A selection of  projects from my coursework, internships, and jobs.

 

Texas Archive of the Moving Image: www.MeltonBarker.org

  • Developed a satellite website for TAMI dedicated to the work of Texas itinerant filmmaker Melton Barker, highlighting his film, The Kidnappers Foil, which he made approximately 200 times in different towns across the United States, and the extensive research on Barker performed by TAMI Executive Director Caroline Frick and Moving Image Archivist Dwight Swanson
  • Conceived of website architecture that would communicate to users the prolificacy of Barker’s itinerant films, the unique localities the films document, and the experience the films provided for their child actors in the early days of film
  • Designed and formatted the website and its original blog theme using WordPress, CSS, and HTML
  • Performed original research using newspaper archives and emails to Frick from Kidnappers Foil “actors” to discover  locations and dates of films and create a complete list and map of known versions of The Kidnappers Foil
  • Assembled photographs, newspaper articles, digitized ephemera, scholarly articles, and websites to create a section of the website that can serve as a comprehensive resource for researchers
  • Maintain website and add new information as discoveries are made on Barker’s work
  • The Kidnappers Foil was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in December of 2012. The New York Times profiled Melton Barker, his work, and TAMI’s work to preserve his films in a February 2013 article.

 

Texas Archive of the Moving Image: The Thomas F. Freeman Collection
  • Home movie collection of Dr. Thomas F. Freeman– legendary debate coach and professor at Texas Southern University, African-American community leader, and minister of Houston’s Mt. Horem Baptist Church
  • Performed descriptive cataloging and indexing of approximately 140 digitized films in collection
  • Conducted extensive research to identify locations, events, dates, and people present in videos
  • Composed accompanying write-ups of historical events and public figures portrayed in home movies, such as Barbara Jordan’s honorary doctorate ceremony at TSU in 1975 and the Jackson 5 performing at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1974
  • Curated collection for online video library
  • Interviewed Dr. Freeman in order to write full-length feature to accompany collection debut on TAMI’s website

 

Master’s Capstone: Developing Guidelines for Evaluation and Appraisal of VHS Collections at TAMI

  • Performed a case study of VHS materials acquisitioned by TAMI at the El Paso Film Round-up in 2011
  • Researched various methods for collection representation to create standards, considering the vast number of VHS tapes entering collections, the overwhelming file size of a digitized VHS, and questions of ethics in selection, curation, and editing
  • Developed evaluation and appraisal guidelines for creating a representative sample of  a VHS collection for permanent storage and for the online library
  • Applied guidelines to three of the VHS collections from El Paso, creating three finished VHS collections for TAMI that include selected segments for the online library
  • Spearheaded this new initiative for TAMI, employing self-motivation and long-term planning skills

 

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History: Project for Spring 2012 Digital Archiving and Preservation course 

  • Collection of 75 3.5″ floppy disks from the George Sanger Papers in the UT Videogame Archive at CAH containing complete working environment backups and MIDI audio files made by video game music composer George Sanger in the 1980s and 90s
  • Inventoried the disks and recorded the metadata on disk and box labels
  • Imaged each backup disk, preserving the original bitstream
  • Downloaded and emulated Norton and Central Point backup softwares using DOSBox, attempted to mount and render each backup disk image
  • Prepared the original bitstream, associated metadata, and documentation for ingest into the iSchool’s DSpace and the University of Texas Digital Repository
  • The George Sanger Floppy Diskette Project Documentation

 

Harry Ransom Center: The Carole Eastman Collection

  • Processed Carole Eastman Papers: scripts, correspondence, handwritten notes, printed material, photographs, and press clippings documenting the career of screenwriter Carole Eastman
  • Created processing plan, inventoried the collection, performed physical processing and arrangement, and carried out authority searching
  • Composed finding aid, MARC record, and EAD record to increase accessibility for archivists and the general public

 

Harry Ransom Center: Preservation and Exhibition of The Queen (1968), The Lewis Allen Collection
  • Performed extensive film preservation work (cleaning, splicing, rehousing) on valuable outtake collection from early GLBT documentary, The Queen, shot on 16mm sync sound double-system
  • Collected technical metadata and assessed deterioration of film materials in order to generate records for the HRC film collection database
  • Selected accompanying materials to communicate uniqueness of film and controversy surrounding its release in an exhibit for the HRC reading room, on display August – December 2012

 

Texas Archive of the Moving Image: The Arthur J. Higgins Texas Films Collection

  • Itinerant film collection made by filmmaker Arthur J. Higgins in the 1930s and 40s. Films from Higgins’ visits to towns across Texas where he recorded posed scenes of daily life there that focused primarily on the residents, for whom the film was typically shown at a local theater
  • Performed descriptive cataloging and indexing of approximately 20 digitized films in the collection
  • Conducted meticulous research to determine locations and dates of films, as well as scenes where Higgins can be seen directing the film
  • The Arthur J. Higgins Texas Films Collection on TAMI’s website

 

The University of Texas iSchool Podcast, “iSchool You”

  • Recorded and edited segments for use in bi-monthly podcast using Zoom H4n Digital Recorder and Audacity Audio Editor
  • Designed and formated podcast website and original blog theme using WordPress, CSS, and XHTML
  • Contacted potential interviewees, proposed topics and material for discussion, scheduled interviews, requested supplemental material, and maintained relationship after interview
  • Acted as a supervisory presence at all interviews, helping to guide the conversation and maintain focus
  • Delegated sound production and editing responsibilities to group members, enforcing deadlines for interviews and episode release
  • Approved all content for episodes and make final editing choices before publishing

 

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History: Project for Spring 2011 Understanding & Serving Users course 

  • Performed complete user end media mark up for assigned interview from the Texas Oil Industry Oral History Project, a series of oral reminiscences of pioneers of all phases of oil fields and oil booms, roughnecks, drillers, promoters, financiers, contractors, lease men, law officers recorded from 1952-1958
  • Synchronized transcript, reverse-indexed, and mapped interview on CAH’s rich media website using GlifosMedia
  • Required meticulous attention to detail and time management skills to efficiently complete this time intensive project
  • Available at http://glifos.cah.utexas.edu/index.php/TexOilIndustry:T029

 

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection: Project for Fall 2010 Archives & Records Enterprise course

  • Processed Raul Vasquez Papers (6.8 linear ft.): correspondence, handwritten notes, printed material, legal documents, press clippings, and reports documenting the personal life and career of Raul Vasquez, primarily his work with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an organization Vasquez served from 1974-1999
  • Created appraisal report, processing plan, and finding aid to increase accessibility for archivists and the general public
  • Worked in a group of four to process the collection, managed scheduling and division of tasks to complete project before assignment due date
  • Available at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utlac/00321/lac-00321.html