David Pearson
C-90 Provenance: Tracing Owners & Collections
26-30 July 2010
1) How useful were the pre-course readings? (Leave blank if you applied and were accepted late for the course, and thus did not get the list in time.)
1: They were appropriate and useful. Some of them were books I feel I should have already known and read, but hadn't known about. 2: Very useful, but it would have been fine to show up without having read in advance. Perhaps call the readings "suggested" or "optional." 3: Very thoughtful and useful. 4: The pre-course readings were appropriate and provided good background and context for the course. 5: I did read the pre-course readings and found them to be all relevant and helpful for my course preparation.6: Very useful: DP's own is the authoritative book on the subject. 7: Quite useful—especially DP's Provenance book. Although the book and workbook are similar, it was helpful to discuss the individual points. None of the readings were required. I might require DP's book. 8: DP handbook—very useful (except for outdated bits); Bill Sherman's Used Books very interesting; R. Stoddard on marks, eloquent. 9: Very good especially as future reference guide. 10: I found DP's books useful, as well as William Sherman's Used Books—it was the book I read first and it offered an extremely interesting (to me) look at what might be done with provenance evidence we find. 11: The readings were very informative and relevant to the course. 12: Very helpful as an orientation to the subject matter. 13: Very useful. Each title seems relevant and I discovered a new favorite text.
2) Were the course syllabus and other materials distributed in class appropriate and useful (or will they be so in the future, after you return home)?
1: Yes, definitely. 2: Yes. Very, very useful. 3: Yes for both. 4: The syllabus and other materials distributed in class will be extremely useful when I return to work. I expect to return to the workbook frequently both for the practical data and the bibliographies. 5: The course syllabus included outlines of each topic covered, which I found useful for organizing notes and will be valuable to refer back to. Booklet also included a useful bibliography. 6: Yes, the syllabus and workbook will be extremely useful as a summary review of the various aspects of provenance research. 7: The course workbook is of the best I've had and made note taking almost unnecessary—allowing me to focus on content. 8: Yes. 9: Very good syllabus. Parts may not be relevant in future, but all parts enhanced my knowledge of book history. 10: Definitely. 11: I expect them to be useful in the future. 12: Very useful—I plan to share a good deal of the information with my staff, as well as update our cataloging policies based on some of the information. 13: Yes. I believe I will refer to the workbooks and bibliography on a regular basis at work.
3) What aspects of the course content were of the greatest interest or relevance for your purposes? Was the intellectual level of the course appropriate?
1: Understanding what kinds of evidence to look for and what certain inscriptions and other markings could be. The palaeography and heraldry guidance were also very useful. 2: Tracing personal ownership of a book over time. 3: Yes. Heraldic bookplates/decoration. 4: The discussion of recording provenance data was of greatest relevance to my work, but everything was of great interest! 5: Although I had experience examining and tracking provenance evidence, doing exercises with an experienced instructor and enhanced through group discussion was very valuable. It helped give me confidence about what I knew, revealed specific areas where I can further improve my skills and also gave me a better sense of the limits one does run up against in this type of research, even if you have much experience and expertise. 6: 1)Learning early hand-writing for deciphering signatures and annotations. 2) Learning the range of print resources for researching owners. 3) Yes. 7: Actually everything covered was of interest and will be useful. I am especially interested in binding so DP's expertise in that field was particularly helpful. 8: Paleography probably most relevant; heraldry will also be useful to have studied even briefly. 9: Tracing owners and collections and recording provenance evidence. 10: It is all pertinent and useful. I have more personal fascination with marginal annotations, but the varieties of evidence depend on one another. 11: The assistance in learning to decipher early inscriptions will be helpful, the introduction to understanding heraldry should be as well. The resources pointed out to us, particularly internet, will certainly come in handy.12: Looking at examples of the marks in books and having them decoded for us. Also, the paleography section was a good overview without being overly complex. 13: All of it. It's difficult to omit any aspect of the course content since each component fit into context.
4) What did you like best about the course?
