"What Do You Do?" "Among Other Things, I Read a Lot of Old Mail."

Recently, I've had the opportunity to talk to individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, education/training, and life experiences about what I do for a living. Many of them did not know what an archivist is or what one does. I started with what I do as a local history librarian, and gradually worked my way into the archives work I do.

"That Sounds Like a Fun Job!"

"It is," I say. It's the most fun I've ever had at work (although my first job out of college at the recording studio was pretty cool, too). What makes it fun? A great number of things, actually. For me, one of the draws is that it's never the same day twice. Someone might walk into my office to donate a county wall map from 1977 and leave having made an appointment to sit with me the following week to record a video oral history interview. That same person may later, in an interview, reveal that he had worked on the Nike Ajax missile program during the Korean War. He might return for another recording session carrying photos and all of the license and permit cards from his wallet in the Army, which he allows me to scan and return to him on his next visit.

Another day, I might research how best to describe in a finding aid all of the electronic visual materials in a collection. I then reach out to professional friends I've met at the Society of American Archivists and Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conferences and ask what they would do. I send a link to the finding aid for their feedback because it's good to have a second/third set of eyes look at a finding aid, especially since I am what is called a Lone Arranger -- the department head of my department of one. Later, after all suggested edits are implemented, I will publicize the finding aid so that researchers can find the collection (here is one: http://chesterlib.org/local-history-room/finding-aids/rademacher-family-collection-finding-aid/).

If you walk into my office in the coming week, you might see me putting together an exhibit. The image below shows an example of a holiday-themed exhibit I had developed. I made facsimiles of postcards that had been lent for the purpose of digitization, as well as ads and articles from a local paper and newsletter. The little turkey is a salt shaker that I bought at the dollar store, along with the fabric leaves.

On rare days, it's not as much fun. For instance, when links began disappearing from the .gov site, I had to update some of my Local History Resources to links from the Internet Archive. Sometimes, I have to take a stand (https://concernedarchivists.wordpress.com/). Other days, to keep positive energy flowing, I update my Facebook page with news stories of great work by archivists, conservators, and librarians. On the tough days, the updates include puppy videos.

"What's the Most Interesting Thing You've Found?"

That is a tough question. However, my favorite archival materials are maps, especially this one (http://hereandthere123.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-am-map-magnet.html). I'll be talking about that map at the upcoming annual New Jersey Library Association meeting (http://njlaconference.info/). The information about the map can be found here: http://chesterlib.org/local-history-room/about-our-1860-new-jersey-topographical-wall-map/.

I've found things that document the unattractive aspects of a town's history. The importance of telling the whole story, not just the parts we like, cannot be overstated. Consequently, when I uncover evidence of minstrel shows and KKK activities in a town's past, it is my responsibility to make that material just as accessible as the turtle races put on by the Optimist Club.

The most interesting things aren't artifacts or archives, but the stories given to me by the oral history interviewees. They are gifts that give to me as well as the giver. I might be the only person the interviewee talks to in a day. The patrons win by experiencing local history in a completely different way than they would otherwise. Researchers can use the impressions of the people who lived in the times they describe. I gain by meeting and getting to know some pretty fascinating people whom I probably wouldn't have met had they not happened to walk into my office while I was processing a collection of library records.

Maybe, someday, I'll write a book about it.

Thoughts on the Practice of Description

As an archivist and local history librarian, one of the primary elements of my work is the description of collections and individual items. Sometimes, this description ends up in a finding aid such as this one on the Combe Fill South Landfill Records (http://chesterlib.com/local-history-room/finding-aids/combe-fill-south-landfill-records-finding-aid/). The purpose of that work is to make it easier for researchers to find and use the collection. It also provides a much deeper level of documentation of the collection that previously hadn't existed.

Beyond the finding aids, I also create a fair number of exhibits each year, both online and in cases within the Chester Library. Each of the items featured in the exhibits requires some description, but the more exhibits I create, the more time I spend describing the items. For my latest online exhibit, I kept a friend of mine in mind as a potential visitor. He uses a screen reader to experience web sites, as well as digital documents (think Word files), because he's blind.

Last week, I talked with another librarian about these types of motivations and decision-making efforts when it comes to description. I was reminded of attending the ARLIS annual meeting in Boston a few years ago. In one of the sessions, the speakers touched on the nature of description as applied to artworks. Her talk was in the context of describing paintings and other works to patrons with varied abilities, such as my friend Ken. 

Thinking about how to make a meaningful experience for anyone who might use a screen reader drove my process. Here is an example from the Memories of Chester, Herman Rademacher Series exhibit, "West Main Street and Morris Chamberlain" (http://chesterlib.com/local-history-room/online-exhibits/memories-of-chester-west-main-street-and-morris-chamberlain/):

The postcard, copyrighted in 1915 by local printer George E. Conover, shows leafy trees lining the right side of the dirt road. On the left side of the image are businesses, a gas station, and a garage. There is an early Model T parked in front of the striped gas pump tower. A man stands in the doorway of the second building on the right (the Masonic Lodge). The Lodge is a two-and-a-half story building with a painted shield hung between two windows on the second floor. The garage is a single-story building with a flat façade.

