Call for Fellows: Data Visualizations Using the D’Argenio Collection

CALL FOR FELLOWS

Seton Hall University – University Libraries (Fall 2021)

Application Deadline: July 15, 2021

Fellowship Period: Fall 2021

Background

Seton Hall University Libraries support excellence in academic and individual work, enable inquiry, foster intellectual and ethical integrity and respect for diverse points of view through user-focused services and robust collections as the intellectual and cultural heart of the University. Walsh Gallery, based in the Library, manages the University’s museum collections, and the Library’s Data Services division assists the University community in managing and presenting their data.

One of Seton Hall University’s most distinguished collections, the D’Argenio Collection of Coins and Antiquities, includes coins of ancient Greece, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and Byzantium as well as a small collection of related Byzantine and Etruscan artifacts: oil lamps, game pieces, weights and terra cotta figurines. Donor Ron D’Argenio became interested in ancient coins when taking courses in Greek drama and history as an undergraduate at Fordham University in the 1970’s. In 2001, he generously donated his collection to Seton Hall University in memory of his father, Rinaldo J. D’Argenio, who served in World War II and was awarded a Bronze Star for his valor. Ron D’Argenio is a practicing attorney working in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The collection is available for study and research by students and scholars.

Data Services offers consultations to SHU community members assisting them with every stage of a data project from conceptualization, to choosing tools, to data analysis, to sharing results. Find more on the tools supported here: https://library.shu.edu/data-services.

Request for Proposals

The University Libraries seeks fellowship proposals using the Ron D’Argenio Collection as the basis for projects in the following two areas:

Classics, Art History or History : a scholar from one of these fields, a related field or interdisciplinary scholar who would be able to analyze the collection in its historical context and add to our knowledge of the objects.
Data Visualization: a specialist in data visualization, who would be able to create – in conversation with the humanities scholar (above) – an interactive visual representation of the collection that would allow users to explore the objects by interpreting and presenting the data in a number of ways (see all the coins within a certain date range, or all coins from a particular region, for example).

Specialists who have at minimum completed all coursework for the the terminal degree in their area are invited to propose research projects that fall under one or both of the above areas. Preference will go to the strongest applications that are both feasible for this collection and our technology infrastructure. All projects should incorporate the Ron D’Argenio Collection of Coins and Antiquities. The final product for the Classics/Art History/History scholar would take the form of a short (5-7 page) written report interpreting the collection which would additionally be shared with the University community as an article or lecture. The Data Visualization scholar would be responsible for producing a data visualization project which would be publicly presented on the University Libraries website and the process of creation described in an article or lecture. Beyond the duration of the fellowship, the work of both fellows will inform future initiatives with the collection.

You can view a small portion of the Ron D’Argenio Collection of Coins and Antiquities on our Google Arts and Culture page or you may make a research appointment to gather additional data and/or view the collection by contacting us at walshgallery@shu.edu or 973-275-2033.

Terms/Eligibility for Fellowships

Scholars who at minimum have completed all coursework for the terminal degree in their field may apply. Work can be performed remotely for the most part. Access to the collections on site is conducted in a socially distanced environment compliant with all recommendations aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19. The University Libraries will provide each fellow with access to its library databases and resources, accounts in and support for the data software available, an email address and access to Microsoft Teams software for collaboration and Sharepoint for storage space. Fellows will be expected to give a presentation or write an article on their project to share with the University community by the fall of 2022.

Fellows will be paid a stipend of $2500 for projects that focus on one of the two areas. Half will be paid on award, half on project completion. Applicants may propose a project that incorporates both Classical scholarship and data visualization for a combined $5000 to be disbursed in the same way.

