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HomeMy WebLinkAbout0345.094! , ! July 7, 1994 THB HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL palo Alto, California 12 RBOQCST FOR lIUTHORIZA'l'IOI! TO D1SUrul.lLj'~NSQ"1I 'UKElLtliUlDU: ARCHIYAL RlCQMLl!!I2lliL LOCIIl. HI 1tlQlU~~llnqgIllTl OU ~ltE~U9!1J! l-{embers of the COl.lnci 1: )leporLio Brief This report revioews the contents of the Poninsula ~'iffle5 Tribuna new.spaper archives acquired by the City appl~oxiMat(11y one year ago. It surveys sevoral options for their \lse and reconnends thAt the collection be sorted and the local historica.l fll:aterials ts distributed to region;?:l historical associations to incol'por-ate in their collectiomi. Background In May 1993, the Cit}' received ownership of tho newspaper) 1bran' of the defunct Peninsula Times Tribuno fforn the Tribune CO'nlpany of Chicago. The collection, comprised of cl'lbinet LUes of newspaper clippings and photogrCtphs l bo>eos of rnicrofihl and miscellaneous items, was moved to b warehouse initially and stored in eleven storage crates. It was moved .in July 1993 I to a vacant room a.t Cubberley where the files Were reviewed and inventoried. Site visits have been m~de by Vice Mayor Simitian and council Members Fazzino and Wheeler. BecEluse of the need to vacate the CUbberley location for a long-term rental, the collection was ?joved again in June 1994 1 to the staff conference room at the Do~ntown Librarv~ To date, the City has incurred direct cost.s of $~300 for-storage and moving of the files. Times Tribune collection (Con~n.t.§.L~ __ mL Histori_~.LY~ A descriptive inventory of the collection is listed in the Appendix to this report. The physical condition of most of the material is good. The clippings, fragile by nature I are relatively we11- protect.ed in their envelopes. 'l'ne photographs and negatives have been stored and preserved with 'care, OKcept tor some minor damage caused by the hastily prepared packing and shipping from the Times Tribune building. 'CMR:345:94 :,......,'~I·· ..... . . ,. ::: ','- .. ' . ' . . " .' , Page 2 July 7, 1994 HoweVEsr t the rrtl).jor reason for the condition of the material is that most of it is ot relatively J~ecerlt vintage. The photographs fOl: the most part reflect scenes and p~r8olls of th.e last 20 years, rather than the entire range of years covered by the newspaper. There is a small collection of "historic" photos IJsed by the newspaper to illustrate stories with a history theme. The photograph negatives, however, date from the 1950 /s to the present. There are SOMe older news clippings (on topiCS of tirnelesQ value) but most of them, again, date from the 1960 /s and later. The micrOfilm of tha newspapers is not unique, and f¢r the most part, duplicates the existing extp.nsive holdings of public libraries on the Peninsula. To make the collection u3able, there is a great deal of work still to be done, beforo it can be used for any purpose other than as a newspaper archive. The photographs have immediate value as a resource, but. they comprise a small percent.age of the collect..i..on. It is estimated that 70 percent are unique and of local interest. The photograph negatives are the great treasure of this archive, but in their present condition (black and white negative strips) require extellsive analysis before th~y c~n be considered useful. They are not organized by cubject, but rather by the date that the photo appeared in the newspaper. It will be a problematical and slow process tc review these files. Portions of the newspaper clippings (both subject and name collections) arc of local (i.e. area served by the Times Tribune and its predecessors) historic value; however, the 39 file cabinets and 69 boxes of clippings include everything. The same cabinet that stores clippings on San '"rancisquito Creek also contains files on San Francisco, San Juan Puerto Rico, sand castles and the San Diego Zoo. In looking for clippings on Juana Briones, you will find in the same ~ection clippings for Messrs. Brown (Willie, Pat and ,Jerry) and Lenny B:t.'uce. There is so m.uch non-local, non­ regional "material (estimated to be at least 70 pet"cent of the total clipping collection} that the unique local material is hidden, There are many local historical organizations 'who collect and maintain historical resources for specific to\l!'OS or areas. These inClude historical groups in Menlo park, Redwood city, San Cal"los, MOUntain Vie...." Sunnyvale, cupertino and Los Altos, as well as the Palo Alto Historical Association. None of these organizations collects newspaper clippings and photographs that are state, national or international in scope. All concentrate their collecting in a narrow ,~ay: on