Artifacts – ODU Special Collections Blog

Barbie Goes to the 2000 Democratic National Convention

by Special Collections Metadata Specialist Kathleen Smith

Barbie1 — Convention 2000 Barbie donated by Margo Horner

The annual summer blockbuster movie season is here. A lot of interesting movies are coming out for summer 2023. The movies include the final installment of the Indiana Jones movie series (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), a Pixar animated movie featuring the elements of nature (Elemental), a biopic about a famous physicist (Oppenheimer), and a movie based on a well-known fashion doll (Barbie). The latter is a fantasy movie featuring actor Margot Robbie in the title role alongside Ryan Gosling who stars as Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken.

Besides having her own movie, Barbie is a well-known worldwide pop-culture icon, a stylish doll who can be anything and anyone that a young child can imagine. I had many Barbie dolls and accessories as a child myself. Amongst the many Barbies I had was, Malibu Barbie in her aqua bikini swimsuit, Western Barbie in a silver and white cowgirl bodysuit, and Kissing Barbie-a doll that actually “kissed” and came with her own special lipstick.

Here’s a brief history of Barbie, she was created in 1959 as an alternative to the traditional baby dolls and paper dolls. Barbie’s creator, toy company executive Ruth Handler, saw her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls. Barbara often assigned the dolls with adult roles. Handler saw this and realized a grown-up doll would have potential in the toy doll market and with some inspiration from a German “adults-only” toy doll named Bild Lili, the Barbie doll was born. For over sixty-years, Barbies have come in a variety of identities and career roles (from Ballerina to Superstar to Astronaut to Doctor, etc.), as well as representing diverse backgrounds and cultures. Also there have been special edition Barbies as famous women in history, art, science, and athletics, as well as representing special occasions and events.

Barbie2 — Back of the Convention 2000 Barbie Box

While processing the newly acquiesced Margo Horner political memorabilia collection, I have come across very unique and interesting items such as campaign buttons featuring Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog, nail files with candidates’ names on them, a liquor decanter made to look like the Democratic donkey, Hillary Clinton and Ruth Bader Ginsburg action figures, as well as boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese honoring the 1996 Democratic National Convention. I have also come across a Barbie doll-yes you read right-a Barbie doll. The Barbie that I found was a “Convention 2000 Barbie” that commemorated the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. This Barbie is dressed in a sharp, professional red dress and wearing a lanyard pass that reads “2000 National Convention- ‘B’ [B as in Barbie]-Delegate.” On the back of box which is blue, there is information about this special Barbie, which was presented to delegates who attended the convention from August 14-17, 2000 (the same Barbie was also presented to delegates in a red box at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Margo Horner was a delegate at this convention, representing Arlington, Virginia. Horner has attended numerous Democratic National Conventions as a delegate, including New York City, 1980; Chicago, 1996; Denver, 2008; and 2012 Charlotte.

Sources

Barbie (2023 film)

Barbie Wikipedia Entry

Ruth Handler (creator of Barbie)

Bild Lili (Barbie’s prototype)

2000 National Convention Barbie (Republican National Convention)

Ancient Art in the Archives

By Lara Canner, Curator of Music Special Collections

Jordan Staten_Crypus Vase Drawing — Photographed here is student Jordan Staten drawing an archeological depiction of a vase from Bronze Age Cyprus

Early last spring, Special Collections and University Archives happily hosted Dr. Jared Benton’s Ancient Art History class. Using Bronze Age pottery from the island of Cyprus donated to ODU in the 1960’s, the students took photographs and created archaeological sketches of the vases. Later, this work would be turned into digital 3-D models and in-depth research papers. The results of their studies were impressive, so much so that Dr. Benton believed that their work should be presented at Old Dominion University’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. The program gives a platform to ODU student researchers, from various disciplines, to present papers, or posters examining their scholarship. I must have been impressive too since Dr. Benton also asked if I would be interested in partnering in assisting his students with the symposium. (I was delighted to help!)

With campus remaining closed over the course of the summer, Zoom became the main means of communication between the students, Dr. Benton, and myself. Together, we formulated the design of a virtual poster, showing how the class created their digital representations of the Cypriot vases. Meeting with those more interested in presenting papers, advice was shared on best research practices, edits were made to their original papers and possible ways to introduce the student’s themes were explored. Overall, a very productive summer, but the fact of the matter was, to create the greatest possible poster and research presentation, the undergraduate scholars would need to view the vases again.

