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The Friends of Moon Library (FOML) is building its future around a project that preserves the past.

As it observes its 30th anniversary this year, the group that was founded to increase awareness of the library and augment its programs is turning its attention to enhancing the Terrence J. Hoverter Archives, which are tucked into the Moon basement.

“The archives contain all kinds of history: yearbooks, scrapbooks, photographs, board of trustees minutes, faculty meeting minutes,” said Elizabeth “Betsy” Elkins, FOML president and former director of College libraries. “It’s about our heritage. We don’t want to lose it.”

The archives, established in 1978 and named for a former College librarian, are currently in the care of Associate Librarian Jane Verostek, who took over responsibility after the retirement of longtime archivist Flora Nyland.

The archives are a trove of historical treasures, including these highlights:

  • The film collection of William Harlow, a professor of wood technology who was a pioneer in the use of time-lapse photography Verostek was working to digitize the Harlow film library, which the college received after Harlow’s death in 1986, when she made a discovery that enriched the collection: “I was moving things and I found the audio recording of the memorial service for William Harlow,” she said. The tape includes the voices of then-college President Ross S. Whaley and former Dean Edwin Jahn.
  • A history of the College’s first 10 years, written by Nelson C. Brown, a professor who twice served as acting dean in the 1920s The piece is called “The First Ten Years.” “I opened a drawer and literally it was the first thing I put my hands on,” Verostek said. Even staff members who scoured the archives for links to the College history during the 2011 Centennial Celebration did not know the document existed.
  • The Fletcher Steele Collection These files contain many of the original drawings, blueprints and personal papers of Fletcher Steele, an influential landscape architect who designed more than 700 gardens. The collection inspired a recent visit to ESF by a Massachusetts architect who was researching Steele for an upcoming presentation. In combing through the material, he recognized the name of Henry B. Hoover, an architect who had worked with Steele. The visitor happened to know Hoover’s children, now in their 80s, and let them know that their father’s work, including an extensive collection of hand-drawn garden designs, were preserved in the archives. The two Hoovers then made a trip to Syracuse from Massachusetts and spent a full five days examining their father’s work, and taking notes and photos.
  • Portraits of 32 ESF graduates killed in action during World War II They are stacked in a box, separated by archival paper. “They’re haunting,” Verostek said. “And no one knew they were here.”
  • The paper collection of Dard Hunter, a renowned expert in printing and papermaking who traveled the world and produced handmade books filled with unique paper samples Verostek said William Burry, who manages the paper and bioprocess engineering laboratory in Walters Hall, brings his students to the archives to see Hunter’s work.

Verostek’s focus now is to re-organize the rich collection of material and create “finding guides” so visitors can locate what they need. She is photographing three-dimensional items so they can be catalogued online and working to digitize ESF yearbooks and copies of the Knothole, the student newspaper. The three-dimensional items can be searched and viewed at http://esfmoon.pastperfectonline.com/The Knotholes and soon to be digitized yearbooks are available at http://digitalcommons.esf.edu/ She is also building awareness of the archives through weekly “throwback Thursday” Facebook posts http://libguides.esf.edu/throwbacks and a recurring column in the ESF Alumni News.

The work has been supported by grants totaling about $25,000 from the Central New York Library Resources Council and by interns from Syracuse University’s masters degree programs in museum studies and information studies.

Elkins, who has been working with staff members in the ESF Development Office to increase support for the library, said the effort has raised nearly $14,000 in the last year, primarily from emeriti faculty. Some of those funds are used to enhance the archives.  The support included a gift in honor of Nyland and her husband, Dr. Ralph Nyland, a Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management.

The fundraising effort highlighted several pending high-priority projects in addition to those on Verostek’s to-do list. Included are preserving the archive of staff and faculty photos, and organizing and digitizing photographs associated with the Roosevelt Wildlife Collection.

“This is a rich collection of resources about ESF and its heritage and it holds interest for a lot of alumni,” Elkins said.  “These are irreplaceable items and they are at risk of being lost if they are not properly preserved and organized. They become more valuable if we can share them with others who can learn from them.”

To learn more at the Friends of Moon Library and to donate to the fund, visit the FOML website http://www.esf.edu/moonlib/foml/

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