Archives Found

One of the major reasons that I went to the AIC conference in Denver this year was to take part in this seminar presented by William Lull. Here’s the lecture/workshop description:

Setting up an Environmental Monitoring Program
9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.; $130
William P. Lull, president, Garrison/Lull Inc.

A one-day lecture/demonstration and discussion of the rationale, techniques and equipment used to monitor key aspects of collection environments for museums, libraries, and archives, with typical criteria and evaluation of monitoring results. Practical methods to monitor humidity, temperature, lighting, particulates, gaseous contamination and collection safety are discussed along with suggested equipment, classroom demonstrations, and practical field techniques. The program includes a discussion of techniques at various cost levels, and interpretation of hygrothermograph charts. This workshop is appropriate for both institutional and consulting conservators, as well as curators and other collections professionals.

Some of the most useful information for me came out of the class discussions; it was illuminating to hear some of the climate issues that other participants and institutions have encountered, and how they have dealt with those situations. I was able to meet people from climates similar to my own, and it was useful to have discussions about seasonal issues that don’t seem to have much documentation in the professional “best practices” standards.

Other things that were useful in the workshop: gaining a better sense of what other institutions are using for monitoring environmental conditions, and how they are using that data. Comparing the monitoring program that I’ve set up to that of similar institutions gave me a good idea of some steps I’d like to take to raise our program to the next level.

Later in the week, I also attended the Book & Paper Group discussion titled “Sharing information about environmental monitoring,” which gave me a much more comprehensive view of what other institutions are using as models, and of the variety of ways in which they use the data that they collect.

Before the conference, I was already using the IPI preservation calculators for paper and photos through Climate Notebook, but they are available as free downloads from the IPI website. There are a lot of free or low-cost resources out there to help with the initial setup of a monitoring program, though I’ve found that like most things, it does get more expensive as your needs become more sophisticated.

New England Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) has announced a free, online, self-paced Preservation 101 course that includes topics such as deterioration of film and media, disaster planning, reformatting, and building a preservation program. Check it out here or read more below.

  THE NORTHEAST DOCUMENT CONSERVATION CENTER (NEDCC) is proud to offer
PRESERVATION 101, a free, comprehensive, self-paced online course on the
preservation of paper collections and related formats.

THE COURSE IS ACCESSIBLE FREE OF CHARGE  at www.preservation101.org, and is
intended to benefit professionals who are responsible for the preservation
of library and archival materials.  Participants will learn how to put
preservation basics to work in the context of small and moderately-sized
collections - how to identify deteriorated materials, how to care for
collections, and how to set priorities for preservation.

GOALS FOR PRESERVATION 101:
-  To educate those working with paper-based and related media collections
about the basics of preservation
-  To help users raise their level of knowledge about preservation and
better understand their collections’ preservation needs
-  To enable and motivate users to take action, including implementing
practices and planning, on both a short-term and long-term basis
-  To help users make the case for preservation in their institution
-  To provide access to more specialized information

DEVELOPMENT OF PRESERVATION 101 WAS FUNDED BY an Institute of Museum and
Library Services National Leadership grant. A live version of the course in
workshop format was taught in the Pacific Northwest, hosted by the
University of Washington in Seattle. Faculty came from the University of
Washington, NEDCC, SOLINET, Amigos Library Services, CCAHA, and the OCLC
Western Service Center.  NEDCC and its Web production / e-learning
consultant, WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston, produced this online
version of the course.

I’ve been slowly catching up with the rest of the world with regards to watching the John Adams HBO miniseries. While I’m only up to the third episode (Don’t Tread on Me), I’ve become somewhat fascinated by the choices that were made by the producers and directors in the name of storytelling, and I’ve been doing some poking around online to see what others  think about the series. In particular, check out Boston 1775’s “Quizzing John Adams” posts for some interesting thoughts and links.  
Last year I had a chance to see John Adams: Unbound at the Boston Public Library, and while the exhibit was interesting, I was completely fascinated by the digitized materials. Being able to look at both the transcript and the handwritten notations of Adams throughout his personal library seemed so, well, personal to me. His one-sided arguments with various thinkers of the time could be a valuable resource to researchers looking to uncover his motives in one area or another.

