{"id":1440,"date":"2013-02-07T16:21:03","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T21:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/?p=1440"},"modified":"2013-02-26T09:56:38","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T14:56:38","slug":"when-digitization-and-ancestry-collide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/when-digitization-and-ancestry-collide\/","title":{"rendered":"When Digitization and Ancestry Collide"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are generally few personal revelations in the review and exportation of digital files. Once a group of materials has been scanned, I export the folder of digitized images into Adobe Lightroom<\/a>, click through each image, checking that it is properly cropped, aligned, and does not contain any artifacts. It is fairly fast paced work, and does not allow for much reflection on subject matter. However, I did take notice during the review process of a box of \"\"<\/a>Harris Broadsides<\/a>. I was reviewing digitized images from \u201cThe Order of Exercises for Class Day, Monday, July 30, 1860, Bowdoin College.” As the third page appeared on the monitor, the name AMERICUS FULLER jumped out at me.<\/p>\n

Americus Fuller is one of those solid and patriotic 19th<\/sup>-century names that one remembers if it figures in your family ancestry.\u00a0 My first association with Americus Fuller, is in connection to his exotic Turkish leather ottoman, passed down to me in the 1970s. Was the poet named on the broadside I was reviewing, my grandmother\u2019s great uncle Reverend Americus T. Fuller, missionary to Turkey?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Reverend Americus T. Fuller<\/p><\/div>\n

The fact that the publication was from Bowdoin boded well…my family is from Maine. A quick check on Ancestry.com confirmed that Americus Fuller graduated from Bowdoin in 1859, prior to attending Bangor Theological Seminary. It was clear now that I was reading a poem written by my ancestor, a melancholic farewell for the graduating class of \u201959 reflecting on the past toil of study, and looking forward to an unknown future.<\/p>\n

Having the new knowledge that Americus was a \u201cpublished poet\u201d, I did a quick search for Americus Fuller in the Brown Digital Repository<\/a> and our library catalog<\/a> to see if perhaps he had penned anything else in our collections. Viola! He had also written a poem for the Freshman Supper at Bowdoin College, July 31, 1856.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In this Ode, Fuller reflects upon freshman year spent in \u201chappy strife\u201d, and looks ahead to becoming a dignified sophomore. Fuller’s\u00a0 life story, albeit\u00a0interesting, is now known and passed. He was a member of the Christian Commission during the Civil War, and served as a pastor in Maine and Minnesota, until his appointment as a missionary, first at Antitab, Turkey, then\u00a0 Constantinople. In 1880, Fuller became President of the Central Turkey College.<\/p>\n

Displayed in my home are 19th<\/sup>-century Turkish textiles, handiwork, and objets d\u2019art collected by Americus and passed down to me. I have now added copies of two odes from Brown University Library’s\u00a0 Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays to my collection of Fuller family related items. Yes, archives are full of secrets, and hidden gems are lying dormant in dark stacks waiting to have light shed on them. What a privilege it is to have the type of employment that such genealogical gems can be stumbled upon in the course of daily work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>

Bowdoin College Campus, ca. 1860<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are generally few personal revelations in the review and exportation of digital files. Once a group of materials has been scanned, I export the folder of digitized images into Adobe Lightroom, click through each image, checking that it is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,65],"tags":[73,74],"class_list":["post-1440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-harris-broadsides","category-harris-collection-of-american-poetry-and-plays-collections","tag-bowdoin-college","tag-turkey","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1440"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1595,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions\/1595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/dps\/curio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}