My initial idea for my senior thesis project was to create a online exhibit about the Kodak Camera Club (KCC), using materials from the archive at the Eastman Kodak Company that I helped to build for my internship, as well as oral history interviews with former KCC members. Since my last update, my topic has not changed much, but I have been in contact with several individuals at Kodak who have helped me shape and narrow the scope of the project. As of right now, my research question is: How can museum and archival practices be applied to corporate settings (such as the Eastman Kodak Company), and what unique legal, ethical, and practical considerations need to be made when creating an exhibit by and for a private company? I will work with Kodak's marketing department, which is in charge of the newly-created archives, to create an exhibit about the history of the KCC, which at its height in the 1950s and 60s had thousands of members across all Kodak departments.
I am still working to hone in on a concise topic, but my discussions with Matt Stouffel at Kodak have helped me to decide how I want to approach this project, and I look forward to continuing to develop my ideas!
This is a really cool project and a really relevant question. While I have no doubt that you will be able to answer your question over the course of your project, I was wondering if you might actually have two different, but related questions, instead of one, and if it wouldn't be easier to focus on one over the other (there's no way to completely separate them) for the paper portion of your thesis.
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated to learn about this little piece of Rochester history. I am sure that with all of the wonderful connections you have and the work you are putting in that this is going to be a fabulous project!
ReplyDeleteLove the RQs. It seems that your concern can be on the core achival function of control (as in access/restriction). For this, you might peruse the approaches of Jenkinson and Schellenberg, among others. In addition, you might wish to think about the role of the visitor.
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