23/4/08

9:59 I met Emily, a student at Brown outside RI Hall for her 10-10:50 class, as part of my efforts to conduct ethnographies of people who are using RI Hall today. Follow the link on her name to read about my observations.

24/4/08

2:45 Chris Witmore and I went over to RI Hall to talk over where we are in the project, and to take another look at the building. Walking through the corridor from the entrance on the East side (the Main Green), we noticed how the height of the doors on the North side were significantly higher than the ones to the South [link]. The old printed room numbers on the lintels also caught our attention. On some of the rooms these were juxtaposed with newer number labels.
We introduced ourselves to Douglas Brown, the director of the Writing Fellows Program and the Writing Center, whose office is the second door on the south side of the ground floor corridor. I am going to get in touch with him and arrange a time to talk about his experiences in the building, as part of the ethnographies of the building aspect.
Leaving the building by the door that leads onto College Green, we noticed the bolt marks from the double door that used to be there, and that can still be seen in some of the archival photographs. Walking around the outside of the building we took a closer look at the stonework at the ground level. There are quarrying marks on some of the blocks from where the stone was drilled into before splitting it. We also discovered that the rusticated stone remains on the interior of the south-east corner where the addition was made in 1904. The entrance there leads to the Writing Fellows Program, and on the right side after you enter is the same stonework from what was previously the exterior, although it has been whitewashed.

16:00 I went back to the building to photograph some of the things we had noticed, and had a further look around. Walking through the basement I found one of the locked cabinets was open. It is the Phi Beta Kappa cupboard that I had seen listed on the info board inside of the entrance, but had not known was still based in RI Hall. I don't quite know why or how they are based in the building. Phi Beta Kappa is apparently a prestigious honours society- link to the Encyclopedia Brunoniana entry. I ventured up to psychological services to see if I could find out when they plan to move out of the building, and if I could take a look around at some point. I was introduced to Belinda Johnson, the director of Psychological Services, and she seemed very interested in the project. I am going to go back again next Wednesday after hours so I can take a look around and photograph the space. Interestingly, she said she had been in contact with Robert Emlen, the University Curator, a few years ago when he had been looking at the building. The space now occupied by Psychological Services was where the Museum of Natural History was located, and Rob Emlen had given her a copy of one of the archive photos of the space when it was the museum. She said that she has been there since 1982 when Psychological Services moved into the building, replacing the geology Department, and it will be interesting to talk to her in more detail next week about her experiences in the building.

notebook- spring 2008

Home

photolog- spring 2008