Tag Archives: Burke-Archives

~Daily Journal~ Week 14

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December 3, 2012: Sorting and first draft of finding aid SCC submitted. 5 1/2 hours

State Council of Churches re-labeled and ready to be placed on their permanent shelves.

State Council of Churches re-labeled and ready to be placed on their permanent shelves.

Brigette was gone today, but I had plenty to do!  I was able to get through the final sorting of the last 5 boxes of the SCC collection.  It is now all re-housed and beautifully organized and has been rounded out to 10 boxes and 5 linear feet.  The largest collection I have been able to process, regardless, I finished the history note, scope and contents and the contents list and submitted the finding aid to Brigette for review.  I took some pictures of the more interesting state council of churches logo’s that I found.

December 4, 2012: FCC DAM and cataloging, FCC blog post, SCC folder labeling. 4 1/2 hours

I uploaded the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America Records, 1905-1971 finding aid to the Burke Library website so I have done DAM for three items now.  I also cataloged the  collection in Voyager, which means the CLIO record is now visible (as you well know).  The collection was tweeted from the Burke Library twitter account and a status update was posted on the Burke Facebook page.  Thankfully Brigette is willing to sit down and walk me through all the steps.  It is complicated and I’m sure I would have to do this a dozen more times before I actually would be able to do it without the help of a cheat sheet.  I also wrote out my blog post on the Bethlehem steel strike and did the final touches on the labeling of the folders for SCC.  I am just waiting to hear back from Brigette on my SCC finding aid so it can be sent to Ruth for final submission and hopefully I will be able to do the DAM on that next week, it would be nice to end everything on time for my final presentation.

Total hours: 10

Running total: 134

~Daily Journal~ Week 12

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November 19, 2012: FCC history, scope and content.  Final finding aid submitted. 5 hours

I worked on the final draft of the finding aid for the FCC (Federal Council of Churches).  I added the history and scope and content notes.  I submitted the draft to Brigette for review.

November 20, 2012: FCC labels and correct finding aid.  Inventory of SCC and research on history.  5 hours

I received the corrected copy of the finding aid back from Brigette.  I made the changes requested and resubmitted it.  Ruth Tonkiss is on vacation so I won’t be able to get her final approval until after Thanksgiving, when I return on Tuesday next week we should be able to do the DAM on the finding aid and get it up online.  Yay!  The most interesting stuff in this collection has to do with the Bethlehem Steel Strike of 1910 and the little bit of research I did on who seemed to be the owner of most of these papers; Rev. Rockland T. Homans.  I think I will focus my blog entry on these two things.  I labeled the boxes (which are just 3 small boxes)

Final home for the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America Records (FCC).

I began the inventory on my next collection State Council of Churches.  It seems to mostly consist of bulletins from various state councils around the country.  Shouldn’t be too difficult to organize.  Amazingly I was able to complete the Work Plan and the Inventory.

November 25, 2012: Research on SCC.  2 hours

I brought home a couple of the books listed on my Work Plan and took some notes which I added to the bottom of the work plan.  I’ll use these notes to develop the history portion of the finding aid. Hopefully the finding aid can be completed tomorrow.  Then I can work on my FCC blog entry.

Total Hours: 12

Running Total: 119

~Daily Journal~ Week 11

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November 12, 2012: Organization of FCC materials, label folders, copy newsprint, etc..  5 hours

I began by labeling a large number of folders with the title WAB: Federal Council of Churches Records.  I then placed in the folders materials I found regarding each committee, commission, department, conference, meeting and sorted the members papers.  I copied newspaper articles, placed the originals in Mylar sleeves or envelopes.  After my initial sort, which included taking metal pins and paper clips that bound material together out, as well as trying to figure out where 6 or 7 loose papers seemed to fit.  I found where they went for all of them except one, which I still have no idea what it is supposed to go to, it’s a budget sheet from minutes of some sort, but there is no date or title included on the sheet.  Some of the materials were fragile and degrading.  Some of the materials were in pretty good condition.  I found some very interesting materials on the Bethlehem Steel Strike and some good newspaper articles on unity.  I got through creating the final sort for 1 full box

