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.

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.

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.

Every so often, there’s a news story about a copy of a state constitution or declaration that has been discovered and auctioned to the highest bidder. Sometimes there’s a twist: the state’s trying to recover the materials, or a benefactor has magnanimously donated the papers to an archival repository. This time, an early copy of the Declaration of Independence was found in an attic in Wiscasset, ME in 1994 and sold to a private collector. Now Maine is trying to reclaim the property through courts by reason of replevin, which states that property created by and of the state must be returned to the state. However, since the document was actually created as part of the original thirteen US colonies and not the state of Maine, I wonder what the outcome will be?

The article that discusses the provenance of the document and other particulars can be found on the NYT site here.

I’m mostly opposed to the practices of private collectors snatching up various documents and thereby making them unavailable to the general public. In many cases, documents owned by private investors may not be receiving proper care, preservation treatment, handling, or ideal storage conditions. Is the Declaration of Independence any different? Does it matter that we have other copies, that the informational content is available elsewhere? Does this case rest just as heavily on the Declaration as a symbol that should be held by the public as it does on the actual document?

I’ve always enjoyed reading about the different digitization work that various repositories undertake– I think that this outreach article is a great way to reach donors that might be so inclined to give of time, money, expertise, or whatever else is needed.

It’s been awhile. Of course, since I think I’m the only one reading right now, that’s OK, but I’d like to make the time to post here more often. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, I’ve added a new link to the archives blogroll– the McArthur Public Library Special Collections blog, run by my friend Renee DesRoberts. Big congratulations to Renee– they just received an NEH Preservation Grant to assist with completing a preservation survey!

The main reason that I was in Austin several weeks ago was to attend a symposium at U-T’s Kilgarlin Center, titled “From Gray Areas to Green Areas: Developing Sustainable Practices in Preservation Environments.” While there were many sessions that I was anticipating, two that definitely did not disappoint were those by James Reilly of the Image Permanence Institute in Rochester, and Richard Kershner from the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. I’m planning to talk a bit more in upcoming posts about some of the sessions, but I wanted to drop off a few links here first. There’s a (low-activity so far) conference blog, as well as some pictures taken by various attendees here and here. I think that the conference organizers did a great job of selecting the various speakers and panels, and overall it was an inspiring and interesting event.

An article in the LA Times this morning stunned me: Reagan Library unable to fully account for 80,000 artifacts. I’m interested in finding out more about this, because I’m wondering about the status of the Reagan Papers. I think that the museum/artifacts staff and area is separated from the artifacts and donated items, but it obviously raises a lot of questions about security, access, and proper recordkeeping procedures. Talk about terrible publicity– and right before their C-Span broadcast, too. I wonder if any of the allegations will be addressed during their live broadcast tomorrow night? Unfortunately, I won’t be able to watch, as I’ll be traveling, but I’ll definitely look forward to catching it online later. I really hope that C-Span decides to rerun the episodes before the elections next year, and potentially at a better time/day of the week.