Style Revolution: A New Approach to Digital Scholarship and Collection-Building at the Columbia University Libraries

Abstract

Style Revolution is a partnership between the Columbia University Libraries, the Barnard College Department of Art History, The Morgan Library & Museum, and Designmuseum Denmark. It combines digital content curation, digital humanities pedagogy in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, library publishing, and a new model of engagement for liaison librarians. Initially conceived by Professor Anne Higonnet of Barnard College, Style Revolution explores the radical history of fashion in France in the years following the Revolution. A website, built by graduate students in collaboration with Columbia librarians using an early prototype of Wax, a minimal computing framework for designing and implementing cultural exhibits, features some 400 fashion plates from the influential Journal des dames et des modes (JDM). Digitized by The Morgan Library & Museum, these fashion plates, published between 1797-1804, comprise the only complete extant set of plates from this period. A companion Instagram account, curated by Barnard undergraduates, promotes the project and offers in-depth analyses of the plates and their reception. The latest exciting phase of Style Revolution has been the addition of Designmuseum Denmark (DMD) as a partner. DMD is digitizing the full text of the JDM issues from 1797 and 1804 so that the fashion plates and accompanying articles can be reunited. Upon completion of the text digitization, readers will be able to fully (and freely) experience the JDM through Style Revolution for the first time in 200 years.

This paper focuses on the Columbia Libraries’ role in stewarding the project, including opportunities and challenges presented by this vast undertaking. It will describe the key role of the liaison librarian, beyond subject expertise, and will outline the benefits of embracing minimal computing to facilitate student and faculty-driven digital projects, as well as the pedagogical insights gained from two semesters of project-based instruction at Barnard and Columbia.