November 13, 2012: Final FCC sort, Finding aid completed except for History and scope and contents note.   5 hours

I finished my final sort and labeling of the folders today.  The final FCC collection rests in 3 boxes.  Since much of the material was originally scattered in random boxes and mislabeled or non-labeled folders it was difficult to maintain original order of the materials.  I sorted the commissions, departments, committees, conferences and meetings alphabetically (for the folders) and then by date (within the folders)  For the members papers I kept them in their original order as far as subject, but then ordered them by date as best I could within the folder.  There was one whole section for the Greenwich Conference on Church Union that was the conference’s papers all in a bound folder like thing.  That is the only thing that definitely kept its original order.  I moved the papers into 4 new folders with a photocopy of the title of the original bound folder.  Next week I will finish the history portion and scope and contents note and submit it to Brigette and Ruth for final approval and then do DAM and cataloging.  I might work on the history and blog post this weekend at home.   My final collection will be the State Council of Churches Records.

Total hours: 10

Running total: 107

~Daily Journal~ Week 10

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November 5, 2012:  Began FCC inventory with unprocessed collection material.  5 hours

It is back to work for me.  The commute may be longer but I have a new FCC collection to work on.  After submitting my blog post on Baba to Brigette, I began researching and sorting through my next collection.  I sorted through the box and folders that I grabbed from the unprocessed collection and worked on my work plan, which I submitted to Brigette in order to get her approval on what I had determined might be the divisions in the collection.  You can see the original divisions suggested when the collection was acquired in my October 19, 2012 journal entry.  I added to my work plan as I sorted through the collection, adding what I saw were the different commissions and committees.  I hoped that would help me determine the final order.  I began the inventory and made it through the box and 3 folders that I had grabbed from the unprocessed collections.
November 6, 2012:  Final FCC inventory and organization discussion with Brigette.  5 hours

I finished my inventory of the FCC collection.  I talked with Brigette on how I should organize this collection.  I felt that after looking at the Presbyterian Historical Society finding aid that this should be a collection divided into three sections: Commissions, Committees, and Departments; Conferences and Meetings; and Members Papers.  There were a number of folders from the Hollinger boxes that just held newspaper and magazine articles on specific topics.  I could determine who some of them belonged too and actually I think (based on the date and the type of material) all belong to one person, Rev. Homans.  However, there is no proof of that in a few of the folders so it is just supposition on my part and so they should be labeled just as Members papers.  Brigette felt this was the correct way to go.  I also wanted to know how to divide this up on the finding aid. It is a small collection probably between 3 and 4 boxes and I didn’t think we needed to have it divided into series.  Brigette suggested that bolded headings would work just fine and gave me an example from a previous finding aid.  I will start putting everything in order, labeling folders, and new boxes next week.

Total Hours: 10

Running Total: 97

~Daily Journal~ Week 8

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October 22, 2012: DAM ABC and Baba, Facebook and Twitter announcements.  Label ABC collection. Blog post Baba. Work plan FCC.  5 hours

I learned how to do Digital Asset Management (DAM) today it consists of  uploading my finding aid PDF to the web for ABC and Baba.  I had to use a variety of programs and steps to make sure that the finding aid is now available on the website.  This is the link to the ABC collection on the website (under the William Adams Brown section).  This is the link to the Baba collection on the website (under the Missionary Research Library Section 3 for South Asia).

The cataloging was done in Voyager, which is quite simple to use, but requires a double save for it to become actually available for viewing.  The cataloging info for ABC is now in CLIO and Baba is also in CLIO.

I also had to add the information to the Burke Library Archives Twitter page and Facebook page so that outside world knows that it is done.  Brigette showed me the admin side for an organization FB page which shows you who and where people are visiting the page from.  It records the viewing stats which is something that can be used to prove that you have readership for your collections and where those readers are from.  So I added a link to each of the collections finding aids and for the FB page I copied the abstract.