1: DP. 2: I'm not sure—maybe the variety of topics covered; maybe the instructor's clear enthusiasm for the subject; maybe the intrinsically fascinating subject matter. 4: The exercises and related feedback and discussion following. The exercises based upon the knowledge shared in the lectures. 5: As above, the modeling of how provenance research is conducted using various types of evidence and resources.6: It was well organized and the instructor was thoroughly prepared—Powerpoint was used very helpfully to illustrate the discussion of each session.7: DP's teaching style ... A noted expert but willing to consider alternative interpretations. He answered every question thoughtfully. He never dismissed a question or comment. 8: Learning the language of heraldry; dealing with books. 9: Overall presentation and instructor. 10: The instructor, whose knowledge and good nature is impressive. The students were an interesting lot, and a member of compelling discussions arose. The course managed to convey that recording provenance is a central and essential responsibility—should there have been any doubt. 11: I really enjoyed DP's teaching style and I particularly enjoyed the exercises he gave us. His Powerpoint slides were excellent. 12:.Looking at the actual books—the final exercise. 13: Extensive knowledge and experience of the instructor. I enjoyed the exercises to gauge how much I understood from the lectures.
5) Did the
instructor(s) successfully help you to acquire the information and skills that the course was intended to convey?
1: Yes. DP was excellent, smart, diligent, and very patient. 2: Yes.
He regularly asked whether his teaching methods were appropriate. They were. 3: Most definitely information—skill will take more time. 4: Yes. 5: Yes. As much as can reasonably be expected in a week's time. I did learn
some very helpful generalizations about types and examples of provenance
evidence as they both evolved through time, and I also learned/refined some
skills in paleography and armorial blazoning, which I had hoped I would acquire
through this course. 6: Yes, in both his primary presentations and the
follow-up discussions where he solicited questions and comments. The several
"hands-on" practice sessions were especially helpful. 7: Like all RBS
courses this could have been a month rather than a week, but the basic
groundwork and resources DP presented was well worth the time and money. 8: Yes,
DP is a skillful conveyor of information; I did feel at times that lectures
could have been compacted a bit. 9: Yes. Very well presented. 10-11: Yes. 12: Definitely—it seems like mastering the skills will require much
practice, though. 13: Yes.
6) Did you learn what the course description/advertisements indicated you would learn?
1: Yes. 2: Thanks to the instructor for a wonderful course. 3-7: Yes. 7: Yes. DP is a lovely and extremely knowledgeable man. I really enjoyed studying with him and am very glad to have been able to. 8-13: Yes.
7) Did you learn what you wanted to learn in the course?
1: Yes. 2: A bit more on how to trace collections/owners through sales catalogues, &c (maybe an example?) would have been helpful. 3-4: Yes. 4: Yes. While I knew I could learn some skills through reading more on the subject, my reason for taking the course was to be able to observe how our instructor would work through actual examples and engage us as students in relevant exercises. 6: Yes. 7: Yes. I wish we could have more binding related items. 8: No. But there's no way I could have learned it; because what I wanted was impossible, viz., to acquire a telescopic view into the past. Hardly DP's fault and he did enable me to see a few feet further. 9-10: Yes. 11: Yes/no. I learned a great deal, but I feel that I didn't see and work through enough examples. 12: Yes, I feel like I could use more time in familiarizing myself with the reference sources. 13: Yes.
8) How do you intend to use or apply the knowledge or skills learned in this course?
1: I will take the information about types of provenance evidence and the resources about how to decode them back to my institution. I hope we can add more to our catalog records. 2: In cataloging rare books (recording copy-specific information). In research on book ownership. 3: Conservation and identification of physical evidence and ownership metadata. 4: I plan to apply the knowledge I've gained in the course of creating catalog records. 5: I have done and will continue to do research and writing on the formation of library collections—a primary source for which is provenance information recorded in books. 6: I'm better able now to find and make good use of various resources to trace provenance for two specific projects that I've undertaken in my library's collections. Also hope to be able to decipher more of the inscription and annotations throughout the calls. 7: As the sole curator for a broad range of subjects/time periods/ locations. The resources DP has provided me will help me convey to my catalogers why extra time on some projects are worth it. I also hope to reinforce why Special Collections needs more cataloging TIME and more skilled catalogers. 8: To improve the catalog records of books already in my collection and of those we acquire—also, I intend to pass them on to the other person in my collection. 9: Use research skills in establishing provenance for books come upon in book trade. 10: Yes. 11: In my own personal book-collecting archives. In future cataloging projects. In future academic research intended for publication. 12: Updating cataloging policy manual; sample existing records to see what might be missing, work on research project to check on whereabouts of items from a private library. 13: It is the policy of my institution to record and trace provenance evidence. I will use this view of knowledge for each book I catalog.
