[PADG:2374] Response to Walter's Question: Re: RE: Fwd: Duke News -- [EMBARGOED] Unusual Collection of American Newspapers Donated to Duke Libraries

["Robert J. Milevski" <milevski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Walter,

I visited ANR two years ago.  The mill building housed different 
businesses.  Since then it may have been converted to other 
(gentrified/redevelopment) uses.  Based on the Duke press release, the 
entire collection went to Duke.  The number of volumes listed sounds 
comprehensive and complete.  I do not think that Baker had any intention of 
giving anything but the entire collection to a responsible and responsive 
institution.  Although the mill space did not have A/C at the time, and 
being a mill is located next to a river, preservation meant, simply, that 
the British Library originating newspapers were preserved by Baker from 
being sold and shipped to the binding breakers who cut out pages for 
birthdays and other anniversaries.  He put his money and reputation on the 
line to save artifacts of another era that would have been irrevocably lost 
from history.

Duke placing the newspapers in environmentally controlled conditions is the 
first step to real preservation.  The second thing is that they have put 
the collection under the aegis of special collections.  This collection is 
a special collection in every sense of the word.  Special collections is 
where it belongs.  These bound volumes should be treated as rare books and 
served up as such in rare books reading rooms, under the usual strict 
supervision, including white gloves.  Too many people think bound papers 
are expendable.  Therefore, the past mass microfilming and the mass discard 
of the perfectly functional newspaper volumes.  These papers may have been 
widely held, but not anymore in any shape or form.  I know (without going 
into details).

The ANR newspapers, in the condition they are in, are unique.  No 
institution in the US or the world can claim to have anything near to this 
resource.  Nowhere in the US can any amalgam of institutions constitute any 
shared resource of any quality with the meager holdings that may still 
exist in them.  (Searching for newspapers on Eureka and WorldCat is a 
frustrating experience.)  Not even New York Public.  NYPL's collections for 
breadth, depth and condition cannot compare to ANR's.  And, of course, LC 
has little as well.

As you can see I am and have been very enthusiastic about this 
collection.  The Pulitzer papers and their color pages, etc., are simply 
the cream of the crop.  The pivot upon which the PR about the collection 
turns.  The real research potential of the collection lies in the regular 
titles.  Turning the pages and discovering history as it happened, from the 
world to the neighborhood; from politics to the local art scene and police 
blotter.  The resources for history, design, advertising, news coverage, 
typography, illustration processes, etc., are all there.  You cannot get 
this from the microfilm.  God help us all in preserving what remains of 
these artifacts.

Robert Milevski

At 07:49 AM 4/23/04 -0400, you wrote:
> Though I am not sure who will respond, here are two questions with regard to
> the Duke News item:
>
> 1. Are the remainder of the ANR papers still housed in the "old mill
> converted to a public building?"  Can anyone report on the storage
> conditions there?  I wonder what ANR means when it states that it
> "preserves" the papers.
>
> 2. How will Duke University Libraries provide access to the papers?  Will
> they be brought out for individual patrons to use on request?  Assuming that
> microfilming for preservation purposes may not be in the picture, will the
> collection be digitized?
>
> Walter Cybulski
> Head, Quality Assurance Unit
> Preservation & Collection Mgmt. Section
> National Library of Medicine

***********************************************
Robert J. Milevski
Preservation Librarian, Digital Projects Librarian,
& Manager, Typography Studio
Princeton University Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544
(609) 258-5591
Fax:  (609) 258-4105
Email:  milevski@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Preservation Office website:
http://libweb2.Princeton.EDU/preservation/ccu/PO-IntroPage.html
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