I can use the link to both the ABC PDF and the Baba PDF as  publications for my resume here and on my LinkedIn webpage.

I labeled and finished the ABC collection by printing labels and attaching them to the boxes.  I will do the same for Baba the next time I am in.

WAB: American Bilateral Conversations Records labeled and ready to be shelved in the Archive.

Worked on blog post for Baba, by taking more pictures of the Autobiography pages for quotes, but I haven’t written much for it.  I need to try to work on it at home.   After taking the pictures we took the book is ready to be wrapped and placed in a new folder.  We are going to use the same box and relabel it next time I’m in the library.

I began the work plan for WAB: Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America

October 23, 2012: Baba final prep and label. FCC research and submitted work plan.  5 hours

I spent the morning grabbing the extra FCC information from other unprocessed collections.  I continued to work on my work plan.  I added numerous sources that I need to use for research, I placed them on the work plan in the exact way they should show up on the finding aid, so it shouldn’t take so long to add them this time.  I submitted the work plan to Brigette.

I wrapped Baba in acid free unbuffered tissue paper and then tied it with cotton tape.  I then labeled a new folder and placed it into the old box and replaced the label on the side.  I then took ABC and Baba collections, the pamphlet I had used in my Baba research, placed them on wheeled shelves and with Brigette took them in the Archive to place them on the shelves.  We took photographs so that we know exactly what shelves they are on so we can update the excel file that contains the locations of the collections.  NOTE: I need to remember to ask Brigette if that was updated this week, so she can show me exactly what it looks like.  We also pulled the FCC folders that I found in other unprocessed collections or areas of the Archives.  NOTE:  I need to ask Brigette how to change the locations on the Excel file for those as well next week.  I spent some time going through those folders and box trying to get an idea of what was included in them and if they were really pertinent to the collection.

Total hours: 10

Running total: 84 1/2

~Daily Journal~ Week 7

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October 15, 2012:  Intern breakfast, ABC finding aid final review. Research and begin Baba finding aid.  5 hours

The day started out with an intern breakfast for all of Columbia.  I went and grabbed a bagel and some orange juice, I met an intern from China who works at the engineering library??  I think.  She’s working on building a webpage.  I also met her supervisor, but I mostly just went for the food.  I stayed at Butler to look at a book in the stacks to see if it would work as research material for Baba collection.  It was interesting, but it doesn’t help much.  I’ll put it in further resources.  It had an essay in it on how difficult it was for Hindu’s to convert to Christianity and to leave behind all the traditions of their fathers.  It was an anthropological text, but it fit into describing some of the issues that Baba himself went through trying to overcome the traditions of caste, family and religion on his path to becoming a Christian.

  • Dube, Saurabh. Stitches on Time: Colonial Textures and Postcolonial Tangles. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. Print.

I finished my research for final paragraph on FA for ABC, got it  typed out and submitted it to Brigette and Ruth Tonkiss for final review.  I also talked with Brigette about the Baba collection and she said that I could forgo writing out a work plan for the collection since it only consists of one book and that I should just dive into the finding aid.

October 16, 2012:  Research, abstract, biography, scope and contents Baba finding aid.  4 hours

I retrieved a pamphlet (another version of his autobiography translated and edited by someone else) from the Missionary Research Library Archives and finished researching Baba on the web.  After realizing that I should just use the regular version of Baba’s name I was able to find quite a few resources.  It turns out he was a prolific writer.  I wrote the biography of Baba and the scope and contents note.  I finished everything but the photo and the further sources, before I ran out of time and had to leave.  Even though I wasn’t finished with it completely I forwarded it to Brigette, so that she and Ruth could look at it and I would be able to make corrections when I came back on Friday.

