Looking to the Spring

Professor Carroll has led the students through their semester of research, inquiry, and methodological approaches. Thank you, Tamar!

In the spring, I will pick up where Tamar left off by ushering in the senior thesis coursework by laying out the timeline, with the goal of having a paper and poster prepared in advance of the College of Liberal Arts Undergraduate Poster session, which will be held on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.

I look forward to working with all of our seniors in the spring!

Allow this post, also, to serve as congratulations to Katy who successfully prepared her poster this fall. Her paper, "Applying Marketing Principles to the Museum Experience", is being supervised by Prof. John Ward, Saunders College of Business, and me. Congrats, Katy!

Katy with her poster in the University Gallery, December 15, 2015

Intersession Plan

The semester is at the end and intersession break is just around the corner. The goal of my research during the intersession is to gather more data of Deaf Studies archives;  to research data of deaf institutions with deaf studies’ archives, to develop survey questions for future participators’ assessment needs, and to collect data through video call interviews from institutions for the Deaf’s archive faculty and volunteers based on their assessment needs.  Overall, I will be developing basic structure designs and online training guidelines to fulfill faculty and volunteers’ assessment needs.

Intersession Research

Now that classes are wrapping up it is time to look towards the next coming weeks. Starting next Monday I will be starting to scan illustrations and put both colored and non colored in a spread sheet, I'm going to take to the end of the month to find any textual evidence to support the colors that were used. The other big project I have to do is transcribe and attempt to translate the reader response found in each copy. I plan on having that done hopefully by Week 1. Now that I am no longer doing any imaging on the book, it leaves a lot more time to do these two projects as well as look for more sources and reread the sources I have and taking careful notes on them. At this point I don't really know what will come out of this research but I am really excited to find out.

Marginalia in the Cary's copy

Marginalia at Columbia University

Reader Response at Newberry 

Intercession Research Plan

     Although I will be extremely busy during the intercession, I intend to read as much as I can, about the Prospects of Mankind as well as the exhibition design plan and their practical methods for the steps. I will read the documents regarding the Prospects of Mankind, the TV show, that Eleanor Roosevelt hosted to discuss the important issues, specifically about human rights issues in the home [US] and abroad. Then I will design the exhibition floor plan because it will help me understand how it may look and develop the description of the exhibition itself. 

     However, I am concerned that I may not be able to find the research books in my hometown in Oxford, AL, and the wifi in the home is so terrible, but at least, I already downloaded as many books as I can find through the Internet. I will try to visit the local libraries in both Oxford and Anniston at least.

Besides, that is exactly how I am feeling right now when my laptop is slowing...

Intersession

Christmas Colorama from the George Eastman Museum collection 

My thesis has undergone many changes in construction and formatting in the past few weeks. I have finally decided, with the help of Ross Knapper from Eastman and Professor Brown, to complete a finding aid for the Colorama collection. In order to complete a finding aid for any given collection, it is crucial to work with all of the given materials. This brings me to my work over intersession, I will be continuing to become familiar with, catalog, and rehouse the collection. While working in the archives with Ross, I will be on the hunt for paid part-time work, which may take up most of my efforts during the break.

"Accessibility": Looking Forward, Ruth Starr

I am continuing to focus my research for this project as the intersection between three, historically, distinct disciplines: museum accessibility practices, contemporary issues in Disability Studies, and psychological assessment methodologies for analyzing biases and implicit attitudes. During the course of our intersession break, I am intending to delve further into researching these three topics so that I can begin to formulate the introductory framework, and literature reviews for the paper. 

Whitney Museum of American Art, 2015

While the primary focus of my work at the beginning of the semester focused on accessibility efforts specifically related to engaging visitors with disabilities, the dialogues, and my own understanding of accessibility is constantly being challenged (in an incredible way) and broadened through new experiences. Before moving to its new space, the Whitney Museum of American Art held public forums to discuss how to create a safe and welcoming space for visitors from all walks of life. Now, the "Access" efforts in many museums are broadening - a pattern which we have seen, as this thesis will argue, throughout the evolution of museums as public spaces. Something that I'm continuing to be interested in, as I am learning new perspectives and experiences, is the definition of "accessibility" and the goal of what "accessibility in museums" means.

During intersession, in addition to continuing to develop more research from the resources I've already collected, I'm hoping to begin to incorporate the perspectives of current practitioners in the field for their input on the project.  

Intersession Research

      As classes are wrapping up and finals are approaching, I have not had as much time to dedicate to my research as I would have liked. However I will have a lot more free time in the upcoming weeks of intersession. I have some goals in mind that I would like to achieve during the break. I am planning to read all the books I have on subjects related to my senior thesis topic, such as fashion and feminism, over intercession. Before I can even evaluate magazines and begin writing, I need to create a systematic approach to the analysis and evaluation of Vogue advertisements, articles, and photographs. This will help me evaluate each magazine issue objectively and methodologically. I am planning to narrow my focus of samples; by reviewing 4 issues of Vogue per year from 1955-1975, I am currently proposing that I will be able to analyze 80 issues overall. While I know this is not realistic, I need to read my research books and review some magazines on The Vogue Archive to assess which 10 year time span or so between 1955-1975 is the most pertinent to what I want to examine. Afterwards, I will begin annotating pertinent findings and quotes from my literature. Each week of intersession, I am planning to look at Vogue issues from a small section of my proposed years for samples.

