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The Novice Archivist

Thank you!

But are they helpful?
So far, I have been exposed to about 5 databases or systems, granted 2 security codes and need 3 logins for the computers. The idea of Web 2.0 is starting to sound fantastic. Today alone, I needed to use 3 different systems to do what I needed to do.

NARA uses ARC (Archival Research Catalog) as the end-user search interface. Processed collections are entered here to be searched remotely or in-house. Each series of the collection (from my understanding thus far) receives an individual ARC number.

Next one.

For assessing records that need the most care, the PMRS--Performance Measurement Reporting System--database "helps" to determine which records are in the worst shape and need proper care. Whether that care is rehousing, conservation or cold storage, the system will rank them as to need. I have a few issues with this database, to be expounded on in a bit.

Last one.

The Location Register is an Access database, created in-house. Although it isn't "pretty" like PMRS, it is fantastically functional. It contains the basic information we need to find collections. Record group, accession number, Job number, location (Row, Section, Shelf), state it was from, agency it was from, series names, etc, etc.

My job today was this process of At-Risk Assessment:
1. Get printout of record group from Location Register and ARC number.
2. Go to location of records.
3. Find the following:
-->A) Series mentioned.
-->B) How many boxes?
-->C) Cubic footage of series (which may or may not be shared with other series amongst multiple boxes)
-->D) Determine condition of the housing (appropriate folders, acid-free boxes)
-->E) Determine the condition of the records (do some still need sleeving? other special care needed? are they in good condition as is?)
4. Back to the computer, enter the data into PMRS. Get PMRS number.
5. Go back to Location Register, enter cubic footage and box counts (same data which also had to be entered into PMRS)
6. Wash, rinse and repeat. Wash, rinse and repeat.

This was my first day doing this mostly on my own and there were a lot of light bulb moments. Those moments where I go, "OH! I get it!" I also hope to understand the mindset of the creators of the PMRS.

Currently, I am a student worker at NARA in the Boston regional archives in Waltham, MA. One of my first (and on-going) tasks is to index the USCG Vessel Documentation. The files I've worked with are from different ports in the Massachusetts area. So far I have completed Boston, Salem and Plymouth, MA. They are dated from 1945-1980. These files contain vessels that claimed the respective port as their home port, but either changed ports or the ships were put out of service. These documents are of ships that no longer claim that city as their home port.

The files are arranged alphabetically by vessel name. Most common and helpful documents in the files include:
Admeasurements: In order for vessels to be documented with the USCG, they need to weigh at least 5 tons. This document certifies the dry weight of the vessel.
Application for Offical Number of an Undocumented Vessel: The form to fill out to receive an official number, documenting the vessel with the USCG.
Bill of Sale Either from person-to-person or from a builder to person. Often to/from mortgage or debt collector companies.
Vessel Documentation: A short history of the vessel ownership, its official number, type of vessel and other important information.

The database I enter information into only requires 3 unique part of information from each file. The name of the vessel, the official number, and the type of vessel, as well as any notes. The other fields that are derived on a series level, include port of operation, state of port location and the years the series covers. The administrative information in the database includes the accession number and the job number.

While searching for some of the vessel-specific information, I came across a document that seemed to reflect a little bit of the life of some of the records:

US Coast Guard Vessel Documentation files.
Salem, MA
Record Group 26

"March 20, 1963
Dear Sir:

Herewith please find our complete file on the gas screw ERSKINE B., dug out of the musty old file here.

You will note that there are other papers mixed in with the file pertaining to the gas screw PHYLLIS LYOD, which was brought in along with the ERSKINE B. Please ignore these as they of course have no bearing on the ERSKINE B. Glad to loan you this file for what ever assistance it may provide to you.

You will note also that the boat was admeasured by the Boston admeasurers and to go under the five net tons

When it has served its purpose please return the file to us, so that we may return it to its musty abode here.

Very truly yours,
R. B. Low
Deputy Collector in Charge, MARINE WORK"

On the weekend of June 20-21, 2008, Chuck and I went to Long Island to retrieve his grandfather's papers. John D. Ekhart had died approximately 14 years ago. As I understand it, the house in Long Island was left to Chuck's step-grandmother, Peggy, until she died or no longer wished to live there. Chuck's uncle, from the grandfather's first marriage, was the executor of these wishes. Recently, it had been discovered that Peggy was mentally ill and deemed not fit to take care of herself and was moved to an assisted living center. The brothers and sisters, as well as the grandchildren went to the house, at separate times, to see if there was anything that they wanted to keep.

Chuck and I were most likely the last people to visit the house. Some of the materials we were hoping to gather included his grandfather's research on relatives who were in the Civil War, documents from when he helped to form the Conservative Party in New York, and anything of interest from his business as a clammer.

