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Friedman Center awarded “Top Design” by Contract Magazine
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The Susan P. and Richard A. Friedman Study Center has been awarded “Top Design 2007 in Education” by Contract Magazine. Calling it “the vibrant heart of campus,” the magazine lauded Friedman’s mixture of spaces for study and socializing and eclectic design. Panelists heaped praise on the work by New York-based Architecture Research Office commenting on the “innovative use of materials. Bright, energized, environment. They did a lot with a little budget. Integration of graphics and ideas brought a fresh new perspective.”
“The Friedman Center is a bold and innovative addition to Brown’s campus,” said Harriette Hemmasi, Joukowsky Family University Librarian. “I am grateful to the panelists at Contract for recognizing and rewarding the hard work that went into its creative design and for selecting the Friedman Center to receive this honor. While I am happy that the Friedman Center has been heralded for its vibrant color scheme and seamless blend of spaces for study and hanging out, I am most pleased that it is such a tremendous hit with the toughest jury of all – our students. The packed computer clusters, crowded café area, and throngs of students studying independently or in groups are a familiar sight on any night of the week. To have an award is further proof that Friedman plays an important part in the experience of all Brown students.”
This is the second major design award for the Friedman Study Center, which received gold medals in “Commercial Interior Design” and “Commercial Construction/Renovation” in November’s issue of Rhode Island Monthly Magazine. The 24-hour study center is a locus of social and scholarly life on campus, receiving nearly a quarter of a million visits in the past semester alone.
A national publication from Nielsen Business Publications, USA, Contract Magazine covers the commercial design industry. To read the full text of the article, please visit: http://www.contractconnected.com/0108/index.php?section=2&article=7&page=0 -
Historic Garibaldi Panorama ready for its close-up! -Web resource launches
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The Brown University Library and the Department of Italian Studies are pleased to announce that the launch of Garibaldi and the Risorgimento, a web-based archive for the study of one the protagonists of Italian reunification and 19th century Europe. The centerpiece of this one-of-a-kind resource is a digitized version of the Garibaldi Panorama, one of the finest surviving examples of panoramic art. The archive can be accessed at http://dl.lib.brown.edu/garibaldi/.Completed in 1860 and donated to Brown by the late Dr. James Walter Smith in 2005, the Garibaldi Panorama measures 4 ½ feet high and 273 feet long and is one of the longest paintings in the world. The Garibaldi Panorama isa “moving” panorama, meaning that audiences watched as illustrations of Garibaldi’s life were cranked out before them, including such seminal moments as his involvement in the Italian Risorgimento, escape to South America, failed defense of the Roman Republic in 1849, and triumphal expedition to Sicily, in 1860. In order to replicate this experience, Brown Library staff pieced together individual digital images of the painting into a seamless whole. Users can zoom in and out on specific scenes, listen to a voiceover narration based on the manuscript, in both Italian and English, and read explanatory notes about events depicted in the panorama. Accompanying the panorama is a collection of some 400 prints from illustrated newspapers that chronicle the movement for Italian Unification. The original manuscript narration has also been digitized. Enhancements to the site are ongoing.
“The panorama is a unique artifact, both as a historical source on Garibaldi and his times, and a fascinating specimen from the pre-history of cinema,” said Massimo Riva, Professor of Italian Studies. “An international team of scholars is currently working with the Brown Library to create a multidisciplinary resource, centered on the panorama and other visual materials, which will include historical essays, annotations and bibliographical references. Eventually, the site will be a tremendously valuable tool for scholars and students.”
“Garibaldi and the Italian Risorgimento is an invaluable resource for students of history, media, and popular culture,” said Harriette Hemmasi, Joukowsky Family University Librarian. “This is a testament to the ways that digital technologies have revolutionized how rare and archival materials can be accessed, utilized, and integrated into research and teaching. I am so pleased to be able to share this superb example of panoramic art with virtual visitors from around the world. My hopes are that it will encourage students and scholars to engage with the history of this time in a more dynamic manner and will inspire new lines of inquiry and research.”
The Library’s Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, the Department of Italian Studies and Vincent Buonanno, Class of ’66, contributed to the project’s funding. Original manuscript material is drawn from the private collection of Dr. David Kertzer.
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Brown Daily Herald: Touching the Past
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Editorial
On a rare excursion from our newsroom, a group of Herald editors and writers trotted through the Sunday wind to the University archives at the John Hay Library, in which two-and-a-half centuries of College Hill history are stored in diaries, tapes, photos and notes. Even the most curious among us had spent little or no time in this corner of the library. While we’ve canvassed most of campus for stories, we needed a tour from a University archivist to get our bearings there.
We browsed pictures of our former live bear mascots, which were staples at football games for most of the last century. We laughed as we flipped through a century-old issue of our own paper, in which the weekly orchestra rehearsal made front-page news. We perused the oldest Corporation records, and were reminded that, even generously adjusted for inflation, our $312 budget for financial aid in 1897 shows we’ve come a long way since.
Looking into the University’s past reminded us of its rich history and also of its uglier sides. We read of President William Faunce, class of 1880, resisting coeducation at Brown. We saw old pictures of The Herald’s editorial staff – all white, male and mustachioed.
Students can easily spend four years on College Hill without ever stepping into the Hay, and it’s even easier – nearly a given – for many never to wander into the small corner room brimming with filing cabinets and memories. We donned the white gloves to handle one of the tens of thousands of photos donated by alums that are now filed away in the archives’ cabinets, knowing we were likely the first and last person to touch it for years.
It’s a quieter part of campus. While College Hill is known for being dynamic – with a new building here and naked students there – the archives serve instead as a place for pensive reflection.
Certainly, covering breaking news stories gets any reporter’s heart pumping. Running toward gunshot sounds at the Rock – even if it turns out to have been a stone from a slingshot – is an exciting chase.
But a departure from the immediacy of the newsroom to peek into the timelessness of the archives refreshed our sense of context. In the age of e-everything, actually putting our hands on our University’s history – thumbing photos of old dorm room interiors and squinting at swirly handwriting in student diaries – was a real treat.
The historical memory of the Brown community is invaluable. We hope that, a century from now, the Herald’s 218th editorial board will make a similar trip to look at the University’s archives and will also be able to peer at their past to measure their present.