Procedures

Submit a single pdf including the following components as an email attachment to library@shu.edu :

an application cover sheet (which includes your name, project title, contact information and a short bio.
a two-page statement (roughly 500 words), describing your research project and its relation to the Ron D’Argenio Collection of Coins and Antiquities, in which you explain how it fits into your past research (if applicable) and future plans.
a curriculum vitae
a recent example of scholarship

Notifications

Submissions must be received by July 15, 2021. Applicants will be notified by September 1, 2021. Research should take place in the fall of 2021, and the project results (written work or data visualization) completed by May 31, 2022. The lecture or article on the project should take place in the spring or fall of 2022. Please contact Sarah Ponichtera, Assistant Dean of Special Collections and the Gallery at sarah.ponichtera@shu .edu with any questions.

Ceramics Exhibit Launched on Google Arts & Culture

Dragon Ewer (15th-16th century)
China
Walsh Gallery at Seton Hall University.

The Walsh Gallery has launched a new exhibit in Google Arts and Culture featuring some of the highlights of Seton Hall’s collection of ceramics. The exhibit draws from Wang Fang-yu’s Asian Art collection, Ron D’Argenio’s collection of Coins and Antiquities, and Herbert Kraft’s Archeology and Anthropology collection to show connections between material cultures widely disparate in both time and place. According to Gallery Director Jeanne Brasile, this exhibit is not only about the formal qualities of the pieces but most importantly how they reveal the technological development of cultures from the Neolithic era to the twentieth century. The wealth of world cultures featured in this exhibit demonstrates the breadth and scope of Seton Hall’s museum collections.

Physical Distance, Social Solidarity: A communal reading of Monsignor Thomas Fahy’s Inaugural Address

Guest Blog Post By Angela Kariotis Kotsonis

Portrait of Msgr Fahy with books and a basketball hoop — Portrait of Monsignor Fahy, from the Seton Hall Vertical File

I learned about Monsignor Fahy in the spring semester of 2018. It was at an intergenerational panel discussion at the Walsh Library of former Seton Hall student-activist leaders. The event was organized by the Concerned 44, an activated student group. The panel discussion was a teach-in about the history of protest on Seton Hall’s campus and discussion about the progress of the then student movement. You can follow the Concerned 44 on Instagram. If it weren’t for this panel discussion I would not have learned about President Fahy and I’d still be pronouncing Fahy Hall wrong. As an alumna, I can’t help but be angry that it took this long. I became more interested and invited colleagues into the journey of getting to know Fahy.

Alan Delozier, University Archivist, did the work to uncover the Fahy Inaugural address which is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. The CORE has integrated the speech as a required reading for the Journey of Transformations course. And this article intends to showcase a digital

Newspaper Clipping of Msgr Fahy with Black Studies faculty — Monsignor Fahy with the leadership of the Black Studies Program, Newark Star Ledger, April 21, 1975

communal reading of the text as an activist performance practice. The point of the project is to position the text and its ethos as a cultural imprint on our collective memory. To me, Fahy is a white anti-racist abolitionist ancestor who risked and used his power to benefit others. Social justice is a term we’re hearing a lot. What is it? How do you define it? What does it look like? Everyone will have a different answer. I define it as: righting a wrong. If it doesn’t right a wrong, it is not justice. Not only did Fahy leverage his power to right a wrong with some of the most impactful undertakings of Seton Hall’s history but he acknowledged the problem. Often, we rush to solutions without first doing the self interrogation to name the problem. He used this moment, his inaugural address, when everyone was listening and we’re still listening 50 years later.

The video, this collective recitation, brings many voices together for one message. Faculty and students, separate, but together. It carves a lineage. There are protests now as there were 50 years ago. In the streets and on our campus.

Greg Iannarella offers insight into what moved him to gravitate toward one of the most unwavering parts of Fahy’s speech, “This section always felt really powerful to me. The description, the intentional language, invoking real scenes and real communities, conjuring the people! It’s a moment where he turns the gaze outward and challenges the audience to see what is relevant.”

Participants were encouraged to think about their location as a backdrop. These choices offer additional meaning and subtext. Virtual performance lets us become our own set designers. Brooke Duffy presented her portion outside of a new school. “It is a public elementary school in Teaneck that was recently renamed for Theodora Smiley Lacey, a civil rights activist, ‘living legend.’ The NorthJersey.com website describes, ‘it was because of her efforts that Teaneck became the first city in the United States to voluntarily integrate its public schools.’”

