{"id":48420,"date":"2017-10-10T10:59:43","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T14:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=48420"},"modified":"2022-09-28T10:23:25","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T14:23:25","slug":"historical-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2017\/10\/10\/historical-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical event"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Discover Your Story: The Campaign for the Wright State University Archives Center will transform the former corporate headquarters of the Wright-Patt Credit Union at 2455 Presidential Dr. into a new home for the Special Collections and Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

They started in a closet nearly 50 years ago. Today, the collections have grown to include the iconic photograph of the Wright brothers\u2019 flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a piece of fabric from Charles Lindbergh\u2019s history-making Spirit of St. Louis and the Dayton arrest record of infamous gangster John Dillinger along with the handcuffs used to bring him in.<\/p>\n

There are 1,000 different collections in Wright State University\u2019s world-renowned Special Collections and Archives. And they are all tucked into a relatively small space that squeezes researchers and restricts public access. But there are plans to change all of that.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 4, Amanda Wright Lane, great grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough joined Wright State officials to announce a $6.5 million fundraising campaign<\/a> to create the Wright State University Archives Center.<\/p>\n

Discover Your Story: The Campaign for the Wright State University Archives Center<\/a> will transform the former corporate headquarters of the Wright-Patt Credit Union at 2455 Presidential Dr. \u2013 just across the street from the Dayton Campus \u2013 into the archives\u2019 new home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re bursting at the seams and have been for several years,\u201d said Dawne Dewey, head of Special Collections and Archives. \u201cWe\u2019ve got this international reputation and it\u2019s really hard to be the kind of archive that we\u2019ve already become with the facilities that we have. So we have to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From left: Dawne Dewey, head of Special Collections and Archives; Wright State President Cheryl B. Schrader; author David McCullough; and Amanda Wright Lane, great grandniece of the Wright brothers, at the Discover Your Story launch event. (Photos by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

The archives currently have 12,000 square feet and are split between two campus buildings \u2014 Dunbar Library and the Medical Sciences Building \u2014 forcing staff members to take a five-minute walk each way to do their jobs. In addition, they have to cart materials through a heavily used parking lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt deserves more space. It deserves more attention,\u201d said McCullough, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who wrote \u201cTruman,\u201d \u201cJohn Adams\u201d and most recently, \u201cThe Wright Brothers<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright State President Cheryl B. Schrader said she was dazzled by the collections when she toured the archives \u201cincognito\u201d just before assuming her position as president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was truly amazed by what I saw,\u201d she said. \u201cThe reality is that we have run out of adequate space to preserve and protect these timeless treasures for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archives\u2019 new home would nearly triple its existing space \u2014 to nearly 30,000 square feet \u2014 expand exhibit areas, add a preservation lab and give greater access to the public.<\/p>\n

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David McCullough conducted research for his book \u201cThe Wright Brothers\u201d at Special Collections and Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is really an exciting step for us,\u201d said Dewey. \u201cThe building is very attractive and lends itself really well to what we want to do. People currently don\u2019t get to see all of the unique and amazing treasures that we have. This will be an exciting and more accessible location for the community, region and world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erix Infante, a graduate public history student, saw the blueprints for the center in one of Dewey\u2019s classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is mind-blowing,\u201d said Infante. \u201cOur aviation-history archives is already fantastic, but this will make it so much better. A lot of students will be able to go there to do research.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archives was born in 1967 with the donation of papers from the estate of James M. Cox, who founded the Dayton Daily News and the chain of Cox newspapers and who served as governor of Ohio, a congressman and was a presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

Collections in the archives have grown to over 15,000 linear feet \u2014 or nearly three miles long. They feature aviation history \u2014 from kites to the space age; local and regional history, with a focus on 11 surrounding counties; and Wright State history.<\/p>\n

The reading room contains more than 20,000 volumes, including more than 16,000 books and journals on aviation history. The Wright Brothers Collection is the world\u2019s most extensive and includes over 4,000 original photographs, documents, publications, including their personal library, albums, medals and awards, family letters, diaries and personal correspondence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a leader in collecting and preserving the history of aviation in Ohio and beyond,\u201d said Dewey.<\/p>\n

Wright Lane, who along with McCullough is distinguished honorary chair of the fundraising campaign, said the archives hold the stories that are \u201cthe heartbeat of who we all are.\u201d She said the new center will change the perception of what an archives is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re the very best at what you do, the stuff just keeps coming,\u201d Wright Lane said.\u201d \u201cWe will be able to share the stuff as we\u2019ve never shared it before.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Artist rendering of part of the reading room and help desk.<\/p><\/div>\n

McCullough, Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks<\/a> and television crews from CBS, CNN and The Discovery Channel and international filmmakers from Japan, China and Europe have all visited the archives. It has also been used by aviation historians, students, authors, publishers, NASA experts, urban historians and family history researchers.<\/p>\n

