This document discusses a project to catalog and make publicly accessible the archival collections of public television programs related to quilting and needlework held by WGBH in Boston. The project involves scholars watching and tagging episodes from early WGBH shows with descriptive metadata. As an example, the document provides detailed metadata tagged by the author for episodes of "Erica", a 1971-1976 needlework instruction program. It explains the learning process for determining the optimal metadata scheme and gives examples of the rich descriptive information and subjects added by the scholars. The goal is to publish the fully cataloged archives online to increase access and awareness of these cultural heritage materials.

1. Opening Up the Vault:
Participatory Cataloging and Curation
of Public Television Quilting
and Needlework Programs for
an Open Access Digital Archive
Amanda Grace Sikarskie
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of History,
Western Michigan University
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Art History,
and Design, Michigan State University
and Mellon Fellow, WGBH Boston, 2013

2. The Mellon Participatory Cataloging
and Curation Project
• Working with scholars with research
specialties pertinent to programs in the
catalog to:
• Increase public awareness of the vast
collections that digital repositories
hold
• Publishing the entire WGBH archival
catalog in an online, open access
format
• Open Vault,
– http://openvault.wgbh.org

3. WGBH Open Vault Collections
• The life of Grete Bibring- Student of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
• The March on Roxbury, Mothers for Adequate Welfare, and the school Stay
Outs taking place in Boston in the 1960s
• Postwar television and Joyce Chen Cooks
• The birth of MOOCs and IA Richards
• Needlepoint with Erica Wilson
• Radio personality Eric Jackson and his interviews with Jazz Masters
• The legacy of Roger Fisher and his creation of the Advocates
• The Prospects of Mankind featuring Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Anniversary of Kennedy's Report on the Status of Women
• The Cold War and the French Chef
• Poetry and Technology
• Tech nostalgia and moving image & sound heritage
• Decade of the Brain- Representations of the brian in public discourse
• Violence in Television- How violent media shapes research on human
aggression
• The African Liberation Movement in the 1970s
• ZOOM- Children's culture from 1965-1980

4. WGBH Open Vault Collections
• The life of Grete Bibring- Student of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
• The March on Roxbury, Mothers for Adequate Welfare, and the school Stay
Outs taking place in Boston in the 1960s
• Postwar television and Joyce Chen Cooks
• The birth of MOOCs and IA Richards
• Needlepoint with Erica Wilson
• Radio personality Eric Jackson and his interviews with Jazz Masters
• The legacy of Roger Fisher and his creation of the Advocates
• The Prospects of Mankind featuring Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Anniversary of Kennedy's Report on the Status of Women
• The Cold War and the French Chef
• Poetry and Technology
• Tech nostalgia and moving image & sound heritage
• Decade of the Brain- Representations of the brian in public discourse
• Violence in Television- How violent media shapes research on human
aggression
• The African Liberation Movement in the 1970s
• ZOOM- Children's culture from 1965-1980

5. WGBH Open Vault Collections
• The life of Grete Bibring- Student of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
• The March on Roxbury, Mothers for Adequate Welfare, and the school Stay
Outs taking place in Boston in the 1960s
• Postwar television and Joyce Chen Cooks
• The birth of MOOCs and IA Richards
• Needlepoint with Erica Wilson
• Radio personality Eric Jackson and his interviews with Jazz Masters
• The legacy of Roger Fisher and his creation of the Advocates
• The Prospects of Mankind featuring Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Anniversary of Kennedy's Report on the Status of Women
• The Cold War and the French Chef
• Poetry and Technology
• Tech nostalgia and moving image & sound heritage
• Decade of the Brain- Representations of the brian in public discourse
• Violence in Television- How violent media shapes research on human
aggression
• The African Liberation Movement in the 1970s
• ZOOM- Children's culture from 1965-1980

6. A Partnership Between Scholars and
WGBH Media Library & Archives
• The scholars:
• Watching episodes of early programs
produced by WGBH
• Tagged each episode with metadata
of our choosing, and
• Authored an essay that will help
scholars and viewers understand and
use their collection

7. Erica
• Erica, also known as the Erica Wilson
Show, was a television craft program
produced by WGBH Boston.
• The show was hosted by Erica Wilson
and ran from 1971-2 and 1975-6.
• It was aired on PBS in the United
States, on the BBC in Britain, and
also on Australian television.

8. Episodes Digitized
1971
Episode 101: Ticking Sampler
Episode 104: Bargello
Episode 105: Graphics from A to Z
Episode 106: Space Age Canvas
Episode 107: Turkey Work
Episode 108: Just Ties
Episode 109: Christmas Tree
Episode 110: Satin Stitch
Episode 111: Thinking Big
Episode 112: Designing Needlepoint
Episode 113: Chains
Episode 114: Thinking Bigger
Episode 115: Designs from China
Episode 116: Crewel Point
Episode 117: Shisha Work
Episode 118: Roumanian Stitch
1972
Episode 120: Sentiments in Stitches
Episode 121: Oriental Gold
Episode 122: Geometric Needlepoint
Episode 123: Cross Stitch
Episode 124: Needle Painting
Episode 125: Bell Pulls, Borders, and Bandings
Episode 126: Stitches in Needlepoint
1975
Episode 201: Patchwork
1976
Episode 203: 3D Collage
Episode 209: New Points in Needlepoint
Episode 211: Native American Treasures
Episode 212: Fun, Fashion, and Costumes
Episode 213: Creatures Great and Small
Episode 215: Appliqué

9. Learning the Metadata Scheme

10. Scholar-submitted Metadata
• Flexibility is key
• Creating new fields
• Creating new LOC subject-headings
• But what about interoperability?
• Submission of metadata as a MS
Word doc

11. Examples of Metadata
Program Title:Erica
Episode Number: 106
Episode Title: Space Age Canvas
Program Summary:
Canvas was traditionally made out of hemp, linen, or cotton, and Erica informs the
viewer, had changed little since Mary, Queen of Scots had done embroidery on
canvas. In this episode, however, Erica discusses a new, major innovation in
embroidery—plastic canvas. Erica favors the plastic canvas for three-dimensional
work because it is flexible, yet stiff, will not fray, and is easy to cut.
Erica shows a telephone book cover and a handbag that she made, both in bargello
on plastic canvas, and demonstrates how to join to pieces of plastic canvas for a
three-dimensional effect using a special joining stitch.
For the major project of the episode, Erica shows how to make a three-dimensional
needlework replica of one’s own home out of plastic canvas to use as an
embroidery box.

12. Examples of Metadata, cont.
Topics:
Needlework – Instruction; Plastic Canvas; Bargello; Embroidery;
Replicas – Domestic Architecture
Duration: 00:14:28
Color or B&W: Color
Date Created: 1971
Copyright Notice: Erica Wilson and Copyright WGBH Educational
Foundation
People: Host – Erica Wilson; Producer – Margaret MacLeod; Director
– James Field; Set Designer – Frances Mahard
Selected Textiles Courtesy Of: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

13. Next Steps for Erica
• Roundtable at American Quilt Study Group 2014
• Article in Uncoverings
• Research on Erica Wilson’s interest in South
Asian textiles
• Potential for an Erica Wilson book project

14. A BIG thank you to the Mellon
Foundation and Allison Pekel,
Project Manager, WGBH Media
Library and Archives!
Questions?
Please contact me at
amanda.sikarskie@wmich.edu
Peacock embroidery background slide is from the collection of the presenter.