Program of Monsignor Fahy's Inaugural Address — Program of Monsignor Fahy’s Inaugural Address, October 14, 1970, from Seton Hall’s Vertical Files

This isn’t the last we’ll hear of Fahy’s address. Jon Radwan describes a new participatory oral history project designed to ensure access, inclusion, and equity in its research process to document and preserve the entirety of this part of the University’s history. “We are confident that the Inaugural Address is only the beginning of learning about Msgr. Fahy’s social justice leadership. Our recent proposal to the New Jersey Council for the Humanities seeks funding for a large scale oral history project. We plan to contact alumni, faculty, and administrators who worked closely with Fahy to record their stories about SHU’s collaboration with Newark activists to launch the Black Studies Center.” To support this project please contact Angela Kariotis and Jon Radwan.

Centering historical figures creates their own mythology. Retrospectives are not without their limitations. But there are so few white allies to look up to for this work. Allies must dig deep, activating themselves, stepping into their consciousness. We can extend the Fahy legacy and course correct. Like 50 years ago, it is a transformative yet fragile time. We must have the will to meet it.

Seton Hall Digital Mapping Project Launched

image of main digital mapping site — Landing page for the new site

Today a new digital map of Seton Hall was launched by Walsh Library. This site allows users to create rich tours of sites at Seton Hall – or anywhere around the world – contextualizing the places with photographs, text, and even audio and video recordings. The introductory tour builds on an existing set of digitized historic postcards of South Orange and Seton Hall that resided in the Library’s e-Repository. “The postcards were well digitized, and had very detailed, searchable data in the e-Repository. But this format allows for a more interactive way for the community to explore the collection,” according to Sarah Ponichtera, Assistant Dean for Special Collections and the Gallery.

The project took shape when archives staff, along with the rest of the university, suddenly shifted to remote work in the spring and sought ways to connect the campus community with archival collections during this difficult period. Technical Services Archivist Sheridan Sayles researched digital mapping products that might suit Seton Hall, and settled on Curatescape, an open-source product. “Curatescape allows users to connect historic images of sites and objects with their location, essentially weaving in historical stories to the every day places we pass by.” according to Sayles. Over the spring and summer, Sayles and Library Collection Developer Zachary Pelli worked to get the site installed and import the images and data from the e-Repository. With the help of a remote intern from Southern Connecticut State University, Amanda Damon, they populated the site with 53 locations (called stories) that can be connected in tours, found using subject tags, and enriched over time as more content is integrated into the site. Constructing the locations as stories allows for more flexibility – a particularly rich object, such as the stained glass windows in the Chapel, could be its own story even though it is still part of the Chapel location. A story could even be built around a person with a long history on campus.

Site page for Stafford Hall — Page for Stafford Hall, one of 53 unique locations, or “stories” on the site.

The Library welcomes suggestions from the community for ways to develop and expand the site. It may be suited for tours developed in courses, adapted to create a virtual tour of campus for those unable to visit in person, or become a center for alumni to contribute their memories of campus. Due to its home in the Monsignor William Noe Field Archives, content contributed to the digital map will be preserved in the University Archives as part of the history of Seton Hall. According to University Archivist Alan Delozier, “within this time of quarantine, the value of this initiative is all the more important for those who cannot visit the school grounds at present, but the long term value of this project will continue to attract attention from students, faculty, and other individual across campus along with external users alike.”

Seton Hall Archives Awarded Grant to Process Cuban-American Priest’s Collection

The William Noé Field Archives in Walsh Library at Seton Hall has been awarded a $9,400 grant from the New Jersey Catholic Historical Commission to process the Father Raúl Comensañas Papers.

Black and white photograph of Raul Comesanas — Msgr. Raúl Comensañas

Father Comensañas served as a priest in Union City and the Hudson County area, where he was active in serving the Cuban exile community. His advocacy work—including a run for the House of Representatives— led local groups to connect exiles with immigration resources and edit Spanish language community newspapers.