You can check out the digitized Adams Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, including a new online discussion of documents relating to specific episodes of the miniseries. Due to the hard work of one of my grad school classmates, Jeremy Dibbell, you can now compare your library to that of John Adams on LibraryThing, and you can view a digital version of John Adams’ personal copy of the Declaration of Independence here.

While these important projects were funded generously over the years by a number of foundation grants, I think that they can in some ways serve as a model for smaller but still important collections in other institutions. The level of access to this information that is now provided to researchers using these documents is wildly above the level of access that many repositories have for even their most important collections. Through dogged publicity, grant writing, and support, these institutions have managed to create a model that is much more useful and interconnected than previous incarnations of accessibility. Even though I’m late to the party on this one, kudos to all involved in these projects.

Think about the boxes or albums full of photos in your garage, attic, spare bedroom, or storage unit. Once upon a time, in your past, you or someone else felt that you should keep all of these two-dimensional reminders. But when was the last time that you thought about how long you would like them to last?

Take a look at your wedding photos– can you still name everyone? What about Cousin Amy’s date or that neighbor from your old town? What was going on in the photo– was it cocktail hour, or late into the post-cake phase of the evening? Who’s that girl, and why is she wearing a feather boa and a garter on her head?

What about all of the people in your parents’ wedding? Your siblings’ wedding? Those of your grandparents, or further removed? While you may have been present, perhaps you weren’t part of the action, or privvy to many of the moments pictured. Weddings moreso than some other gatherings can be a good source of stories, both about that particular day and about traditions and events preceding the photo. Several generations of the same family will likely be present, and sometimes there are a number of shots taken at opportune moments– ie. three or four generations together, or siblings reunited. During an occasion where lots of photos are taken and not all necessarily by a professional, wedding photos can yield a lot of different viewpoints, situations, and information. Ever wondered what happens when random strangers and friends have too much time in between the salad and main course? Leave a camera on the table, and you may get to see more of your relatives than you bargained for.

Wedding photos can reveal secondary information about the subjects such as class, mobility, religiosity, and stature in the community. Sometimes photos can be dated by buildings and other landmarks, or by the persons inside (or not included within) the frame. Historically, wedding photos tend to show women more often than other photos, potentially leading to a somewhat skewed vision of what women wore in eras where not much additional photographic evidence is available.

How does an archivist assess and describe photos? What other kinds of evidence can be drawn from a photo, and what makes a photo worth keeping? Stay tuned for part 2…

…oh, and the reference to your ‘wedding silver’ in the title? Depending on the era of your ancestors, both yours and their wedding photographs may well have been made using the still-popular gelatin-silver process, which was first introduced in the 1870’s.

Continuing my thoughts about historical markers in Denver; I noticed something interesting about the front steps of the Colorado State Capitol building. Carved into the fifteenth step (yes, I counted) was the inscription “One Mile Above Sea Level.” Three steps above that on step eighteen, a round, gold-colored marker was embedded in 1969 stating that it is “5,260 feet [1 mile] above sea level.” A third marker was installed in 2003 when the distance was apparently measured again. What’s so special about this?

Well, for starters, in conjunction with the nearby Sand Creek marker, it shows that perhaps Coloradans are more willing than the average bear to admit that they were wrong; a generally admirable trait. Furthermore, I don’t think that it’s stretching to say that both were situations in which the understanding or measurement of the past was regarded as being no longer valid. While the mile-high marker probably didn’t do as much harm to historical memory as the Civil War marker, I think that it would be interesting to learn more about the process by which each was updated. Additionally, I think that by adding markers instead of modifying or removing those that were already in place, the various groups have helped to show that history is not static and that as understanding and opinion shifted, more information was added.

