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).

The Evolution of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

When I first started looking at the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili in the early summer I at first only wanted to look into the printing history. Once I learned more about the reader response found in the Cary's edition I knew I wanted to focus on reader response. That summer I really dedicated to researching different copies to see if there were any similarities in what the owners were saying or when they were writing. However, this project has really come to focus on the provenance and the colored woodblock illustrations (69/172 are colored in some way). My new focus is to bring in multispectral imaging and piece together when the coloring was done, using what method (I think its watercolor) and by using the provenance - determine who did it - if possible. My research has turned more experiment based and that it something I never saw happening. I hope that I can get this experiment done during intersession that hopefully will come to some conclusions.

An example of a colored woodblock illustration found in the 1499 edition at Columbia University.

Hello, I'm Melissa.

Before I begin posting regularly, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Melissa Fanton, and I am a fourth-year museum studies student at RIT. Since becoming an intern at The Strong National Museum of Play, my interest in Collections Management has blossomed and I hope to pursue a thesis topic related to collections. The collections at The Strong are too interesting not to study in more depth, and their library and archives can provide many high quality sources. Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more in the coming months.

A photograph of me during my internship at The Strong. The image depicts me playing Super Mario Bros. on the day of the World Video Game Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This photograph was taken by RIT alumni Lauren Petracca, staff photographer for the Democrat & Chronicle. From the Democrat & Chronicle, June 4, 2015. Article can be found online here.

Carly's Introduction

9/2/15

Hi, my name is Carly and I am a 4th year Museum Studies student here at RIT. Over the summer I completed two internships, one at the Wildlife Museum and the other at the Gloversville Public Library. I enjoyed my time at both institutions, and I gained some great experience. At the Wildlife Museum, which is located right in my hometown, I was able to observe how children of different age groups interacted with the exhibits while on their school field trips. I noticed that older children are much more independent and prefer to be their own guides, only asking questions when they want clarification on something.
At the Gloversville Public Library I was able to work on a project that my supervisor had been wanting to start for a while. The project involved organizing a post card collection that had been gifted to the library by a local Historian and Physician after he had passed away. I was also asked to transcribe the messages on the backs of the post cards, and the week before my internship came to an end I had begun to scan the cards onto a computer.
The library also would like for me to come back over the winter break to continue working on the post card project, and I am more than happy to do so.