Blog post 2: narrowing a topic

Hello! I have two main ideas for my thesis right now, I'll lay them out and then discuss possible pros and cons of each. This will not only fulfill the required blog post for this week, but will hopefully help me to think through them more fully, inching myself closer to a decision.

My first idea is to work with the independent living facility my grandfather lives at in Fairport, NY and a local museum and/or library to bring the residents an educational program.

Possible pros of this are it's highly related to my career goal, museum education, and it would be a great project to put on my resume for future employment and grad school. I also think the personal connection to this home would motivate me more than working with any other audience, and would hold me more accountable. Not only would my grandfather and his neighbors stand to benefit, but my parents, aunts, and uncles would all be invested too. I wouldn't want to slack off and not do my best for all of them!

One major con of this idea is that my ability to finish it relies heavily on the home allowing me to begin, a museum or library allowing me to use their collection for the project, and being able to sync my schedule up to everyone else's. While I can't envision anyone turning away a highly motivated college kid wanting to do free work for them, you never know, and I'd hate to get halfway through and suddenly be left out on the sidewalk. Another potential issue is that perhaps the home used to have programs like the one I'm envisioning, and they were a flop with the residents. Finally, I'm not sure how to articulate a research question for this project. I understand the question is something that evolves all year, but I don't even know where to start.

All that being said, my other idea is to work with the Kodak archive and do an oral history project of how Kodak affected Rochester residents.

Pros of this include the fact that I already have strong connections to Kodak and the people working with the archive and I have a good sense of the company history which would serve as my background knowledge before I began talking with people. Also, if anyone were to do a Kodak oral history project, there would be no better place to do it than right here in Rochester, and here I am!

Cons could include the Kodak archive not wanting to make use of the oral histories if they paint a negative picture of the downfall of the company. This is understandable, the bottom line of the exhibit on Ridge Road was to create an "uplifting" portrait of Kodak in the 21st century, and my hypothesis is that very few folks these days would have positive, uplifting messages to share. This could be fixed by working with the city historian or a different museum in Rochester, but if I change who I'm working with then I lose the "pro" of having those strong connections I mentioned above. The other major con for this is that while I'm incredibly interested in oral history, Rochester, Kodak, et cetera, this project does not directly tie into the whole museum education career I'm currently envisioning for myself. Of course, that's okay, but should I stick with something more focused on what I want to do in the future? Should I reconsider what I want to do in the future, if this project is pulling me in? I have no answers yet!

Corporate Archives: Preserving the past in a fast-paced environment

Since my last update, the scope of my project has somewhat shifted. The more I was researching corporate archives, the more I became interested in the field in general. Quite a bit of research has been done regarding the unique purpose and function that corporate archives possess, but there is still much to be uncovered. The field is relatively new (the first business archive was established by Firestone in 1949) and corporate archives are still few and far between compared to the number of archives in general in the United States. For my thesis, I would like to chronicle the history and significance of corporate archives, as well as compile a list of best practices established in the field and apply these to the Kodak Archive. This will result in a collecting plan and set of recommendations which will allow Kodak to expand and improve their archive if they choose to do so.  

Through my research, I am learning more about the history of corporate archives, as well as why they are often not seen as a necessity for a company. The business world is very different from the museum/non-profit world, and every facet of a company needs to justify its existence by proving it will help make the company more efficient and more profitable. Because of this, much of the literature about corporate archives has to do with establishing a dialogue between archivists and businesspeople to help companies understand the benefits of preserving their past.

I have selected Dr. Corinna Schlombs as my primary thesis advisor, and her research in the field of technology history has led her to make many connections in corporate and business archives. Through her contacts, I’m hoping to get in touch with the archivist at IBM and possibly visit their corporate archives in Somers, NY (which happens to be very close to my hometown). This would be an excellent opportunity to view one of the largest corporate archives in North America and gain firsthand insight into the functions of the collection on a day-to-day basis. I will also be doing more research into the specific best practices that have been established at successful corporate archives, as well as general preservation recommendations for the specific materials that are housed in the Kodak Archive.

Doing History in Corporate America: A Case Study of the Eastman Kodak Archives

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!

Thesis Ideas

During my internship at Kodak in June, I focused primarily on processing a large collection of documents, photographs, and objects related to the Kodak Camera Club (KCC). The KCC was an organization of Kodak employees who were interested in amateur photography. At the height of Kodak's success in the mid-to-late twentieth century, the Camera Club had hundreds of members across all departments in the company. Members could rent photographic equipment and enter their work in salons and exhibitions that took place several times a year. The organization disbanded entirely in the early 2000s when Kodak was struggling financially, but all of the meeting minutes, exhibition planning materials, event photographs, and other materials remain in the Kodak Archive. In trying to piece together the story of this employee organization, I realized quickly that almost none of the current employees at Kodak had any knowledge of the KCC, as many of the employees who were members of the club have either retired or lost their jobs when the company declared bankruptcy.

My idea for my thesis is to record oral histories from retired and former Kodak employees who were members of the Kodak Camera Club, to get a better understanding of how the club functioned and the role that it played in the corporate culture at Kodak in the second half of the 20th century. As many of the people who were employed at Kodak in its heyday are either deceased or very elderly, there is an immediate need for oral history research. These interviews, coupled with the resources in the Kodak Archive, could result in an online exhibition about the history of the Kodak Camera Club.

Get to know me!

Hello all!

My name is Emily King and I'm a fourth year in the Museum Studies program. I'm from Poughkeepsie, New York, but I was born in a little parish outside of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where I lived until I was five years old.

I've always had an interest in museums, specifically the curatorial and collections management side of things. My main field of interest is art and art history, and my ultimate goal is to seek a master's degree and potentially a PhD in modern and contemporary art. Anyone who's ever spent more than 20 minutes with me can probably guess that my other major interest is sports (specifically soccer, but also basketball and baseball). I spend a large amount of my free time watching and reading about sports, bothering all my friends with random trivia tidbits, and being overdramatic about the results of games. I've always said that if I hadn't fallen in love with the museum field, I would have chosen to study sports management. However, I feel that sports fans are a largely untapped market in the museum field, and I would love to work in a large institution such as the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Basketball Hall of Fame.

This summer I completed my internship at the Eastman Kodak Company, working with several other RIT Museum Studies students to develop a historical archive with objects and documents that had been accumulated by the company over its nearly 130 year history. It was an incredible experience that allowed me to apply what I'd learned in my collections management and archival theory classes to a real-world project. I'm hoping to incorporate my experiences working at Kodak into my thesis.

The photo below was taken on the Dom Luis I Bridge, which connects Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia across the Douro River. I was fortunate enough to be able to study abroad in Portugal this past July. Our class traveled from Lisbon to Coimbra to Porto over the course of four weeks, taking in the incredible art and architecture of Portugal while studying electronic literature and worldbuilding. We also participated in the 2017 Electronic Literature Organization Conference at the Universidade Fernando Pessoa in Porto, assisting with the curation of exhibits centered around main themes in electronic literature.

I'm looking forward to a great semester with you all!

Emily