It's been a few months since I released the exhibit, and without the pressure of a deadline, I can see areas where I could have been more descriptive. For example, I would describe the façade as a brick one in the block, Art Deco style. Here's a link to the high-quality, larger image of the postcard: https://librarychesternj.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/westmainstreet_front.jpg.

This week, I've been teaching a volunteer and Friend of the Library how to describe another set of postcards given anonymously to the library. These came fully captioned and annotated on their versos, but they still required more description. For the first postcard, I told her what I was seeing, and I brought out a large magnifying glass so that we could read a hanging sign in the card. (It reads "heste House," due to weather damage, but it should read "Chester House," because that's what the subject of the image is).

We talked about the fact that the trees had no leaves, which indicated winter (confirmed by the snow on the dirt road), and the possible time of the day based on the shadows. She understood right away why we were embarking on this project, and did a great first pass. This particular volunteer completed all the transcription work on the Herman Rademacher oral history videos, and enjoys her work in Local History. Because she was so familiar with that project, she was able to transfer what she learned onto her current project.

In my very compact schedules at Chester Library and the Plainfield Historical Society, it's a challenge to spend as much time thinking about projects as I'd like to do. Fortunately, I have a handful of smart and capable volunteers (who sometimes end up with the fun projects I'd like to do myself) doing great work and, through training, taking a some of that thinking off my plate.

Just as an aside, recently I've become President of the New Jersey Library Association's History & Preservation Section. That also puts demands on my time, but I'm happy to do what I can to help move our profession forward. For example, with great help from Jacqueline Haun, the Archivist at the Bunn Library, our next meeting on July 27 will be held with the Princeton Preservation Group at The Lawrenceville School. Importantly, in addition to our meeting, we booked a hands-on photo preservation workshop with Peter Mustardo of The Better Image. I also arranged a catered lunch for those interested in staying for it. It will be a day of filling our minds and bodies with very good things.

Spring MARAC/NEA 2015 in Boston

Prior to the joint Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference/New England Archivists events this past week, my excitement and anticipation had been building steadily. I’d signed up for a workshop on the Thursday, as I usually do because MARAC workshops tend to be worth more than the price of admission, and this one promised to be fun and educational. I had printed out the online program and circled the sessions I intended to attend (we had been warned early on to get to sessions early because 500 people had registered and there might be some difficulty finding a seat; by the end, we numbered 700, mostly local NEAers). I also wanted to try to meet some of the NEA folks because, well, I’m friendly that way – like most of the MARAC people I know. Lastly, I was looking forward to visiting with colleagues and friends I only see at MARAC meetings.

The Workshop: Copyright Fundamentals for Archivists and Librarians Led by Peter Hirtle

Peter, whom you’ll remember from this blog post: http://hereandthere123.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-peter-hirtle-senior.html or perhaps this one: http://hereandthere123.blogspot.com/2012/01/peter-hirtle-weighs-in-on-sopa.html, has physically moved from Cornell University Library to the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, where he is a Research Fellow. He continues to use his Cornell email and serves as Senior Policy Advisor to the Cornell University Library on intellectual property rights issues.

I had heard great feedback about his workshop from other MARAC members, so this time I took it. Even though the title focuses on fundamentals, the course also dealt with risk assessment; “copyfraud” (the notion that institutions are asserting rights that they simply do not have; e.g., a work is in the public domain and a museum states on its web site that a copy photo has “All Rights Reserved.”); reproduction of copyrighted works; and key for cultural heritage institutions, fair use. During the day-long course, I participated in group exercises with my table neighbor, the very bright and fun Caitlin Goodman (link to her twitter: https://twitter.com/caitlinest) from the Free Public Library of Philadelphia. Peter’s instruction was useful and fun, and the day flew by.

Friday Plenary and Concurrent Sessions

The Friday Plenary session featured Danna Bell, Past-President of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and Educational Resource Specialist at the Library of Congress. She spoke about professional development for archivists, and where improvement was needed in educational offerings. I wished that she had recognized the people who deliver consistently good workshops at MARAC, but maybe she was preoccupied about her talk.

The first session I attended was S2. Lessons Learned: Legal Aspects and Ethical Principles of Oral History, with speakers Christine Anne George of the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and Cara Howe of SUNY Upstate Medical University (formerly of the Pan Am Flight 103 Archives at Syracuse). Christine spoke about her recent research on the Belfast Project at Boston College (she is not affiliated with BC), and mainly focused on the legal quagmire. The New Yorker magazine recently published an article that gives the history and the ethical issues connected with the oral history project (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/where-the-bodies-are-buried). 

Cara, whom I’d seen speak before, talked about the extensive oral history project for the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie air disaster. I’m especially interested in her work, not just because it’s inherently interesting, but because she and her team invested a great deal of time documenting what they did and adhering to best practices.

The afternoon session was S11. Nurturing Nature, and it was where I presented for the first time at a professional conference. I had answered the call for speakers specifically because it was a “lightning” session, and we each would have about 6 minutes to present on our topics. Because Chester Library is the designated local repository for the EPA’s records on the Combe Fill South Landfill, I wrote that I could speak on the records for a local superfund site. Greta Suiter from MIT, the session moderator, was pleased, so I joined the 9 other speakers on the slate. 