Here are some of the books I have bought for my senior thesis research.

      During the early part of intersession, I will be moving from one state to another and settling into a new home. While I will not having internet for the first week or so at my new home, I will be able to get some thesis work done by reading through my literature. I am planning to read at least 4 hours a day until I complete all of my books. Fortunately moving is the only bump in the road regarding my free time during intersession. I will have the opportunity to solely focus on my senior thesis for the majority of intersession. Tentatively, my plan of work for this time includes narrowing down my sample years, creating a methodology, and reviewing photographs, articles, and advertisements on The Vogue Archive. I will also be doing a lot of reading and writing for my thesis as well.

Intercession Research Plan

Over the intercession I plan to do as much reading on my topic as I can, specifically about the ingredients and practices they would have used during the late 1800s. I will start with what I have in my annotated bibliography, and then move on from there to fill in the blanks, with the ultimate goal of being able to develop a historic recipe with Swiftwater brewing. I'll probably spend an hour or two most days reading my various sources, instead of my normal nightly reading. Since I won't be back in Rochester until late January, I want to be be able to talk with them about what we could do within the first week that I get back. Since the process of brewing will take about two and a half months to complete, I want to be able to get started on it as soon as possible. It will also be a great starting point for the rest of my writing.

Two-Pronged Approach

On November 30, I had an opportunity to visit Vintage Pinball in Del Ray, Florida. It is a commercial establishment with coin operated machines (mostly pinball) from the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the machines are for sale. Inside there are three rooms filled with pinball machines set to free-play, about 30 in all. Due to family obligations I wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked, but for $10.00 a customer can spend as much time as they like there (even come and go). Being exposed to machines and actually being able to play them is far superior to reading about them in books. When you are a player you get the full experience and see the moving parts in action, including how the ball interacts with the artwork-covered environment. There are subtle details that are easy to miss, and some of the mechanisms in pinball machines are so unique, it is hard to understand them from text alone. From this experience, I have concluded that for any machine I want to examine in depth, I should have at least some hands on experience. If that is not possible, I will look online to see if there are any videos of people playing the machine. I am also curious about people's first-time impressions and reactions to machines when they are released, but this information could be tricky to come by for half-century old machines!

The past two weeks have been packed with projects, papers, and presentations. Even when I was traveling, I was working on assignments. I am looking forward to intercession, not because I won't have to do work (on my thesis), but because I can really focus on it without competing coursework for a few weeks! There is another important project I am working on concurrently, outside of RIT, but at least it is somewhat related to my research. I also hold an internship at The Strong, where I am currently working every Friday in the Archives.

During the intercession in December and January, I will spend most of my time doing collections and archival research at The Strong National Museum of Play, where many of my pinball sources come from. I have been thinking about which machines in particular will be good subjects for my thesis. The Strong has many machines, but not all of the ones I would like to examine. That is where the library and archives will come in handy! Monday through Thursday (with the exception of holidays), I would like to put in 3.5 hours of thesis research, followed by 4 hours of internship work. (Fridays will remain the same, with 7.5 hours of internship work.) At first I thought it would be excessive, but I have a long way to go! It is better to put the time in now than to wish I had later.

Since I do not have a lot of prior knowledge in women's studies, I will also need to begin reading some current texts as well as foundation texts that inform the field today. I might have a better idea which sources best suit my needs once I meet with my advisors. Their suggestions may help me narrow my scope and choose key topics that will point to where I need to look. I will do this reading in the evenings and on weekends. Once I have gathered enough pinball-related material for my thesis, I can focus more heavily on women's studies. The more I think about it, it seems a bit "backwards"-- how can I examine the material with a critical feminist lens before having fully developed one? Since I will not be able to spend a lot of time at The Strong during Spring semester, I have to get that time in now.

My goals for intercession are to "complete" most of my pinball-related research and read at least one long women's studies text.

In addition, I have come up with a primitive overall plan of work:

December 21-31: Research at The Strong - Books and Magazines, Collections

January 1-15: Blogs, Magazines, Articles, Exhibits Research, Finalize Outline

January 16-31: Update outline. Women’s Studies Research - Books & Scholarly Articles

February 1-15: Update outline. Begin Rough Draft using research notes.

February 16-29: Primary and Secondary Read Draft, Feedback, Revision

March 1 -15: Primary and Secondary Read Draft, Feedback, Revision

March 16-31: (Spring Break) Travel if necessary, otherwise continue writing.

April 1-10: Primary and Secondary Read Draft, Feedback, Final Revision

April 12-16: Finishing Touches on Thesis (DUE WEEK 12 / April 12-16).

Plans for Thesis over Intersession

        I am using the Baseball Hall of Fame as a case study for my research on the representation of marginalized groups in sports museums, and so I will need to make observations at the Hall of Fame. Since my hometown is only about an hour from Cooperstown, New York (the location of the Baseball Hall of Fame) I will need to conduct my observations over intersession. When I go home for winter break I will be returning to my paid job, and also to the Gloversville Public Library [to complete my internship requirements]. Nevertheless, I will make time in my schedule to make as many trips to the Hall of Fame as needed to complete these observations. Additionally, I plan to continue researching my topic over winter break.
(Sample observations: How much of the exhibit space is used to interpret the history of marginalized groups in baseball? How is the history of African Americans in baseball being interpreted?)