![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mith.umd.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/DLC_collection.jpg\" "\\"DLC_Collection\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen you come to visit The Deena Larsen Collection (DLC)<\/em>, you will be shown five well organized glass cases, containing vintage Macintosh computers, archival storage boxes, books on hypertext and new media, and a smattering of old computer peripherals.<\/p>\n Your guide will likely also point out the famous \u201cMarble Springs Shower Curtain<\/a>.” The shower curtain attempts to graphically illustrate, with printed screen shots and colored thread, the linked associations enlivened by authoring a hypertextual work to an audience in the pre-Web browsers days of the early 1990s.<\/p>\n As Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) Associate Director Matthew Kirschenbaum notes, The Deena Larsen Collection<\/em> is \u201ca true hybrid collection,\u201d containing both analog and digital materials. Besides the specimens mentioned above, there are e-literature works from numerous authors, sometimes in draft and<\/em> finished form, as Deena is a keen collaborator, always happy to \u201cread\u201d rough drafts. Larsen, Kirschenbaum remarks, is \u201calso somebody who is broadly interested in computer culture.\u201d The DLC<\/em> contains many newspaper and magazine articles and clipped comics on issues such as Internet privacy, the growth of email, law and the Internet, and the frustrations computing tools can bring to the average user, among others. \u201cI think,\u201d Kirschenbaum adds, \u201cthe collection has some value as a cross section of a certain moment in popular computer history as well from roughly 1985 to 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n One great aspect of the DLC<\/em>, is researchers are encouraged to dig into the collection\u2019s many artifacts. \u201cWe offered to take With those things in mind I was encouraged to explore the collection.<\/p>\n I used the Finding Aid binder (more on the Finding Aid next post<\/a>) to see which Mac Classic or Mac SE was still running. Sadly, my first choice, a Mac Classic II identified as M1, had stopped working since it\u2019s last check-up in May 2009, and the screen never resolved:<\/p>\n (In case you are wondering about the markings on the side, yes, Deena did buy a pallet of surplussed computers from the Denver Public School, which she stores in her temperature controlled crawl space (I have crawled in it)\u2026but that is a story for another time.)<\/p>\n Fortunately, the Macintosh SE, labeled M2, booted right up. I was able to use the SE and the Finding Aid devoted to the 800+ 3.5 inch floppy disks (more on these next post) that are in the collection to locate disks devoted to Marble Springs, Second Edition<\/em>, and look through various drafts.<\/p>\n (A brief aside: As I was working, I became aware of a creeping nostalgia. At first I could not figure out the cause. Then I realized it was the sound of the Mac SE working, with its characteristic grunts, and clunks, and whirs. If you would like a listen, play the attached sound file: MS_MAC_SE.mp3 <\/a> or MS_MAC_SE.m4v<\/a>, depending on your software. It lasts about 2 minutes.)<\/p>\n Some of the archivists out there might be cringing at this point: \u201cThey let him turn on a 20-year-old Macintosh and pop in disks? Are they crazy?!?\u201d This concern was certainly at the center of planning for the DLC. <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe have been entrusted with the material, and we take that seriously, and it is part of our mission to do right by it,\u201d Kirschenbaum says. Of the Mac Classics he poses \u201cone could ask are these artifacts first and foremost to be preserved? Are they tools? Are they instruments of access?\u201d<\/p>\n For the DLC<\/em>, the answer is a bit of all three. On a practical level, the DLC <\/em>does not have the resources to leave usable tools on the shelf. On the other hand MITH is seeking ways to work with University of Maryland iSchool<\/a> faculty to utilize the DLC<\/em> materials in archiving or preservation classes. Students, under the supervision of MITH staff, have been able to practice imaging disks using the DLC<\/em> disk collection.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of respect for the collection, we have a lot of affection for it, we do everything we can for it,\u201d Kirschenbaum said warmly, \u201cbut we also see it as something to be used.\u201d<\/p>\n Further, Kirschenbaum feels the MITH approach to The Deena Larsen Collection<\/em> is in keeping with Larsen\u2019s own collaborative and supportive approach to the creation of e-literature.<\/p>\n \u201cOur hope is there will be a modest number of researchers who will find their way here\u2026every year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n So in the collaborative spirit, my next post will describe my adventures researching in The Deena Larsen Collection<\/em>, in hopes of making your visit more productive.<\/p>\n Up next: <\/strong>Hands on the DLC: Finding and Finding Aids<\/em><\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Want to schedule a visit to the DLC<\/em>? Use the form at http:\/\/mith.umd.edu\/larsen\/contact<\/a><\/p>\n Citations:<\/p>\n Quotations from MITH Associate Director Matthew Kirschenbaum are from an interview with the author conducted April 15, 2011, at MITH, unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n Image credits:<\/p>\n The_Deena_Larsen_Collection.png, Leighton Christiansen, April 14, 2011<\/p>\n MS1_shower_DocNancy.png, Leighton Christiansen, April 14, 2011<\/p>\n DLC_mac_classic_II_fail.png, Leighton Christiansen, April 14, 2011<\/p>\n DLC_Mac_SE.png, Leighton Christiansen, April 14, 2011<\/p>\n Audio:<\/p>\n MS_MAC_SE.mp3 and MS_MAC_SE.m4v, recorded at MITH, Leighton Christiansen, April 14, 2011<\/p>\n Leighton Christiansen is pursing his Master\u2019s of Library and Information Science Degree at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and threatens to catch that degree any time now.<\/p>\n You can reach him at leightonlc@gmail.com, or @purpleleighton<\/a> on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n