October 19, 2012:  Final fixes ABC finding aid. Submission of Baba finding aid, began blog post for Baba. Preliminary look at FCC collection.  3 1/2 hours

Brigette sent me an email last night letting me know that she had a meeting today and that I probably wouldn’t see her before I had to leave.  She left me her feedback on both collections, let me know that we would upload both finding aids on Monday and left a new collection for me to work on at my desk.  She left me plenty to do just in case I finished quickly.   The new collection:

Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America Records, c.1905-1959:

  • Pamphlets, clippings, minutes;
  • Bethlehem Ministerial Association: The Bethlehem Steel Workers Strike, 1910 – 1911: Letters;
  • Committee of Direction of Church and State, 1932, 1934: Essay, reports;
  • Greenwich Conference on Church Union, 1946 – 1959: Letters, minutes, reports, studies.
    5 boxes; 1.75 linear feet; unprocessed

    Federal Council of Churches: unprocessed collection (the box and the additional folders placed on top are the items we pulled the next week from other unprocessed collections in the archives)

In the email Brigette let me know that someone had requested the material so they were trying to get this done instead of the other collection she was going to give me.  She also gave me some direction on other things I could do in relation to this unprocessed collection.

“As you know, the material we are working with went through the water disaster and some/all of the material was separated – we are recreating the collections. I know there is FCC stuff in the UNP (other unprocessed collections). If you want to do a keyword search on the document and make a note of what we need to pull, you will find the file at: Burke Staff: Archives: Kamsler, Brigette: MRL: Sources: [MRL Unprocessed Boxes Survey.] Do a keyword search for federal and you will find 2-3 things at least. You could also try searching for FCC. The important thing to note from the excel file is the location, box number and components. We will pull this material next week.

Ruth hasn’t found any other FCC material for me to give to you. This is a completely unprocessed collection in WAB (so use the WAB finding aid template). It looks like this material is grouped by topic, but you will have to see if that is actually correct. It looks like the Presbyterian Historical Society is the official repository for the FCC – check out their inventory here: http://www.history.pcusa.org/collections/findingaids/fa.cfm?record_id=NCC18. Although ours is much smaller than that, I sometimes will use that as a guide with how to organize collections.”

I looked very briefly at this information.  The finding aid from the Presbyterian Historical Society is HUGE!!  I made a very cursory glance at the material at my desk, but since I had to finish the other two finding aids I turned my attention to those.

I quickly looked at the feedback on the ABC collection from Ruth and all she wanted me to do was add links to the FA for the CLIO records for the books that were separated out of the collection. I resubmitted it to both Brigette and Ruth.

I also looked at the feedback from Brigette on the Baba collection.  She only changed a few things on my Biography, taking out some colloquial portions of the text.  I added a photo and made the changes as per Brigette’s request. I also looked up some additional sources and again almost finished the FA just minus a few citations for those additional sources before I ran out of time and had to leave.  I took a few quick photos of some pages of the Autobiography so I would have quotes for a blog post about Baba.
Total hours: 12 1/2

Running total: 74 1/2

~Daily Journal~ Week 6

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October 8, 2012: ABC finding aid research, citations and blog post. Preliminary research Baba Padmanji collection 7 1/2 hours

It is interesting to note in light of the conversation I overheard last week.  Brigette was unexpectedly detained over the weekend and so didn’t make it back in time, but she had given me so much work to do that I certainly didn’t lack for want of projects.

I worked on creating the finding aid for the ABC through more research.  I created the citations for the books I used for writing the abstract and the history, after I finished those sections of the finding aid.  Even using Zotera for my citations it still takes a bit of time to format them correctly in the finding aid and make sure all the information that is needed is there.  I also worked on my blog post regarding the collection, which takes a bit from what I wrote in my journal here.

I looked at my next collection which is a handwritten copy of an autobiography of a Hindu man and tried to find some sources to use for the research portion of this one.

