November 13-November 15

It is very hard for me to believe but I am almost done with my internship. I’ve been working long shifts on Mondays and Wednesdays, so this has allowed me to acquire plenty of hours. It looks as if next Wednesday will be my last day. However, whether or not I have enough hours, I want to continue until my processing of the collection is complete. The completion of my processing is very close. All the folders have been given proper titles and alphabetization. The alphabetization was a little difficult because I misunderstood my supervisor’s instructions and assumed they only had to be alphabetized per box. Actually, the alphabetization’s relationship with the different boxes didn’t matter, with my supervisor’s help everything was sorted out. Now all I have left to do is the coding and typing up the historical context of the collection, this context will be uploaded to the internet where it will describe the collection to those looking at the Special Collection’s website. The coding is the top priority because it is in this area that I require the most help. I’ve worked with HTML coding before, but I have never worked with XML which is being used to code the names of the folders and series of the collection. XML is not that different from HTML and I am confident that the more I use the more used to it I will be. Also, box three will be replaced with a box shorter in length since the folders in there are shorter than expected.


Along with processing I have read two articles concerning archiving that left an impression on me. The first article was about a team of archivists who are cataloging all the items in Paisley Park, the former residence of the now deceased rockstar Prince. The team has cataloged more than 7,000 items encompassing notes, sketches, Prince’s Walkman, articles of clothing, receipts, instruments and many more. This article has reminded me that archiving is not solely concerned with documents but with all sorts of different items. This includes items that do not physically exist, which is what digital archives specialize in cataloging. However, while the archivist team is charged with looking after the grounds of Paisley Park and are allowed to change the residence a little bit, such as replacing the candles with artificial ones, they are not allowed to touch Prince’s ‘massive audio-video collection.’ While this is for legal reasons, I believe that this is a shame. Without archivists to look after this music collection there is no one to do preservation work. Actually, an article from last Thursday stated part of the recordings were damaged, with archivists present this could have been avoided. The second article has to do Cartier jewelers hosting an exhibition of its jewelry archive. What made an impression on me was that the jewelry on display is available to special VIP buyers. This shows that archiving also has a commercial element to it as well. Many other companies can use Cartier’s method of using their archives for commercial use.    

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