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I got an email today from the local BMC club here re: the new notecards for the year. This cannot stand any longer. Check it out for yourself, then read my reply.
www.bmcsc.org/librarypubs/
Dear Publications,
I graduated from BMC in 1997 and every year I have wanted to order note cards, and every year, I fail to find something I like. The holiday cards are, every single one of them, East Coast and / or Christmas themed: snow, wreaths, green and red coloring, etc. The best I can find that's not entirely region or religion specific is the occasional dove. But usually, it's flying out a Christmas wreath. I'm Jewish and live in San Francisco - what good are Christian iconography and pine trees to me? Snow?
I do not fare any better with your other note cards, which are a mix of outdated and pretentious. "College life" - white women 19th Century clothes, with *hair buns* burning the midnight oil, alone, in libraries? Aren't we trying to get away that stereotype of woman scholars? What about non-white? Women working in labs? Women simply working and studying in groups? I'm not saying that studying isn't serious business, but studying isn't serious business! As I remember it from BMC, studying and learning were cooperative and exciting. And the others, "Notes from Italy"? How much more pretentious can you get than that, short of actually transferring to Wellsley? To wit, if I ever get the money for a leisurely month-long tour of the Italian provinces, I'll buy my cards there, thanks. The two series of cards about Maine? See my earlier note about regionalism. And why Maine? If you must, absolutely must, do something Eastern Seaboard, at least make it PA. Or are we opening up a satellite campus in Maine? The flowers, dragons and rabbits are simply insipid and I'll say no more.
Congratulations to the school though, in finally, as of last year, enabling me to buy a tee shirt online. From 1997 - 2004, the time period that BMC did not have this functionality, I had a ball spending thousands of dollars online with other vendors. Pay pal, anyone?
Please respond and I'm posting this to the BMC tribe on Tribe.net.
Best,
[my name went here]
www.bmcsc.org/librarypubs/
Dear Publications,
I graduated from BMC in 1997 and every year I have wanted to order note cards, and every year, I fail to find something I like. The holiday cards are, every single one of them, East Coast and / or Christmas themed: snow, wreaths, green and red coloring, etc. The best I can find that's not entirely region or religion specific is the occasional dove. But usually, it's flying out a Christmas wreath. I'm Jewish and live in San Francisco - what good are Christian iconography and pine trees to me? Snow?
I do not fare any better with your other note cards, which are a mix of outdated and pretentious. "College life" - white women 19th Century clothes, with *hair buns* burning the midnight oil, alone, in libraries? Aren't we trying to get away that stereotype of woman scholars? What about non-white? Women working in labs? Women simply working and studying in groups? I'm not saying that studying isn't serious business, but studying isn't serious business! As I remember it from BMC, studying and learning were cooperative and exciting. And the others, "Notes from Italy"? How much more pretentious can you get than that, short of actually transferring to Wellsley? To wit, if I ever get the money for a leisurely month-long tour of the Italian provinces, I'll buy my cards there, thanks. The two series of cards about Maine? See my earlier note about regionalism. And why Maine? If you must, absolutely must, do something Eastern Seaboard, at least make it PA. Or are we opening up a satellite campus in Maine? The flowers, dragons and rabbits are simply insipid and I'll say no more.
Congratulations to the school though, in finally, as of last year, enabling me to buy a tee shirt online. From 1997 - 2004, the time period that BMC did not have this functionality, I had a ball spending thousands of dollars online with other vendors. Pay pal, anyone?
Please respond and I'm posting this to the BMC tribe on Tribe.net.
Best,
[my name went here]
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San Francisco
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Re: Flaming Bryn Mawr College
Sat, July 2, 2005 - 12:00 AMSkippy, you continue to wield wit with aplomb. And yes, I too, feeling nostalgic, have yearned for better cards.
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Re: Flaming Bryn Mawr College
Sun, July 3, 2005 - 11:21 AMfunny, but admitedly true. they are lame
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Their reply - please send your suggestions!
Tue, July 5, 2005 - 3:39 PMDear [skippy],
Thank you for your message. The notecards at Library Publications depict exclusively College-owned artwork and photographs from the BMC archives. The librarians and archivists try to select 4-8 new images every year, with assistance and advice from alums. We would like to include artwork to please every taste (it is a fundraiser, after all!), so please send us ideas of themes or artists that you would like to see included and we will be happy to search for compatible artwork in the Archives.
Thank you for supporting Bryn Mawr College.
Sincerely,
Maria Davila Rudolph '81, for BMC Library Publications
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Re: Flaming Bryn Mawr College
Wed, July 27, 2005 - 1:01 PMI am a volunteer for the Library Publications fundraiser for the Bryn Mawr Club of Southern California. I just wanted to address a couple of your concerns. First, our mission is to publicize the materials that are in the library and archive, so designing new items isn't in our purview; that's really an issue for the college bookstore, and I think you should send them a note as well. (They are in charge of the t-shirt sales too.)
Our materials may be east coast themed, but our archive is east coast centered. For example, Ben Wolf, the artist who does the Maine coast sketches, left his materials to the archive. We work with what we have. If you happen to know an artist who would like to give their work to the archive, we'd be happy to work with it from there. (Check with the archive to see what sort of materials they accept.)
The "retro" ("19th Century") nature of our cards stems from privacy issues. We can't use images of students without their permission, and many photos do not identify individual students. Since there are only a handful of us working on this project, we have to use our resources in the best way, chasing down student permission would tax our meager resources.
I never had a problem sending snow-themed cards when I lived in southern California, which as I recall, is even warmer than northern California. This difference in outlook is the essence of the problem, I think. Tastes are different.
I will see what I can find next time I'm in the archive that may please you a bit more. -
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Re: Flaming Bryn Mawr College
Thu, July 28, 2005 - 4:07 PM>If you happen to know an artist who would like to give their work to the archive, we'd be happy to work with it from there.
Maybe BMC should *ask* in the alumni magazine or send an email to it's current students, to see if anyone would like to create something or donate something. You could have, like, a contest and stuff. Rather than just relying on what is there, forever.
>We can't use images of students without their permission, and many photos do not identify individual students.
Maybe they could *ask* for student volunteers to be in the cards - have them sign releases and suchlike. I believe that lawyers have drafted ageold fancy schmancy agreements for just this sort of situation.
These are not real problems or issues. This is laziness. -
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Re: Flaming Bryn Mawr College
Tue, May 23, 2006 - 4:13 PMWaaaaah! I don't like your postcards. I'm going to whine and moan and hold my breath until you come up with ones *I* like.
Geez, get a freakin' life...
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