Silent Sounds, Invisible Images: Reanimating the University\u2019s Recorded History<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\nThe history of Rochester is not only found in texts and photographs. It speaks and moves. It marches, sings, performs, inaugurates, and commences. This exhibition puts it on display in audio and visual recordings from the 1920s to the present.<\/p>\n
\n- Experience the exhibit online.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Attendees of Rochester\u2019s 1985 commencement ceremony enjoyed a lineup of speakers that included Nobel Peace Prize\u2013winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Grammy Award\u2013winner Chuck Mangione, groundbreaking anthropologist Elizabeth Colson, and then-Governor of New York State Mario Cuomo. But in the end, Riley left with the words of Tutu and Cuomo reverberating in his head.<\/p>\n
Riley found the speeches by Tutu and Cuomo so thoroughly memorable and affecting that in May, almost 40 years later, he contacted Rochester\u2019s alumni office in search of recordings. Lingering effects of the pandemic, the current state of political discourse, and seeing his sons have their graduations had him reflecting on that point in his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember feeling like the world was in a perilous place the day I got my master\u2019s degree,\u201d says Riley. \u201cHearing both of those really interesting, prominent moral leaders of our time was incredibly moving and meaningful, and they held out a kind of hope beyond us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Riley\u2019s inquiry made its way to Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian, who was happy to share digitized, isolated clips of the speeches. Mead has since made it easier for people to experience or revisit the University\u2019s past with a new University Archives exhibition.<\/p>\n
Rochester\u2019s history in sights and sounds<\/strong><\/h3>\nIn Silent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em>, various media formats are used to reanimate the University\u2019s recorded history. The exhibit, which has a physical presence in Rush Rhees Library\u2019s Great Hall, brings Rochester\u2019s past to life through audio and video recordings from occasions as grand as a commencement or inauguration, to everyday moments like WRUR station identifications.<\/p>\nThe idea for the exhibit was not a product of inspiration as much as a request. Since 2015, Ming-Lun Lee<\/a>, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering<\/a> at Rochester, has brought his students into the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation<\/a> for his audio music engineering course Revolutions in Sound. In a session on obsolete media (think Super-8 film and Betacam), Mead had pulled and displayed close to 40 different audio and video formats from collections across the University. \u201cMing-Lun looked at all the materials and said, \u2018You know, you should do an exhibit,\u2019\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n\u201c<\/span>This is a different way to explore our past. Fortunately, the technology is available to make it possible.\u201d<\/div>\nBut building the display was easier in theory than in execution.<\/p>\n
Silent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em> is the first exhibit of its kind for the University of Rochester Libraries. \u201cIt was quite complex,\u201d says Mead. \u201cYou can’t just put a 16-inch LP in a case and walk away. The whole point is to make these silent objects speak. So, anything with sound and video needs to be captioned, and if it\u2019s just audio, it needs to be transcribed.\u201d<\/p>\nThe first step\u2014digitizing the materials\u2014was already taken. For the last 20 years, Mead and her colleagues have overseen the digitization process, which has itself evolved as technologies have changed and improved. Many of the challenges came later when it was time to select the formats and content to display and creating a companion website that links the physical exhibit to the recordings via QR codes.<\/p>\n![\"Black-and-white](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/inline-don-lyon-university-open-house.jpg\")
Astronaut Ed Gibson \u02bc59 speaks with Don Lyon, a University communication staff member, about his recently completed mission with Skylab 3. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdditionally, preserving all this recorded history takes funding. Since 2005, support has been provided by the University and River Campus Libraries, the New York State Department of Education Conservation and Preservation Program, donors to the Living History Project for Oral History<\/a>, and the John M. and Barbara Keil Endowment Fund.<\/p>\n\u201cThis is a different way to explore our past,\u201d Mead says. \u201cOur exhibits are always a way for us to say, \u2018Look at all this amazing history in our archives.\u2019 Fortunately, the technology is available to make it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recommended recordings<\/strong><\/h3>\nSilent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em> has a lot to offer, not only in its variety but also in duration\u2014some recordings are more than an hour long. So, consider these perspectives from curator Mead and alumnus Riley when choosing a starting point.<\/p>\nVideo only<\/strong><\/h4>\n\u201cBuilding the River Campus\u201d<\/strong>
\nLength: 50 minutes<\/em><\/p>\nThe River Campus\u2019s construction from 1927 to 1930 was captured on two reels of 16mm film. Work was extensively captured in photographs, but the footage\u2014including aerial scenes and the dedication\u2014offers a greater sense of what it was like to be part of that project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s silent footage, but it\u2019s fantastic,\u201d says Mead. \u201cOf course, you see the campus grounds being dug up and buildings being constructed. You also see what the campus looked like when it opened and how raw, but also how wonderful and open it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n- Enter hard hat area<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Black-and-white](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/inline-river-campus-groundbreaking.jpg\")