9) How could the course have been improved? If you have a suggestion for a new course (and—equally important—a person who could teach it), please contact the RBS Program Director.
1: More hands-on time with examples. The more we see, the more familiar the evidence becomes. Also, more on continental European provenance would be helpful. 2: Perhaps the "show and tell" style sessions with RBS books could become "figure out this example" sessions—each student get one book and describe/identify the style/owner/whatever. More opportunities to interact with physical objects throughout the course would have been nice. 3: Get DP to teach a course on early English binding styles. Sometime spent on standard English abbreviations for places, titles, currency denominations, &c. would be most helpful since they tend to show up in notes and inscriptions in books. 5: Shorter introductory lecture on Day 1—while it was very helpful to talk about historical approaches to provenance application and a systematization of different types of evidence, less time could have been spent on this. Would include more discussion and examples of the ways provenance research informs various types of intellectual and book history—in other words, how can we apply all that we're learning to the larger narrative? Include more discussion and examples of provenance from non-English sources (instructor's experience clearly in England/English sources and course advertised as such, so no disappointment, but would be even better with a broader cultural/historical linguistic perspective.) 6: Possibly—but only possibly—by including more direct exposure to key reference resources, assuming the UVa libraries have them.7: DP might consider adding a chart of historic English money to the workbook. I will suggest to Amanda, but I would love DP to teach a historical English bookbinding 1450-1700 class. How about it? 8: I did want to be challenged more vigorously—really enjoyed the final exercise, but I hoped to do something like that (i.e., a general provenance exercise, closer to the beginning of the week). Paleography and heraldry exercises were also terrific; so in short, I'd hope for more time spent on brute detective work. 9: Perhaps more time spent on resources (not necessarily internet) and reference works to be used in tracing and establishing provenance. 10: I expect to use the skills in observation and interpretation routinely. Most frequently in enhanced description of our collection holdings. 11: More examples, more exercises, more hands-on demonstrations. It would be great if DP taught a course on English bookbindings! 12: Perhaps more hands on with samples and reference sources—maybe a little less with the heraldry. 13: I would suggest a bit more homework. It's very valuable to try description and research on your own first, and then to discuss problems and mistakes and other solutions.
10) If your course left its classroom to visit Special Collections (SC) or to make other field trips away from your classroom, was the time devoted to this purpose well spent?
1: Yes. It was great to have our final day in SC to spend time with books with a variety of provenance evidence. 2: Yes! 3: Yes. 4: Yes, the opportunity to incorporate Special Collections materials into our learning experience was an important part of our week, "Thank you" to Special Collections staff! 5: Very well spent—especially appreciated the opportunity to work through examples on Friday morning.6: Yes—had two sessions with the Small Special Collections collection. 7: Going to Special Collections was very important to the course and being allowed to handle the books was critical. I hope the class did our part well enough that the practice might continue and expand to other courses. 8: Yes, very well spent! 9: Yes. 10: Very much so. 11-12: Yes. 13: Yes. Although it would be nice to use RBS books for this course. [NB: Many RBS books were used in the course (i.e., all of the books in the classroom) - RBS staff.]
11) We are always concerned about the physical well-being both of the RBS teaching collections and of materials owned by UVa's Special Collections. If relevant, what suggestions do you have for the improved classroom handling of such materials used in your course this week?
