The team that founded the Hydra Project met several times in the fall of 2008 at the University of Virginia. At their meeting in December of that year the name 'Hydra' was coined. Later that same day, a hydra toy was spotted, and subsequently purchased, in a local shop - this became part of the first design used on the project's documents and presentations.
Two or so years into the Hydra project, around 2010, an on-line demonstrator was produced for the emerging software. The product was called Hydrangea. It proved difficult to keep up to date at a time of rapid development and was soon dropped - but it was in use long enough to get its own logo.
For Hydra Connect 2016, the local organizers took the project's basic logo and extended it. It was used on large display screens adjacent to the conference's main auditorium.
What is Samvera Connect? Samvera Connect (formerly Hydra Connect) is a chance for the Samvera Community to gather in one place at one time, with an emphasis on synchronizing efforts, technical development, plans, and community links. The meeting program is aimed at existing users, managers and developers and at new folks who may be just "kicking the tires" on Samvera and who want to know more. Samvera advertises this yearly conference with the slogan "as a Samvera Partner or user, if you can only make it to one Samvera meeting this academic year, this is the one to attend! " This collection holds sub-collections of materials from each of these annual conferences.
Since its inception in 2008, Samvera (previously the Hydra Project) has had a number of logos, both for the Community itself and for its various initiatives. Most of these logos have had a serious purpose, some have been more flippant. Most of them have, at one time or another, been available on our sought-after hex stickers. We've tried to gather them here and provide some context for each. We've also tried to track down some of the marketing materials and artifacts they were used on. Each year we commission a new design for our conference t-shirt. You'll also find a record of those here!
Materials from Samvera Connect 2018. The conference attracted some 170 people from 60 institutions to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. This collection contains slide decks from presentations and panel sessions, posters from the Poster Reception, photographs and more.