Each of the speakers had great presentations, but I’ll just spotlight a handful here. One of my favorites was Sean Fisher’s (Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation). He has an enormous job locating Mass. Parks materials stored in attics, crawlspaces, and essentially anywhere people could put stuff all over the state of Massachusetts. Miles Crowley also from MIT, spoke about pollution in the Charles River. Both Katie Hall and Sarah Denison represented the Delaware Public Archives. Katie focused on mosquito controls (and was hilarious). Sarah took a novel approach to her presentation on the storm of 1962 by running color films of the storm damage on a loop while she talked about the records (it was very effective). Liz Banks from the National Park Service, Northeast Region hit on a number of areas, but mainly focused on Yellowstone, especially Thomas Moran’s diary and paintings and the wolf research (some of which John and I had the pleasure of seeing when we took the Yellowstone archive tour). Rachel Donahue from the National Agricultural Library’s presentation was lots of fun, and spotlighted plant specimens. 

NJ/NY Caucus Meeting

This meeting was the first time I’d experienced a combined New Jersey and New York Caucuses meeting. It was led by Laura Poll of the Monmouth County Historical Association (more from her later) and Michael Martin of the New York State Archives. The meeting was an opportunity to hear what kinds of things are going on in each of the caucuses, although it was a bit of a shy group. It also could have been that it was at the end of the first day of the conference. Usually at MARAC meetings, the caucuses meet in the morning. I almost forgot to introduce myself as the incoming President of the New Jersey Library Association’s History & Preservation Section, but I squeezed it in and mentioned that I’ll be working with Laura on getting together some more H&P/NJ Caucus/Princeton Preservation Group meetings, since there’s so much of an overlap.

Saturday’s Events

On Saturday, I started the morning by attending the MARAC business meeting and enjoying the tasty breakfast buffet. The NEA folks also had a buffet and their business meeting in a different location at the venue. At our meeting, I learned that MARAC now has a Café Press site (http://www.cafepress.com/marac). Outgoing Chair John LeGloahec from the National Archives and Records Administration also mentioned that changes to the Bylaws were in the making and he recommended that we attend a lunch session on the topic. There will be more discussion at the next MARAC in West Virginia, but I won’t be attending that one because I plan to attend the SAA annual meeting in August in Cleveland (and there’s only so much budget to go around).

The second plenary of the meeting followed the business meetings. It featured Sands Fish of MIT, who talked about networks in data and his project, Media Cloud. 

The first session of the day I attended was S15. Provenance vs. Artificial Collections: To Restore or Not to Restore? It was the most controversial session I experienced at the meeting. The speakers were Molly Stothert-Mauer of the Perkins School for the Blind, Laura Poll (see the Caucus meeting earlier), Linda Hocking of the Litchfield Historical Society, and Lindsay Turley of the Museum of the City of New York. The speakers talked about the individual experiences with dispersed, intermingled, and artificial collections, and more importantly, the justifications for the choices they made. I think all of the choices were valid, although I think in some cases I might make more use of subject/genre/etc. terms in finding aids to keep created collections together.  But keeping the researcher the top priority regardless of the arrangement choice is the bottom line. 

Another aspect worth considering is the idea of connecting previous indexes and cataloging efforts to the new arrangement. Laura pointed out that an archivist could create more of an issue if he/she didn’t invest the time to make clear the ties between the old and new. It also seems even more important to document all of those decisions and methods so that those who come afterward aren’t lost in the tangle of archival threads.

The last session of the day for me was S21. Physical vs. Digital and the User Experience. The moderator was Susie Bock of the University of Southern Maine and the speakers were Jane Metters LaBarbara of West Virginia University, Samuel Smallidge of Converse, and Anastasia S. Weigle of the University of Maine. Each speaker had a different perspective on the topic to be sure, but Samuel’s argument for practical uses of digital media for internal use at Converse in order to produce a new product (based on one from the 1970s) was pretty persuasive. I didn’t expect to learn about Chuck Taylor sneakers when I came to Boston for MARAC, but now I have a better understanding of some of the structural changes in them over time. By using digitized images of sneakers, he was able to help designers and marketers put together a custom sneaker for consumers in time for a big anniversary at the company.

The Conference Venue and Where I Stayed

There was a bit of construction in the Boston Park Plaza during the meeting. Because Boston had spent much of the winter under more snow than was reasonable, the work that was targeted to have been completed long before our arrival was still underway. In fact, the construction workers were laying carpet in some of the conference areas on the first day. It was inconvenient to be sure, but nothing we archivists/librarians couldn’t handle. 

I didn’t stay at the conference hotel, although I’d originally booked there. When it came closer to the event, my buddy John Beekman, Assistant Manager of the New Jersey Room at Jersey City Free Public Library, mentioned on the MARAC Facebook page that he’d checked TripAdvisor.com to see if the construction had been finished. After I saw his post, I read the comments from recent visitors, and changed hotels to Hotel 140 (http://www.hotel140.com/). They were very accommodating and helpful. The hotel is located a few blocks away from the Boston Park Plaza, which wasn’t a big deal except that on the first two days, it was cold and very windy. However, the room was clean, the bed was comfortable, and no fragrances were used on the linens (key for those of us who are sensitive to heavy, synthetic fragrances often used in detergents). 

