Genevieve Havemeyer-King, the National Digital Stewardship Resident here at the WCS Archives, has another post on the NDSR-NY Program blog:
http://ndsr.nycdigital.org/in-with-the-old/
This time Genevieve describes some of the challenges of selecting born-digital materials and transferring them to the Archives for the NDSR pilot project.
Check it out!
We are delighted to report that the WCS Archives has been awarded $60,237 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to process 13 important collections from the Archives. Among these are New York Zoological Society (NYZS) President Fairfield Osborn records and World’s Fair records, 1935-1967; Bronx Zoo General Curator Lee S. Crandall records, 1903-1969; NYZS Conservation Department records, circa 1969-1979; and NYZS Education Department records, circa 1967 to 1982.
In short, this project’s goal is to provide access to unprocessed and unexposed collections that document the mid-twentieth-century American environmental and wildlife conservation movements; reveal the evolution of exhibit design and animal care in zoos and aquariums; and provide exceptional glimpses into both zoo- and conservation-based activities in the United States. Together these collections cover pivotal events in the history of WCS that also represent important moments and trends in the cultural and scientific histories of New York City, the US, and the world.
The project will run from June 2016 to June 2017, and we look forward to sharing news and finds with you as the project progresses!
This post was written by Kimio Honda, Studio Manager in WCS’s Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department. This is part 2 of 2 posts on eagle sculptures at the Bronx Zoo and beyond.
Beyond the eagles I described in my previous post, there are a few other, though less visible, eagle sculptures at the Bronx Zoo. These belonged to the building behind the current Birds of Prey exhibit that was originally known as the Winter House for Eagles, built in 1912. (You can see original plans for the building on the NYC Design Flickr page.) Curator of Birds William Beebe took the building as a research space as early as 1914, and it later served as the headquarters for his Department of Tropical Research. The Beebe Lab, as it was known, later became the office for the Publications Department, and house now Digital Programs and Media Production. Continue reading
Our National Digital Stewardship Resident, Genevieve Havemeyer-King, has another post on the NDSR-NY Program blog:
http://ndsr.nycdigital.org/amia-2015-some-highlights-takeaways
This one focuses on her experience at the Association of Moving Image Archivists’ 2015 annual conference. As Genevieve notes, of particular interest to WCS’s mission–and our NDSR project–“was Linda Tadic’s (Digital Bedrock) talk on the environmental impact of digital preservation.”
Check it out!
This post was written by Kimio Honda, Studio Manager in WCS’s Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department. This is part 1 of 2 posts on eagle sculptures at the Bronx Zoo and beyond.
Lions and eagles, as kings of beasts and birds, may be among the most common subjects of sculptures in public spaces. It is no surprise then that we find several eagle sculptures at the Bronx Zoo. Let’s take a look at them, starting with the oldest one.
Graphical renderings of the “Ocean Wonders” exhibit and features at the NY Aquarium. Image courtesy of Naomi Pearson, EGAD at WCS.
WCS’s National Digital Stewardship Resident, Genevieve Havemeyer-King, has written a post about our digital archives pilot project on the NDSR-NY Program blog:
http://ndsr.nycdigital.org/the-digital-ecosystem-at-the-wildlife-conservation-society/
In the post she “introduce[s] a few complex and exciting digital preservation challenges [she’s] encountered in each department” that she is surveying for the project.
Check it out!
The WCS Archives is thrilled to announce that we’ve been awarded a Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections Planning Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant will allow us to develop the WCS Archives Conceptual Preservation Design Plan. Founded upon preservation strategies that balance effectiveness, cost, and environmental impact, the plan will serve as a crucial first step in the Archives’ development of a new space to preserve our unique historical collections. Continue reading
The Bronx Zoo itself is a nostalgic place for many people (myself included), where lifelong memories are made from childhood onward, and close-up animal experiences make nature come alive. It may sound like a cliché, but then again who among us can recall their favorite part of the zoo and not be overwhelmed by affection for the animals found there? My own longtime favorite part of the zoo as a kid was the (now closed) World of Darkness. So, as you can see here, the zoo and I go back quite a ways. Continue reading
The WCS Archives is very pleased to participate in I ♥ NY’s Path through History Weekend showcasing New York State’s rich history. Come join us on Saturday, June 20, at the Bronx Zoo’s Zoo Center, where we’ll be displaying historical treasures related to the art and architecture of the Bronx Zoo.
This week, we’re celebrating yet another anniversary here on Wild Things: the 30th anniversary of the opening of the new Animal Health Center, which was dedicated on April 30, 1985. Continue reading