subjects of interest within the CMR:34S:94 J ..... . ~ ."1 I I· I , i , . ! , . }, , I I· i \'. , .' '-,~-;--~--- Page 3 July 7, 1994 ge09raph1c area of the organization. por example, the Palo Alto Historical ~B6ooiation collects all materials about Palo'Alto l and ~bout other geographic areas only if the topic relates to Palo Alto, such as Durnbarton Bridge traffic discussions and roqional traffic issues. No o~;qanization has a broad collecting policy that oncompasses the breadth of regional materials crossing two counties that 1s includod in the Times Tribune collection. The reason -is simple; most of the organizations have low budgets, are nonproflts thriving priroarily with volunteer assistance a~d can afford only to Collect narrowly. Furthermore, the researcher will go to the orqanization 'Where it is most likely the information will be found. One would not expect to find significant material to research the Gamble House, for exaTllple, in Re.dl/ood City's historical collection. In addition, the California History Center and Foundation Library at De Anza College and the Special Collections Department at Stanford University collect local materials and somo state, national or international materials to support their missions. Neither col19cts general materials. In the case of the former, the collection supports the college curriculum and is composed of primary documents, oral histories, displays, etc. B!Atus of N~~per Research 'there are several national newspaptH" indexes available in printed form (early years) and electronically (mor.e recent years) providing access to state, national and illternational news stories. The Palo Alto City Library subscribes to several of them and has the :plicrof11m or hard copy to provide the specific article needed. Newspaper libra~ies, such as at the San Francisco Examinor and San FrancJ.sco Chronicle, no longer milintain newsprint clipping files. These have been given to the San Francisco public Library (where the files are inaccessible, in boxes) and the California Historical Soci.ety respectively. 'the San Jose Mercury closed its' clipping files in the 1980's and since then has been using an electronic tndeK for research needs of reporters. The olde~, clippings have been retained and may be transformed to microform or CD ROM format sometime and 'are used occasionally by reporters. The San Hateo Times has also been using electronic ip.dc:xing since 1989 and has retained its older clipping files which contain only local stories. Space requirements as well as innovations in technological storage methods are making the "clipping file" type of resource obsolete. Staff has talked with newspaper librarians who admit that there are some rf)porters who value clipping files and would continue to use CMR:345:94 '--:. \.-­ \' "::'1·· .j Paq€! " July 7, 1994 them as a resourco tool. The storaqe and maintenance of the Times T.r.1bun$ collection., howover, is not a practical one for the City or an historical lIsso'Ciation to aesume; and it. does not appear to be an attractive .acquisition tor a newspaper organization. Value of CQll~Qt!on an~~~~ for Qrganl~n9-i~ublic Use Many expect.ed that the Tj~(ls Tribune would have extensive files back to its early di'lya that would enhance area historical cOllections im~easurably. In fact, the bulk of the collection is relativoly roc~nt state, national and international reporting available from nany sources. The negative and obituary files have h1sto:t:ical value, as does no ~orc than 25 Jlercent of the clipping file~. If .(t dei?ision 1s l:'Iade to retain only the items of regional historical value, it ~i1l taKe intensive -individual efforts to revS.aw each file or onv~lope to identify resources at local histor ieal intercst, because the collection is organized by date (ne.gatives~ or intertiled alphabetically (subject}. If a decision is ttade to distribute materials in the collection to a variety of local historical qroups, it wl-l1 t"ke additional efforts to collect eppropriate iterns (or each grouJ) and for th~t group to daterrnine 'Whether th-a t1aterial is redundant or new to its collection. It may .... all be: that ot"ganizI)tions active 1~ newspaper clipping, such as the palo Alto HistoriCAl Association, will not find much that is uniq~le in the ne,,"spaper files. The following options tor tho organi.zation and use of the Poninsula Timos Tl"jbull& (PT"1') files wore reviewed by staff: OP'rIOH A. Kaint..,in and develop collection as a stand alone n'Qwspaper rafer-ence Ubrary .... ith a strong reqlonal emphasis. Thls option envisions retaining substantially all of both the general anct local infornation tiles, Which are prirnarily newspaper clippings, from the PT"r and its predecessors. It would be a unique archive reflecting comprehensive 'ICWS coverage of a middle-sized newspaper .and would require financial resources. to establish a permanent location, ongoinq ~.upport for access and maintenance of the collection and the development of a vision for future directions. CMR:345:94 L /' I l '. ·\ ," ••. .c" __ ~;"':_' __ ', page 5 July 7, 1994 £I!Qa Option A. Easy to use collection of general ncw~, 1960'9 to eerly 1990 1 8 retained for research purposes. Manorial to -the P~in1nsula ~lmes Tribuna's work. J;QlfI.1 optionA. xo~t information in the colloction 1s of a genoral nature and readily aVllllable elsewhere. {1. 