These are my sources that I looked at for the ABC collection:

  • Kinnamon, Michael & Brian E. Cope. Editors. The Ecumenical Movement: An Anthology of Key Texts and Voices. Geneva : Grand Rapids, Mich: WCC Publications ; W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 1997. (This was an excellent book, I used his forward quite a bit.  It is available from the Burke)
  • Mirus, Jeffrey. The Documents of the Second Vatican Council: A Summary and Guide. Trinity Communications, 2011. (I used this to clarify a quote from Radano about the Second Vatican Council in my history section of the finding aid.)
  • Radano, John A. Editor. Celebrating a Century of Ecumenism: Exploring the Achievements of International Dialogue: In Commemoration of the Centenary of the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 2012. (This is an excellent book, recently written on the ecumenical movement.  It focuses on the international movement so some of the dates seem to be off.  For instance I found records for bilateral conversations with certain parties much earlier in this little collection than what is mentioned in the book.  It was an enjoyable read and I learned a lot about the organization and what they are trying to accomplish. It is available at the Burke)
  • Slack, Kenneth. The Ecumenical Movement. London: Edinburgh House Press, 1960. (A little book that helped me with writing my history.  It is available at the Burke.)
  • Todd, John M. Catholicism and the Ecumenical Movement. London: Longmans, Green, 1956. (This book helped me understand the huge role that the Roman Catholic Church has played in ecumenical conversation.  It is a great book with loads of information.  It is available at the Burke.)

Therese are further sources that I thought might be useful for researchers, I didn’t actually check them out from the library but after reading the abstracts I thought they might be helpful:

  • Norgren, William A. Faith and Order in the U.S.A.: a Brief History of Studies and Relationships. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Pub, 2011. Print.
  • Council on Christian Unity. Further bilateral conversations between Catholics and Disciples : October 16-17, 1968, April 25-26, 1969, November 3-5, 1970, June 8-10, 1971, March 8-10, 1972, June 26-28, 1972. Indianapolis, Ind, 1973. Print.
  • Kasper, Walter. Harvesting the Fruits: Basic Aspects of Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue. London ; New York: Continuum, 2009. Print.  (I’d like to find this book, It really looked interesting.)
  • National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. The National Council of Churches : what it is, what it does. New York, N.Y.: The Council, 1960. Print.
  • O’Malley, John W. “Vatican II Opened the Church to the World.” The New York Times 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. (This I did read since it was in the NYT at the same time I was writing this article.  The link is in the blog post I wrote about the collection.)
  • Obach, Robert E. “Some recent Protestant points of view (1956-1966) concerning the goal of the Roman Catholic Church’s participation in the modern ecumenical movement.” 1968, unpaged. Dissertation.
  • United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Accessed 10/2012. Webpage. http://old.usccb.org/seia/index.shtml

October 9, 2012:  ABC finding aid abstract, history and blog post; further Baba research  5 1/2 hours

Finished refining the abstract and history (I was so nervous with this one since it was my first collection that I spent a lot of time trying to make sure it was perfect.)   I included the list of separated items and submitted it for review.  Brigette took a good look at it and came and sat with me while we went over changes.  Many of the changes were technical in nature, some of the formatting needed to be corrected, but they were things that weren’t covered in the guide.  Like clicking the paragraph button to make sure all the colors of the text were black and not the left over red from the template.  There were some changes to made in the abstract (I was too wordy and some of the info could be placed in the scope and contents notes) and the  history (again too wordy and there was information that was more opinion than fact.)  She also had me move some things around in the scope and contents notes.  I corrected the changes made by Brigette.  I need to add an additional paragraph stating what is happening in modern times, but I left the book at home that has modern information so I will need to do it next week.

I finished  the blog post using a journal entry from my practicum for most of it, transferred pictures to the post using an email I sent myself from home for the Burke Archives blog titled “Unity in the Midst of Diversity”

I researched the new archival collection and I didn’t find much (I later realized that it was because I was using the official version of his name with the accents and tildes instead of just typing in Baba Padmanji.  I also took some pictures of the book and worked on the work plan.

