Changing directions “You have to be meticulous in the experience when he applied to be an archive technician. He was archives because if you have anythinglife-changing aforlookingwasn’t’15Sobel-SmithTerran just looking for asummer job. This, like most of his Linfield experiences, was serendipitous. wrong, it could throw people off for he said. Hiswork onthe wine history archive and atthe International the next 30 years.” expected,”even been planned ornothave opportunitiesmy“Most of Pinot Noir Celebration is opening new doors. Having met wine makers from around the world, he’s now contemplating “When Imeet the wine pioneers, they are 30 years older than spending time in Burgundy, France, to learn first hand about the photos I’ve been working with, so it really brings me back in winery management. time,” he added. “In the archives it’s easy to get lost, you forget what Reading, scanning and digitizing documents and photos era you are living in because you live within acertain time frame.” from the Linfield archives and from the various wine collections, Mitra Haeri ’14 said that the archives add ahistorical has brought history to life for Sobel-Smith. element to her education. “These are real people, there are real experiences behind “That’s the nice thing about being at asmall school, you can these materials,” he said. One of his favorite finds was atouching combine things to find that special niche you want,” she said. letter to Dick Ponzi from his daughter. Haeri has continued research begun by Rosa Gimson ’12 who organized the current exhibit on display at the Linfield- Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Portland. The photographs What’s in the archives? have given Haeri an inside view of the changes in the medical field and nursing profession over the past 100 years. The Linfield College Archives still holds agreat deal of mystery, with only between 5and 10 percent of the collection closely examined. It houses adiverse assortment of materials. The oldest is aleaf from a15th century French “Book of Hours,” written in afine Gothic hand on creamy vellum. Another is aprinted “Book of Hours” from the early 16th century by the Parisian printer Antoine Verard. There are Baptist Bibles, hymnals, missionary reports and publications dating from the 1850s through World War II. Linfield has one of the best collections of Baptist history in the region. Other old volumes cover topics such as slavery, immigration and women’s roles. There are student scrap- books from 1901 and class registers going back to 1890. Aflour sack reading “Go to College,” which hung on poles around town, is one example of student recruitment. A large section ofthe archives houses college presidential papers, including dozens of boxes of correspondence, programs and documents for ceremonies, minutes of meetings, menus for dinners and special events. There are thousands of photographs covering the history of the college, some of which have been identified, catalogued and digitized and others that are waiting to be processed. About 250 historical photos have been digitized and are located on the DigitalCommons@Linfield. Since Woody joined the staff in 2011, anumber of alumni have donated photos, scrapbooks, and fraternity and sorority paddles used for pledging back in the 1950s. At right, Mitra Haeri ’14 carefully handles the oldest item housed in the archives special collections. “Materials that have never been in the archives It is a detached leaf from a 15th century French Book of Hours. It is written in a fine Gothic hand before are finding their way here and adding anice new on creamy vellum, with alternating initials of blue and burnished gold decorated with fine line angle to Linfield’s history from an alumni perspective,” penwork. Above, clockwise from top left, other artifacts include a ceremonial medallion worn by Woody said. the president at commencement and other events; a leaf from the French Book of Hours; planting notes from a vineyard manager in the Dundee Hills; and a hand-painted tie that was presented to Win Dolan, former professor, dean and interim president. 1 0 - l i n f i e l d m a g a z i n e Winter 2013
Linfield Winter 2013
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