As we hurtle into the second month of the semester, I thought it was a good time to take a look back at what some Music Library staff have been working on over the past 18 months, and to get their suggestions about what not to miss around campus. Welcome to, or back to, Cambridge; we hope we’ll see you around the library soon!
Tell us something you’ve been working on!
Christina Linklater, Keeper of the Isham Memorial Library and Houghton Music Cataloger
Eileen Southern, photographed by Martha Stewart. Radcliffe College Archives PC 479-1-1
Since 2018, I have been involved with a student-faculty-library collaboration called The Eileen Southern Initiative. Working from home allowed me to focus more energy on this project than I otherwise would have been able to do. I am proud and excited to report that it is leading up to some big events in the coming academic year: virtual symposia, a student-created documentary film, a digital exhibition and, coming in January 2022, an actual in-person exhibition in the Music Library. I can’t wait to share what we’ve discovered about Professor Southern, a musicologist who was the first African-American woman to receive tenure at Harvard.
[Editor’s note: the Initiative’s first online event, “Black Women and the American University: Eileen Southern’s Story” will be held from 4:00-5:00 PM Eastern time on November 15, 2021; register now to receive the link.]
Joe Kinzer, Senior Curatorial Assistant, Archive of World Music
I have been working on the long and tedious processes of metadata corrections and additions to finding aids, such as the James A. Rubin Collection of South Indian Classical Music or Somali Songs, 1955-1991: The Maryan “Aryette” Omar Ali Collection. Another project, “Singing the Story of Dhrangadhra,” is a digital exhibit highlighting our Jayasinhji Jhala Collection of Dhrangadhra Music (Western Indian Court Music).
Liz Berndt-Morris, Reference and Research Services Librarian
Throughout the summer I’ve been a member of a Harvard Library task force on inclusive spaces. We worked to gather and analyze data about current library spaces and other spaces on campus and are currently using that information to inform us on next steps to make our library spaces welcoming to everyone.
Lingwei Qiu, Library Assistant for Print Music
I have processed 1200+ musical scores, cataloging and sewing them into pam folders, the covers we add to help them stay in good condition and open flat on a music stand, to make them ready for use. I completed some projects that could be done online, and attended music library related conferences and meetings, like MLA (the Music Library Association’s annual conference) and NEMLA (the New England Music Library Association).
Hand-sewing scores into pamphlets.
Only a few of the new journals and scores waiting for Lingwei!
Kerry Masteller, Reference and Digital Program Librarian
Liz and I gave a presentation for the New England Music Library Association – We’re Still Here! Teaching Research Remotely (PDF) – and now that we’re on campus again, we’re translating some of the things we learned about working with large classes online to our in person teaching. Spoiler alert: it’s tough getting used to not having the chat for low-stakes feedback!
Whether or not you’re new to campus, don’t miss…
The Employee Assistance Program has found me a dentist, a lawyer, and a childcare scholarship. They will triage and direct any inquiry, no matter how odd: there must be limits to the EAP but in 21 years at Harvard I haven’t managed to stump them!
Take a stroll from Cambridge Common to Radcliffe Quad.
Use your Harvard ID to get into free or discounted museums around Boston! Find these and other deals at Harvard Outings and Innings.
Look for rabbits! Try the brand new Peter J. Solomon gate outside the main entrances to Lamont and Houghton Libraries, then spend some time in the Dudley Garden, behind Lamont.
A Lego masterpiece: Paine Hall and the Music Building
I think the most amazing moment was when I saw building manager Jonathan Savilonis’ Lego music building in his office. [Ed.: Read more about this labor of love and 3000 red bricks in the Harvard Gazette, and find it on display outside the Music Building’s Taft Lounge.]
Collected and lightly edited by Kerry Masteller.
