Funny what can happen in a couple weeks. In late September I was corresponding with Matthew Wittmer, an artist and librarian living in Los Angeles, whom I've gotten to know well over the past year because of this project, and mentioned in passing that he should donate his model of Mt. Carmel to us. Turns out, it currently didn't have a home (beyond his closet), and he was willing to consider it. He had thought about Baylor's The Texas Collection in the past, but they have a policy against acquiring artwork. He said he hadn't even thought about donating it to us before, since we're a writers' collection.

But, as various acquisition efforts, including the Lee Hancock Collection, have shown, Waco has taken on a life of its own around here. I ran the idea by our curators and got the green light. Then, this past Monday morning I received an e-mail from Matthew, saying his parents were visiting him in L.A. and could drive across I-10 on their way to Houston and deliver the model (in three specially-made crates) free of charge. Next thing I knew, they were at my doorstep with the crates!

Here is a photo of and an excerpt about the model, from Matthew's webpage, "Memorializing Mount Carmel Center in Waco, Texas":

"Through developing observational drawings from video footage and photos of the complex, I constructed a model of the building to better understand the layout and function it provided the community, which is the model pictured in the photos on this web page.  I also designed it to serve as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the events of 1993.  The model was eventually installed on the Mt. Carmel property where a Visitor’s Center Museum was created and in operation between 1998 and 2006. The Visitor's Center Museum was managed by the survivors and a local supporter up until March of 2006. During that time it exhibited artifacts from the building, surviving photos of the life at the center prior to the siege, donated photos from family and friends of residents who belonged to the community, and defense exhibit photographs of the property and events/agents present throughout the siege.  Tens of thousands of people traveling through the area have visited the property since 1993 and continue to visit to this day. My model served the survivors as a historical aid on the property from December of 2000 to September of 2006, much to the thanks of Clive and Edna Doyle who lived on the property at the time (Edna passed away in the summer of 2001) and expressed their desire for a model in their center. A mutual friend, Rollin, graciously helped in coordinating the installation process."

We're very excited Matthew has trusted us with his artistic and accurate rendering of Mt. Carmel, especially since the model has that connection to the visitor's center there. Also, in the Reavis Papers there is a postcard that Matthew made with a picture of the model on it, as well as a copy of line etchings of the model. You can view both of those in the digital collection. And Matt said he has old correspondence from Reavis, who initially gave Matt Clive's contact information. See, it all ties together!

Just thought I would check in and update our scores of readers on what's been happening with the project lately. Aniket and I have been working together designing a template for the site. It will consist of: an opening page with a banner, navigation links, and rotating sample images and/or video clips; an "About the Project" page that gives background information on the project; an "About the Incident" page that describes the incident through the lens of Reavis' collection and book; a page to contact us to request copies; and a "Guestbook" where visitors can leave and read comments. In addition, there will be links to this blog and to the digital collection itself.

The pages that Aniket and I create will link to the CONTENTdm pages that contain the actual records, where users will be able to search the metadata and bookmark records of particular interest to them. Because of space concerns (and time and copyright concerns, somewhat) we are not able to provide digital surrogates of all the items at this time. I'm hoping to continue to add more digitized items periodically after the grant period ends. Of course, I will keep the world posted via this blog whenever newly digitized items are added.

Many other CONTENTdm sites that contain audio and/or video files embed them into the site, so no downloading or pre-installed media players are necessary. We plan on doing this for our site. As far as design goes, we're keeping it simple, like the upcoming Wittliff Collections website will look, and stark, like the background and text colors of this blog. 

I'm going to place the Reavis 12/30/08 interview transcript either on the site or in the collection itself, or both. Some students here worked hard to transcribe the interview, and our admin assistant, myself and Reavis all made passes editing it. I think it is a good resource as to how the book and the project came about, as well as why investigating and remembering what happened at Waco in 1993 matters.

On Sunday, April 19, Kurt and I drove to Waco to attend the annual memorial service led by Mt. Carmel survivor Clive Doyle. Starting in 1995, until 2005, I think, a service has been held on 4/19 at the Mt. Carmel site (a 1994 service was held in June). After Clive was pushed off the property by Charles Pace in early 2006, Clive has kept the 4/19 services for survivors and their friends and acquaintances going off-site in Waco. He has organized and led almost every one of these gatherings, I believe. He also has kept people up-to-date through the years with the Mt. Carmel Survivors Newsletter.

This year, the 16th Annual Mt. Carmel Survivors' Memorial was held in the small conference room of the Country Inn & Suites along IH-35 in Waco. From the look of the photos, I'd say around twenty-two people were in attendance. Kurt and I brought an audio recorder and took a few photos as well. We may be including the recording of the whole service in the online exhibit, but I wanted to share a portion of it here in the meantime.

Clive spoke for the first twenty minutes or so and that's what I want to highlight here, because he gives a thorough (and sometimes emotional) account of what all has happened in the past year especially, and in the years since April 19, 1993 generally. He discusses, most notably, the passing of David Koresh's father last June, Jaime Castillo last December, and Koresh's mother Bonnie in January.

Download Clive doyle memorial talk

Later in the service individuals got up to share their thoughts with the group, and at noon, as he does every year (since that was about the time the 4/19 fire started), Clive movingly read the names of those who died on February 28 and April 19, 1993. Here is one of the photos I took, featuring Matthew Wittmer speaking and Clive Doyle looking on. Matthew is a good friend of and advocate for the Mt. Carmel survivors, and he's been incredibly helpful to me with this project. You might recognize him from a previous photo in this blog.