*Chicago, IL*-January 21, 2007 The *Society of Architectural 
Historians** (SAH)* received a grant from the *Andrew W. Mellon 
Foundation* to plan the development of an online edition of the /Journal 
of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH) /and the expansion of 
the SAH Image Exchange, a digital, online collection of more than 4,000 
building images available for educational uses. The grant of $323,000 
marks a new era in which the Society will explore the mechanisms for 
creating and presenting both digital scholarship and digital pedagogical 
tools. Commenting on receipt of the grant, *SAH President Barry 
Bergdoll* observed, “The fact that the Mellon Foundation has turned its 
attention to the issues surrounding digital resources in the field of 
architectural history is very important both for SAH and the discipline 
as a whole. I look forward to working closely with the SAH board as we 
research solutions that will be beneficial for /JSAH/, the Image 
Exchange, SAH and the field of architectural history as a whole.”

The need for planning in these areas was articulated at a workshop —the 
Scholarly Communications Institute 4 (SCI 4)--held at University of 
Virginia in Charlottesville, July 30-August 1, 2006. As described by 
*Richard Lucier, the Director of SCI*, the focus of all four Scholarly 
Communications Institutes was to provide “an opportunity for leaders in 
scholarly disciplines, academic libraries, advanced technologies, and 
higher education administration to study, develop, and implement 
institutional and discipline-based strategies to advance scholarly 
communication in the context of the ongoing digital revolution.” SCI 4 
focused specifically on the field of architectural history and the 
‘grand challenges’ facing architectural historians as they seek to 
integrate new and emerging technologies into their research and teaching.

The first part of the planning project will study how SAH can develop a 
robust digital version of its quarterly scholarly journal, /JSAH, /the 
/Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. JSAH/, the journal 
of record in the English language for the field of architectural 
history, has been in continuous publication since 1941. Each issue 
features three to four peer-reviewed scholarly articles as well as 
reviews of books, exhibitions and new media.

*Hilary Ballon, the current /JSAH /Editor and Professor of Architectural 
History at Columbia University*, will lead the /JSAH/ study. As Ballon 
explains, “The goal is to offer a new presentation format that brings 
the benefits of digital imaging and interactive communication to art 
history scholarship online. We hope the results of our work will serve 
other illustrated e-publications.” The rationale for electronic 
publication of art and architectural history scholarship is detailed in 
/Art History and Its Publications in the Electronic Age/, a report of a 
study co-authored by Ballon and Mariet Westermann in July 2006. (The 
report has been electronically published by Rice University and CLIR and 
is available at http://cnx.org/content/col10376/latest/)

The second part of the planning project will study how to transform the 
SAH Image Exchange, an online collection of 4,000 digital architectural 
photographs and plans, into the *SAH Visual Resource Network*, an online 
collection that could include a vast range of digital media, from 
photographs and moving images to computer-generated drawings, QTVR 
panoramas, models, reconstructions, and “fly-throughs,” all with 
enhanced access mechanisms and perhaps even annotation tools. The SAH 
Visual Resource Network would include content from several disciplines 
that overlap the history of architecture, such as landscape history, 
vernacular architecture, urbanism, decorative arts, design history, 
construction, and engineering.

The SAH Visual Research Network study will be conducted by a small 
working group of scholars and technology experts led by *Dietrich 
Neumann, SAH First Vice-President and Professor of Architectural History 
at Brown University*, and *Jeffrey Cohen, Editor of the SAH Image 
Exchange and Senior Lecturer in the Growth & Structure of Cities Program 
at Bryn Mawr College*. As Cohen explained, “To our knowledge, the SAH 
Image Exchange is the richest image collection on the open Web that is 
geared especially toward teaching surveys, representing most building 
sites with a range of complementary images, including plans…We 
anticipate that, with close collaboration with other groups and 
institutions, it will be possible to create a new incarnation of the SAH 
Image Exchange with enhanced features and content.”

The research for both parts of the planning project will take place 
within the next eighteen months and will result in recommendations and 
specific plans to create both /JSAH/ online and the SAH Visual Resource 
Network. Inquiries about the studies can be directed to the Principal 
Investigator for the Mellon grant and Executive Director of the Society 
of Architectural Historians, Pauline Saliga at [log in to unmask] 
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

# # # # # #

*/About SAH: /*/The Society of Architectural Historians is the leading 
international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and 
preservation of the built environment worldwide. Founded in 1940, the 
Society is an Illinois 501 (c ) (3 ) tax exempt membership organization 
that has 4,000 members in North America and around the world. To learn 
more about the Society, please visit www.sah.org <http://www.sah.org/>/

-- 
Ann Whiteside
Head, Rotch Library of Architecture & Planning
MIT - Room 7-238
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: 617-258-5594
Fax: 617-253-9331
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President, ARLIS/NA
www.arlisna.org

Cataloging Cultural Objects
http://www.vraweb.org/ccoweb/cco/index.html

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