—- On Sun, 16 Jul 2023 11:48:13 -0600 Gail Malmgreen wrote —
Dear Gaye,
Thank you so much for your very interesting message to the Newark
Archives Project. Let me say, to start, that this is a fascinating, and
little-known, topic; and you have done an amazing job of compiling
historical resources of all kinds to contribute toward telling the
story. It’s not always quite clear which archives and resources you’ve
consulted, but I would urge you to get in touch with the reference staff
at the NJ Room of the Newark Public Library. Their expertise is
invaluable — and they have digitized the Newark News as well as many
other useful sources, and their archival collections are very rich.
Write to: Tom Ankner
In my work on the Newark Archives Project I haven’t come across any
specific references to your father’s airline, but it would be worth
going to our Search page and searching the subject term Aviation, to see
where I found material on that general topic. In each entry the archive
that holds the records I looked at is listed just under the collection
title. You might also check out World War II as a subject — though
that may be too general for your purpose.
nap.rutgers.edu/results.php?search=&stype=keyword&submit=Search&subject%5B%5D=Aviation&rep=
On the question of copyright, and the web site in general, I can give
you my opinions, based on about 50 years of experience cataloguing and
describing archival collections and helping researchers of all kinds. I
don’t think you have much of a copyright problem, but you do need to
standardize your presentation and your credits to sources. You need to
re-envision the web site as a useful resource for historians (both
amateur and professional) — and there are a lot of them out there.
Every photo and every document should have a caption, separate from the
text; and the caption should include a reference to the source
publication or archive — bearing in mind that Ancestry is not a source
of originals; everything they display came from an archive. The
manifests are a good example. Historians will want to know exactly where
you found them.
I don’t think the material you use would pose copyright problems, as
long as it’s properly credited and you’re reasonably certain the owners
would approve your use. If you use any private family photos, or
documents from an archive you haven’t dealt with personally, you might
want to check back and get permission for those. Archives are generally
fine with non-commercial use — as long as the donor of the material
hasn’t imposed restrictions.
In general I always advise against editorializing in historical writing
— even if it’s not academic. When you put something out on the
internet, what is “wonderful” or “exciting” to you may be of little
interest to researchers or family history buffs; a single mention of
their own grandfather, or details about the missions or the aircraft may
be the only bit that interests them.
I would suggest writing a single introduction to the project —
summarizing your motivation and the course of your research — maybe
mentioning people you met, etc. Then have a separate section giving a
straight chronological history of the airline; no need to break it
chronologically or topically. Here you can integrate information you got
from various veterans — and other sources. You then might add a
Biographical section in which you list all the known persons connected
to the airline, maybe in categories — or just alphabetically, with any
information at all that you have on that person (that is, every single
name on the manifests, etc.). Remember the people you didn’t track down
may be just as interesting/important to researchers as the ones you did
find. Another advantage of this format is that you will easily be able
to slot in more biographical information as you find it in future.
I’m not sure you need the Index list that appears on the right. It’s
kind of confusing to the user of the site — not clear what the numbers
after each name mean and why the fonts are different sizes. A search
box for the site could perhaps be added — or just make sure that the
site is keyword searchable on Google.
Again, yours is a truly amazing accomplishment, and a great tribute to
your father. I hope these thoughts of a historian/archivist make some
sense, and that you do decide to develop the site further.
Best regards,
Gail Malmgreen
Newark Archives Project
——————————————————————————–
On Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at 11:27:57 AM EDT, Gaye Lyn wrote:
Dear Gail,
I cannot thank you enough for your response. I was stunned by the
quickness, the depth, and tone. And greatly complimented by your
professional appraisal of my project. I read your email yesterday a
number of times. And I printed it out to accompany my pot of tea this
morning. With each reading, I learned something more. With each
reading, I nodded my head yes, important idea at various suggestions.
