This blog post was written by graduate student Justin Hickerson
Introduction
I started my endowed archival internship in May at the Texas Collection. While at the Texas Collection I was tasked with working on a project digitizing photographs from local Waco Photographer Fred Gildersleeve (Photo 1). Fred Gildersleeve was a professional photographer in Waco and for Baylor University from the early 1900s all the way up until around the 1950s. Gildersleeve’s success and popularity has led him to be known for taking photographs of the Amicable Building construction and the famous Cotton Palace, which photos from both are available to see at the Texas Collection.
Photo 1: Gildersleeve in a Coconut Tree
Background
My role as an archival intern was to digitize photos from the Gildersleeve Collection which had never been digitized before. More specifically, I was tasked to digitize photos from the Summer of 1910 when Gildersleeve got hired by an American company to photograph ranches or haciendas in Mexico. These photos showcase a very interesting time in the history of Mexico. For background in 1876 Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz seized control of the Mexican Government through a Coup and declared himself president a year later in 1877. Porfirio Diaz’s Presidency historically is known for bringing economic prosperity to Mexico through foreign investors. These foreign investors sought to buy land and holdings in Mexico for exports so they could own Mexican land, use Mexican laborers to grow the crops, and then send the exports back to the countries they are from (mainly the U. S.). After a while the working conditions became worse and worse for the laborers and people became fed up with all the foreign investors buying and controlling Mexican farms and exports.
This and other problems from Porfirio Diaz led to a revolt in the November of 1910 which started the Mexican Revolution. With that context this collection of Gildersleeve photos highlights such an interesting transitional period of history in Mexico and showcases just how great of a divide there was between the rural population and elite in the early 1900s Mexican society. These distinctions can be seen in the collection through images like Photos 2 and 3. Photo 2 showcases two laborers in their traditional work outfits holding corn on the side of the street. The wear on their bodies from hard labor is very evident. Compare that to Photo 3 where the landowners are standing in their formal attire showing off the crops. These men didn’t harvest those crops and that is apparent. With images like these you can understand why the working class in Mexico was upset with all the foreign influence.
Photo 2: Two Laborers Holding Corn
Photo 3: Nuts for Export
Methods
Digitizing and writing metadata for photos is an easier process than one would think. The Gildersleeve photos in this collection are Silver Gelatin Prints so they have to be handled with care, nitrile gloves are a must. I used an Epson Scanner to digitize the photos. It works almost exactly like a copier. I placed the photos either individually or multiple at a time and then highlighted the specific photo on the program I wanted it to scan. I used the setting for 1200 dpi (dots per inch) on all the photos, which is double the recommendation from the Library of Congress. After the Photos are scanned, I then save them as a tiff file onto the computer and then write the metadata on a Microsoft Word file.
Writing the metadata was one of the most difficult things about the project because I am not an expert on Mexican culture in the early 1900s. Often I would scan a photo of a random building or people working and have no clue what the building was or what the people in the photo were doing. This is where advancements in technology and AI have really helped me. I began using google image search paired with AI to search the photos and have it describe what was in them. By doing this, I was able to identify many different buildings and locations that I had no idea of before. Take this image for instance of a building in Mexico City:
Photo 4: Construction of Palacio de Bellas Artes
From a glance this photo appears to be just a random building being constructed in Mexico City, however, if you google image search this picture the AI states that it is the construction of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. After doing some confirmation research, I verified this and then wrote the information down in the metadata. If I didn’t know the specific date of this photo, AI could help with that too because it stated that this building began construction in 1904 and was finished in 1934. We have written confirmation that Gildersleeve took these photos in 1910, so no relative dating was necessary, however, it is still good information to have. Overall, AI has proven to be a surprisingly useful tool for writing metadata descriptions in photos, and I am glad to be able to include useful and pertinent information for researchers wanting to study the collection.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my summer at the Texas Collection was very interesting and exciting. Digitizing these photos with the use of AI has allowed me to write and learn more about Mexico in the 1910s than I could have ever imagined. If you are interested in researching the Summer of 1910 before the Mexican Revolution, the Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico City, Veracruz, Haciendas in Mexico, Hacienda laborers, or even societal distinctions in Mexico during this time than the Gildersleeve Mexico Collection is just for you. It will be available on Baylor Quartex within the year and as always is available to view by request Monday through Friday at the Texas Collection in the reading room. I’d highly recommend checking it out.