Beyond telling the story of an extraordinary man, this collection documents the history of the growing Hispanic community in the Archdiocese of Newark. The collection includes correspondence from Father Raúl to his congregants, newspapers Father Raúl edited documenting issues facing the Newark Cuban-American community, and materials from the Republican party advocating for Hispanic issues in the early 1980s.

The grant covers supplies to rehouse the collection in archival-grade folders and boxes that will preserve the collection for future generations, and provides funds to hire an archival assistant to help SHU staff organize and describe the collection to prepare it for historians and members of the community to explore.

The department hopes to make the collection available to the public by Summer 2021, and plans to make the finding aid for this collection the archives’ first bilingual finding aid, to make it equally available to Spanish-speaking researchers. The materials are approximately 50% Spanish-language, and 50% English, and the department has found a bilingual student archivist to work with the collection.

The archives gratefully acknowledges the New Jersey Catholic Historical Commission for its support of this important project, as well as the donor, Jo Welker for entrusting these materials to its care.

Working with Seton Hall’s Audiovisual Collections

by Kyle Brinster, MS-MLIS candidate at

photo of damaged record — A laquer disc with deterioration of the plasticizer

St. John’s University

During the Winter-Spring 2020 semester I served as an intern at Seton Hall where I worked in the Archives and Special Collections Center under Walsh Library. They house a number of collection areas including institutional records, New Jersey history, Irish and Irish-American history, and additionally serve as the repository for records regarding the Archdiocese of Newark. But over the next few months my work was focused on SHU A, or the university’s audio-visual records.

One thing I have learned during my fledgling archival career is that the real world is very different from coursework. Although this may seem obvious the differences manifest in surprising ways. Often archivists are not part of an organization’s record keeping plan from the outset; they enter the scene well after one or several people have compiled records deemed important. In the past the same has been true of Seton Hall. Books and records were dutifully kept but without full consideration as to whether they fell under the archives’ purview. Similarly, the decision was made to separate out certain record types from their original collection. This is the case with SHU’s photograph collection, and before this semester was true of SHU A. When Technical Archivist Sheridan Sayles pointed out the 3 shelves full of boxes my first day in late January, I thought perhaps I was in over my head. There were boxes full of VHS and cassette tapes, many of which were blank or confusingly labeled. On the shelves beside the boxes were rows of record albums. These came in their commercial boxes and homemade sleeves, with a books of multi-disc albums rounding out the row of records.

I took part in several different AV projects during my semester at SHU. Initially, I consolidated and organized the array of VHS tapes. This consisted of surveying what was in the collection, weeding out commonly produced or off-focus tapes, and rehoming objects with their original existent collection. Separating taped episodes of The Sopranos from the collection was easy, but categorizing the wide range of news clips, Seton Hall TV spots, filmed lectures, and other miscellaneous tapes was something of a challenge. Many were also lacking much or any descriptive information, so they were viewed in order to try and find context so they could be better sorted.

I then set to work capturing the existing collections where the tapes belonged. These areas included the Athletics, College of Business, Poetry in the Round, and WSOU, just to name a few. I created spreadsheets outlining the new additions to the collections, including metadata information like the title, date, and format for easier search and organization in the future.

The process was then repeated with record albums: they were surveyed, weeded, rehoused, and reassigned to their original collections. In this way over the course of a few weeks we transformed SHU A from over a dozen linear feet of shelving into 3 neat boxes.

The archives welcomes undergraduate interns and has a variety of appropriate projects suited to different interests. Current Seton Hall students interested in working in the archives who are eligible for federal work study, please send an inquiry to sarah.ponichtera@shu.edu.

Reconnecting with Each Other in the Current Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life at Seton Hall as it has for millions of others around the country and the world. In the name of saving lives by practicing social distancing, it has scattered us into our homes around the region and the country. Although we are now physically distant from one another, we remain united as Setonians through our connection to Seton Hall.