Cover of The Autobiography of Baba Padmanji (1944 handwritten translation from Marathi to English)

This was the basic info that Brigette sent me in an email earlier in the week (you can see the official version of his name that I was using to search:

2. Padamanjí, Bãbã, 1831 – 1906
Contents from Inventory  info:  Convert from Hinduism, Bombay, India.
Arunodaya, the autobiography of Bãbã Padmanjí [1888], translated by D.D. Chandekar, 1944, ms, 381p. English
1 box, 0.25 linear ft.
http://clio.cul.columbia.edu:7018/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=4492547  (this now has a link to my finding aid in it that of course wasn’t originally there.)

Total hours: 13

Running Total: 62

~Daily Journal~ Week 4

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September 24, 2012: Label folders, re-folder materials, remove all metal. 3 1/2 hours

I did much the same stuff that I worked on last week Friday.  I was able to finish the first 2 1/2 boxes.  I am amazed at how long it takes to relabel things so that my handwriting is neat.  I am anxious to get back to finishing this part of the organization.  I am really enjoying it, more than I thought that I would.  I am getting nervous about the finding aid though.  I have done a little research and as far as I can tell “American Bilateral Conversations” is not an organization but more of a label linking like documents together.  I think I am going to have to do a little bit of research on each of the organizations involved.  Like “The American Baptist Convention’s Commission on Christian Unity and the Bishops Commission for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Affairs.”  It’s quite a mouthful and I’m not even sure I’ll find anything on it.  The more interesting part of all of this is to come.  I hope I can write something that makes sense and is useful.

September 28, 2012: Crossing Borders lecture and exhibit at The Jewish Museum. 2 3/4 hours

Crossing Borders lecture by David Wachtel, Senior Consultant for Special Collections at The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary and Senior Consultant for Judaica at Sotheby’s.

I was so impressed with this exhibit, it is fantastic.  Crossing Borders is done in conjunction with the Bodleian Library.  I am sitting here trying to describe to you what is in this exhibit and I’m finding it difficult to pare it down into a small journal entry.  I think a quote my tour guide gave the group sets up the idea behind the exhibition quite well.

“Writing did not take place in a vacuum, but is a reflection of various cultures and propensities of various times and it provides a window on the mentality, preoccupations and tastes of the people who were responsible for it in it’s variegated forms.” ~Leonard Boyle, Oxonian Latin palaeogrpaher.

These manuscripts are not only beautiful, they are evidence of more than just what is written down in them, they show the prevailing artistic tastes, cultural mores and give a window into the minds of people who created them.  They are more than words on a page they are proof of individual tastes (one example was from a manuscript that was illuminated by the owner himself) and history.  I enjoyed the lecture.  I loved how they were able to integrate modern technology seamlessly along with these old manuscripts.  A number of iPads were located in each room.  Each one contained high quality images of other pages of the books on display.  One room contained around 6 iPads all to show each page of the Kennicott Bible that was on display.  You could zoom in and look at tiny details.  It was wonderful.  I hope I get a chance to go back and look at things a little more carefully.

This fable was about Chatty Turtle, who fell from his ride after making comments about people who were passing by. Moral: Silence is golden.

Total hours:  6 1/4

Running total: 39

~Daily Journal~ Week 3

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September 17, 2012: Reorganization of files, Part 1   3 1/4 hours