With a few suggestions, I smiled, waiting to tell you this morning that
I had, indeed, already tried or done “that” particular thing. Plus you
helped me understand that the Index list on the right side of most of
the pages needs an explanation if it remains on the site. Paul Burton,
my web designer, and I will brainstorm on that.
Of greatest impact, Gail, is your opinion on the question of copyright.
Indeed, this is not a commercial venture, nor will it be. It is the
outcome of a curiosity that grew like Topsy, that I’ve grown to realize
I cannot just leave “in a drawer.” Your encouragement motivates me
further, and the specificity of your input will aid me in doing justice
to the Story.
So, some specifics:
- Tom Ankner and his team – especially Beth Zak-Cohen – were incredibly
helpful as early as October 2015; then I spent 1-1/2 days in their
library rooms in November 2015, and continued online in 2018 and as
recently as November 2022. They sent me “treasures” of new information,
taught me to read librarian-speak notations on press clippings, and were
genuinely interested in my work and my progress. Your suggestion to
contact Tom is timely. - Before and after I submitted my work to your Project, and before your
reply, I had tried your Search page and homed-in on Aviation. Of the 24
top-level results, there are several I’d like to explore – including the
library’s CLAVIS online catalogue. At this moment, I don’t know how to
approach that – but I’ll learn. - Putting to rest my concern about copyrights, your suggestion to
“..re-envision the web site as a useful resource for historians (both
amateur and professional) — and there are a lot of them out there”
gives me a perspective I had not seriously considered before. The
archives and resources I consulted were not always noted by me because
the research was originally merely for me. But a higher percentage of
them can be credited and, while I long to do new research, I will
re-prioritize my efforts “…to (properly) standardize my credits to
sources.” No small task. - I can understand that you “advise against editorializing in historical
writing.” As the Veterans Air data increased, I became more of a
Storyteller, but I never considered I was a historian. And, as I met
the men and their widows and their families, the story became mine as
well – not just my Dad or their stories. My enthusiasm and pride and
disappointment and a tiny sliver of ownership are inextricable from the
Project. Dad’s airline became “ours.” The airline story became “ours.”
And “ours” became all encompassing – them and me. Shared ice cream and
Jewish delis and hugs and long phone calls filled with laughter are part
of the Story. So, I fear I must plead exemption to no editorializing. - Some elements you suggest do exist, but in less formal or obvious
structures than a book would allow. Scrolling and links play their
roles. The HOME page contains my brief introduction, four chronological
segments, a quick “teaser” about “Face-to-Face” with five of Dad’s men,
stories about the Founders and Board of Directors, etc. The same and
additional information is categorized in sections called Unfolding Story
(the course of The Research and growth of The Research Network ), By Era
and By Topic. - Which helps explain the peculiar Index list. It is website-speak …
Airways Magazine(2) <veteransair.org/tag/airways-magazine/>
means that two Posts appear about Airways Magazine on the website, thus
the Smaller typeface; and Prague(20)
https://veteransair.org/tag/unrra-prague/ means the city is mentioned in 20
Posts and thus the Bigger typeface. - I have long considered an “alpha” Biographical list of “all known
persons” in hopes of families or researchers helping locate those I have
not. I am certain you are correct in saying “the people you didn’t
track down may be just as interesting/important.”
Gail, again, but in different words, your email is treasure to my
adventure. You can count on me to take it very seriously and in much
greater detail than my response above. If I may, I would appreciate
staying in touch with occasional updates.
My very best,
Gaye Lyn
Founder’s Daughter
Veterans Air Express
veteransair.org/
——————————————————————————–
From “Gail Malmgreen”
To “Gaye Lyn”
Date 7/19/2023 9:59:40 AM
Subject Re: Veterans Air web site queries
Dear Gaye,
Thanks for your detailed reply. By all means keep in touch. You were
lucky in that I got your message just as I returned from a work trip (to
Princeton libraries). I still do quite a lot of traveling for the
Project, so I may not always be able to reply so promptly!
Best regards,
Gail