” after the Union decided that it wasn’t such a great idea after all.

A few weeks ago, we checked our department email and were pleased to read the following message from a patron:

 Doing some family history research I typed the address of the house my great-grandfather lived in as a little boy – 707 North Laredo St – into Google Maps, only to find I-10 running right through the general area.  Bummer.  Google web results turned up something interesting, however:

http://digital.utsa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p9020coll4/id/166

Your site!

Very, very, WAY cool to see that.

This totally made our day! We’re always happy to hear back from patrons about how they’re able to find or use our material. In this case, we’re especially pleased because this patron didn’t come to Special Collections looking for material—instead, our material made it out to her.  Quite a fortuitous result.

Top Shelf readers may be aware of the numerous messages we post to the blog about newly digitized material—we certainly…

Every week, the Library of America sends me their Story of the Week, usually a minor piece from the 19th or early 20th century included in their special reprinted editions. Recently, they sent me A Virginia Barbecue by John M. Duncan. Sometime in 1818, the Glasgow publisher was invited to a barbecue at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate, and he wrote a short and charming piece about what he saw.

However, what really caught my eye was the extra piece Library of America included in that week’s email: Thomas Jefferson’s recipe for ice cream. I’m not sure how they can assert that “Jefferson was the first American to write a recipe for ice cream.” Nevertheless, I’m inspired to cruise down to Amy’s Ice Cream at the Quarry Market for some Mexican Vanilla with strawberries. Thanks, Jefferson. I’m finally down to 171 lbs., and then you come along with…