President Rush Rhees breaks ground for the University of Rochester\u2019s River Campus in 1927. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAudio only<\/strong><\/h4>\n\u201cThe Douglass Lectures\u201d<\/strong>
\nLength: 180\u2013270 minutes<\/em><\/p>\nIn 1967, the University commemorated the 150th anniversary of Frederick Douglass\u2019s birth with a lecture series. There are eight lectures from Black men who were leaders in their fields. Each lecture is about an hour and a half, so this is a serious (but worthwhile) time commitment. Mead highly recommends listening to all eight, but for those who only want to listen to a couple, she suggests the recordings of historian John Hope Franklin and Whitney Young, a civil rights leader and head of the National Urban League.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just blown away by these,\u201d says Mead of the lectures. \u201cThese men are among the top high-fliers, high-achievers of their time. The series was intended as a venue for them to share their stories and the challenges and obstacles they faced and how they overcame them, went around them, and went through them. I\u2019d love to hear from anyone who attended the lectures<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attendees of Rochester\u2019s 1985 commencement ceremony enjoyed a lineup of speakers that included Nobel Peace Prize\u2013winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Grammy Award\u2013winner Chuck Mangione, groundbreaking anthropologist Elizabeth Colson, and then-Governor of New York State Mario Cuomo. But in the end, Riley left with the words of Tutu and Cuomo reverberating in his head.<\/p>\n
Riley found the speeches by Tutu and Cuomo so thoroughly memorable and affecting that in May, almost 40 years later, he contacted Rochester\u2019s alumni office in search of recordings. Lingering effects of the pandemic, the current state of political discourse, and seeing his sons have their graduations had him reflecting on that point in his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember feeling like the world was in a perilous place the day I got my master\u2019s degree,\u201d says Riley. \u201cHearing both of those really interesting, prominent moral leaders of our time was incredibly moving and meaningful, and they held out a kind of hope beyond us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Riley\u2019s inquiry made its way to Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian, who was happy to share digitized, isolated clips of the speeches. Mead has since made it easier for people to experience or revisit the University\u2019s past with a new University Archives exhibition.<\/p>\n
Rochester\u2019s history in sights and sounds<\/strong><\/h3>\nIn Silent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em>, various media formats are used to reanimate the University\u2019s recorded history. The exhibit, which has a physical presence in Rush Rhees Library\u2019s Great Hall, brings Rochester\u2019s past to life through audio and video recordings from occasions as grand as a commencement or inauguration, to everyday moments like WRUR station identifications.<\/p>\nThe idea for the exhibit was not a product of inspiration as much as a request. Since 2015, Ming-Lun Lee<\/a>, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering<\/a> at Rochester, has brought his students into the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation<\/a> for his audio music engineering course Revolutions in Sound. In a session on obsolete media (think Super-8 film and Betacam), Mead had pulled and displayed close to 40 different audio and video formats from collections across the University. \u201cMing-Lun looked at all the materials and said, \u2018You know, you should do an exhibit,\u2019\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n\u201c<\/span>This is a different way to explore our past. Fortunately, the technology is available to make it possible.\u201d<\/div>\nBut building the display was easier in theory than in execution.<\/p>\n
Silent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em> is the first exhibit of its kind for the University of Rochester Libraries. \u201cIt was quite complex,\u201d says Mead. \u201cYou can’t just put a 16-inch LP in a case and walk away. The whole point is to make these silent objects speak. So, anything with sound and video needs to be captioned, and if it\u2019s just audio, it needs to be transcribed.\u201d<\/p>\nThe first step\u2014digitizing the materials\u2014was already taken. For the last 20 years, Mead and her colleagues have overseen the digitization process, which has itself evolved as technologies have changed and improved. Many of the challenges came later when it was time to select the formats and content to display and creating a companion website that links the physical exhibit to the recordings via QR codes.<\/p>\nAstronaut Ed Gibson \u02bc59 speaks with Don Lyon, a University communication staff member, about his recently completed mission with Skylab 3. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdditionally, preserving all this recorded history takes funding. Since 2005, support has been provided by the University and River Campus Libraries, the New York State Department of Education Conservation and Preservation Program, donors to the Living History Project for Oral History<\/a>, and the John M. and Barbara Keil Endowment Fund.<\/p>\n\u201cThis is a different way to explore our past,\u201d Mead says. \u201cOur exhibits are always a way for us to say, \u2018Look at all this amazing history in our archives.\u2019 Fortunately, the technology is available to make it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recommended recordings<\/strong><\/h3>\nSilent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em> has a lot to offer, not only in its variety but also in duration\u2014some recordings are more than an hour long. So, consider these perspectives from curator Mead and alumnus Riley when choosing a starting point.<\/p>\nVideo only<\/strong><\/h4>\n\u201cBuilding the River Campus\u201d<\/strong>