Dining at Davio’s

Last, but never least (this was originally a food blog, you know), something about the restaurant I frequented. My pal Jane Ingold, a Reference Librarian at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, and I made plans to have lunch together during the Thursday break during both of our workshops. We dined at a lovely Italian restaurant that caters to GF people like me, called Davio’s (http://davios.com/bos/menus/gluten-free-lunch) located across the street from the Boston Park Plaza.  The food was very tasty and the service was attentive, albeit a bit slow. However, when I returned for lunch again the following day with another friend, Jacqueline Haun, Archives Librarian at The Lawrenceville School, I mentioned I was pressed for time (because I had a short presentation to make at 1:30 p.m.). The waitstaff made sure to get us out the door by the time specified, and we were grateful. In case you were wondering, I enjoyed the chopped salad (sans bacon) and the GF tomato pizza (on both days, they were that good, and I had leftovers for my little hotel fridge).  

Wrapping Up

As always, I enjoyed the MARAC meeting, made some new friends, and learned a lot more than I expected. The best advice I can give to new archivists and librarians is to join your local/regional professional society and get involved. Next is the NJLA meeting in April, complete with a full day of History & Preservation Section sessions for attendees to enjoy. Can’t wait!

Work Updates: The Big Exhibit and a Third Gig

From Plainfield Public Library Detwiller Architectural Drawings Exhibit 2014

The Big Exhibit
Shown above is the terrific Charles H. Detwiller, Jr. Architectural Drawings Collection exhibit at Plainfield Public Library created by Sarah Hull, Senior Archivist and Head of Local History, Special Collections and Genealogy; Jeff Wassen, Visual Materials and Exhibition Coordinator; Jane Thoner, Genealogy Librarian; and Sandy Gurshman, Special Collections and Reference Librarian. My contribution to this impressive display (which covers walls in the main reading room, Plainfield Room, and Meeting Room 2, as well as 4 exhibit cases) took place much earlier during my processing of the collection favorites in 2010 and 2011. The favorites are a small percentage of the now 16,000 sets of architectural drawings that represent each of the Plainfield architects, each type of structure in the city, and the best examples to use for exhibits.

When I took on that project, I applied the condition-reporting techniques I'd learned working at the Zimmerli Museum. My documentation included, among other things, taking measurements of each set and making recommendations for future exhibits. At the time, I didn't know where I would be working when those objects would be displayed, but I did know that the information I collected would be useful at some point. Since beginning his work on the exhibit, Jeff has let me know that my measurements, recommendations, and information slips kept with the rolled blueprints/drawings were helpful in their decision-making process.

From Plainfield Public Library Detwiller Architectural Drawings Exhibit 2014

The exhibit is extraordinary. It covers a wide range of architectural styles from the first building permit in 1896 to mid-century split-levels (the collection itself spans nearly 150 years). There are houses of worship, schools, homes of different types, apartments, stores, and even a drawing of a fancy snack cart for Muhlenberg Hospital. Below is a truly unique example -- a Central Railroad of New Jersey documentation of a train derailment in Cranford from 1924.

From Plainfield Public Library Detwiller Architectural Drawings Exhibit 2014

There are 25 architects' work on display. The archivists and librarians were able to locate information on 11 of them. For example, Col. Evarts J. Tracy, Jr. lived from 1868-1922 and was the great-great grandson of Roger Sherman, who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Then there was Oscar S. Teale (1848-1927), who wasn't just a Plainfield architect, he moonlighted as a magician known as "Ottilidio," and called Houdini a close friend.

From Plainfield Public Library Detwiller Architectural Drawings Exhibit 2014

While those are notable stories, one of my favorite architects in the collection is Augustus L.C. Marsh (1865-1942). His attention to detail and flourish made his designs and talent famous with the wealthy families of Plainfield, as well as New York City, where he worked at the firm Marsh & Gette until he moved his offices to Plainfield.

From Plainfield Public Library Detwiller Architectural Drawings Exhibit 2014

The great collector and architect Charles H. Detwiller, Jr. (1916-1991) (shown above) saved this collection from certain ruin. As the story goes, Plainfield had been storing all the drawings and blueprints at the Wardlaw School until Wardlaw moved to Edison and the duCret School of Art bought the building. The city would have disposed of all the historical documents had it not been for Charles Detwiller. Son of an architect and father of two architects, Detwiller rented a storage facility for the thousands of sets of plans to save them for future generations until he donated them to the library in 1982.

Detwiller worked on many historical preservation projects including the Drake House in Plainfield, East Jersey Olde Towne in Piscataway, and others along the Atlantic coast. His residential works make up a fair amount of the collection. I've worked with many of the now fragile and acidic sketches of additions and new homes in locations as far flung as Montana (where he designed a fishing library with shelves bolstered by carved wooden fish). He's also the man behind the fancy snack cart I mentioned earlier.