I began with the Protestant conversations series, since that is only one box and I figured I’d be able to go through it faster.  That was a misconception.  It took me most of the 3 hours to go through and organize that one box.  Only because there were a number of loose articles, that needed to be placed correctly.  Thankfully there was a “List of Conversations” that I had found as I was making an inventory of the contents.  Using that list I was able to not only determine which conversations the articles were supposed to go to, but I could also place authors with the articles.  Granted this is the catalog librarian coming out in me and it is really the researchers job to figure that information out.  In the end the articles will go in the correct folder and while I know the authors of the papers, that information will probably not make it onto the finding aid.  Thankfully that “List” will be noted at the very beginning of the Finding Aid and it will be the first folder in the collection. I got through this box and the very first box of Roman Catholic Conversations with the American Baptist Convention.  I put post it notes on the boxes to state their new number and I also made a note of the topics of any significant papers in each of the folders.  This is to help determine if the collection is going to be organized according to date or topic.  I also made a list of books that are going to be separated out of the collection.  These books were cross referenced with CLIO to make sure they were part of Columbia University’s collection already.  They were also cross referenced with WorldCat to determine if there were other copies in other locations.  So if there was a pamphlet that was available offsite at Columbia, but the only other copy was in the Netherlands, we decided to keep the pamphlet with the collection regardless of the fact that it could have been requested through CLIO.  I am keeping track of the books by grabbing citations via Zotera (an app that will grab the citation information of reading material and save it to a library on their server, which you can later use to form a bibliography.)  I copied the bibliographical information from Zotera and made a word document entitled “Separated Items.”  I also listed the Columbia Libraries call number and bibid number.  This way the location and presence of the books in the library can be verified before the books are officially separated from the collection.  A notation of the presence of these books will be noted in the finding aid and the exact list of separated items will be placed in an appendix at the end of the finding aid.

September 18, 2012: Reorganization of files, Part 2   3 1/4 hours

I finished with the reorganization of the folders.  I continued with my same method, as I moved folders from box to box.  I also continued to make a note of the topics of the articles within each folder.  Although about half way through the rest of the reorganization I had determined that it would the wise decision to organize by date and just make a mention of notable topics in the finding aid.  I also continued checking CLIO and WorldCat on the books included in the collection to determine if they were to be separated out or if they were to remain a part of the collection.  In the end there are around 15 books that will be separated out of the collection.

I find myself distracted by some of the papers that were written for consideration at these ecumenical conferences.  I am impressed with the sentiments and recognition of the necessity of unity within all members of the church every where.  I just wanted to record a few of the statements I found in just my brief time sorting through the material.  Keep in mind most of these papers were written in the late 60s.  (Also I have “retouched” the papers in the photographs to get rid of the text that doesn’t apply to what I’m talking about.  I wanted to just show you what the papers look like, but I didn’t want the distraction of other portions of the paper in the photograph.  You can of course look at all of these papers in the collection as soon as I finish the finding aid)

Daniel J. O’Hanlon, S. J. “The Ministry and Order of the Church”
Credit to WAB: American Bilateral Conversations Records, Series 1, Box 4, Folder 16, The Burke Library Archives (Columbia University Libraries) at Union Theological Seminary, New York.

I like the simple realization that what these church leaders are attempting to do isn’t easy, but that division is a problem worth trying to fix.

 I love Glenn E. Baumann’s statement about the right to worship within Inter Christian marriages.

Glenn E. Baumann, “The Churches and Their Attitudes Toward Inter Christian Marriages “
Credit to WAB: American Bilateral Conversations Records, Series 1, Box 5, Folder 2, The Burke Library Archives (Columbia University Libraries) at Union Theological Seminary, New York.

Monsignor Henry G. J. Beck has similar desire for unity rather than division on this same topic.

Monsignor Henry G. J. Beck, “Proposed Pastoral Guidelines for Inter-Christian Marriages”
Credit to WAB: American Bilateral Conversations Records, Series 1, Box 5, Folder 2, The Burke Library Archives (Columbia University Libraries) at Union Theological Seminary, New York.

A couple of quotes from papers I just enjoyed reading, one because I liked the corrections that were penciled in and the other is just a great quote.  (I am unsure of the author as it is not listed on the paper…but it might be on that list!)

Unknown, “The Ordination of Women”
Credit to WAB: American Bilateral Conversations Records, Series 1, Box 5, Folder 4, The Burke Library Archives (Columbia University Libraries) at Union Theological Seminary, New York.

I don’t know if you can read the words that are “carroted” in at the end but it says “respond creatively to…”  It is obvious that unity in all aspects was a difficult task.

I just like this last quote.

