Have you wondered how to preserve an old film of family memories or take proper care of grandma’s quilt? Bring your small items or come with images of larger pieces to the Preservation Emporium at Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois on Saturday, April 7, from 1-4 p.m., and have your preservation questions answered by experts.
Organized by the Preservation Working Group at Illinois, the emporium welcomes visitors to meet and talk with preservation specialists with expertise ranging from antiquities to modern digital media. The museum is at 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana. Visitors may park for free in lot D-22 (behind the museum) in nonreserved spaces.
A multidisciplinary keynote talk will begin at 2 p.m.
Mapping History at the University of Illinois, a collaborative project of the University Archives, the Library and the School of Architecture, brings together archival content, historical research, geographic information systems technology and architectural design to tell the university’s story through time and space. The project includes three components: a digital archive of more than 500 campus and community maps; a historical overview divided by era and illustrated with archival materials, architectural drawings, oral histories and more; and an interactive campus map and series of story maps on a host of university topics created by project staff, student interns and classes.
Speakers at the event are:
- Archivist Ellen D. Swain, who directs the Student Life and Culture Archives, a program of the University of Illinois Archives. The program documents the history of national fraternities and sororities and all aspects of student life and culture at Illinois. Her research focuses on documentary and outreach strategies, oral history and teaching with primary sources. In 2013, she was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow of the Society of American Archivists.
- Marci S. Uihlein, a professor of architecture at Illinois. Her research focuses on the structural engineering profession: its history, the professional relationship between architects and engineers and creativity in structural engineering design. Her article on the history of early architectural engineering education “University of Illinois, N. Clifford Ricker and the Origins of Architectural Engineering Education in the United States,” has been published in the Journal of Architectural Engineering.
- Joe Porto, a master of library and information science student in the School of Information Sciences at Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in anthropology from Illinois. He is currently a graduate assistant at the Scholarly Commons in the Main Library, where he contributes to library geographic information systems GIS projects, including the Mapping History For the past three semesters, he has guided undergraduate history students who contribute to the project for course credit.
To request accessibility accommodations, call 217-333-2360. Early requests are appreciated to allow sufficient time to meet access needs.
