We’re lucky in the Digital Production Group to see a wide variety of materials come across our imaging platforms. We get to see and handle the highlights of all the collections as curators and bibliographers bring us the best in their collections to digitize for research, classroom teaching, and online access. But does our every day become humdrum, when you see an original Beethoven score one day, a priceless map the next, and a gorgeous gold leaf medieval manuscript the third?
In celebration of Allen Ginsberg’s 91st birthday this June 3, I asked our lead photographer Wayne Vanderkuil a few questions about his experience photographing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl manuscript – an original draft featuring numerous annotations and corrections. It is considered one of the great works of American literature, the symbol for the Beat Generation, and the subject of an infamous obscenity trial.