Robert McAfee Brown “Order and Ministry in the Reformed Tradition”
Credit to WAB: American Bilateral Conversations Records, Series 1, Box 4, Folder 16, The Burke Library Archives (Columbia University Libraries) at Union Theological Seminary, New York.

I wanted to just give you a taste of what is in this collection.  It is fascinating and relevant even today, as ecumenical discussions are still on going, so of the topics remain the same and some of the topics are new, but the idea behind unity in the church is still a driving force.

September 21, 2012: Label folders, re-folder materials, remove all metal.   3 hours

I began the process of re-housing the material and starting the finding aid.  After a discussion with Brigette it was concluded that organization will be in two series (Series I: Roman Catholic conversations and Series II: Protestant Conversations.) Within those two series it will be alphabetical according to denomination and then by date.  Since that was how my initial re-organization was set up, it is now a fairly easy process of recording on the finding aid each box and it’s folders, as well as labeling new legal size folders appropriately and then removing staples and paper clips of the papers going into each folder.  The staples are removed from pamphlets as well as the regular papers.  I love the staple remover it is awesome.

It is difficult for me to figure out how I am going to eventually be able to move to a “More Product, Less Process” (MPLP) way of creating the finding aid. I am so much attuned to item level description that it is difficult here at the beginning to wrap my head around general box description. I’m glad I am starting out on a collection that I am being allowed to describe to the fullest extent.  It is not quite item level, but it is definitely folder level.  I hope that I can figure out how to process according to MPLP standards.  I think it might be difficult.

I do have to say that I am enjoying all this organizing though.  It is quite fun.

Total hours: 9 1/2

Running hours: 32 3/4

~Daily Journal~ Week 2

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September 10, 2012: Inventory 3 3/4 hours

6 boxes of the WAB: American Bilateral Conversations Records Collection

I started my inventory of the collection today.  I was able to get through 2 1/4 boxes.   To begin with I am making a very detailed inventory, since I am trying to get an idea of what this collection is about.  I’ll post a copy of the inventory when I finish the job.  Additionally I found out that I would be able the librarian viewing of the exhibit of “Crossing Borders” at the Jewish Museum on the 21st instead of coming into the Burke.  I had to register today.  I’ll talk a lot more about the exhibit on the 21st but until then if you’re interested in seeing a preview, here is an article in the NYT that talks about it.

September 11, 2012: Inventory Part 2 3 1/4 hours 

After a very sad train ride into the city this morning that put a nice big delay in my schedule and a damper on my mood, I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to finish the inventory, but I was lucky!  I was able to get through everything in the boxes.  By the time I got to the last two boxes I stopped being so detailed in the description, since it was pretty much the same sorts of things.  Plus I was now familiar with what the collection was about.  Here is the final inventory.  [pdf]

September 14, 2012: Work Plan finished/Finding Aid begun 3 3/4 hours

I created a work plan, [pdf] which according to the process Brigette has created to help with organization has 6 parts to it.  I will summarize those points below.

1. Statement of the research potential of the collection
2. Description of the current physical state of the collection
3. Appraisal (why is this in the archives?)
4. Recommendations for organization
5. Description of preservation needs of any special formats
6. Finding aid elements, divide into series, etc..

After I had finished I sent it to Brigette for review and then had a discussion with her regarding any points she wanted to bring out.  Most of the discussion was based on the future organization of the collection and how to make the finding aid.  They have a template (how awesome is that!)  So I am able to just follow the template.  As I noted at the end of the work plan I am going to start with just a basic organization of Roman Catholic led conversations followed by Protestant led conversations.  Once that is in place I need to start checking paper topic, each research paper’s availability in other mediums to determine if the paper remains in the collection or is separated out.  Once that is done I will have another discussion with Brigette so we can decide whether to just arrange the remaining materials by date or if a topical arrangement would be better for those trying to find these materials.  I’m looking forward to work on Monday.

Total hours: 10 3/4

Running total: 23 1/4