Good morning ARLIS/NA,
I would like to share a project to digitize and transcribe several
volumes of personal scrapbooks of original manuscript material for the first director of the original National Gallery of Art (now the
Smithsonian American Art Museum.) Along with the
Smithsonian Institution Archives,
Biodiversity Heritage Library,
Smithsonian Field Book Project and the
Smithsonian Transcription Center, the Smithsonian Libraries is hosting the #ManyHatsofHolmes transcription event to encourage volunteers worldwide to help transcribe these materials online.
Today we are kicking off our
two weeks of cyber-celebrations of William Henry Holmes, Renaissance Man of the Smithsonian, archeologist, anthropologist, artist and the first
curator and director of the National Gallery of Art from 1906-1932. From
November 28-December 9,
our social media channels will be featuring stories and images describing his importance within the Smithsonian and beyond. We hope to bring more visibility to a very interesting individual, but also to spark excitement to help transcribe the first
few volumes of Holmes “Random Records”. Here is how we hope you all can help:
Transcribe! It is easy to become a volunteer from anywhere, and you’ll be able to put Holmes’
own words and the collected accolades from others into a searchable format, making them easy for future scholars and history-buffs to find out more! It took me just a few minutes to sign up and read the instructions, and I
am happy to report that just in the last day, we already have
60% of Volume 3 already transcribed by more than 20
volunteers! There is more information here:
https://transcription.si.edu
Read! There will be a
number of blog posts in the next
two weeks across several different Smithsonian blogs, including the first one (check out that camp pancake!):
https://blog.library.si.edu/2016/11/manyhatsofholmes
Look! There will be images of Holmes and anecdotes and pictures from his “Random Records”
on Instagram, Facebook,
Twitter,
Flickr, and
Tumblr throughout the Holmes-a-palooza. The final day will include a behind-the-scenes virtual tour of WHH’s artwork held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, led by senior
curator Eleanor Harvey. This will be broadcast on the
Libraries’ Facebook Live on Friday December 9th at 2:30 EST (and will be available after the event!)
Share! We will add the social media hashtag #ManyHatsofHolmes to all of our posts,
which you will be able to search using
Google to see all of the postings across platforms.
And we hope you’ll share!
Let me know if you have any questions, and please help transcribe!
~Anne
Anne Evenhaugen
Librarian, Head
Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library
202.633.8227
http://library.si.edu/libraries/aapg
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