Post by Jo Erickson

I wanted to share some reflections on my summer at the Denison Library. I had a thoroughly enriching experience getting to know the staff, as well as the Scripps Archives, which have a personality of their own. To share the content of my project, I conducted archival and oral history research on the history of the Scripps music department. This involved reading through hundreds of concert programs, inputting new archival material from the prior Dean of Faculty, Michael Lamkin, and piecing together the gaps in the history of the music department that resulted from lost files during a building change. I also conducted formal, long-form interviews with faculty emeriti Preethi de Silva (Harpsichord) and Michael Lamkin (Orchestral and Choral programs), and current faculty Hao Huang (Piano, department chair) and YouYoung Kang (Music Theory). Lastly, I spoke with Judy Harvey Sahak for guidance on navigating the archives and confirming/denying the presence of the ghost in the Drake Wing of the Denison. This project resulted in my sharing of my findings at the Scripps Research Tea last Wednesday, as well as a ~150-page compiled document outlining the music history of the college and containing refined transcripts of the oral histories. The Denison graciously funded a staff trip into Riverside mid-summer, and we visited the Riverside Museum of Art and the Cheech Museum, which the staff photo was taken at, in front of a beautiful and staggering photographic collage that changed form when looked at from different angles. Thank you so much to the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation for funding my research. Thank you to Denison staff Jennifer Martinez Wormser, Cecilia Contreras, Mikayla Buhbe, and Lydia Montano, my co-historians Lamkin, de Silva, Huang, and Kang, and my co-interns, Mina Jung, Nicole Teh, Jannat Verma, and Grace Valenshinas. It was a joy to learn from, collaborate with, and spend time with all of you.