This week in GA world has brought new tasks and therefore new challenges. I am the “guinea pig” in digitizing an entire collection – basically scanning everything in a processed collection without regard to its significance. Mainly, I am doing this to time myself and see how long it could take an archivist to do this so we can properly plan for the future. The Collection I am scanning -The John Rice Homer Scott Collection – can be viewed in person at the Arkansas Studies Institute. Scott studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1848. During the Civil War, Captain Scott commanded four Calvary companies and took part in the Pea Ridge/Elk horn Mountain battle in northern Arkansas. He also was a state Senator for Pope, Conway and Searcy counties in 1873. Most of the documents in his file are from 1861-1862 but there are a few towards the end that expand out in time. Its a time consuming project but its cool to read through another collection that has been processed – kind of like a cross reference for when I finish processing MY collection.
Speaking of MY collection – the Mary Lee Harris Papers are getting more interesting by the minute. I love reading through her correspondence (though I do wish I had her letters in response to gauge the conversation better). I have started actually processing the papers though, which is a positive step! There are many dead ends and unrelated documents and pictures, but with the help of the Archivists and some Genealogy expertise hopefully I can fill these missing gaps on who some of these people are, how they are related and why they are put together in this collection!
One thing I am looking forward to in the future (aka next week) is the start of creating a video with the Life Interrupted series and learning how to rip a DVD and covert to a different medium. I have not worked with video in this situation before so it will be a great experience and something new to add to my resume!
As for the “everything in-between”, I have learned how to inventory an unprocessed collection; basically creating an itemized list of what is in the folder, but nothing too specific since it has not been processed. I am slowly learning my way around the research room in the Arkansas Studies Institute building and actually attempted to assist a patron yesterday in their research! (Crazy, I know.)
I leave you with an interesting document I scanned from the Mary Lee Harris Papers. These are instructions on what should be consumed during and after labor and gives informative examples. A larger section of these papers contain information booklets and instruction manuals on the process of becoming a midwife, the rules on being a midwife and how to help the family before during and after pregnancy. These are recommended foods and liquids “during labor and the lying-in period.” Enjoy!
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