6'. I sUbject filos include ~rt!cle8 on divorc9 1 Gulf War, Alaaka f etc.) Collection Is large~ and locating adequate housing and onqolng ~alnt~nancQ of n~terials requires substantl~l !nvestnent. AudiEnce tor collElction not obyjousj there!o.:e, financial and other t~·pes of support unlikely. Developing a n~w lo~ation tor historical naterials will scatter access r~ther than build upon strongths ot current collectionI'> rnaintain~d by aoveral Archival associations. Coverage in l.ll'l1ited: early 1960's to eat'ly 1993. Thus', the value of collection boconlBs )\'lore narqinal as tilt!o pa.sses. OPTION B. Putl the uniquo, historically valuablo J!)aterials to create a new, .separate re9ioPlnl local history colloct$.on. This option envisions discarding the matorials of gener~1 interest on both people (e.g. Frank Sinatra, Ge('lrge Buuh) and subjects (OlympiCB J macraMe) and retaining those clippings, photos and microfilm reflectinq td_d-Peninsula events, peoplo.,! places, etc. A­ new re9'ional researr.h collect!"n would rosult. The option would require ongoing development and support frolll, as yet., unidentified resources. elm: 345: 94 , . 1 ~. , . I' i i , ! '._. c, Page 6 July 7, 1994 ~ Option 8. Resourc,es tor study of issues whioh affect more than one Peninsula geographical location will be available together. , :;. .c.2Hli option B. The collection will b. relatively relatively emaIl and is limited at present to now3pdper coy.eraqe only (as: opposed to a variety of sout"ces) , with augmontation hy photos. . Much of t.he Palo Alto information will duplicate :material already in the Palo Alto Historical Assooiatlon files. 1'his may be true for other historical collections as well. Existb,g historical collections will continue to collect materials on aroa wide issues for their collections, thus duplicating efforts. proposal requires start-up costs, has ongoing maintonance requirements and does not take advantage of organizations already preparGd to support historical collP..ctions. Financial support is unlikely from historical agencies or other local governments. OP~ION C. Pull the materials of regional historical valuo and merge them as a .collection with either the Palti Alto lIist.orical Association (PAHA) files or with the tiles of another Mid-Peninsula historical ;roup. Like Option B, this alternative envisions discarding the materials of qeneral interest on both people and subjects and retaining those clipplnqs, photos and microfilm reflecting mi.d"'Peninaula events, people, places, etc. However, instead ot a new separate collection of regional focus, the regional materials would ba added to an already existing local collection, such as the Palo Alto Historical Association (PAHA) collection housed at the Main Library. CMR: 345:94 \ .' Page 7 July 7, 1994 ~. OptiOll C. Resources fo'r study of regional interests will be located in one place. Plan may be able to build upon str~nqth of an organization whose mission to compatible with preservation of, and access to, historical materials and which has infrastructure (space, maintenance skills and re(';our-ces) • ~.§. option c. PAHA is not interested in building and maintaininq a collection of materials with-little relationship to Palo Alto due to its limited resources. This nay be true with other organizations as well. PAHA (or P~lo Altans) may not look favorably at givinq away local historical material to another organization. Historical associations are nonprofit, low budget operations, with few resources to absorb responsibility for collection of marginal value to its mission. This option fragments loc~l collections by creating-a new collection which partially overlaps others, instead of building on existing strengths. Researchers seeking information about other communities w~ll not expect to find these resources in Palo Alto. OPTION D.. BlIild upon strengths and ·scope of existing historical collections. Pull historical materials of interest to the palo Alto area primarlly and absorb them in the Palo Alto Historical Association collection. Share/distribute other materials of interest to existing historical groupsj libraries and agencies. This option envisions collaborating with other local historical organizations with established collections, to review all materials and dispers~ them according to slIbject strengths. All historically relevant information would reside in the locale whose collection CMR:345,94 .. i I , , I pago .8 July 7, 1994 has strenqth in thG subject. some materials would be offered to other orqaniz'ations, such as libraries, whos'C collections would be enhanced (a.g. by adding the microfilm of newspapers). UQ.I! Ol'tlon D. Builds upon strengths of exIstin9 historical cQllections. Space for-collections can pro~bly be acco~odated uithotlt new or large expcnsa.