Week 8: Overview and Updates

Overview:

Note: This blog has been posted late!

For students all over campus, this week is filled with thoughts of Midterm Examinations. Not only must I prepare for a Midterm but also a Final. This Final is for a short term course I have been enrolled in for the past 8 weeks, Essentials of Marketing. I also think that there is a need for this course, the Archive Internship, to evaluate my current progress.

Research Project: Mabel B. Peirson



I met with the patron who requested information about Mabel B. Peirson this past Tuesday. I found a plethora of materials for him that he was very happy to have. I found a picture of her in the 1906 Item Annual that is of very good quality (see picture to the left). He was very pleased with this picture. I agreed to make a scan of it which he can obtain after Spring Break. I will give him a copy of the picture as a jpeg when we meet again. He is not a student, but a member of the public. I do not think he has a library membership, but even so, he has a right to information. This is why I agreed to go out of my way and make him a scan of the picture. Otherwise, he does not have access to the computer or the scanner in the Research Zone. Even if he did, he made it clear that he does not have the necessary skills to use the computer and scanner. I do believe that the patron's needs are the most important thing, so this is another reason why I agreed to go out of my way for the picture. I will follow up on the next post about our next meeting.

Courier Project Update

The use of the spreadsheet is making all the idiosyncracies very clear in this project. The first years of material is not as organized. For example, there is no separation of Sports and General like in later years. As I continue to fill the spreadsheet with information, it will become obvious how to finally organize the Courier material in an accessible way.

Campus Archive Project (CAP):

No luck on any more meetings. I will continue to send out emails.

Cabinet Project Update:

Drawer 2 is still in the works!

Next Week (after Spring Break):

1) Continue with the Courier Spreadsheet.

2) Set up meetings for CAP.

3) Continue Cabinet Project.

Week 7: Overview and Update

Overview:

This past week was very productive. One of the most delightful incidences was the fact that I met Paul Kilian, a past PCC music Professor and Dean. He was hard at work in the archives, doing research for a history he is writing of the Pasadena City College Music Department. We had a chance to talk about the importance of archival material and he expressed how vital the Shatford Archives are to his research. I couldn't help but mention the phonautogram, invented by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville and recently discovered by French historian David Giovannoni in a Parisian archive. The machine recorded a voice singing "Au Clair de la Lune" that predated Edison's recording of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" by seventeen years! Dr. Kilian and I both agreed that such a discovery truly illuminates how important it is to save historical documents and objects.

Courier Project Update:

I have begun a spreadsheet for the Courier proof sheets and negatives. This will help me develop an accurate finding list once all of the proof sheets are in binders and negatives in boxes. It will also allow for a quick glance of the extent of what is held by the archives of this material.

Campus Archives Project (CAP):

Mary Ann and I met with Dean Douglass of the Natural Sciences division last Tuesday morning in his office of the U Building. He had brought some items with him to the office to give us an idea of the history contained in the geology lab. One of the most important were digitized photographs on DVD. These images were taken from scrapbooks made by Jack van Amringe (past faculty) in 1938. This is exactly the kind of thing that CAP is attempting to both encourage and hopefully be able to offer to all departments in the future. Dean Douglass also had a copy of the Academic Master Plan (1980-1985), Anniversary Brochures for the Geology Club (DANA Club), and related ephemera to show us.

We then moved to the Geology Library in the H Building where Dean Douglass pointed out several things. The Geology department has US Geology Journals dating back to the time when John W. Powell was the president. These types of things should probably stay in the Geology Library, but could definitely use some mending/preservation attention. Dean Douglass showed us the physical scrapbooks from many years ago (the 20s and 30s) which had drawings by students, photographs, and text of past field trips. The field trip scrapbooks have not been scanned, but parts of other scrapbooks have. These scrap books are acidic and deteriorating. The digitization of these scrapbooks represent a significant part of what CAP can offer to the Natural Science department. There are cans of film, CDs, and DVDs which Dean Douglass said needed to be looked at in order to know what kind of information they contain. The films are in danger of deteriorating and should be examined soon. CAP is the perfect vehicle to help with such an endeavor and to suggest digitization if it necessary.

Dean Douglass ended our meeting by taking us to the Stanton Hill Geology Museum which was absolutely stunning. There were all kinds of rocks, gems, crystals, and the like of which I have no knowledge to name. Meeting with Dean Douglass was a truly wonderful introduction to the Campus Archive Project. Later in the week, I contacted Dean Douglass and we met in the Shatford Library to track down a year book his grandmother is in. We found her senior class picture in the 29-30 copy of Campus and he left with a very good copy.