The responsibility of executor of the estate had been transferred to Chuck's mom, the uncle had said that he didn't want to deal with the "hassle" of all of it. She had visited the property the week before we did and warned about the smell that was there. His mom did not yet have a key to the property, but a neighbor a few miles down the road had one, after Peggy had been unable to take care of things herself. When Chuck contacted the neighbor, we were told to watch out for traps. A dead raccoon had been found in the house, so they hired a trapper. We brought a BB pistol with us.

We reached the property about 2pm on Saturday. Before we left the car, Chuck had said, "I really don't want to see my grandfather's place trashed." And also said something about the driveway, which I didn't catch. He had spent weeks during the summers of his childhood before his grandparents divorced clamming and boating and spending time there. He hadn't been to the property since the funeral.

We entered through the back door which led into the dining area and kitchen. The place was a disaster. There was newspaper all over the floor, the table was piled with stuff and there were flies in the windows, which started buzzing as we walked in. The small kitchen was filthy. The stove had been pulled away from the wall and there were matchbooks that had fallen behind it. Dishes piled in the sink, multiple bags of garbage that no one had bothered to put outside and black stuff baked and crusted on the range top with pans still sitting on top, with the same black crusted stuff inside.

The china cabinet was untouched.

We moved on into the hallway. Chuck was ahead of me, since he knew how the house was laid out. I heard him say, "Oh my geezus." and he closed a door. I later learned that it was the bathroom. The hallway was covered with random papers. The office looked like drawers had been dumped on the floor. To the right was the stairs up and the living room. As Chuck looked as the living room, he was on his knees, crying.

He couldn't believe what had happened, what had been allowed to happen. I stood behind him, hand on his shoulder, feeling slightly lost and at a loss for action. We heard skritching and cheeping from somewhere. He took out his BB gun and loaded it. We went upstairs and the sound was louder. I took the right two rooms while he took the left ones. The noise stopped as we went along the hallway.

I have finally gotten over the hump of the worst of my end-of-semester assignments to do. I can venture from the cave for a short while.

The mostly-polished but still a little rough draft of our finding aid was due on Tuesday. I feel OK, but not great about it. I will have many people look over my final draft. After all, as Ciaran says to us, "This will be a public document." I do not wish to ever turn in unpolished products, this is probably my most beloved assignment yet. Second is our research for Information Use and Users on the information gathering and use of World of WarCraft Players.

Working at the Historical Society has not been as exciting lately. Learning how to make labels and use the software. The free software which has bad help menus and then I write over the database of 113 labels I just created with the information for the 40 labels. Of course it couldn't have been the other way around, but we make mistakes to learn, right?

I've also started a new audio book,



I've never been one to read much historical fiction, but Larson is doing a fantastic job of making me want to do more research, visit Chicago, take photos and get involved with the spaces around me. It has prompted me to see how many World's Fairs have been in Chicago. There have been at least three. The one the book is based off of, 1893, one in 1918 and again in 1933. I was most interested in finding out about 1933 because the one where the Keck & Keck brothers presented their Crystal House and House of Tomorrow.

Journal entries have been optional from the last time until now :)

1. What are your thoughts about the similarities and differences between archival processing at the WHS and other American archival repositories?
Comparing the WHS practices to those of Moravian College, I notice that there are many similarities, I especially noted the photographic section and other visual materials are pretty much in sync. However, I found it interesting that Moravian uses ISAD(G) instead of DACS to describe their holdings.

2. Why do you think it is important to understand the historical, present and future developments in archival arrangement and description in a larger American context?
Even though the staff at the WHS is awesome, we, as students aren't going to be able to stay with them and work there forever. Knowing information such as "not all institutions in the US use DACS for a descriptive standard" will aid us in being more prepared to go job searching. Applying for a position at Moravian with no prior research into their techniques would result in (loss of pride and) diminished chances at an offering for the job.

3. What are your thoughts about the similarities and differences between archival processing in the US and abroad?
I found it interesting that the Bureau of Canadian Archives was so receptive to feedback. "As each chapter was completed, it was circulated to the archival community for comment...the development of RAD took 7 years to complete." And in the US it was seems like the creation of descriptive standards was more of an individual's project and it moved a lot faster. "Written by Steven Hensen, APPM was published in 1983 and quickly became the recognized standard...[it] was updated and revised in 1989 and, in the same year, the Society of American Archivists endorsed it..."
The US standard was produced and updated quicker, but does that make it better? I would think that collaborative work by many minds would result in a more thorough and refined set of standards.

