Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Make an animation. Make a gif. Make a collage. Write some microfiction. Write a poem. Get out your digital black-out marker to create some redacted poetry. Make something entirely unique that was inspired by an image or string of text. Remix and stretch your creativity. Archives are here to inspire!
Archives matter. They preserve records of human history and offer glimpses into the past. Historians mine them for the sources that make up their books and artists, musicians, and writers pull inspiration for their creative works. Genealogists seek out threads of family history and alumni find scholastic treasures.
October is American Archives Month and to celebrate special collections departments everywhere we’re holding an Archives Remix event all month long. Take some inspiration from the Virginia Tech Library archives and stretch your creative muscles by producing a visual or written work that uses one or more of the VT Special Collections images that are posted above.
Share your work on social media (Twitter or Instagram), tag #VTArchivesRemix and @VT_SCUA, and let us know which image(s) inspired your work. We’ll be sharing your artwork and written pieces all month long!
Send us your creations:
Crumbling under the weight of words:
Send us a piece of microfiction inspired by one or more of the images. Economy is key, so make sure to exercise efficiency of language. Submissions should be 200 words or less.
Altered images:
Use one or more of the images to create a new visual work. Think beyond boundaries and remix the images with your own work or repeat elements of the same picture to create something entirely new. Stills or animations, collages, videos, photographs, memeswe want to see it all.
Brief and bold:
Poetry is the ultimate in brevity and elegance of prose–no room for stray words or useless turns of phrase. Take inspiration from a fleeting image or line of text. Redact words on an existing page to unveil something entirely new. We can’t wait to read your poems, written or redacted.
Choose from the following images to inspire your own works:
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Images from VT Special Collections
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Use one or more images to create your own #VTArchivesRemix
Need a little extra inspiration?
Read this incredibly moving microfiction piece, Sticks,by George Saunders.
View some collages and gifs from the Mid-Atlantic Region Archivists Conference (MARAC) and from the Library of Congress.
Rachel Visser, We Love Our Demon Daughter, courtesy of MARAC Archives Remix Contest.
Spirit, image courtesy of MARAC Archives Remix Contest.
Gif created by jekahben and shared courtesy of MARAC Archival Remix contest.
Heather Dillion, In Pursuit of Escher, courtesy Smithsonian Magazine.
Matthew Farris, Compiled telephoto shots of elk roaming a barren, reclaimed strip mine, Image courtesy Smithsonian Magazine photography contest submission.
Learn about redacted poetry and read some phenomenal examples.
Delve into practice with this Atlantic article about the process Lydia Davis uses to create her very short stories. It’s worth visiting just to read her 69-word composition In a House Besieged.
Check out the following link if you want to see more images and consider also entering the Virginia Archives Month 2018 Archival Oddities Remix Contest.
Osborne 1 Microcomputer in portable configurationOsborne 1 Microcomputer in operational configuration
We recently received an Osborne 1 Portable Microcomputer as a donation from Virginia Tech alumnus, Bob Sweeney. We asked him some questions about his background and this computer. Here are his answers:
Q: Tell us a little about your background as it relates to computing in the 1970s-1980s.
A:At the time, I was a technical writer for a software house that developed products for the HP-3000. We were a small company and I could not always get access to a terminal to access theLARC-3000 word processor I used (Los Altos Research Center – chosen because it spelled Larc, as in “Going out on a larc.”). I was an experienced TW, but this job was the first that allowed me to us a WP. Well, allowed is the wrong word. My buddy – Steve White, VT Class of 1962 – was our head of sales. I mentioned to him that I was ready for my manuscript to go to the typing pool. He replied, “Bob, we’re a computer company. You use the computer.” (I never wanted to do it any other way again. I’d spent 2/3rd of my time proofreading!)
Q: What initially attracted you to the Osborne 1?
A:The Osborne 1 ads showed people carrying the machine in elevators, buses, through an airport. At $1600 with a printer and a bundle of software, this was an affordable machine. When I bought the O1, for instance, a business man was buying a comparable machine (same printer, same processor, same drive, same memory) and he paid twice as much for his IBM. By the by, you probably can find one of those ads online.
