An online Corks & Curls museum featuring digitized versions of all of the University’s past yearbooks will be launched this year.
The project is headed by local historian and History Prof. Coy Barefoot, who conceived the idea with Tom Faulders, president of the University Alumni Association.
Corks & Curls was established as the University’s official yearbook in 1888. However, it was discontinued in 2009 due to bills which could not be covered, Faulders said.
According to Corks & Curls alumni, there are several reasons why the yearbook’s publication was stopped, ranging from the rise of social media to the growing population of the University, said Tamar Goodale, assistant director and project manager of the online museum.
“Once Corks & Curls ceased its operation, we asked — is there any repository for the yearbook?” Goodale said. “There seemed to be a void that needed to be filled.”
This led to Barefoot and Faulders collaborating on the idea of an online museum showcasing old copies of the yearbook, an idea which was funded by the Jefferson Trust two years ago, Faulders said.
Goodale, who graduated from the University as a history major, became involved with the project in 2013 after attending one of Barefoot’s classes and learning about the online museum.
“The project has grown exponentially since I became involved. What started as making Corks & Curls accessible to everyone has gone twenty steps ahead of that,” Goodale said. “We’re essentially trying to create a brick and mortar museum online.”
Much of the work of digitization and research is done by Barefoot and Goodale, with the help of student interns. In addition to support from the University Alumni Association, they also conduct some scanning and research at the University’s Digital Media Lab, Alderman Library and Special Collections Library.
The online museum will include many exhibits and features detailing the University’s history, in addition to every edition of the Corks & Curls yearbook.
“We’ve been interviewing dozens of people who are members of the Corks & Curls staff with their recollections of the University and Corks & Curls, going back to people who worked on it in the 40s,” Goodale said. “We have a theater which will have over 100 short videos that cover everything from historical takes of the University to athletics featured in Corks & Curls.”
One exhibit features Ed Roseberry, a photographer from Corks & Curls who graduated in the 1940s, who continued taking photos of Charlottesville and the University for decades after. The museum will include a gallery dedicated to his photographs and stories.
Other exhibits include the important discovery that women worked on the staff of Corks & Curls in its early years, and how Corks & Curls captured the changing of the 1960s to 1970s, Goodale said.
“Everything lends itself to stories and we’re going to make them accessible to the people who visit,” Goodale said. “They can learn more about the research we’ve done and click and delve deeper into the University’s history.”
This digitization process will make the University yearbook and its history available to a much wider audience, Faulders said.
“Having the Corks & Curls online will make student history available to everyone,” Faulders said. “Earlier Corks & Curls provide fascinating insights into the culture and life of students of earlier times. It is like a time capsule for each year since 1888.”
The Corks & Curls Museum is expected to go online in 2016 on Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, April 13. Goodale and Faulders both said they are excited for the launch of the museum, as well as the return of the yearbook’s publication.
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