From Plainfield Public Library Detwiller Architectural Drawings Exhibit 2014

I am sorry that I didn't have the opportunity to meet Charles Detwiller. Because I've spent so much time with his collection, as well as his own work, there are questions I wish I could ask him. For instance, what types of concerns arise when you speak with a client about the miniature golf course he wants for his garage (see the image below).

From Plainfield Public Library Detwiller Architectural Drawings Exhibit 2014

The Third Gig
Speaking of Detwiller, he and his wife Catherine also were active members of the Plainfield Historical Society (PHS). Earlier this year, PHS wrote me into a small grant to take a survey of their collection, make recommendations to bring the collections under intellectual and physical control, and do some processing (time permitting). I'm still at PHS one day per week, and very much enjoying the small and large discoveries in the Drake House. The volunteers and staff are lovely people who are dedicated to making the House and its collections more accessible and interesting to its visitors. On many a Sunday, I find much-needed and long missing photos of the House during a pivotal time period or a letter giving more insight into the relationship between a famous spinster and her mentor. Each week, there is an exciting new discovery, and I'm very grateful to be a part of that excitement.

Other Work News
Additionally, I recently celebrated two years as the Local History Librarian at Chester Library. The universe's gift to me on the occasion was to send a wonderful 83-year-old lifelong resident to me with a collection of postcards. It seems to be our trend now to digitize items on loan to us in order to increase their accessibility to our patrons both far and wide. His collection is no different, although this time, I have the great pleasure of video recording our patron talking about his Chester postcards and what the town was like during the 1940s and 1950s. My plan is to post an online exhibit on the postcards (much like this one), and add these short oral histories to each postcard page. I think it will add a wonderful new dimension to experiencing these postcards of Chester.

Our patron also has lent us his collection of The Mendham-Chester Tribune newspapers to digitize. I'm in the process of writing a grant for that project. Those papers add to our current collection of local papers and fill in an important gap -- the 1936-1939 time period. I can't wait to read those papers!

Overall, it's been an exciting time at Chester Library. This week, I give a Genealogy 101 presentation and have another video recording session with our soon-to-be internet sensation. He really is a natural at it. I'll be posting a link to the exhibit here when it's available. Because he has many postcards and we're taking quite a bit of footage, I expect the finished exhibit will be online in early 2015.

Until then, I encourage you to visit the Plainfield Public Library at 800 Park Avenue in Plainfield, NJ to see the remarkable Charles H. Detwiller, Jr. Architectural Drawings Collection exhibit. It will be available for viewing until November.

Doing More with Less -- Using Newspaper Ads and Loaned Postcards for a Holiday Exhibit

Holidays in Chester Exhibit. Photo credit Deb Schiff, copyright 2013.

In early October 2013, I began asking my coworkers and volunteers if they had any holiday objects, photos, or other items I could borrow for the upcoming Holidays in Chester exhibit I was planning. Unfortunately, no one had anything to offer. I then turned to our most generous donor, Joan Case, to ask if she had anything I could display.

Later that week, Joan came to my office with a giant smile and a three-ring binder filled with the most marvelous holiday postcards from the early 1900s and 1910s. They had been sent to her mother and uncle when they were children. The cards were in excellent condition and properly housed in polyester sleeves. Importantly, they scanned and printed well when I made facsimiles for the months-long exhibit (November through early January). While I'd love to use the originals in an exhibit, it would be a shame for these gorgeous cards to fade while on display under UV lights.

All of the items in the exhibit (with the exception of a turkey-shaped salt shaker and some fabric leaves I'd bought at the dollar store) were facsimiles. Because the postcards were overwhelmingly Christmas-themed, I needed to supplement them with a diverse array of holiday items. I also required enough items to populate the main display case by the front desk and the new small, wall case I recently purchased. The little case is mounted on a wall adjacent to my office. The facsimiles in that case show the backs and fronts of holiday postcards, so that patrons could see the warm greetings sent to Joan's family members.

Holidays in Chester Exhibit. Photo credit Deb Schiff, copyright 2013.

Although it also was Christmas-themed, I made a smaller facsimile of a masthead from the Christmas 1944 issue of The Honor Roll newsletter. I remembered what a striking image of the town it had, and thought it would provide a focal point for the main display. You can see it in the upper right corner of the photo above this paragraph.

The remaining items in the exhibit originated in The Mendham-Chester Tribune and the Observer-Tribune, its successor newspaper. These materials included local stories that highlighted the season, as well as advertisements. Surprisingly, there weren't many holiday stories that could be used in the exhibit. Perseverance pays, however, because I did manage to find one item highlighting former Mayor (and famed chicken farmer) Janet Abeles cooking in her kitchen (lower center of the photo above).

The early (1950s) Tribunes' publishers kept a tradition of selling ads to local businesses for a special holiday section. These notices included thank yous to patrons, holiday greetings, and reminders of items for sale. Often, they featured lively holiday designs.

Holidays in Chester Exhibit. Photo credit Deb Schiff, copyright 2013.

Above is a close-up photo of three advertisements and one postcard. The original postcard has a lovely 3D effect with raised gold sections indicating a folded-back area where an attractive, blonde, early 19th century woman dressed hat to toe in holiday red is carrying a gift. It's a lovely card and the facsimile doesn't do it justice. Thankfully, our donor has hinted that the card's future includes becoming part of her family's collection at the library.