\nLength: 50 minutes<\/em><\/p>\nThe River Campus\u2019s construction from 1927 to 1930 was captured on two reels of 16mm film. Work was extensively captured in photographs, but the footage\u2014including aerial scenes and the dedication\u2014offers a greater sense of what it was like to be part of that project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s silent footage, but it\u2019s fantastic,\u201d says Mead. \u201cOf course, you see the campus grounds being dug up and buildings being constructed. You also see what the campus looked like when it opened and how raw, but also how wonderful and open it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n- Enter hard hat area<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
President Rush Rhees breaks ground for the University of Rochester\u2019s River Campus in 1927. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAudio only<\/strong><\/h4>\n\u201cThe Douglass Lectures\u201d<\/strong>
\nLength: 180\u2013270 minutes<\/em><\/p>\nIn 1967, the University commemorated the 150th anniversary of Frederick Douglass\u2019s birth with a lecture series. There are eight lectures from Black men who were leaders in their fields. Each lecture is about an hour and a half, so this is a serious (but worthwhile) time commitment. Mead highly recommends listening to all eight, but for those who only want to listen to a couple, she suggests the recordings of historian John Hope Franklin and Whitney Young, a civil rights leader and head of the National Urban League.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just blown away by these,\u201d says Mead of the lectures. \u201cThese men are among the top high-fliers, high-achievers of their time. The series was intended as a venue for them to share their stories and the challenges and obstacles they faced and how they overcame them, went around them, and went through them. I\u2019d love to hear from anyone who attended the lectures<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea for the exhibit was not a product of inspiration as much as a request. Since 2015, Ming-Lun Lee<\/a>, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering<\/a> at Rochester, has brought his students into the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation<\/a> for his audio music engineering course Revolutions in Sound. In a session on obsolete media (think Super-8 film and Betacam), Mead had pulled and displayed close to 40 different audio and video formats from collections across the University. \u201cMing-Lun looked at all the materials and said, \u2018You know, you should do an exhibit,\u2019\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n But building the display was easier in theory than in execution.<\/p>\n Silent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em> is the first exhibit of its kind for the University of Rochester Libraries. \u201cIt was quite complex,\u201d says Mead. \u201cYou can’t just put a 16-inch LP in a case and walk away. The whole point is to make these silent objects speak. So, anything with sound and video needs to be captioned, and if it\u2019s just audio, it needs to be transcribed.\u201d<\/p>\n The first step\u2014digitizing the materials\u2014was already taken. For the last 20 years, Mead and her colleagues have overseen the digitization process, which has itself evolved as technologies have changed and improved. Many of the challenges came later when it was time to select the formats and content to display and creating a companion website that links the physical exhibit to the recordings via QR codes.<\/p>\n Additionally, preserving all this recorded history takes funding. Since 2005, support has been provided by the University and River Campus Libraries, the New York State Department of Education Conservation and Preservation Program, donors to the Living History Project for Oral History<\/a>, and the John M. and Barbara Keil Endowment Fund.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a different way to explore our past,\u201d Mead says. \u201cOur exhibits are always a way for us to say, \u2018Look at all this amazing history in our archives.\u2019 Fortunately, the technology is available to make it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Silent Sounds, Invisible Images<\/em> has a lot to offer, not only in its variety but also in duration\u2014some recordings are more than an hour long. So, consider these perspectives from curator Mead and alumnus Riley when choosing a starting point.<\/p>\n \u201cBuilding the River Campus\u201d<\/strong> The River Campus\u2019s construction from 1927 to 1930 was captured on two reels of 16mm film. Work was extensively captured in photographs, but the footage\u2014including aerial scenes and the dedication\u2014offers a greater sense of what it was like to be part of that project.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s silent footage, but it\u2019s fantastic,\u201d says Mead. \u201cOf course, you see the campus grounds being dug up and buildings being constructed. You also see what the campus looked like when it opened and how raw, but also how wonderful and open it was.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Douglass Lectures\u201d<\/strong> In 1967, the University commemorated the 150th anniversary of Frederick Douglass\u2019s birth with a lecture series. There are eight lectures from Black men who were leaders in their fields. Each lecture is about an hour and a half, so this is a serious (but worthwhile) time commitment. Mead highly recommends listening to all eight, but for those who only want to listen to a couple, she suggests the recordings of historian John Hope Franklin and Whitney Young, a civil rights leader and head of the National Urban League.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just blown away by these,\u201d says Mead of the lectures. \u201cThese men are among the top high-fliers, high-achievers of their time. The series was intended as a venue for them to share their stories and the challenges and obstacles they faced and how they overcame them, went around them, and went through them. I\u2019d love to hear from anyone who attended the lectures<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\nRecommended recordings<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Video only<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nLength: 50 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Audio only<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nLength: 180\u2013270 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n