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Welcome to the new blog of the University of St. Francis Library Archives. We are excited to have this space to post news and updates about the happenings in the archives. Please continue to check back and feel free to leave comments.

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St. Joseph School of Nursing

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In 1997 the St. Joseph College of Nursing joined the College of St. Francis and on January 1, 1998 became the College of Nursing and Allied Health at the newly renamed University of St. Francis. But before this storied nursing school joined USF they had been training nurses in Joliet for almost eight decades. Here's an abbreviated timeline about the history of St. Joseph School of Nursing. 1866 - 4 women form the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Seelback, Germany 1876 - Those 4 Sisters arrive in Avilla, Indiana 1881 - The Sisters traveled to Joliet to care for those affected by an epidemic of typhoid fever 1882 - Joliet donates $600 towards the creation of a hospital to be run by the Sisters 1882 - The Sisters of the Sacred Heart purchase the Motherhouse on Broadway from the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate to use as the St. Joseph Hospital *** So begins the relationship between the two congregations. The Sisters of St. Francis provided education for the Si
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DISASTER PLANNING: Mold and Water Salvage

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Growth Cycle of Mold Last week I attended a workshop in Springfield, Illinois at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library to learn about salvaging mold and water damaged library materials. It was hosted by Jennifer Hain Teper, Preservation Librarian and Head of Preservation Services at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Bonnie Parr, Historical Documents Conservator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The workshop included an overview of mold and library materials including: sources of mold, a brief introduction to health risks when dealing with mold, and options for remediation/removal. I did not know much about mold going into this workshop, so I was interested to learn some basic facts. For example, mold grows best at high temperatures and high humidity, which is why cold storage is best for archival materials. I also learned too new terms. Example of foxing, taken from The Private Library Foxing and efflorescence are two types of
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Rediscovering Chicago's Film History

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Last year I became the LIBRAS Archives Special Interest Group Chairperson; part of my job is to put events together which interest archivists and librarians within the LIBRAS community. The most recent event was a visit and tour of the Chicago Film Archives . Their website states: “The Chicago Film Archives is a non-profit 501(c) (3) institution established in late 2003 in order to preserve and catalogue over five thousand 16mm films donated by the Chicago Public Library.” Extra copies of films donated by the Chicago Public Library During the visit, we discussed how the film industry in Chicago boomed during the early 20 th century with actors including Charlie Chaplin getting their first start at Essanay Studios. Chicago was the film industry hub until the production companies moved to Hollywood.  The films at CFA cover the “dark ages” of Chicago and Midwest filmmaking. As a regional archive their collections relate to Midwest history, amateur filmmakers, and home mov
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