Rebecca Gourevitch

Since our last post on the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) Archive, we have continued to process audiovisual objects found in the collection. Most recently, the library has made 154 audio clips accessible for listening through Calisphere. These recordings came into the archive stored on CD-Rs (compact disks), but since this format is obsolete and equipment to play CD-Rs is no longer prevalent, they were converted to digital audio files. In addition to making the clips accessible, the digital files are preserved for the long term in a sustainable format in the California Digital Library’s digital preservation repository.  

The CD-Rs are dated from 2003 and contain recordings of radio broadcasts produced and narrated by Robert Singleton, the UCANR radio broadcaster (who retired under the title Senior Public Information Officer) from 1985-2003. During his long tenure, Singleton interviewed UCCE farm and home advisors, researchers, and other employees about certain topics related to their work. Essentially, Singleton used radio communication to disseminate UCANR’s research and programs to communities around the state as each story he recorded was sent to local stations. (1) The addition of these audio clips to the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension Records enables a deeper understanding of the breadth of work undertaken by UCCE offices around California and demonstrates the ways information made its way to the public at the end of the twentieth century.  

An ANR Report article about the UC Cooperative Extension Radio Feed from February 2000 explains that “half are stories of consumer interest, covering such topics as home gardening, financial management, nutrition and environmental issues. The other half focuses on agricultural issues, primarily research developments and public policy.” While Singleton led the production of his own stories, ANR researchers were also encouraged to submit topic ideas related to their own research fields. (2) The range of UCANR extension work is evident in these audio clips, though they are only a fraction of the stories distributed by Singleton and ANR Broadcast Services, and of the work of ANR overall.  

On Calisphere, the audio files are arranged alphabetically by topic, revealing some general themes. Many of the radio spots cover financial programs and literacy and warn listeners of unwarranted issues such as predatory lending and homeownership scams, the risks of adjustable-rate mortgages, and information about online banking and earned income credit programs that educate listeners on their benefits and risks. There are also audio clips concerning environmental issues. One spot details fire prevention of homes and buildings and highlights actions that people can take to prevent the loss of their homes. Another set of clips deal with the various risks associated with farm labor. Heat stress among farmworkers, for example, is described by a University of California farm safety representative who explains how to identify and prevent the dangerous effects of excessive sun exposure. Harvest related injuries in older workers, night work injuries, and technology use by workers are also covered by Singleton in his news stories, along with a plethora of other topics such as pesticides, information about crops like rice and purple carrots, and diseases such as the West Nile virus. 

Transporting Rice, 1959 

University of California Agricultural Cooperative Extension, San Joaquin County Collection

UC Merced, UC Cooperative Extension Archive

San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum 

Listen to all the ANR Broadcast Services radio feed clips on Calisphere here!

1. https://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/anrreport/archive/reportarchive/report0...

2. https://ucanr.edu/anr-report/archive/reportarchive/report00/rptpdf00/jan...

Last month, UC Merced Library and Merced County 4-H concluded an inaugural StoryMapping Project for students in grades 9-12. Designed to encourage participants to discover the value of historical archives, the project introduced young people to UC Merced’s University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) archive. Comprised of nearly 10,000 documents, booklets, letters, and photographs from the past 100+ years, the archive covers the range of research produced by UCCE and features documents about dairy, almonds, livestock, crop trials, youth development, nutrition, family consumer sciences, and much more. 

Over the course of twelve weeks, participants formed questions based on their findings in the archive and learned how to conduct research using primary and secondary source materials. Project meetings also focused on ways students would apply their research results in the form of presentations. To do this, ArcGIS and StoryMap experts trained students on how to use these digital tools for creating and visually presenting maps and historical narratives. This process encouragedparticipants to exhibit digitized archival materials alongside their observations and analysis.

On May 12th, 4-H Ambassador Melanie P. presented her StoryMap to local stakeholders, family, and community members. Titled DHIA Records: A Brief History and what DHIA Records Are, Melanie’s project traces the Dairy Herd Improvement Association’s (DHIA) use of records to improve efficiency and management by tracking milk production, herd size, and breeding and feed records. 