Osborne 1 ad c.1981
Q: What was your experience with the computer? Did it work as advertised?
A:It was great! I used its WordStar WP to do my stuff at home and prepare files for the HP. (LARC-3000 was an embedded-command WP. For example, like HTML, <b>….</b> for bold, <p>…</p> for paragraphs.) I could encode the files for HP. With a simple application (included) I could conduct work as though the Osborne was a terminal to the HP. Best of all, I could save my files on a floppy, allowing me to work at home, offline!
I loved the Epson printer, too. In fact, I had trouble reloading the paper one day. I got out the manual and was surprised to find no loading instructions! In frustration, I tried again. The path was so simple, if you just stuck the paper in, it would load properly! I’d thought too hard about it!
Q: The computer was advertised as portable, did you transport it from place to place like one would with a modern laptop?
A:Yes, I carried it from home to work and back. But best of all, we were working on a proposal with a customer in Boston. We took the Osborne up with us on the plane and that night updated the propsal!
Q:What was your favorite thing about this computer?
A:That flexibility. WordStar was easy to use. There was also Basic and VisiCal, although I used neither much. We did do several proposals and business plans using the Visicalc and its links to WordStar (A mail merge function). (If I remember, VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet for microcomputers. We could probably dump it into LARC-3000, too.)
Q:What was your least favorite thing?
A:As you’ve seen, the screen is small! I got a magnifier for the screen, but my nephew – with good eyes – threw it away!
Q:Why did you decide to find a home for the computer rather than recycling it as many would do?
A:It has no value, so I just couldn’t send it off to some beach in India. It was my first and started me out on a career of the future. I still marvel at how any writer did it in the old days! You spent twice as much – possibly three times as much – of your days proofing than writing. (Of course, we also had to learn a new skill – usually from several hard experiences – backing up.
Q:Is there anything more you would like to share about the Osborne 1 Computer?
A:Not as famous as the Apple, but the Osborne 1 was an important step for businesses in the computer revolution. They would be better known if they’d developed an IBM clone. They did have a machine with a larger screen, but it was still CP/M.
Some Computer History
When looking at history, we often ascribe specific importance to that which is first. For example, in 1911 Roald Amundsen from Norway was the first person to reach the South Pole and in 1926 he was recognized as the first person to reach the North Pole. Regardless of the objective truth of these claims (whether indigenous people reached the North Pole before him) he is granted a certain cachet by being recognized as the first. You can find an entire list of similar firsts on Biography Online‘s site.
What does all of this have to do with the Osborne 1 portable microcomputer? Well, it is one of those special things that is special because of its status as first. The Osborne 1 was the first portable microcomputer. For those not familiar with computing history, this was the first (type of) computer (the woman, not the machine):
Computer at her work with microscope and the Friden calculating machine. (NASA).
After human computers came large room-sized machines such as the Harvard Mark 1 in 1944.
As the world of computer technology progressed through the later half of the 1940s and through the 1950s and 1960s, improvements to computer technology were developed and introduced. Punch card input gave way to keyboard input. Components got smaller, leading to “microcomputers” which are just computers that are small. The term generally refers to computers smaller than room sized. Screens were added. Networking via phone lines was added. New and exciting programming languages were created.
As the 1970s progressed, we saw the introduction of the first personal computers (meaning small machines that were within the grasp of an individual to own/operate) from companies such as IBM, with the IBM 5150 Personal Computer being released in 1981. The 5150 followed a great deal of work by IBM in developing a commercial personal computer. Their main competitor was Xerox who introduced the Xerox PARC Alto (a computer that we would recognize today – with a monitor, mouse, and keyboard) in 1974.
In 1976, Apple released the Apple I and then followed with the Apple II in 1977. That year, Tandy Radio Shack (TRS) released their TRS-80, Atari released their computer gaming console, and Commodore entered the market with the PET. Computers were entering the public consciousness and it wasn’t unheard of for people to have a computer at home. It was also becoming much more commonplace to have one at work. During this time, the subject of portable computers was a hot topic and there were entrants to the space as early as 1973 (HP-9830A). Still, an affordable, easily portable personal computer was something that remained mostly a dream until the Osborne 1 was announced in 1981.