So what does all of this mean when it comes to archives? Well, in some cases, when the understanding of an historical actor shifts, there is renewed interest in reviewing archival material related to the person and their situation. Perhaps a scandal, or a new piece of legislation, or an anniversary compels researchers to take a different tack when approaching various records. Sometimes new materials come to light years after a collection has been accessioned and processed and the dominant version of history has been accepted. As archivists, one of the challenges of providing access to collections is to place the documents within the context of the historical narrative without judging the records or the records creators. I think that in situations where new material is received, or a reexamination is warranted, that it makes sense to not only reevaluate the organization and understanding of the collection as it stands, but also to document the thinking behind any changes that may be made, and the reasoning for doing so. By doing this we can attempt to preserve not only the documents, but also create a new record of shifts in growth and understanding that could ultimately become just as valuable.

I’m going to admit something here: I love to read historical markers, and I generally keep one eye peeled for them because they can be so unexpectedly interesting or intriguing. I can’t seem to resist a bronze plaque. I was in Denver last week for a workshop and for the AIC annual meeting, and I spent some time exploring the area around the Colorado capitol building.

Part of the reason that historical markers fascinate me is that they provide a glimpse of what was thought by some group of influential persons at some point in time, as to be truth so important that it should be immortalized in fifty words or less and riveted to something immoveable. Thinking about the preservation of heritage as a starting point, there are some similarities in intent between this and archives that are readily apparent: obviously the sign shows information that was meant to be preserved, as well as shared with a wider public audience. The paths diverge here; the marker was created with the intent of display, and the preservation of the plaque itself is not necessarily the intent, while documents housed in an archive are generally judged to be of enduring value and were created as a byproduct of some activity.

However, here’s where things meet back up for me: is the plaque a transactional record of an activity? I think that it can be. For example, one of the plaques on the plaza in front of the capitol building reads as follows:

The controversy surrounding this Civil War monument has become a symbol of Coloradans’ struggle to understand and take responsibility for our past. On November 29, 1864, Colorado’s First and Third Cavalry, commanded by Colonel John Chivington, attacked Chief Black Kettle’s peaceful camp of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians on the banks of Sand Creek, about 180 miles southeast of here. In the surprise attack, soldiers killed more than 150 of the village’s 500 inhabitants. Most of the victims were elderly men, women, and children.

Though some civilians and military personnel immediately denounced the attack as a massacre, others claimed the village was a legitimate target. This Civil War monument, paid for by funds from the Pioneers’ Association and the State, was erected on July 24, 1909, to honor all Colorado soldiers who had fought in battles of the Civil War in Colorado and elsewhere. By designating Sand Creek a battle, the monument’s designers mischaracterized the actual events. Protests led by some Sand Creek descendants and others throughout the twentieth century have since led to the widespread recognition of the tragedy as the Sand Creek Massacre.

This plaque was authorized by Senate Joint Resolution 99-017

This marker was clearly added more recently, and reflects a shift in both understanding and public attitude, as well as considerable pressure and discussion by various groups. While I’m not sure I’d consider the marker to be something that I’d add to my collection, I do think that a discussion of the historical or informational value is a valid one, and I think that documents created as a product of the discussion and shift in sentiment would be interesting and of enduring value to persons seeking to understand how historical memory can change.

While clearly I’ve been pretty busy with other things lately, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about the MayDay initiative. Started in 2006 by then-SAA president Richard Pearce-Moses and several others, MayDay is a way to call attention to the challenges of protecting historical collections. Some of the ways to participate in MayDay: update your disaster plan, educate administrators and users regarding the dangers that collections face, do a preservation survey to assess conditions and hazards. SAA has helpfully compiled many other suggestions here. Check them out– and even if you’ve missed MayDay this year, no reason why you can’t implement these ideas in the coming months.