Seton Hall commencement, 1885 — Seton Hall Commencement, 1885

To reconnect as a community, we seek your stories of what this time has been like for you. We have established a website to submit short personal narratives. We hope that sharing these stories with one another will bring us back together in a new way, through sharing our personal experiences of this moment. When we move forward, because there will be a time when we move forward, we plan to listen to these stories together as a community, reflect on what we have learned, and let them guide us into the future.

To participate, please record a 1-3 minute narrative about your experience, using any video or audio equipment available to you, and submit the file to our e-Repository. Please also submit an image that represents your narrative, which will appear next to your recording in the published archive.

Questions to guide your response:

What is your day to day life like? What would you want people in the future to know about what things are like for us now?
What has been most challenging about this time? What do you miss about your life before the pandemic? Are there specific places or things on campus that you miss?
Essential is a word we are hearing a lot right now. What does essential mean to you? Who is essential? What are we learning about what is essential?
What is COVID-19 making possible that never existed before? What good do you see coming out of this moment? How can we re-frame this moment as an opportunity?
What is it you want to remember about this time? What have you learned?
After this pandemic ends, will things go back to the way they were? What kinds of changes would you like to see? How will you contribute to rebuilding the world? What will you do differently?

Choose the one that speaks to you, or address more than one if you wish.

With thanks to the scholars and librarians who came together to create this project: Professors Angela Kariotis Kotsonis, Sharon Ince, Marta Deyrup, Lisa DeLuca, and Alan Delozier, Technical Services Archivist Sheridan Sayles and Assistant Deans Elizabeth Leonard and Sarah Ponichtera.

Breviarium Romanum and the Origin of Seton Hall’s Rare Book Collection

By Monsignor Robert Wister

front cover of the Stuart Breviary — The Stuart Breviary, featuring the Cardinal Duke of York’s distinct coat of arms.

The Roman Breviary (Latin: Breviarium Romanum) is the book containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, psalms, and readings for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons of the Catholic Church. Currently, it is known as the Divine Office or The Liturgy of the Hours.

After the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the popes tried to impose a single standard version of the Breviary throughout the Church. They had some success, but many dioceses and religious orders retained their local customs.

Seton Hall’s Breviary is an unusual one. As its title indicates Breviarium Romanum ad usum Cleri Basilicae Vaticanae, it is the Breviary for the Basilica of Saint Peter, the Vatican Basilica. Many cathedral churches and great basilicas especially in Europe, have a “Chapter of Canons.” This group of priests have the responsibility to daily pray the Divine Office. This Breviary contains the ritual they would use, including prayers and hymns unique to the Basilica.

As indicated by the inscription “Joan. Nolin sculp.” at the base of the column on the left of the title page, the title page was engraved by Jean-Baptiste Nolin (c. 1657–1708), who was a French cartographer and engraver. The page pictures Saint Peter’s Basilica and Square, framed by large statues of Saints Peter (left) and Saint Paul (right). Above in the center is the coat of arms of Pope Clement X (1670-1676).

Among his many offices, Cardinal Stuart was Archpriest of Saint Peter’s Basilica from 1751 to 1807. This post included the responsibility to pray with the canons on specific occasions. Its well-worn condition attests to the Cardinal’s fidelity to these responsibilities.

As noted on the second title page, our Breviary was printed in Paris by Sebastian Mabre-Cramoisy (1637? -1687), Printer to the King, in 1674. In the introduction, the editor notes that it contains certain prayers and scripture readings that are particular to the clergy of Saint Peter’s Basilica. And that the last printing was more than eighty years before and few copies remain. Therefore, it is surprising that Cardinal Stuart would be using a book that is more than a century old since there is record of a 1740 printing. Of course, this version was printed by the renowned Mabre-Cramoisy and the cardinal had it rebound in magnificent red leather and adorned with his coat of arms.

