day 33: organized paper chaos

This morning Jen exported and uploaded the updated finding aid for the Riggs family papers. It's exciting to see all the work that I completed and realize the amount that I've accomplished and learned since March. It was even more exciting to know that I can continue to apply this knowledge to more collections. Jen reviewed my work from yesterday and only had three changes. She first suggested I move around the order of my topics in the historical note; to list the most pertinent information about the Student Government Association first. Second, I hadn't filled in the information for the finding aid tab in AT and she directed me to that section in the Wiki, which was very simple. Third, she directed me to the section in the Wiki about adding names and subjects to the entry that are related to the collection. This section holds words that researchers may search for and help provide accurate search results. She had added Mount Vernon College and the Student Government Association for me, but showed me where and how I can add them myself for the next collection I work on. But otherwise she was impressed and pleased with my work.

I started organizing the second collection Jenny had pulled from Mount Vernon College. I made an organized mess in the office before I started processing the records. Since it's only 2 boxes, I can easily move around all the folders and arrange the order before processing. There is significantly more within these two boxes than in the last two. It still shouldn't take a long time to process, but it will be longer than the last set I completed. This picture is what one of the boxes looked like after I organized its contents. Afterward, I started transferring and labeling the records into new folders and boxes.

I was also inadvertently complimented today. We have folders that aren't marked with guides for folding, which makes creasing more interesting. Since we can't get new folders until we use all of these I decided to use as many as possible to get rid of them! I've developed a pretty simple system for creating creases, just by using the edge of the folder as a guide and forcing the crease. I vary sizes depending on how many documents I have per folder but it's always straight since I'm using the folder as a guide. Jen told Chris that I had a really good system and that he should ask me how I manage with these unmarked folders. I felt pretty talented, even for something as simple as creasing a folder. A long time archivist needed my help :)