Lesson 8: ArchiveGrid and CAMIO

Exercise 1: ArchiveGrid

1.  I learned that Sitting Bull died while resisting arrest.  He was being arrested for his unwillingness to give up the traditional Ghost Dance.  I followed the link to Cornell University where his autograph card can be found in the Rare and Manuscript Collection.  He had very nice penmanship!  I found it interesting that he sold the autograph cards while touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

2.  I entered "Roger Williams" in the search box in ArchiveGrid.  From the results, I chose a letter from Roger Williams dated August 20, 1647.  The link took me to the Library of Congress.  I was unsuccessful at finding the letter there, but I did find The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for cause of Conscience, discussed in a Conference between Truth and Peace... by Roger Williams dated 1644, in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.  It's pretty amazing what is out there which can be accessed electronically!

Exercise 2:  CAMIO

1.  I knew from my American history lessons that Paul Revere was a silversmith, but I had no idea he did such fancy work!  I found images of teaspoons, sugar bowls, tankards, goblets, platters, and a wine quart.  My favorite is the Federal Style Tea Service and I was surprised to learn it is in Minneapolis at the Institute of Arts.  I might have to go see it next time I'm in the cities to visit family.

2.  The CAMIO search for "Sioux" gives me another good reason to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  Many of the 63 items shown can be found there.  I was a little disappointed that none of the items shown can be found in South Dakota.  The image collection includes many intricately beaded articles of clothing, a quilt, pipes, drawings, paintings (many by George Catlin), and a photograph of a Sioux mother and child.  There were no paintings by Oscar Howe included and a separate search for him provided 0 results.

3.  I was a little surprised that Georgia O'Keefe, Harvey Dunn, and Oscar Howe yielded no results.  I thought maybe they were too contemporary.  So I searched some other contemporary artists and found many images for Jackson Pollack, Andy Warhol, and Ansel Adams.  I searched for Vincent Van Gogh and that resulted in 48 of his paintings, including familiar ones like his self portrait and Sunflowers, but not my favorite of his, Starry Night.

4.  I think CAMIO would be of value to art students at the University and history buffs.  I was completely unaware of this resource and found it fascinating.  I love that you can locate an artifact and find out where it is currently being housed so easily.

5.  I searched for "Children Reading" and found many wonderful old images.  I chose 4 and played around with them a little.  It's a nice feature to be able to create a slideshow from images found on CAMIO.