Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Writer & Conservationist
About
Project Background
This digital exhibit is the result of a Spring, 2008 internship by Florida State University Library Science student and University of Miami Richter Library Special Collections Archives Coordinator Béatrice Colastin Skokan with the Richter Library Digital Initiatives program. The online exhibit is based on the locally held Marjory Stoneman Douglas Papers, which chronicle the life of South Florida's preeminent environmentalist, who, from her home in Coconut Grove, provided leadership in organizations such as the "Coalition for Water" and "Friends of the Everglades" which resulted in the identification of wetlands as unique ecosystems worthy of protection. Although she is primarily known as the author of "The Everglades: River of Grass," Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote many articles and manuscripts which now belong to the University of Miami's Special Collections. The digitized materials in this exhibit provide online access to documents (manuscripts, photos and letters) intended to present a portrait of Stoneman Douglas not only as an environmental activist, but as an author and South Floridian.
Acknowledgments
With training and support from faculty and staff in Richter Library's Digital Initiatives program, Cataloging and Metadata Services department, Special Collections, and University Archives, Béatrice Colastin Skokan led the planning and implementation of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Writer and Conservationist digital exhibit. Béatrice's internship in digital exhibit development included writing her own project plan, scanning and editing over one-hundred archival quality images, creating rich metadata records for each item, uploading digital content to the ContentDM image presentation system, authoring a finding aid using Encoded Archival Description (EAD), researching and writing all original text to accompany the exhibit, including a timeline, biography, and image captions, and aiding in the exhibit's final design and presentation. This project could not have been possible without the close collaboration and valuable contributions of the people listed below.
Project Implementation
Béatrice Colastin Skokan -- Special Collections Archives Coordinator, Project Intern
Digitization Training
Robert Largaespada -- Digital Initiatives Technician
Marcelo Lopes -- Digital Initiatives Technician
Cataloging Training
Fiona Kelleghan -- Cataloging and Metadata Librarian
Michael Kim -- Head of Cataloging and Metadata Services
Online Exhibit Implementation
Lyn MacCorkle -- Digital Project Development and Repositories Librarian
Alex Thacker -- Web Development Assistant, Digital Project Development
Archival Advisory
Marcia Evanson -- Collections Assistant for Support Services, Special Collections
Cristina Favretto -- Head of Special Collections
Koichi Tasa -- University Archivist
Internship Supervision
Kyle Rimkus -- Digital Projects Librarian