UROP in History: Digitally Archiving the Oliver L. Austin Photographic Collection

Dr. Annika A. Culver, Professor of East Asian history, has been working for the last decade on making the Oliver L. Austin Collection of photographs digitally available. Beginning with a UROP project in 2013 to digitize a slide collection donated by Austin’s son, her latest UROP project was designed to provide more historical and geographical context for each image in the digital catalogue.

The Oliver L. Austin Collection held by Special Collections in the FSU Libraries is the largest collection of colored photographs of post-war Japan in the entire United States. Also, while working with Rob Rubero of Special Collections, Vayeira Moshe, the project’s UROP assistant, recently discovered over 600 more slides that were not yet digitized! Consisting of 1,000 photographs of Tokyo, Nikkô, and Hokkaidô, as well as Japan’s natural environment, the collection currently forms the center of a new illustrated book on Japan during the Allied Occupation era (1945-1952). The book will be edited by Noriko Sakoh, with an introduction by Dr. Culver, and will be published by the Tokyo-based Kôbunsha Press.

This is the fourth time that Dr. Culver is directing a UROP project. Vayeira Moshe is a junior majoring in History. He specifically likes modern history, and histories of the nation-state. His particular interest is in how artistic movements reinforce the structures of nation-states.

Vayeira liked this project because it is situated in the modern period, and it is based on sources from Japan. He was born in Japan and lived there for 13 years. He knew the language and understood the cultural context.

Vayeira moved to Florida for high school. The move was quite a culture shock. In the beginning, he had a hard time adjusting to American fast food, as the types of food served in Japan were very different. Another issue was learning American history, as that had not been taught in his school in Japan. On the other hand, Vayeira had a deep knowledge of Meiji Japan! Japan’s transformations between the 1860s and 1900s, a period of very deep change, was one of his favorite topics.

How did you find out about UROP?

Vayeira: I first found out about UROP through my romantic partner. She tried to take it last year, but then decided that it wasn't for her. She came to me and said: ‘I think this is everything that you want in your academic career.’ I looked into it and decided that it was for me – especially when I saw that there were history-related projects. I applied to two other projects, but given my background and historical interests, this project was a natural fit.

What is the project about? 

I am working on digitally archiving the Oliver L. Austin Photographic Collection that is held by Special Collections in the FSU Libraries. It is a collection of over 1,000 photos of Japan. My job is to find the locations that are depicted on any unidentified pictures and establish their significance by connecting it to entries in Austin’s diary.

These photos were taken between 1946 and 1950 by Oliver L. Austin, a scientist working for the Allied Occupation. I research the subject of the photograph to pinpoint its importance at the time that the picture was taken. Pictures, for instance, that were taken of markets in the post-war period might show black market activities because of the severe food rationing of the time, but the shopping areas themselves still exist to this day and some have become hip locations, like the Shimokitazawa area. My task is to put together primary sources from the time that describe what Austin was photographing.

Noriko Sakoh, a Japanese scholar, is putting together a book on the post-World War II reconstruction era in Japan. One of her main sources is the Oliver L. Austin collection. She has been sharing her research findings with us. She has found many connections between Austin’s diary entries and the photographs. That’s what I added to the research database to help contextualize the images.

Our goal is to ensure that the Austin collection is better catalogued so that it is easier to access and understand the historical context and geographical locations of the photos.

What sort of training did you receive to do this work effectively?

First and primarily, Dr. Culver showed me what to do. I had additional training by Crystal Thomas, who is the digital archivist at FSU’s Strozier Library. But really, the training is an ongoing process of cataloging a photo, getting feedback, making corrections, and then doing it again.

Every time I submit a description for a photograph, I send it to Dr. Culver. She suggests corrections. I keep on rereading my descriptions to ensure that they are authentic and portray the reality of the photograph when it was taken. Every mistake that I made has been a learning moment. 

What was the most fun part of your UROP experience?

Doing this type of work has been a very fulfilling experience. Especially, working with Dr. Culver has been a great learning experience. This research is invigorating. It excites me, and I have had numerous ‘aha’ moments: for instance, combing through Japanese government tourist websites to find a location that Austin photographed, and understanding why he photographed, for example, a certain waterfall like the Ginga no taki, and establishing if the waterfall had any local significance, and reviewing websites by waterfall enthusiasts for more information. Ideally, my annotations will help future researchers working with this collection.

These experiences, as well as working with Dr. Culver, have been the most fun aspects of UROP. I would love to continue working on the project. 

What was the most challenging part of UROP?

Communication and time management. In the fall semester, it was really difficult for me to get my UROP work done, as I had taken on too heavy a course load. I had not anticipated the workload that would come with the UROP research. I had to learn how to best manage my time. Dr. Culver told me not to do my research in only one or two days. It turned out that she was right. Now, I try and do it every time I have a free moment. I can research a photo or two in between classes. Dr. Culver’s expectation had been that I would research 15 images a week. I don’t think I have met that, but I have provided historical contexts and geographical locations for over 150 photos, and I am proud of the work that I have done.

I have learned to communicate more effectively too, especially in an academic environment. I can express my needs more clearly. Learning to advocate for myself in an academic setting was difficult at first, but I feel confident about it now.

Was it difficult to compress all your work onto a poster board? 

Yes! I wish I had space for 20 images on the poster, so I could explain each one to my audience. For reasons of space, I selected four photographs that I worked on to showcase the overall project. It was hard to choose the right photos as they had to fit onto the poster and look good as well as represent the best work that I had done for the cataloguing. I added QR codes to the poster, and those link back to our website. So, people who were interested in the project could look at more images on their phones.

What advice do you have for students who might be thinking about doing UROP next year? 

My advice to potential UROP students would be to understand that UROP is a time commitment. Yes, academically, it is just a one-credit course, but it takes a lot more time and work than a regular one-credit course. That’s because it is about doing research in a specific project. To succeed in UROP, you need to understand that commitment. If you can pull through, you will have proven that you have what it takes to succeed in graduate school. My advice is: stay on top of your project, work as hard as possible on it, as this will lead to more doors opening for you later.

Final comments? 

A word of praise about Dr. Culver. I think I could not have had a better research mentor who understood my position when I was not meeting expectations and who was a forgiving person who believed in me. That belief is valuable to me because it is what makes me want to continue with the project.