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