The advertisements include one for a Jeep on sale at Apgar's Garage, as well as two New Year's Eve parties at the Chester Inn and Red Cricket Inn.

Two major exhibits are in the works for 2014:

1. Celebrating the 350th anniversary of New Jersey, I'll be mounting an exhibit showcasing select sections of our 1860 New Jersey Topographical Map. The exhibit will be coordinated with a featured speaker, Maxine Lurie, on April 29th.
2. The 10th anniversary of the Chester Library addition and renovation takes place in 2014. We have many blueprints and photographs that will be highlighted in the exhibit occupying the cases during the second half of the year.

As I continue to learn more about exhibits, I try to put my new knowledge into practice. The greatest teacher has been the viewing of other exhibits, whether in libraries, museums, or other institutions. So, my cultural institutional friends, don't be surprised if I pinch one of your better practices!

Tour of Thomas Edison National Historical Park

Thomas Edison National Historical Park Entrance

Introduction

You might remember my nephew Tyler from other adventures we've had -- a Famous Fat Dave's food tour of NYC and a special food tour of our own devising. Tyler's now in the undergraduate engineering program at Rutgers University. With that in mind, I asked him if he would be interested in visiting the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange. "I'm all in!" he replied.

I quickly contacted the Park's archivist, Leonard DeGraaf, who very kindly made space in his schedule to give us a tour and show us some of archive's treasures. The tour was one of the most fun and interesting archives tours I've had -- not only due to DeGraaf's depth of knowledge and generosity, but also because Tyler had a great time learning about Edison and why archives are important to researchers and the public at large (from someone other than his Auntie Deb).

The big surprise came at the end of our tour when we sat down in the archive reading room to see some of the treasures DeGraaf had set aside to show us. Not only did we see some remarkable examples of Edison's documentation, but we learned that DeGraaf was about to publish a book! Since our visit, the book has been published (with a Forward by Bill Gates, no less), and it is called Edison and the Rise of Innovation. DeGraaf very kindly gave me select portions of the book which whet my appetite to read the entire text. The photos are beautiful, and the text is very well written.

About the Archivist

Leonard DeGraaf has just celebrated his 12th year as an archivist at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park's archives. DeGraaf says he became an archivist "because I enjoy working with original documents and making them available to researchers."

In addition to publishing his new book, his current project is arranging Edison's correspondence files for the years 1920-1931. Because the inventor was so connected to his businesses and interested in what the general public had to say about products, I can only imagine the linear footage dedicated to those correspondence files.

As archivists, most of us love what we do. DeGraaf is no exception. "I enjoy the diversity of archival work -- processing documents, writing finding aids, answering reference questions. I also enjoy learning new things. Edison was involved in so many different activities -- there is always something new to learn," he says. But as with any profession, ours comes with inherent challenges, mainly concerning storage space. At the Park, DeGraaf concurs, "lack of proper storage space to protect the collections is our biggest challenge."

When I asked DeGraaf what advice he would give a student or young professional, he replied,

I would advise students and young professionals to look for meaningful volunteer opportunities at cultural institutions and take advantage of free or low-cost training opportunities. Libraries, museums, and archives often offer workshops – a great way to learn new skills and meet other professionals. Anything you can do to enhance your writing and public speaking abilities – two important career skills – will also make you more competitive.

About the Archives and Collections at Thomas Edison National Historical Park

One of the most remarkable things about the Park is that "most of it is left as it was when Edison was here," says DeGraaf. The U.S. Congress designated Thomas Edison’s West Orange laboratory and nearby estate, Glenmont, as Edison National Historic Site in September 1962. In 2009, the lab and Glenmont were re-designated Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

The archive houses 5-6 million pages of material. While the Park has 29 full-time staffers, only two are archivists. The Park's patrons run the gamut from students and academics to all manner of media, park staff, and the general public. As far as the archive goes, most of its patrons contact the archivists by email or telephone. DeGraaf and his colleague respond to 800-1000 reference requests per year.

"Because Edison employed thousands of workers in his factories, we receive many requests from people doing family or genealogical research," DeGraaf clarifies. There are no personnel files, but there are payroll records. However, those records are not yet indexed or digitized (sounds like a volunteer opportunity to me).

Among the unsung heroes of the collection are Edison's business and financial records. Two examples are shown below.

The experimental accounts in particular are valuable because they give a snapshot of the work in the lab on a given experiment. Was is profitable? If not, why not? These are the relevant questions that researchers can answer by looking at the notebooks and account books. DeGraaf says, "We need more research on the operation of Edison's companies to understand why they succeeded or failed."

Another fascinating, but underutilized part of the archive "are the many letters Edison received from the public on a wide variety of topics. These letters offer an opportunity to study social attitudes about technology and invention in the early 20th century," says DeGraaf. 


Eighty of the collections have been processed, and he notes that while finding aids are sent out at request, the Park does need a way for researches to access a guide to the archives. Meanwhile "the Thomas Edison Papers Project at Rutgers University has published material from the Edison archives for the period up to 1919. Of this published material, documents for the period up to 1898 have been digitized and are available at the Edison Papers Project website: http://edison.rutgers.edu/," says DeGraaf.