Collections have been loaned to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the Zeppelin Museum in Germany, the Museum of Flight in Seattle Washington, the Royal Air Museum in Great Britain and the Paris Air Show for special exhibitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe archives has gotten a lot of attention in the past couple of decades,\u201d said Dewey. \u201cPeople worldwide know who we are. Christie\u2019s Auction House in New York City and dealers across the country contact us when they have something we might want to bid on. They know what we collect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archives are also home to a collection of first editions of the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, the Dayton poet and novelist known for his dialect poetry. And they house the handcuffs used to arrest Dillinger in Dayton in 1933 as well as his fingerprints, arrest record and letters he wrote.<\/p>\n

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Dawne Dewey, head of Special Collections and Archives, showed items from the university\u2019s Wright Brothers Collection to David McCullough and Tom Hanks during their visit at Wright State in April 2016. (Photo by Will Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n

The collection includes the Dayton Daily News Archive, or photo morgue. It measures about 2,500 linear feet and contains millions of original photographs and news clippings documenting the history of the city and region. Images in the collection document presidential visits to Dayton, such as those of John Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and chronicle the arrival of the Beatles at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati in 1964.<\/p>\n

Films, diaries, letters, records, albums and audio files chronicle a wide variety of topics \u2014 from floods to flirtations, civil war and civil unrest, the Holocaust and homecomings, an astounding last century-and-a-half of stories that catapulted the nation and the world in to a whole new future.<\/p>\n

Collections arrive at the archives in everything from trunks, garbage bags, beer boxes, rubber tubs and grocery sacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to take all of that material and evaluate it for mold, mildew, infestation, and then we have to organize it, catalog it, get it ready for researchers, do all the preservation work,\u201d Dewey said. \u201cThere is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that has to happen before patrons ever see stuff. I don\u2019t think people realize that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new Wright State University Archives Center will feature a grand entryway populated with a gallery of exhibits, including video, audio and interactive ones. A 4,000-square-foot, glassed-in reading room with collections of books and journals and table space for researchers will be double its existing size. The room will be equipped with audio and video viewing capabilities and can be used for events.<\/p>\n

Collections on the first level will include the Dayton Daily News Archive, lateral files for oversize items, such as architectural drawings, large photographs, newspapers and other large documents. A vault will secure extra valuable and marketable collections such as those of the Wright brothers, Cox, Dillinger and Roosevelt.<\/p>\n

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Amanda Wright Lane and David McCullough are co-chairs of the Discover Your Story campaign.<\/p><\/div>\n

There will also be offices, a conference room big enough for small workshops, a forensic work station to evaluate and organize electronic records, an oral history interviewing lab, a loading dock to receive collections, a clean \u2014 or isolation \u2014 room to evaluate collections and a space for exhibit preparation. The archives installs an average of 80 exhibits a year in Dunbar Library and in the community.<\/p>\n

The new building will allow for the expansion of outreach programming and more exhibits of archival materials as well as items from major museums around the country. It will also enable the creation of a processing room and preservation lab, which will be used to mend, encapsulate, humidify and flatten materials. The hiring of a conservator would enable the archives to treat many materials instead of contracting them out and offer revenue-producing preservation services to the community and other libraries.<\/p>\n

The lower level of the building will feature high-density shelving for collections \u2014 including original artwork \u2014 a classroom and a space for digital services that will include scanning stations. All of the storage areas for collections, including film, will be climate controlled to assure proper preservation temperature and humidity.<\/p>\n

The archives currently have five professional archivists, as well as six community volunteers and several graduate and undergraduate student assistants and interns. The new building will also be used for student instruction since the archives is a learning lab for Wright State\u2019s graduate program in public history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be great tour opportunities too,\u201d Dewey said. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s really hard because it\u2019s so crowded.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also plans for outdoor art and exhibits, including projecting historic images on the side of the building and holding special events on the patio such as showing historic films.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Cole, vice president for university advancement and president of the Wright State University Foundation, said it is critical to make sure that \u201cour stories are not lost, that our treasures are protected and that they exist for today\u2019s use and for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for people who have a passion for this project,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for people that care about history, about legacy, about making sure that our history is not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Artist rendering of the entrance to a reading room, where students, scholars and visitors will be able to examine historic materials.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nearly $400,000 has already been raised in the fundraising campaign, thanks to three donations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of big dreams,\u201d said Dewey. \u201cThe archives bring tremendous value to the university \u2014 publicity, community engagement, worldwide engagement. It\u2019s long past time that we do something for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information or to make a gift to the Wright State University Archives Center, visit\u00a0wright.edu\/give\/archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wright State became an independent institution in 1967 and has grown into an innovative leader in the Dayton region and beyond, capturing the spirit of the university\u2019s namesakes, Wilbur and Orville Wright, who invented the world\u2019s first successful airplane from their Dayton bicycle shop. It celebrates its\u00a050th anniversary<\/a>\u00a0as an independent public university in 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Discover Your Story campaign will raise funds for a new home for Wright State\u2019s world-renowned Special Collections and Archives and its 1,000 collections. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":48428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2040,2060,725,4863,747,2114,715,2118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-giving","category-graduate","category-home-news-sidebar","category-humanities-and-cultural-studies","category-liberal-arts","category-libraries","category-news","category-special-collections-and-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48420"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48438,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48420\/revisions\/48438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}