I finally finished the Correspondence series before Fall Break began on Thursday. While I stayed late to finish ironing out the arrangement, I had to wait until Monday to add the dates to the folders and to record the folder list and series scope and contents note. The series is now divided into Personal and Business and then further divided into folders by department or organization. A few folders are labeled by topic or name such as Insurance and Moses McKissack III. It will be interesting to see how the layout of this finding aid appears by the time I finish the collection. While I have had Correspondence series before, the small amount in this collection (two boxes) suggests that it might be more fruitful to include a Correspondence subseries within the other series rather than a whole series dedicated to correspondence. However, most of the collections here have a Correspondence series so there has been a type of standard established. I always tend to consider my finding aid preliminary until completed, so the layout may be altered at a later date.
Challenges
The biggest challenge when dealing with correspondence is in determining exactly how it should be filed. I was taught to avoid “Miscellaneous” if at all possible, but then how much more clear is “General”? After working with the 1716 boxes of the Estes Kefauver collection during my assistantship in graduate school and seeing multiple “General” and “Miscellaneous” folders, I began using “General” as a label for folders when it pertained directly to the series itself and therefore needed no further clarification. I still try to avoid “Miscellaneous”. Moving forward with that definition of general in mind has helped me greatly when determining what, if anything, should be placed in a folder labeled “General”.
Another challenge is determining when folders of correspondence should be pulled and placed in other series. It has already been suggested and agreed that this will happen, although I can see where confusion could arise since a researcher might expect to find all correspondence within a correspondence series. However, I rest assured knowing that as long as the scope and content notes are readily available to explain the organizational structure then the collection will remain accessible many years into the future.
Interesting Finds
There were many unopened pieces of mail in this collection. I was considering an “Unopened Mail” folder but it was suggested I go ahead and open the mail and divide it into its respective folders. It is a unique experience to open mail that has been sealed for half a century. While all of the mail were copies of mail already opened, including bills or tax return notices, one of those letters held an interesting piece of advertisement. It was a poster from the Social Security Administration reminding people to “Hold onto your social security card …” since it is needed for employment. The poster notes that it takes time to replace the cards and then claims that the nearly two million cards replaced the previous (unknown) year cost the government the equivalent of 550 jeeps. Due to the comment about the jeeps, my guess is that it is early to mid-1940s. While I have seen World War II era posters on issues such as supporting the troops, I have never seen a poster reminding everyone to keep their social security card handy in order to save the government money.
Oral History Evaluations
With Fall Break landing on Thursday and Friday, I finally had the opportunity to get back to evaluating oral histories. I completed David Lattin’s video oral history interview. He was a basketball player on the Texas Western team who was the first team to start all African Americans during the 1966 NCAA Championship game with Kentucky. Lattin went on to play professionally in the NBA, ABA, and with the Harlem Globetrotters before finishing a degree in business administration. It was an interesting interview that taught me more about sports, specifically basketball, than I had previously known.
Until next week…
Amanda J. Carter
Franklin Library, Fisk University
IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013
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