In terms of use, the Park's collection of 60,000 historic photographs is the most popular. For example, here is one of the man himself that DeGraaf kindly sent me. Edison is sitting at the desk that still resides in library shown in the photo of DeGraaf.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

While the archival collection is mostly paper-based, the museum collection contains 400,000 objects and 35,000 sound recordings on disc and cylinder formats. When Tyler and I toured the museum, we saw where Edison would audition new musical acts for his recording label.

 

Tyler in Edison's Music Room

  

Edison's Music Room

Edison's Music Room

DeGraaf's favorite items are Edison's laboratory notebooks. He says, "They offer an intimate look at how Edison approached invention and provide details about how he designed the phonograph, electric light, and many other laboratory products."

Edison's communal lab notebook, 1880, Experiment No. 1.

It is especially illuminating to see the shared research and meticulous data collected at the laboratory. It is even more profound to discover the impact all this work had on the world. DeGraaf's new book points out the monumental affect Edison's labs had:

When he was born in 1847, there were no industrial research laboratories, no phonographs, no motion picture cameras, and no electric power systems, let alone practical electric lights. In 1931, the year Edison died, the United States produced 320 lightbulbs and consumed 110.4 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Seventy-five million Americans attended the movies each week, spending $719 million ($10.6 billion today) at the box office.

When the National Parks re-open, I encourage you to tour the museum and outlying buildings. Along with self-guided phone tours, some of the park staff give tours. Also visit Edison's home, Glenmont -- it's a short ride away on a large piece of property that should be especially pretty with the leaves changing now.

The archive is not open to the public, so I appreciate DeGraaf letting a fellow archivist and her nephew have an inside peek at the Thomas Edison National Park's archival collections.


Contact Information

Since National Parks are closed at the moment, I recommend emailing so that any inquiry would be waiting when the furloughed workers return.

Leonard DeGraaf
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
211 Main Street
West Orange, NJ 07052
973-736-0550, ext. 22  
Leonard_DeGraaf@nps.gov
http://nps.gov/edis

The Service Side of Being an Archivist and Local History Librarian

Some may characterize library service as being available at the reference desk for appointments, phone calls, email and web requests, and "walk-ins." However, library service is all-encompassing, from the moment a patron enters or contacts a library until (s)he leaves/disconnects. Libraries are places that people trust for their ability to provide answers whether via the reference desk, a book or database, a special collection, or any number of resources, especially the library workers. It is for that reason that I take an holistic approach to library service.

At both of my employing libraries, I regularly work with some terrific volunteers. In Chester, one is a Friend of the library who shares great photos of her husky dog and clips newspaper articles for Local History. She had attended one of my "Caring for Your Family's Treasures" workshops and asked if I might help her with some specific preservation questions concerning some old photos and a Bible. I readily agreed because

1. She asked for my help, and that's what I do...HELP.
2. Preservation isn't work for me, it's fun.
3. I was excited to see what she would bring to my office.
4. The request entailed shopping for archival supplies, and those web sites are my kind of candy stores.

Later, the Friend brought to my office a huge family Bible, cabinet cards, and larger mounted photos all dating from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. The Bible clearly had some binding issues and had been used (as many are) to hold genealogy documents, which had become acidic and fragile. Some of the photos were in better shape than others, however all were notable not only for the sentimental value to the volunteer, but for the subjects' expressions, costumes, and poses. After we measured them, I placed the photos into suitable folders until she could put them into polyester sleeves.

She also asked me to help her select supplies and house the Bible because it was so large. The illustrated family Bible would require a custom sling to help place it inside (and remove it from) the box she would purchase. Typically, a special collections department would purchase a custom drop-front box for such an item, but these types of custom boxes can be cost-prohibitive for many people (such as our volunteer). In her case, I let her know that I would be happy to create a way of working with a box already available in dimensions suitable to her needs.

I guided her to items that she would need for this project. She navigated the University Products site easily and placed her order within an hour of her first showing me the photos. We were able to stay within her budget and begin her early preservation work.

The Friend was very grateful, and her gratitude was contagious. Not two days after our shopping session, she brought to my office the president of another local organization who needed help preserving the group's 20+ scrapbooks. As ever, I was happy to help.

Work Update -- Plainfield Public Library, The Vail Family Papers

Introduction

I've said it before, but it bears repeating -- one of the top attractions of being an archivist at Plainfield Public Library is the ability to work on a wide variety of interesting projects. Another favorite facet is shepherding a project from beginning to end. Taking the time to know a small collection (or even a sizable one, such as the Detwiller Blueprints) intimately has been key to writing detailed and informative finding aids for researchers interested in these collections.

Recently, I've had the pleasure of inventorying, preserving, and processing a special collection that spans the categories of archives and museum collections. The Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers (1772-2001) comprises much more than what we typically describe as "papers." Some examples include hand towels embroidered in 1772; a family bible dated 1791; early daguerreotypes, tintypes, cabinet cards, and cartes des vistes; Civil War correspondence; 19th century wedding dresses; an 1876 harmonica; White Plains Regents Exams results from 1917; World War I postcards and photographs; books; sketches; maps; and genealogical research. My favorite materials are the hundreds of postcards and the Civil War correspondence, which describes in detail David Vail's experience of the war.