Research Project: Mabel B. Peirson

I will be meeting with the patron who requested information on Mabel B. Peirson on Tuesday, April 8th at 3pm in the Shatford Library to give him the materials I collected. I look forward to this and I will recount our meeting in the next blog.

Cabinet Project:

I continued with the cabinet project by putting the first drawer's posters in alphabetical order. I also created a list of all the materials that are there for a specific finding list that I will print out and put in the Finding List Folder.

Next Week:

1) Continue spreadsheet for Courier Archive Project.

2) Create a spreadsheet of the CAP to track meetings, etc.

3) Set up meetings with more Deans for CAP.

4) Organize the Cabinet, drawer 2.

5) Organize the proof sheets and negatives of the other material outside of the Courier.

Week 6: Overview and Updates

Overview:

This week went very well. An ironic thing happened Thursday while I was working at the Circulation Desk. I noticed a young lady, perched on the staircase, preparing to take photographs. I had previously been told to interrupt photographers and inform them to request permission from Mary Ann in order to continue. Following this policy, I approached the woman and stated the rules. She was fairly upset with the policy because the photographs were to be used for an article to be published in the Courier!! To me, this was hilariously ironic. There I was, hindering a photographer for the Courier, while I spend time every week building the archive photopraphs for the Courier!

The whole incident got me thinking about how it would be wonderful if the Courier did an article on the Shatford Archives. I bet there would be some interest there! The last two issues of the Courier have had articles about the library - the latest was about the noise in the Library. Should we contact the journalism department and see if they would like to do an article on the Archives?


Courier Project Update:

I am happy to report that the Courier Proof Sheets are all in chronological order and ready to begin the transfer into folders (once they arrive). It took some time going through all of the boxes of envelopes with proof sheets. I have a feeling that some folders will be able to fit only one semester, and others up to three. The amount of proof sheets per semester is not consistent.

The Negatives are in order also and ready to be put in boxes. I am thinking that the grey archive boxes will be the best.

If the folders do not come tomorrow then I will begin to sort out all of the other publications like Airplay, Focus, etc. There is a fair amount of material there.

Campus Archives Project (CAP):

Dean Douglass from the Natural Sciences department has invited us over his archives Tuesday, April 1st. I am very excited! Dean Robert Miller (Academic Support) emailed me to let me know that he has no archival material to speak of.

I read in the most recent Courier that Dean Ellen Ligons (Career & Technical Education)was in a car accident, so I don't expect we can visit her for a fair amount of time. I did not hear back from Dean Don Paxton (Business and Computer Technology) or Dean Alex Kritselis (Visual Arts and Media Studies).

I will continue to email Deans throughout the week to set up a meeting for April 22nd.

Policy/Procedure and Finding List Folders:

I had the chance to organize these folders a little more. I hope to start updating some of the text of the Policy/Procedure Folder just to make it up to date. Next week I intend to make copies of the finding lists that Mane has created (hanging on the shelves) to put in the Finding List Folder.

Glass Case for Celebration:

Mane is really coming up with some great ideas for the Glass case display. We talked about how to convey the current age's use of computers and the Internet in the display. She found a beautiful picture on the cover of a Psychology textbook that I think will work wonderfully! I like the idea of having a tiny computer with something on the screen like ProQuest's home search page.

Mane and I talked about the idea of collages also. I would love to help with this project as the time gets closer! I love making collages.

Research Project: Mabel B. Peirson

The highlight of the week was being taught by Mane how to search for information in the Archives. A patron asked Mary Ann if the archives has any information about Mabel B. Peirson, a past chairperson of the Biological Science division. So, Mane took the request of the patron and showed me how to search for pictures and other information regarding past faculty. I had a wonderful time finding pictures in past year books, catalogs, and I even poked around the past Chairman Reports to the President. The whole project was a great success and I can't wait to get the materials I made copies of to the patron.

Next Week:

Goals for next week:

1) Meet with Dean Douglass.

2) Organize more of the Courier materials and possibly the other publications.

3) Set up meetings with the Deans I have emailed and and send more meeting requests.

4) Work on the Cabinet.

5) Continue updating Policy/Procedure and Finding List folders.Work on the Cabinet project.

6) Send the materials about Mabel Peirson to the inquiring patron.