4. Why do you think it is important to understand the historical, present and future developments in archival arrangement and description in an international context?
Knowing that other standards exist is a first step to improving one's own. It can be a source of inspiration or a platform for collaboration. Even though CUSTARD didn't produce a unified USA/Canadian archives manual, archivists have more ideas for improvement. It may be fruitful to look at MAD's multilevel description standards for visual materials or learn the nuances of Canada's use of the nuances of "author, creator, collector" titles for origin of the collection. I think that this could result in more accurately described holdings.

Next Entry: My experience and observations during the WHS Finding Aid User Study.

This article Writing Tribal Histories helps me to understand the importance of my collection, knowing that it will be used and knowing that I need to create an informative and accurate register.

Today I got to start working on a collection I haven't seen before, the Lindner photographs. The extent of the collection is only one folder, but there are some fantastic photographs.




Adams County Courthouse, circa 1907



This one got my attention as soon as I saw it. I asked some of my co-workers if it was the Wisconsin Historical Society. The consensus was, No, it wasn't. This building wasn't long enough and after some further inspection, I saw that there were no lions.


Entrance to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI


I do wish that I had taken better photographs of the building when I was on a picture taking spree last fall. I will get another chance once I get a new camera (my current one, for most purposes, is defunct). But I digress. This is the entrance to the Historical Society that have remained unchanged since it was opened to the public in 1900. I have heard through a colleague that the architects who designed the WHS were from the Milwaukee area, where Lindner is also from, and build many buildings, even as far away as California (and in the early 1900s, that was an impressive feat). They have similar styles and designs, which is why, at first glance, I thought the Adams Co. Courthouse was the WHS. But it is not.

More of Lindner's photographs can be seen at the Wisconsin Historical Images portal here.

A lot of what I'm hearing in my library classes, and especially in archives, is the issues with migrating old technology to newer forms, as well as figuring out how each form works. I have experienced a bit of this firsthand with the journal here. A while back, I asked the WHS's EAD specialist, Jacqui, for a URL code that would link to the finding aids of the collections I was working with to use on this site. She did give me a code, but I was hoping that it would link directly to the finding aid, rather than to a search.

The links on the top row under the "Notes from a Grad Student" link to the search results from the string she sent me, and then you just have to click on it again. Any finding aids linked in the text of entries will yield a "Cannot find" or "Search Timed Out" from the WHS website. Once I get the corrected search string, I will fix all the entries at the same time and post a notice.

About a month ago, while working on the Gaylord Nelson collection, I came across this photo and was quite excited.



I was a member of the Kilties Drum and Bugle Corps. for the 2007 season and my question was: Is this a Kiltie? The following is the email and response from John "JC" Caspers, the official unofficial historian of the Kilties.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rachel Pieper" <xxxxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com>
To: <xxxxxxxxx@wi.rr.com>
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 12:54 AM
Subject: Testing your Kilties History Knowledge.

Hardcore version.
I guess the best way to ask the question is to show you the picture and ask:
Is this a Kiltie?
The scenario is this:
It is 1968 and Gaylord Nelson is doing a Whistle Stop campaign tour through
the state of WI with young La Follette. Another photo on the same roll of
film has the name of the station they may be at; Fairchild.
SO...my question remains-is this a Kiltie or some other Scottish/Irish group?
This is the only picture like this in the collection. If you find it is:
who is it and where are they?

Note: I am a grad student at UW Madison in Library Science and specializing
in Archives. My current job is to help with the Gaylord Nelson Papers
1916-2005 and as the assistant to the Visual Materials Archivist, my job is
to match prints with negatives, which is how I found this photo. Until
further notice, this cannot be processed or distributed in any way. Please
do not share it with the corps or put it on any website. When I know more
about who the copyright really belongs to and proper avenues of sharing,
I'll let you know.

The man other than the dressed up guy is Gaylord Nelson.

I look forward to hearing back from you!
Rachel Pieper
(Colorguard 07)


Re: Testing your Kilties History Knowledge.‏
From: John Caspers (xxxxxxxxx@wi.rr.com)
Sent: Fri 3/07/08 3:33 PM
To: Rachel Pieper (xxxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com)

Hi Rachel,
Sorry for the delay in my return email. I just returned from a vacation in
Montana skiing.

The person in the picture is not a Kiltie. I can say this for certain
because even though the picture is in black and white,
the tartan worn by the person in the picture is neither McLeod nor Steward
which were the 2 tartans worn from 1960-1975.
Also, the only person in the corps that would have had a wrap around plaid
and a feather bonnet would have been the
drum major, and in 1968, the drum major was Scotty Paulson. That is not
Scotty in the picture.

Hope this helps, and hope all is well!

WWBD,
JC