With only three days to spare until her deadline, Miami Hurricane Photo Editor Monica Herndon turned to the UM Libraries’ University Archives as the source for the August 29th issue’s Throwback Thursday theme. The cover story was a tribute to the 1983 National Football Champions, the University of Miami Hurricanes.
In the Special Collections Reading Room, University Archivist Koichi Tasa and his staff provided Ms. Herndon with several options and resources that included original old football programs and rosters, IBIS yearbooks, and UM history books. He then guided her through some of the Archives’ digital collections, such as the UM Historical Photograph Collection and The Miami Hurricane Archive Online.
Their search eventually led them to a collection of 35mm film negatives, donated by the University’s Department of Media Relations, and identified as being from the time of the championship. It was among those materials that Ms. Herndon found what she was looking for: a January 1984 image of the Hurricanes on parade through downtown Miami celebrating the Championship victory (above), and a photo of Howard Schnellenberger (below), the coach who led them to that accomplishment. The only problem was, the images were still on the Digital Production team’s queue to be digitized, and they were scheduled nowhere near the timeframe by which Ms. Herndon needed them for print.
Enter Digital Production Technician Marcelo Lopes, who Mr. Tasa states is “the hero of this story.” Mr. Lopes found a viable break in his team’s digitization workflow, shifted priorities accordingly, and was able to accommodate the high resolution scans just in time for Ms. Herndon’s deadline.
“The story was a success on several levels,” said Mr. Tasa. “It was a true collaboration based on need, available library services, dedication and commitment to the U.”
University of Miami Archives -- Let's Archive It 