At the bottom of the page, in very small cursive script is the following:

Inscription by Bishop Bayley, describing the circumstances of its purchase. The inscription reads: “This Breviary was purchased at Rome from a lot of Books which had belonged to Henry Stuart, Cardinal of York. It bears his arms on the cover and probably was the one used by himself as Arch Priest of S. Peter’s. It was brought from Rome to New York, and came into the possession of The Rt. Revd. Bp. Hughes from whom I obtained it. St. John’s Coll. Fordham May 6th MDCCCXLV”

This short note by Father Bayley, later Bishop Bayley, the founder of Seton Hall University, gives an insight into the manner in which fledgling colleges in the United States would stock their libraries. In later letters and diary entries after he became bishop of Newark, Bayley refers to purchasing large lots of books in Europe, often from shuttered colleges, convents, and monasteries. These volumes formed the core of the libraries of new American colleges. There are numerous examples of centuries-old books with the stamp Collegium Setoniense in the Walsh Library collections.

See the Stuart Breviary itself and learn more about the Cardinal Duke of York who owned it at the exhibit in the Monsignor William Noe Field Special Collections Center on the first floor of Walsh Library, through March 31.

Maria Gillan Speaks at Seton Hall

photo of Maria Mazziotti Gillan — Maria Mazziotti Gillan

Maria Gillan is a poet who writes about her experience as an Italian-American woman, navigating between the Italian language and culture of her youth and the English language of her adult self. She writes with great attention to detail, in poems such as “Public School No. 18, Paterson, New Jersey,” where she speaks about the alienation she felt in an English language school as a native speaker of Italian. But she also speaks to universal themes, such as her sadness about the growing distance between herself and her son as her son grows up and starts a family of his own in “What I Can’t Face About Someone I Love.” Her work has been translated into Italian, and she now leads workshops in creative writing based in Italy, in addition to branching out into art as well as poetry, with works such as Redhead with Flying Fish and Cat. In addition, she maintains an active blog and website documenting her work.

Maria Gillan's painting of a redhead with flying fish — Redhead with flying fish and cat

Gillan will be speaking at Seton Hall, in the Theater in the Round on the evening of September 24 at 6pm. Her translator, Professor Carla Francellini, from University of Siena, will speak as well. This event honors the 2019 scholarship winners in Italian Studies.

While she is here, Professor Francellini will also be working in the Monsignor William Noe Field Archives, researching in Gillan’s collection here, where not only her physical papers but also Gillan’s blog and website are archived. Explore the finding aid for the collection, and also stop by and see the window featuring Gillan’s work on the bottom floor of Walsh Library, outside Walsh Gallery.

Exhibit Features Artists in Dialogue with Science

Strange Attractors

January 14 – March 8, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, January 25, 6pm to 8pm

Charcoal drawing on paper — Linda Francis, Threes

The Walsh Gallery is pleased to present Strange Attractors, a group exhibition conceived as an extension of a symposium hosted at New York City’s CUE Art Foundation in November 2017. Organized by artist and writer Taney Roniger, the symposium, also called Strange Attractors, examined interdisciplinary approaches to art-making with an emphasis on how visual art can generate insight into subjects studied by other fields. Co-curated by Taney Roniger and Gallery Director Jeanne Brasile, the exhibition aims to resume the dialogue in visual form by featuring work by many of the conference participants. The participating artists are: Suzanne Anker, Gianluca Bianchino, Catherine Chalmers, Linda Francis, Lorrie Fredette, Michael Hadley & Elaine Reynolds, Daniel Hill, Ed Kerns, Eve Andrée Laramée, Matthew Ritchie, Taney Roniger, Leonard Shapiro and Werner Sun.

While drawing on the strengths of different systems of knowledge, Strange Attractors celebrates nature and its infinitely interdisciplinary characteristics. In conjunction with the exhibition, a panel discussion to be held in the gallery will further explore questions raised during the original dialogue (details to be announced). The exhibition has been made possible though the generous support of the Robert Lehman Foundation and the Essex County Arts Council through a re-grant of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment of the Arts.

The Walsh Gallery is open 10:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday—Friday.