Her research uncovered information about early record keeping systems used by the Ferndale Cow Testing Association in Humboldt County and Melanie was able to compare them to contemporary DHIA records, including documents she used when purchasing her own heifers. The project serves as an excellent example of the ways in which archival materials not only represent the past, but inform our present. We thank Melanie and our other participants, teachers, and facilitators for their amazing work!

Check out Melanie’s StoryMap here!

In addition to archiving the records of county Cooperative Extension records such as Merced’s, the CARA (California Agricultural Resources Archive) project at UC Merced is also preserving historical reports and film from the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), the statewide organization that oversees UCCE county offices and personnel. In 2019, we accepted several boxes of 16mm film reels from the UCANR statewide office. Produced by UCCE personnel throughout California, the films date from 1953 to 1979 and cover UCANR activities such as the 4-H youth development program, food and nutrition education, wildland management, the ag industry, animals, and adolescent health.

Boxes of film reels from the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension Records.

In previous columns we’ve discussed how archivists approach organizing records. When the library acquires collections, the archivist first conducts a survey of the materials making note of major topics, themes, and how the records are organized. For example, did the material come from the offices of a certain farm advisor or home demonstration agent? This step helps the archivist to process and arrange the materials in a way that makes them easily accessible to the public. In addition to these concerns, the archivist must also take into account the physical properties of the materials. Doing so can help determine the approximate date of records that may otherwise be undated. Some mediums, in particular audiovisual items, are now obsolete and require older technologies to listen to or view them. Archivists need to be familiar with different formats and media types and how to handle them—both to preserve them and to provide access to researchers.

Film reels are laid out on a table and organized by title.

While surveying this collection of over 100 UCANR films, the archivist documented essential details such as the type of canister, the diameter of the reels, and condition of the medium, as well as titles, dates, transcriptions and other production information. Doing this work required opening each film can, and the vinegar smell was very strong! Why? The base of 16mm films made during this time period is cellulose acetate, which carries with it certain preservation concerns. If the reels are not stored in the right environment where temperature and humidity are controlled, and if they are not housed in archival quality boxes and cases, the films are at great risk of developing what is called “vinegar syndrome.” This form of deterioration occurs when acetic acid is released from the film base, leading to embrittlement, shrinkage, and bubbling of the film. Not only does this affect the particular film omitting the acid, but when off-gassing occurs, it can damage any objects in its vicinity. The strong smell of vinegar is an indicator that the process has started. Once vinegar syndrome begins, it is irreversible; if the effects of vinegar syndrome go too far, it becomes impossible to play the media or even transfer it to a digital file format.

One aspect of deterioration emanates from the metal cans which can rust and cause a red powder to flake off onto the object.

Clearly, these reels were in various states of deterioration and needed immediate attention so their contents would not be lost. However, working with such film requires specialized equipment and trained experts to digitize—all of which comes at an expense. Since we did not know beyond the little information on the cans what the contents of these films were, nor the quality of playback once digitized, we decided on a set of films that would constitute a pilot for preservation and digitization. We worked with the MediaPreserve, a company based in Cranberry Township, PA with extensive experience working with universities, libraries, and other cultural heritage institutions to preserve and digitize such materials. Their experienced specialists helped to guide us through the steps needed to make these films last, including housing in archival quality film cans and digitizing them into sustainable file formats.

The MediaPreserve sent us their own lock boxes so that the films are protected as they make their way to their offices in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.

So far, we have already received the digital files for the first three films of our pilot, and they are high-quality professional productions. One film, titled 4-H Trail, was produced in 1963 to illustrate the extensive range of activities undertaken by 4-H club members in California, with scenes from local club meetings, family farms, camps, and field days accompanied by singing from a county 4-H club chorus. Another film, What’s in Food? (1962) is a production of the “Homemaker’s Notebook” with UCCE home nutritionist Marion Tate presenting information about healthy eating. The last of the three was chosen because of the intriguing title, “Muppetts” on the film’s canister. It turned out to be a series of short clips from 1975 titled Children’s Nutrition (Candy) produced for the KTVU station that feature puppets—not to be confused with the widely known Muppets—speaking about the benefits of eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, instead of candy.

