History Sleuthing

So the past few days have been busy - not because there have been a mass amount of researchers, but because I've been trying to answer questions that come in via email and the "Ask a Librarian" system on the LOC website. As the questions come into our division, our boss delegates questions to each member of the reference staff so we all can help answer them in a timely manner. (I think two or three days is the average response time)

On Thursday, I had three different questions to answer- all requiring me to head back into the stacks for some answers. The first one, and probably the most straightforward, was a USMC historian asking for the exact date that a Marine was awarded his Medal of Honor by President Coolidge. The historian gave a date range of three months in 1928. To get the exact date, I had to go back through Coolidge's presidential papers and retrieve his appointment books from 1928 and then flip through the pages until I found the date: June 9th.

The second inquiry I had was regarding a much more recent archive: the Samuel Dash papers. If you don't know who he is (I didn't...), he's a famous lawyer, most noted for being chief counsel for the Senate Watergate Committee during Watergate. A researcher who last visited in 2012 emailed to ask us to find a document from the Enron Senate Hearings in 2002. Unfortunately, the box number given to me by the researcher did not contain the document - and I checked three times. To be sure that I had the correct box, I looked up when exactly the researcher was in the Reading Room in 2012 and then went and found the call slips from 2012 to check which boxes he had requested. Sure enough, it was the box I had already thoroughly combed through. Thankfully, after a tedious internet search, I was able to find the document online through a government publication website.

Third, a patron had emailed to ask for copies of a specific letter from January 4, 1778 concerning provisions for the Continental Army. For this, I was only given a vague idea of which collection contained this document and the sender and recipient. The Manuscript Division's finding aids are quickly becoming my new best friend in searches like this, because they list the contents of each container of a certain collection in enough detail to help you know which box, or microfilm reel in this case, will have what you're looking for. For an interesting example, you can check out the Abraham Lincoln Papers finding aid here: http://rs5.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2009/ms009304.pdf. 

So after consulting the finding aid, I then was able to narrow my search down to one reel of microfilm (which is still quite a bit) and from that had to read the microfilm until I was able to find the exact letter needed. This was a case where there were a slew of letters all written on the same day by similar people about the provisions for the army, so when in doubt, copy it all and send it to the patrons to figure out. :)

After all this, I was on the desk later that afternoon, and needless to say, when I got home I was exhausted both physically and mentally from all the fact-finding. Thankfully these questions are helping me to a) get into the collections themselves and b) learn how the collections are organized and the resources available to navigate them. Every question I am assigned always brings about a learning experience - which hopefully means by the end of the summer, I'll be familiar with at least some of the material, finding aids, and resources in the Manuscript Division!

Finding my groove

Thankfully the end of this week brought with it a slow down in the amount of readers/researchers visiting the Manuscripts Reading Room. Not that I don't enjoy the hustle and bustle of always going into the stacks for something else, but it was nice to sit down at the desk and work on an email question and not be interrupted four times. We'll see tomorrow if the trend continues, but somehow I doubt that.

Another "show and tell" (see last week's post if you don't know what that is) this week gave me the amazing opportunity to work with the Library's Core Collection. The collection consists of documents, sketches, letters and photographs that are historically significant and fairly recognizable for anyone who's taken Fourth grade American History. The collection is housed in plastic and card stock cases that allow them to be moved and touched without much damage - which makes them easy to pull out when we find out that a group of congressional interns are coming in less than two hours and want to see some "cool" stuff. (Apparently, according to my boss, it's not that infrequent that they are asked to provide a show and tell on super short notice.)

So some of the materials that we specifically chose for this group of interns was a letter written by Jackie Kennedy to her wedding photographer, Alexander Graham Bell's first sketch of the telephone, a letter written by Lincoln to a subordinate in the army about African Americans receiving the same widow's rights as white women, and a petition written around 1692 by a group of women accused of witchcraft in Ipswich, asking for bail. The whole collection is digitized so anyone can look at these online (here's the address: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mcchtml/corhome.html) but I always think there's an awe-inspiring aspect of being able to see the tangible object in its original form.