So here we are, adapting to the need for social distancing, but still providing access to our collections. Updated policies, such as granting appointments for ODU students and staff, wearing a face mask at all times and Archives staff disinfecting prior and after each appointment are just a few ways Special Collections and University Archives are creating a safe and healthy environment for our researchers. Only one patron and one staff member are allowed in Special Collections for appointments, meaning that for Dr. Benton to help guide our student through the creation of detailed drawing and building the 3-D model, he would have to utilize Zoom to communicate in real time. When problems arose, or just making sure we were on the right track, Jordan would have to hold her paper up to a laptop screen. Complicated to say the least…

Watching an archaeological rendering as a bystander is fascinating, but now I had to become an interpreter of the professor’s instructions and at times a fellow teacher of Bronze Age Pottery. Not exactly my field of expertise. However, this was a session not only a lesson in primary source instruction, but active learning. Together, Jordan and I talked through the best ways to capture the vase’s decorations, worked through mismeasurements, and inspected the vase from every possible angle. And, the results were incredible, just look:

Two of Dr. Benton’s students will be presenting their research at the 2021 ODU Undergraduate Symposium on March 20, 20201! Registration is free and open to the public: https://www.odu.edu/honors/research/symposium

The Story Behind One of Our Most Popular Artifacts: John Duffy’s Emmy

by Maddie Dietrich, Music Special Collections & Research Specialist

ODU_Emmy_Award — One of two Emmy’s awarded to composer John Duffy

One of the more widely-seen items in our holdings is an Emmy award belonging to the late composer John Duffy (June 23, 1926, New York City—December 22, 2015, Norfolk, Virginia). Oftentimes when a class visits Special Collections the Emmy is brought out along with a dozen or so other objects, oddities and memorabilia intended to demonstrate to students that Special Collections isn’t just about old papers and manuscripts but in fact consists of all kinds of artifacts, including old papers and manuscripts, which tell the stories firsthand of the persons to whom they once belonged. These introductory class sessions are intended to teach students how to use the collections and include brief hands-on exercises on how to examine items—papers, photographs, maps, calendars, and so on—and offers suggestions on the kinds of information a person might glean from viewing these items firsthand, free from the editorial framework imposed by some intermediary scholar for their own agenda.

So what about this Emmy award? What makes it so popular, so impressive? Well, it’s big and heavy, and it’s shiny and gold. And it’s easily recognized though relatively few people have ever seen one in person. And of course it represents a pinnacle of human achievement in television broadcasting–somebody, somewhere, sometime, did something so outstanding in their field that their peers deemed the accomplishment worthy of their highest award, to be remembered for all time. To see this Emmy, then, is to experience a brush with greatness. And so who was John Duffy and what did he do to win an Emmy, and how did it end up in Special Collections?

MonaEmmy — Retired Reading Room Supervisor Mona Farrow with the Duffy Emmy

Born and raised in the Bronx, John Duffy was a veteran of U.S. Navy and fought in the Battle of Okinawa during WWII. After the war he studied composition with such musical giants as Henry Cowell and Aaron Copland and went on to become music director at the Guthrie Theater and the American Shakespeare Festival. He wrote scores for the Broadway productions of J. P. Donleavy’s The Ginger Man and Barbara Garson’s MacBird! In 1974 he founded the organization Meet The Composer in association with the New York State Council on the Arts and the American Music Center. He was in fact a two-time Emmy winner, receiving his first for writing the score of the NBC documentary A Talent for Life: Jews of the Italian Renaissance (1979) and his second for the score of the PBS production Heritage: Civilization and the Jews (1984). In 2005 he worked with the Virginia Arts Festival to found The John Duffy Composers Institute, a workshop for young composers which for ten years was held in the Diehn Composers Room on the campus of Old Dominion University (the workshop later became the John Duffy Institute for New Opera). In 2011 Duffy donated his collection of scores, manuscripts and memorabilia to ODU Libraries Special Collections and University Archives (The John Duffy Papers, 1944-2012). Though he composed more than 300 works for symphony orchestra, theater, television and film, Duffy felt strongly that “classical” music was no more worthy an art form than any other type of music, popular or otherwise, and fought to expose the ingrained privilege and prejudice that often hides behind such hierarchies.

That’s who John Duffy was, and that’s why we have his Emmy. When the pandemic is over, make a plan to visit our collections and ask to see it!