We are seeking the funds to support the digital preservation of the other films in the collection. The range of titles include Modern irrigation equipment (1964), Tomatoes (undated), Hills of Grass (Madera County, undated), California deer (1965), and Cows n’ kilowatts 4-H. In the meantime, you can see the films digitized from our pilot on Calisphere.

We look forward to digitizing and sharing more of these films with you.

Our last post referenced items from CARA related to wildfires in California and demonstrated how archival materials from the past can inform our present conditions. This connection was underscored last month when CARA staff joined with others from the UC Merced Library and Facilities Management teams, to assist in the emergency evacuation of the archive of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI). Over the course of two days, the SEKI archive was transferred to the Leo & Dottie Kolligian Library building where the collections will remain permanently. Read With Fire Threatening, National Parks Turn to UC Merced for Help Preserving History from the University newsroom to learn more about this SEKI-UC Merced partnership, one that has deepened the relationship between the campus and surrounding lands.

With the SEKI materials safely stored for the time being, the CARA team continues to process the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) collections. In recent days, we’ve turned our attention to UCCE’s significant sets of audio-visual objects. For example, the Humboldt County records contain a box of ¼-inch open reel audio tapes. In use from 1949 through the mid 1980s, open reel tapes are a type of magnetic media and were a popular and affordable option to record audio until they were widely displaced with newer media formats like 8-Tracks and cassette tapes.[1]

Box of open reel tapes, Humboldt County, UC Cooperative Extension Records.

The Humboldt County tapes contain only small amounts of contextual information, or metadata, both on and proximate to the tapes. What is clear, though, by reading the few labels, stickers, and annotations is that these are the tapes of former 4-H Home Advisor and County Director, Evelyn Wanderlich, recorded for a local radio station show. Not present though, are any references to themes, subject matter, and other contextual clues.

Open reel tape box cover, Humboldt County, UC Cooperative Extension Records.

Therefore, in order to accurately know what is on them, and to both physically and intellectually position the materials within the archive, they must be listened to. Open reel tapes are placed on particular tape recorders for playback, but many institutions, such as the UC Merced Library, simply do not have such equipment on hand. The inability to listen to certain media formats on site is demonstrative of a challenge many twenty-first century institutions face. It is something that CARA contends with and so we must reach out to organizations that specialize in preserving and digitizing obsolete media. By doing so we can make these unique documentary records accessible.

A tape recorder collection at Record Exchange in St Louis, Missouri. This is the type of equipment needed to listen to the open reel tapes in our Humboldt County UCCE records.

The Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), located in San Francisco, has been supporting media makers and activists since 1976, an era in media history that was revolutionary due to the innovation of the widely available battery-powered videotape recorders. Creating audio-visual material became less prohibitive and independent media creation flourished.[2] They continue to serve as an important leader in the field of media production, education, and preservation. So, we reached out to Morgan Morel, Preservation Manager at BAVC, for information about their services and how they could help us with Evelyn Wanderlich’s tapes.

I started by sending Morgan an inventory of the six tapes. This helps a preservationist understand the state of the materials before agreement is made to work on a project. Below is an example of the inventory sent to BAVC:

The brand, material types, and condition of the object are all described here. In this example, a white powdery substance was found on the tape (see image below for what we found).

Morgan’s concern was that this substance was mold, creating an unfavorable condition for digitization. This picture, sent along with the inventory, helped him determine that the markings indicate deplasticization. Although no mold is present, this type of degradation can still cause trouble and will be analyzed further at BAVC facilities.

Barring any other major issues, the content of the audio tapes will be converted to master and access files and placed on a hard drive. These digital files will then become accessible to the public alongside other materials found in the Humboldt County UCCE collection. We will also place the reels in new acid-free archival boxes that will ensure the long-term preservation of the original object.

Old housing and new housing (Gaylord Archival® Clamshell 7" Audio Reel Box).

We are excited to expand our digital collection and for the opportunity to work with the Bay Area Video Coalition. Look out for updates for when these recordings are online!

[1] https://obsoletemedia.org/open-reel-tape/

[2] https://bavc.org/sites/default/files/resource/BAVCHistory1976-2016.pdf