* No ongoing costs tOt' h!~torlcal groups once the "f)atet'ials are incorporated into cxlstinfJ files. !tltor~Ation h;ol1't Peninsula T1J:!os Tr,(buno files 'Would be Inte9ratect into a collection in th& gaographical area nost likely to be identified by rescM."chors as having the re"Sourcos~ ~ option D. Peninsula Times TribUne collection fraqrnented and no longer exists as an entity. R099arch of regional i~sues will continue to r.equi~e toe use of several collections. I. ~()r.£"1 The Palo Alto tU.stodcal PaeeoclatLon and l"alo l'alto City,LIbrary ha .... e baen meotLng ~inC8 r.bruary 1994, to de .... elop a pLan to~ conservation, 5torage, and llI-6intenanee of tha: hlstorical coJlect.lon cUl"l'ently I."aalding at the Mai.n Llbra-ry. rhill ~~coomended apprQ4ch would requlre seoking assiotance of &n historical collectlOng 9~pert to evaluate alt~rnative atorage c~pabll~tle8 (vIa electronLc alot-lige or IDloroproduction). and optiona to irtipro .... e acceSB and pres&ntation of m.a,lerUl& and their Intolloctual content.. Whctrl a plan ie complete, the hlatorical'a&Bociat{on and lIbrary will Beek funding to implement it. Outside (unding .sour<:e9! w-lll bo Inv09tLqated. CMR'345,94 ' .. < • l I .,-.,' P.<je 9 July 7, 1994 Bae OJllrn end'a_llio staft recommonds that Council authorize proceeding ~!th option DJ ~B it is the ~ost GconomLcal and best builds upon existinq historical collGctiol1EJ and resources in the area served by the Times T.rlbune and its pr-e.decessors. The concepts explore~ in thiG report have been ravi6wed by representatives 'ot tho P~lo'Alto Historical Association. They are supportive of assisting clty staff In Implomenting Option D in concert with oth.er historical qroups. It CouI1cil approves the rec(ir.ne-ndecl Option 0 above, staff will devQ:lop .a t.ta ininq progran and work • ... ith loca 1 historical organizations, 11brarh,>R c,nd other gt'OUps and their volunteers, to sort through the r.laterials and disperso them according to the strengths of various collections. Criteria will be developed to cte-termine the place~9nt ot those materi;';)s that viII not he incorporated into the PAHA files and ~re of interest to mora than one other lIiren orgcmiz.t\tiol1, Each org"niz~tion recaivinq materials will ha asked to commit that tho P'laterlals wIll be incorporated whore appropriate in thei r collections and \llado accessible to the qanaral public. It is bolioved that thero may be some limited parts of,the general fi\~s Which ~ight be of value to a var.iety of grollpH, including small newspapot"s or studonts. Efforts will be [!lade to utilize as ItIHch as possible of tho tiles. To provido the lead and profossio1li'J1 oversight, two protessional librarians ~nowledqeablo about area local history will be required to work' with Associations' volunteers or statts and complete t~e dispersal of all materials e-xcept. tha ne.ga.tives in approximately three months. The one-time cost will be $6000. ConClysion Staff recomntends that Council approve Option D to build upon the strengths of eXist.ing historical collections, approve funding of $6000 and authori2G staff to work with local historicbl groups to sort and nergc the Peninsula Tinos Tribune tiles. If council approvss this recommendation, funds will come from the City Mana.gor's contingency account. CMR:345:94 ;., .. ' -\ I I I Page 10 July 7, 1994 Respectfully Sllbmitted, tJ'bfl( rio jef$ld~ Mary JYr.evy ( Director of IJibraries < r .<;)/-~--,--- Paul Thiltgen .---. ". D" ector of Community Services Appendbc: .,.:' c. Cryetal Gamage, President, Palo Alto Historical Association Page. 11 July 7, 1994 Photographs Photograph negatives Newspaper clippings Obituaries Microfilm Los GatQ1L..Tl.m.~ (bound paper copies) CHR: 345: 94 APPENDIX INVENTORY or COLLECTION 6 fila .cabinete 1 file cabinet 80 negative fila. boxes 1B ~iscellaneous boxes 39 file cabinets 69 boxes 29 boxes E,'>etensive runs of Palo AllQ_Ti:t11£.L.. ~ood City TrikuM., f.Nlinslila 1'imes T.t:.1ruJ.ne: Shorter runs of local weeklies -. Y· \ I '," ,"