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Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. Anthony J. D'Angelo
Very sad news. I learned today at the GSLIS advisory committee meeting that two of the giants in the conservation and preservation field have passed away. It would seem that the professional vacuum left by these two great leaders will be impossible to fill, but if that were true it would undervalue their legacy. We will surely miss them for the wonderful people and friends that they were, but their combined legacy is the army of trained professionals in the field carrying on the work.
Paul Banks, pioneer and educator in Library Preservation, died early Tuesday morning after a battle with cancer. Please see my story on Paul and the Newberry Library from May 5. I will have a piece written by Gary Frost to post tomorrow morning.
Anne F. Clapp, pioneer in the field of paper conseravtion and paper conservation education died at her home. Anne wrote Curitorial Care of Works of Art on Paper, one of the standard works in the field. Anne has trained, encouraged and inspired a generation of conservators at Winterthur/University of Delaware program in Art Conservation and through workshops nationally and internationally.
array is back! You can get updates on the fire in New Mexico there.
More News from New Mexico
i'm a bit tired, but here are some late night impressions. santa fe is deathly quiet. eerie. i live on the south end of town, and driving in to the red cross revealed one long smoke cloud spanning the jemez and sangre de cristo mountain ranges.
houses are burning, whole sections going up. 30 are gone so far. video shows lines of smoldering flatness. the winds have died down somewhat for the evening, so the flames are not as high. the bad news? they're predicting they're going to lose 60% of los alamos. and they're now concerned about espanola. the worse news? they're running out of water. tomorrow's potential horror hangs over us. the clouds sit lower; these great columns of smoke rise sharply, hang for a moment, then slowly move eastward . scales on the back of the lizard.
the big unspoken question: can the rio grande save us?
coming home in the dead of night, from the end of my driveway, i paused and looked back. one can see at least seven domes of orange glow. it's "night on bald mountain" from disney's fantasia, only in real life. play the mussorgsky soundtrack, on a great galactic sound system. the cloud wraps around, cradling the demons within, gloating. the normal friendly glow from los alamos has been supplanted by a primeval orgy of flame. i see the dancing shapes, unrestrained, reveling in their obscene dance.
i'm waxing poetic; time to cut to the chase.
the red cross needs money, not clothes, not castoffs. 'stuff' is a logistical nightmare; they need raw financial material to work with.
send donations to:
red cross mid rio grande chapter
142 monroe n.e.
albuquerque, nm 87108
i'd share the phone number with you, but lines are jammed. i'm sure they'll add more tomorrow.
. garret.
Many thanks to Garret for keeping us up-to-date on the tragic happenings in New Mexico. I will continue to track the New Mexico story, and post updates when I can, which probably won't be until about 5:00 pm.
I will be in meetings all day today. I am a member of the advisory committee to the Graduate School of Library and Information Services, Preservation and Conservation Studies program at the University of Texas. We are having our semi-annual meeting. There are big changes in the library world, so we have much to talk about. If I can, while at UT, I'll check my email and update the New Mexico story. We'll see.
In the meantime, if you can swing it, write out a check to the Red Cross and send it to the address above, TODAY.
Three massive icebergs break off Antarctic ice shelf. Sometimes the news really scares me.
Italy's Umberto Eco wins Spanish literary prize "Italian writer Umberto Eco on Wednesday was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Communication and Humanities, one of Spain's most prestigious cultural honors. (Eco was) recognized by the jury for his "constant attention to history and new forms of expression."
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