Working on precision

The asst. archivist told me that the date ranges I was using would not translate well into EAD. So today I subdivided some of the files to make them more precise. It slowed down my momentum a bit but I want to learn to do it the most efficient way, which is to say “get it right the first time.” I was able to begin on the container list, and made a few notes on the history of the organization.

I believe I have figured out the hierarchy. The division between the Northern and Southern Baptist Conferences is more pronounced than it seemed from my first go through of the records. It might be better to think of them as completely different series, but there are a few outlier documents that are from a different part of the country.

Baptist Collection

I had a productive day at the GTU this week. I finished up the Suzuki box and began on a larger collection. This one is six boxes of records from the Baptist Conference. It is awesome being able to work with records this old, some go back to the 1850’s. I have never worked with records so old. The bound books of minutes in the secretary’s neat handwriting are great.

I am trying to work out the organizational structure of the organization. I am not a Baptist, so this is new to me. It looks like churches belong to associations and associations belong to conferences. Then there are committees for particular issues that may cross over conferences. I have begun putting subject headings on the files, and once I am more confident in the hierarchy I can begin arranging the files.

First day

This week I spent my internship day reading the policy manual and then processed a small collection, the Suzuki collection. I cleared away the rusting clips, moved everything into folders and arranged it. The GTU uses MARC standard which I have read about but not used. It is not so different from Dublin core except when it comes to the subject field. I had to skip over that as it seemed to need more familiarity with the classifications than I have.

I can see how this will meet competencies d and e but it remains to be seen how we will meet f. I really wish the head archivist was back, but she is not expected to return for another month. She continues to be out on disability leave. She is consulting with the asst. archivist by phone. I am sure this will work out, but can’t help but feel that something is missing.

Reflecting

I finished editing my final report and sent it of to my site supervisor for approval. It is a great relief. I had a friend of my proof read for me. She thought I was too concise and should have more in each section. I guess I hate to be repetitious. The project is already 25 pages it is not meant to be a whole textbook just suggested improvements.

It has been very exciting working face to face with so many people this semester. I missed that taking on-line classes. All of the people I interviewed to find out what part they could contribute or how they solved problems. I am excited to begin the internship next semester. While I feel that my project was well researched, it lacks a bit in practical, personal experience. Suppose I missed some aspect or problem that would have been obvious if I had 3 months of first hand experience. On the other hand when I do get to the internship I will understand better why certain procedures are in place not just doing what I am told because it’s what I was told.

Home stretch

I did a little more research on the scanner I have chosen The Neat Desk Scanner. It turns out that the scanner is bundled with document management software that will make the FileMaker Pro I had intended to use redundant. Which is good news. I had been having trouble integrating PDFs into the FileMaker. But with the Neat Desk organizing PDFs and JPEGs is what it was made to do; and all at no extra cost.

           I have been writing and putting all of the sections I have written into one larger document. It’s rather satisfying. On the other hand it shows the wholes more clearly. I need to get the priorities section written. And while not part of my original proposal I would like to include the section on future upgrades and a section on available grants. The grants are proving more difficult than I imagined, the NEH and Getty for example are either not giving this year or are only giving to specific projects. I will look a little more but I can’t spend too much time on that section.

Setting down the swirling info

The librarian approved the changes I made to the web page (yeah!); other than that no big news this week. I got some writing done. It was good to get some of the swirling information out of my head and onto “paper”. I also did some reading on digitization programs from a paper I found in the new ISO database. I think it is going to provide a good structure for me to put all of my info into.

Web work and databases

This week I met with the Digital Engagement Officer (Web-Manager). She was excited about improving the visibility of the library and archive on the web-site. She said it would be very easy to add the three page outline of the finding aid. I e-mailed my additions to the page to the librarian but have not been able to meet with him this week. My changes included one paragraph about the archive, the photography and security procedures that were already present on the museum website.

I have found that the easiest way to get the fields I want in FileMaker Pro is to enter the info into Excel and then upload it. FileMaker Pro is able to discern information that was pre-existing from new information and just upload the changes from the previous upload. That is very helpful. So I have spent some time entering file info into the Excel spreadsheet, and figuring out how to add PDFs.