1: Everyone was very respectful of the materials. 3: For fragile items photocopies or scanned images could be distributed to cut down on the number of times individuals flip between pages. 5: None, really—I think the conditions for observing and handling materials were appropriate. 6: Nothing to note: the books were carefully displayed and handled. The home-made RBS supports are kind of wonky, uneven, and amateurish; can RBS afford the Clarkson gray-foam sort? 7: All materials were handled well. What might be an advantage is to provide digital images to the faculty to show and print out details of importance before students examine the books.8: Very glad to have been able to handle Special Collection books. 9: None. 10: None, really—it seemed to go quite well. 11: I don't think UVa's Special Collections needs so many staff on hand when we look at books. It would be nice if they made a few more accommodations for us in terms of accessing the books. 12: Seems like there could have been more cradles. 13: I don't feel like this class had excessive hands-on components. The Special Collection books were primarily handled only by DP.
12) If you attended the optional evening events (e.g. RBS Lecture, Video Night, RBS Forum, Booksellers' Night) were they worth attending?
1: I attended the RBS Forum, which was indeed interesting, but how, besides title, does it differ from the lecture? I attended the first part of Video Night—I loved the Alphabet-quills video, and the ice cream. (I am not a fan of "Party Girl.") 2: All were worth attending. There was a nice balance of structured activities (at the beginning of the week, so that we could meet other RBS students) and then unstructured evening on Thursday. 3: Video Night was of interest, but I didn't stay for the feature—needed some down time by then. 4: Yes, The lectures were fantastic! 5: Was not able to attend many evening events, but very much appreciated Ian Desai's lecture and what I could stay for of Mr. Beare's forum (wish I could have stayed longer!). 6: Yes, I loved the new Movie Night, but the popcorn was stale. Suggestion: make it for real, not microwave. 7: I attended all but Video Night. The other three well worth it—especially for me the Forum. 8: Ian Desai's talk a highlight of the week—really wonderful! Video Night was fun, but you need a new popcorn machine. Steve Beare was quite wonderful. I loved Heartwood and they stay open till 7:30 anyway. 9: Yes, especially RBS lectures. 10: I attended the lecture: yes. 11: Yes. Video Night could use some improving. 12: Yes—both lectures were very interesting. 13: Yes. I attended the documentary film and the Wednesday night forum. Both were well worth it, both fun and educational.
13) Did you get your (or your institutions) money's worth? Any final or summary thoughts, or advice for other persons considering taking this course in a future year?
1: Yes, indeed: This was a great and useful class. DP is an excellent instructor. 2: Yes. It was money and time well spent. 3: Yes. However, for Provenance concerns, the unenlightened are not going to take the course to begin with (unless someone of higher authority send him or her). Provenance should not be segregated from any discussions of broad library issues. 4: I highly recommend this course and Rare Book School in general. 5: Yes, I think RBS offers very good value for the money. For this particular course, I think it is helpful to have had some prior experience in examining provenance evidence, but I would not make it a strong requirement. The younger library school students contributed much to the discussions and may have learned even more than I did. Would like to see more booksellers and some private collectors in this course—would add further to group discussions, I would think. 6: Absolutely, as always. 7: Absolutely worth time and money. Advice—as always do your readings! Other comments—I suggested to DP that he come up with a want list for RBS donations to support this class. I think some students would try to help out on this. 9-10: Yes. 11: I did. More scholarships would be appreciated and great. There are lots of students who would love to take this course but can't. I wonder if individual courses could have scholarship funds? 12: Yes—as always! 13: Yes. Thanks very much. Advice: Read the advance reading. I did, and it helped a lot. I will probably go back and re-read a few articles as well.
Number of respondents:13
PERCENTAGES
Leave
Institution gave me leave
77%
I took vacation time
0%
N/A: self-employed, retired or had the summers off
23%
Tuition
Institution paid tuition
62%
I paid tuition myself
23%
N/A: Self-employed, retired or scholarship
15%
Housing
Institution paid housing
31%
I paid for my own housing
62%
N/A: stayed with friends or lived at home
7%
Travel
38%
I paid my own travel
54%
N/A: lived nearby
8%
There were seven rare book librarians (52%), one full-time student, Ph.D. (8%), one full-time student, MLIS (8%), one conservator/binder/preservation librarian (8%), one general librarian with some rare book duties (8%), one library software vendor (8%), and one antiquarian bookseller (8%).