Teaching with Slides: The History of the Visual Resources Collection at Yale
Collection Management
Slide Library, Street Hall, Yale University: The office, with reference books and a cataloger.
In the peak days of slide use for art history and architecture faculty (late 1950s-1970s), the slide library was buzzing with faculty gathering and organizing slides to use for upcoming lectures. Slide library staff managed the production of slides (many of which were scans from books) and organized the hundreds of slides that were used every week. This involved careful planning and collection management, as well as attention to detail.
Staff organized the slides into carefully identified subject categories for ease of use and retrieval.
Source information on guide materials--dated June 1948
File locations for materials in order by artist
Color guide filing system for architecture materials
Slide library staff were tasked with managing the physical space of the library as well. In addition to managing the collection, the department developed policies and procedures for managing the library and facilitating access to materials.
Visual guide for the Yale Projector System. Lecturers had very specific needs for the order of projection (sometimes a single image, sometimes a pair, sometimes one and then a second added, etc.), and projectionists were responsible for carrying this out.
Specifications for the custom-made viewer for arranging slides. Faculty would place the slides on the translucent plastic sheet above the desk.
This guide was created to assist faculty in make page selections from books that slide library staff would photograph and turn into slides for teaching.
Charge slips used by faculty to reserve and check-out slides for teaching.
Sample charge slip from 1988