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| Victorian, political satirical print: 'Some Screws Loose in the Reform Cabinet' |
My time in the digitisation studio went very quickly. As
well as the Japanese prints, I managed to photograph six of the random prints
that I found in a box in the gallery store. Here are two of the images, which I
think I can show you as they are set to go online at some point anyway. You can
see that I had to put a colour chart next to them, which I used to do a white
balance at the start (this instructs the computer program as to what to
recognise as true ‘white’ – the image is adjusted accordingly). I actually did
a seventh picture of a different print, but annoyingly it couldn’t be used, as
I’d somehow managed to get the colour chart so close to the edge of the print
that it still showed when you cropped the image!
I wrote another blog post for Special Collections, about the
work I did in the digitisation studio. You can read it below:
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| 18th century satirical print |
Since this was written, both sets of Japanese prints (not
just the Hiroshige) have been put online! This is really exciting, and
something that can be shown in the future as representing the work I’ve done in
the Brotherton. If you look here http://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/382889
, you can see the prints’ entry in Special Collections’ online search facility,
including my description. If you then click on ‘In this collection’, you can
view the collection’s hierarchy – click on the titles of the individual sets to
see how the individual prints are catalogued.
You can also see the prints here, in the University’s digital
library! http://digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/
Scroll down the page to see the brand new section, ‘Special Collections – Art’.
I was allowed to choose an image for the icon, using a detail from one of the
prints. Click on this and all the individual prints are listed. In the future,
provided someone carries on the work I started, more and more art from Special
Collections will be added to this section. Library users and the public can
then be made more aware of all the wonderful art that exists as part of
collections, that before may have been hard to find. I feel so honoured to have
been able to instigate this really fantastic and important project.
19th March was my very last day at work. On the
18th, I had a lunch out with my line manager, the conservator and a couple more
people – we had some delicious pizzas at The Libertine restaurant, opposite the
university, and they treated me to mine, which was really kind of them! It was
probably just as well that we didn’t do this on my last day, as I spent it
rushed off my feet. I had to finish my final report and also some text about
the project as a whole that could be used by another member of staff for a
future presentation. However, I was also asked to go and label all the artworks in
the L-shaped room with their title and catalogue number – this took an hour!
Especially as there was a big stock move that week and someone had parked all
the upstairs trolleys down the aisles of the L-shaped room to get them out of
the way.
Added to this (and, of course, much nicer!), people came up
to me all day and wished me well in Aberystwyth. One person had studied there
himself and gave me some tips! I also had a surprise sendoff by all the staff I’d
got to know through both the internship and my volunteering before that. They
called me through to reception and the ‘big boss’ presented me with £20 in book
tokens, a huge card that they’d all signed, biscuits and chocolates! I wasn’t
expecting that at all and was a bit shocked, but really very moved and ended up
doing an impromptu speech (which I’m not sure they were quite expecting!). I
told them they were all wonderful and that it was due to their support that I
had got my place at Aber – and that it was so great to have found something I
really wanted to do as a career. I’d got them some biscuits too, as well as
cards for the gallery team and the digital team, and an individual one for the
lovely gallery Collections Assistant who had helped me so much. Not to mention
special cards that I’d handmade in quilling, for my manager and the
conservator.
I still feel sad to have gone, when I think of all the
lovely people there, and that I’ll never again go to my little ‘home’ in the
gallery store, or to the big Uni library staff meetings with their interesting
presentations. However, I’m ready to move on to the next step and become a
qualified archivist, as well as enjoying everything Aber has to offer – when I
don’t have my head in a textbook on Latin grammar, that is! Thanks to everyone
who’s read this blog and given me nice compliments. I will stay in touch with
you all and let you know about my progress on the next stage of the journey.
Who knows… maybe there’ll be a job at the Brotherton someday…
Love, Cate xx
