Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library Receives CLIR Hidden Collections
Grant for American View Books
<http://library.columbia.edu/news/libraries/2013/2013-2-21_Avery_CLIR_American_View.html>
NEW YORK, February 21, 2013 – Columbia University Libraries/Information
Services is pleased to announce the receipt of a CLIR Hidden Collections
grant to support cataloging of the unique and extensive collection of
American View Books in the Avery Architectural& Fine Arts Library.
Avery’s American View Books Collection provides pictorial documentation
of cities and towns throughout the United States. The collection is
comprised of 4,800 items published in a variety of formats, including
printed books, photographic albums, and novelties. Together, these items
present an evolving illustrated history of the American-built
environment from the mid-nineteenth century to the twentieth century.
“The view books present a sweeping view of the changing American
landscape. The images chart the growth of rural areas into towns and
cities, the advance of the railroads across the country, and the rising
popularity of county fairs and national expositions,” said Carole Ann
Fabian, Director of the Avery Architectural& Fine Arts Library. “The
primary achievement of the view book is the documentation of
architecture and urbanism in an expanding American landscape.”
Hundreds of thousands of images of buildings, streetscapes, monuments,
and parklands from every state provide historical snapshots of the
evolution of the nation. In addition, accompanying detailed texts
describe the growth of local industries, the construction of major
buildings, the development of transportation networks, and the
characteristics of regional architectural styles. Many of the buildings
pictured are shown from different points of view or before and after
alterations.
"The type of publication that will be cataloged under this grant is of
immense interest to all those who study American architecture, urban
history, and cultural history and for those who work in historic
preservation and planning,” said David Brownlee, Frances
Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor and Chair of the Graduate Group for Art
History& Archive at the University of Pennsylvania.“We are on the verge
of being able to recreate and tell the stories of our cities with
unprecedented detail and accuracy."
The $75,500 grant will support a major bibliographic goal: to define and
produce a highly descriptive cataloging template for this document type
that includes not only standardized format and subject headings, but
also significant geographical data within the MARC format. This mix of
topics, named persons, dates, and locations will provide multiple levels
of access to users across a broad range of educational and experiential
levels.
Geographic descriptors within the view books include the region, state,
city, and local locations such as street addresses and building names.
Embedding these geographic descriptors within structured independent
fields or subheading indicators in MARC records allows geo-coding data
to be generated and harvested. That data can then be packaged for
discovery within a mapping interface.
"The viewbooks are an invaluable resource for the study of American
vernacular architecture, and they also provide a mini-history of
photography, said Carolyn Yorke Yerkes, Curator of Avery Classics at the
Avery Architectural& Fine Arts Library.“Albumen prints,
chromolithographs, photogravures, engravings--you can find all of these
in the viewbooks. Cataloging this material will make available to
scholars a wealth of previously unknown information."
Often intended as souvenir books for tourists, view books were produced
by local organizations such as Chambers of Commerce to create visual
keepsakes of cities, towns, parks, and rural communities and include
examples of every form of structure: houses, churches, factories,
storefronts, bridges, tunnels.
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*The Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library* is one of the most
comprehensive collections relating to architecture and the fine arts in
the world. Avery collects a full range of primary and secondary sources
for the advanced study of architecture, historic preservation, art
history, decorative arts, city planning, real estate, and archaeology.
The Library contains more than 600,000 volumes, including 40,000 rare
books, and approximately 2,300 serials. Avery’s Drawings and Archives
collection includes more than 2 million architectural drawings and
records. For more information, please visit the Avery website
<http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/avery.html>.
*Columbia University Libraries/Information Services* is one of the top
five academic research library systems in North America. The collections
include over 11 million volumes, over 150,000 journals and serials, as
well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books,
microforms, maps, and graphic and audio-visual materials. The services
and collections are organized into 22 libraries and various academic
technology centers. The Libraries employs more than 500 professional and
support staff. The website of the Libraries is the gateway to its
services and resources: library.columbia.edu<http://library.columbia.edu/>.
--
Carole Ann Fabian
Director
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
1172 Amsterdam Avenue MC0301
New York, NY 10027
212-854-3068
Web:http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/avery.html
News:https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/avery/
--
Project Director
Built Works Registry
http://builtworksregistry.wordpress.com/
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