About the Vails

Marjorie and Roger (sister and brother) were the last descendants in the Roy G. Vail line. They very generously gave their family's large (approximately 39 boxes) and diverse collection of records to the Plainfield Public Library in several installments during the 1990s and early 2000s. You might recognize the Vail name because a few of the family members left their mark on New Jersey and America as a whole. They include Stephen Vail, owner of the Speedwell Ironworks; Alfred Vail, arguably the inventor of Morse Code and co-inventor of the telegraph; and Theodore Vail, creator of the ATT monopoly (and cousin to Alfred Vail). The Plainfield Vails are distantly related to their Morris County cousins via their common ancestor, Thomas Vail (1620-1687). Below are samples of the many family trees in the genealogy series.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

Vail Family Tree; undated; "Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers" collection; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey. Photograph © Debra Schiff.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

Vail Family Tree; 1938; "Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers" collection; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey. Photograph © Debra Schiff.

Processing, Preservation, and Arrangement

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

Collection in Process; 2012; "Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers" collection; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey. Photograph © Debra Schiff.

The first two bays from the right in the photo above show the range of size and shape of the materials in the collection. The red binders in the second bay hold photographs that had previously been sleeved and numbered for use in exhibits (both online and in-library). Since I took that photo, I have rearranged and re-housed some materials, including the addition of another binder of nearly 400 postcards. We also have ordered some custom boxes to help better preserve the wedding dresses and other items of unusual size (such as the sewing box that held costume jewelry in a hidden compartment).

In addition to processing the wedding dresses, I preserved an incredibly detailed black lace dress. Fashioned from black taffeta and net with ornate glass beading and embroidery throughout, the evening dress is said to have belonged to "Grandma Stiehl," (on Marjorie and Roger Vail's mother's side). The original package also included a head/neckband of the same material. The woman who wore the dress was petite, to be sure, and strong -- the dress is quite heavy due to all the glass beads. The five photos below show some of the great detail of the dress.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

Here, I gently placed some acid-free tissue in the sleeve to show some of the detail.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

For the five photos above:  
Evening Dress; Undated; "Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers" collection; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey. Photograph © Debra Schiff.

I processed and preserved the large textiles in the Plainfield Room, which is open to the public and serves as a reading room for researchers. The room is located downstairs on the south west side of the fountain (which resembles a shallow swimming pool due to its aqua blue-painted interior; it is usually empty, but filled during certain events). When I worked on the dresses, I had my share of company from co-wokers to patrons interested in these beautiful bits of Plainfield's history.

The Vails donated numerous photographs of family members, houses, and travel destinations. Because I had taken Gary Saretsky’s Dating 19th Century Portrait Photographs workshop back in April, I was able to identify and date within a few years many of the early images in the collection. Below is an example of an ambrotype in a hinged case. I've dated it c. 1860-1870s due to the highly ornate and patriotic design of the copper mat and preserver. It is interesting to note that the 30-star flag in the design only existed between 1848 and 1851. I suspect that it was for the sake of design and space that the artist used that flag, especially when the bottom section is magnified and the date "July 4, 1776" appears. The subjects are Elise Ditzel Leis and Baby Charles.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

The case is ornate down to its latches, as well.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

For the three photos above:
Photograph, Elise Ditzel Leis and Baby Charles; c. 1860s; "Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers" collection; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey. Photograph © Debra Schiff.

When preserving the photos in their cases, I wrapped them individually in acid-free, unbuffered tissue and placed them in a smaller box to accommodate the odd sized items. I also ran into round frames such as the one below. I made an acid-free, unbuffered tissue cradle in a small box to fit the round frame.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

Photograph, Robert Leis; undated; "Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers" collection; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey. Photograph © Debra Schiff.

After all the preservation and processing, it was necessary to address the arrangement (organization) of the collection. While most of the collection had a nice order to it, a portion didn't. It was time to impose some order upon it. I also consulted with the Senior Archivist and Dept. Head Sarah Hull to determine exactly the series we would include. Below is a photo of my notes on the topic.

From PPL, Vail Collection 2012

Vail Series Arrangement; 2012; "Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers" collection; Local History Department, Plainfield Public Library, Plainfield, New Jersey. Photograph © Debra Schiff.

Sarah quickly divided my list of item types into six main series, which helped me to re-sort the Excel spreadsheet I had used for the inventory. After I put all the "like" items together by series, I began to do some re-housing and rearrangement accordingly. By re-organizing the collection in this way, it will greatly help researchers to find materials by category when the finding aid is published (likely later in 2013).

I hope that when the collection is opened for research, we can put together a traveling exhibit, perhaps displayed at the Morris Museum (they have such lovely costume exhibits, and the Vail cousin-ship would be a nice tie-in).  Until then, I'll be continuing to arrange, and later describe the Marjorie and Roger Vail Family Papers at the Plainfield Public Library.