Osborne 1 ad: Afghani Mujahadeen posing with the Osborne 1. c.1981
The Osborne 1 was billed as revolutionary, hence the ad featuring the Mujahadeen. It was the first really portable computer. It weighed 24 pounds and came in a case designed to absorb the inevitable knocks it would receive being transported from place to place. It was the first product of the Osborne Computer Corporation, named for its founder Adam Osborne, and known for lending its name to the Osborne Effect – a company going out of business by announcing a new product too soon and killing sales of their current product. Despite its demise in 1985, the Osborne Computer Corporation succeeded in producing a viable portable computer
Cover, Osborne 1 pamphlet, c.1981
Interior front, Osborne 1 pamphlet, c.1981
Interior front, Osborne 1 pamphlet, c.1981
Interior back, Osborne 1 pamphlet, c.1981
Back cover, Osborne 1 pamphlet, c.1981
The corporation had effective marketing and certainly grabbed the attention of the computer-savvy business professional of the early 1980s.
BYTE magazine, March 1982, page 33BYTE magazine, August 1981, page 35
And, Interface Age magazine whose tag line was “published for the home computerist” named it an “outstanding buy” in November of 1981.
Interface Age, November 1981, page 62
Interface Age, November 1981, page 63
Our Osborne 1 is the first of what we hope will be many classic computers housed in Special Collections and available for the public to interact with. If you want to see this piece of computing history, stop by Special Collections in Newman Library anytime Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM.
The beginning of the fall semester and the nearly overnight return to a bustling and lively campus provides a good opportunity to reflect on the essential thing that we do, which is to educate. Student works are common discoveries in the collections that form the International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA) and can tell us either about an architects own practice or their methods of classroom instruction. This post will focus on the former, with an eye to the role that archival collections can play in examining design sensibilities within the context of a developing architectural practice.
Concept drawing, Bahamas Nursing School, c. 1985.
One of the most profound ways to understand the progression of the aesthetic sensibilities of a creative professional is to examine their works (including inspirational materials, writing, and sketches) across their career. Looking at materials that span yearsor even decadesoffers a glimpse into how their style evolved, was refined, stayed constant, or in some cases shifted radically. With architects it is possible to trace the development not only of their design considerations, but also the changes in drawing techniques, enhanced observational skills, and a deeper understanding of spaces. It is often possible to see how they refine and expand their understanding of the outer world, visual culture, and the impact of spaces on the people who inhabit them.
The Exhibition HallVariableTransportable project was completed by Dorothee Stelzer King while she was an architecture student at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste in Berlin, Germany. Completed the same year that she received her degree, the project was based on a first-year design exercise involving the enlargement of a simple shape to create a complex design without adding extra material to the final structure.
Description and requirements of the award-winning portable exhibition hall project.
Concept drawing showing how a basic triangle is repeated and extended to create interlocking stars and circular forms that in turn interlock to create flexible, modular shapes.
Elevations, site plans, and detail drawings for AustellungsbauVariabelTransportabel.
The Dorothee Stelzer King collection also contains works that the architect completed at various points during her professional career, allowing researchers to study the progression of her designs over time. The series of concept drawings and plans for the Bahamas Nursing School in Nassau, Bahamas, shows Kings attention to understanding how educational spaces and their inhabitants interact. While the drawings show a move away from the more experimental design work seen in Exhibition HallVariableTransportable, they showcase a greater understanding of the practical nature of educational facilities and the importance of proper acoustics, seating, structural elements, and paths of movement through interior spaces.
Concept sketch for the Bahamas Nursing School, c. 1985
Location plan, Bahamas Nursing School, April 16, 1985.
Construction photographs showing exterior and interior spaces, including structural elements, of the Bahamas Nursing School project.
Many other student and professional design projects and records can be accessed in the Special Collections Reading Room at Virginia Tech. The finding aid for the Dorothee Stelzer King Architectural Collection can be viewed online at Virginia Heritage. The collection is currently being digitized with funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and will be available in full through the Virginia Tech digital library.
