As the final week of Fisk’s 2012 Fall semester came to a
close amidst abundant holiday cheer and festivities, I continued working on the
Office Records series of the William McKissack Papers. A very helpful volunteer, Mrs. Evelyn, has
already moved the materials to fresh folders and boxes, but I continue removing
staples, metal paperclips and pins, and providing further organization of
clarifying categories. The majority of
the materials are fairly straight-forward so categories resembling the College
Hill subseries evolved rather smoothly.
I appreciate my supervisor Ms. Mattie McHollin’s advice early on in the
project to start with the most comprehensive group of materials focusing on College
Hill Apartments and Housing in Nashville.
Because that portion of materials was so large, enough subcategories were
created that it is unlikely many more categories will need to be added to any
other series or subseries for this collection, especially since the majority of
these files are other projects that will mirror College Hill, albeit on a
smaller scale. So not only have I been
able to complete the most extensive section, but it also helped to establish a
framework for the organizational scheme.
Brilliant!
Challenges
While the organizational scheme established with the College
Hill records will be the framework for most of this collection, I am currently
working on the Office Records series that is organized somewhat
differently. The records within this
section pertain to all office functions not related to a specific project or
that are related to multiple projects in one document. However, this company seemed to branch out
beyond its core architectural and engineering firm and it can sometimes be
difficult to determine how those branches were organized. For instance, of late I have been arranging two
separate groups of index cards that contain names, addresses, social security
numbers, and sometimes other notations.
One of the boxes containing the contact information indicates that it is
“current.” That hint combined with the
notations that appear to indicated number of rooms (“3 room” or “4 rm”) seem to
indicate that these are some sort of waiting list for housing. One could assume this is for College Hill,
but there are no indications anywhere on the index cards that this would be the
case. However, I have also found records
indicating that the McKissacks had other rental properties, so it is quite
difficult to determine how to best organize these index cards. Fortunately, since they have private
information such as social security numbers, the records will be closed in a
separate file so that could make the arrangement somewhat simpler. At this point, I am currently only arranging
the cards and will determine a better description for them once I finish going
through them all. I always feel I
understand a collection better the further I get into the processing of it, so
I think that I will find other indicators that hint at how these index cards
were used.
The staples can also be extremely challenging when multiple
staples are found in the same location.
It can be quite difficult to remove them all without damaging the
documents they connect. Interestingly, I
have noticed that while some staples are almost destroyed by rust, others seem
in much better condition. I mentioned
this during lunch one day and Librarian Cheryl Hamberg suggested it might make
an interesting study. I must agree since
I imagine that these staples are made out of different materials so it might be
interesting to survey the types of materials that are used to make staples and
how they are affected by elements over time.
Would it be possible that all staples are not as bad for documents, as
previously thought? Obviously, plastic
is better because it does not break down but if archivists knew there were
certain types of metals that are very slow to disintegrate in a wide variety of
environments, then it could greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for
detailed processing.
Speaking of environment, I am having an interesting
experience watching what happens to 50+ year-old materials as the temperature
changes. Once winter started, the heater
came on in our building. Unfortunately,
it has not been that cold outside so the temperature in the room where I work
has been in the low 80s according to a handy portable thermostat on my desk. While I have had to adjust my clothing to accommodate
this rise in temperature, I am fortunate that I have that option. The materials do not. Papers that seemed in fine condition when I
first surveyed this collection in September are now becoming more dry and
brittle. While the storage conditions in
an air conditioned and heated building are certainly much preferred to a dusty,
dirty storage unit, I am witnessing first-hand how much humidity matters in the
life of documents.
Oral History Interview Evaluations
Fisk closes for an extra week at the end of December, so I
have used that time to catch up on a few oral history interview evaluations for
The HistoryMakers
Digital Archive. Elma Lewis discussed
her life in the creative arts in Boston.
She tells how she established the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts
and was one of the founders of the National Center for Afro-American
Artists. Even when she looks like
she is thoroughly exhausted mid-way through this two hour interview, she still
discusses her life with thought-provoking depth.
Reverend Doctor Elaine
Flake was another interview that I completed this week. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, with roots in north
Mississippi, and a graduate of Fisk
University, this fascinating woman describes her life growing up in the
South during the end of de jure segregation.
She also recalls the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Her perspective
is invaluable to understanding the daily life of a young African American women
coming of age in the South during the mid-twentieth century. Furthermore, her adult life is fascinating as
she eventually studied and became an African Methodist Episcopal minister. She discusses the limited number of women in
the ministry and admitted to being one of the trailblazers of the more recent
trend of “co-pastoring” where both the husband and wife are ministers. I think this may be one of the most
historically relevant interviews that I have evaluated to date because it
covers topics from desegregation in the South to women clergy. Fascinating!
Happy Holidays! May
whatever holiday(s) you celebrate be filled with joyful thankfulness and happy
family memories!
Until next time…
Amanda J.
Carter
Franklin
Library, Fisk University
IMLS
HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013
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