2/9/12 (6)

We received an email from someone from Spain, requesting images of ceilings that were purchased by Hearst.  I was able to find a few in the archives, but a few that were mentioned were not there.  An image was included in the email, which was originally from LIU, so I knew the image was somewhere in the archives.  Thinking it may have been misplaced, I began flipping through the relevant albums but couldn't find it.  I noticed some photo file albums on the shelves, so I began searching through them page by page.  Since these haven't been cataloged yet, it was possible the images were there.  After a half hour or so, I came across them and scanned them.  The images weren't perfect - they were upside down and not straight, so I opened them in photoshop and edited them.

2/6/12 (6)

We received an email requesting information about items bought by Hearst from the Hamilton Palace.  They provided an image of a passageway which included two bronze figures which they referred to as "Atlas" and wanted to know if Hearst purchased them.  I searched through archive using "bronze", "atlas" and "Hamilton Palace" as keywords, but was unable to find anything.  The figures were sculpted by Carlo Marochetti, so I tried searching his name but still found nothing.  Searching Google, I found some information on the Hamilton Palace virtual reconstruction website which mentioned that the bronze figures were supposedly melted down.  I also found "A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851" which gave basic information about the figures, including that it was cast by Soyer and it was considered architectural sculpture.
Another interesting item I found was a Christie's catalogue for The Hamilton Palace Collection which was dated 1882.  I searched the catalogue for "Atlas", but found nothing.  Also, I searched for additional catalogues and searched through them, but none include "Atlas".
I started looking through the Hearst's photo files in the archive, but still haven't come across the items....I'll keep looking.

2/2/12 (6)

It was time to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty!  Classical music was playing softly in the background, which set the tone for the job ahead.  I was asked to wear a pair of white cotton gloves and use non-abrasive sheets to clean the catalogs.  They were filthy and some had some minor damage, so I was told to place them in mylar pockets to protect them.  We were careful to keep them in order and re-house them in new cardboard boxes, labeling them according to month.  There were about 5 boxes in all, and I'm sure it will be my job to begin cataloging them over the next few weeks.
I spent the rest of the day picking up where I left off by cataloging the remainder of the items that were left from the previous day, with the music playing of course!

1/30/12 (4)

I began my day looking through a few miscellaneous boxes of items, ranging from art catalogs from 1909 to 1959.  One interesting item included the auction of Charles Dickens' Bleak House Broadstairs.  I also came across a newspaper article from the 1920's - I'm not sure why it was there, but it was interesting to look at the articles and advertisements of the day.
I finished the remainder of the day by cataloging Hearst's auction catalogs from 1934, searching through WorldCat as a reference to copy-catalog and inputted the information into an excel file to be imported into the database.
My supervisor received an email from the two associates from the ancient art company.  They discovered that the Metropolitan Museum's Onassis Library houses the Kelekian papers, and mentioned that they will follow up on the "Alexander the Great" reference.  They promise to keep us posted and thanked us for our help.