Also part of the show and tell - something I didn't even know we had in the Manuscript Division - was a collection of three separate locks of Thomas Jefferson's hair. My first reaction, and some of my family's, was more disgust than interest, but historically, people would cut locks of hair from their loved ones after they passed away as something to save as a memento. I didn't find it particularly appealing, however the interns all found it exciting to see.

On Friday, the Junior Fellows had the unique option to go on a tour of the high-efficiency storage facility the library has in Fort Meade, MD. As you can see from the pictures below, the warehouses are huge, but even more impressive is the engineering innovations that help to conserve the materials stored there. For example, the warehouses are kept at 50 degrees Fahrenheit with about 30% humidity - needless to say, we were all a bit chilly when I took these photos. Also, there's another "cold" storage area specifically for microfilm that is housed at 35 degrees Fahrenheit with 30% humidity. In order to get a microfilm reel from the cold storage area, it has to be left in a 50 degree staging area for 48 hours to minimize the condensation damage when it gets transported to the library.

The process of shelving the materials is also rather unusual but effective: books are stored according to size and not subject. This way, storage shelves can be designed to match a specific height and leave more room for more books. In order to prevent mass confusion, each book is bar-coded and then placed in a box with other similarly sized books, which in itself is also bar-coded and then placed on a specific shelf location, which, surprise, is also bar-coded. Then all these bar codes are linked to that one book so when the request comes in from the Library, finding the book on the shelf is a short task.

When I go on field trips like this, I am amazed at how all the storage facilities, reading rooms and different divisions work together to form the largest library in the world. I am a small part of what happens in the Library, and yet, what I do is just as important as the archivists, conservators and historians. It is a truly incredible place to be a part of - and I'm really loving every minute of it.

The preparation area, where materials get cleaned and ready to go on the shelf

A view of one of the rows of stacks. The shelving goes 30 ft up and there are multiple rows per store room.

The forklift they have to use to get materials down from the upper shelves.

A view looking down to another store room, there are 3 in total with plans to build more.

The front of the building - very ordinary for a not-so-ordinary facility.

Summer has begun!

Summer has begun, and I know so because this week we saw a massive influx of researchers in the reading room who are on their summer breaks. Monday we had so many people, it was all hands on deck at the reference desk - I walked so many steps going to retrieve materials from the stacks that I probably hit my 10,000 for the day before I took my lunch break. The rest of the week remained more busy but tapered off towards Thursday and Friday, but all the experienced staffers keep saying it will only become more crowded as the summer goes on.

I am feeling more and more at home in the Manuscript Division as I continue to answer reference questions (both in person and via email), navigate the stacks, and work with the patrons. Wednesday morning I attended the monthly staff meeting where the main topic on the agenda was the Kissinger Papers and their restriction and accessibility of the collection within the library. Since a portion of the papers are jointly owned by the LOC and Yale University, the collection has a complicated access process.

One of the absolute highlights of my week was helping my boss set up what we call a "show and tell" for a congressman and some of his constituents who were planning to visit that day. (Pictures below) A show and tell involves the staff finding interesting items within our collections and prepping them for display in our mini conference room. When it's finished, it looks like a small archives exhibit like you would see in a museum.

This particular show and tell was geared towards Arkansas history (that's where the congressman was from) and so my boss pulled a few letters written by an Arkansas judge, Jacob Trieber, to President Taft and President Roosevelt, along with their responses (typewritten, of course). Trieber was the first Jewish federal judge in the US serving from 1900 to 1927 and wrote to both presidents about various issues - once concerning a racial conflict in his home state.

Another cool item he pulled was a petition from the 1830's against Arkansas being admitted to the Union. The manuscript had well over 100 signatures and there were at least 10 more in the same folder, the petitions all originating from the fact that Arkansas was a slave state and would tip the balance of power in Congress. Controversial stuff.

I enjoyed setting up the mini exhibit, listening to my boss' advice about how to display certain items and placing some of the more delicate manuscripts in Mylar film so that they could be handled without damage. The experience made me look forward to the museum exhibit development class I'm hoping to take towards the end of my MLIS program - I think designing exhibits is a great balance between archival work and teaching.

This week also had myself and Luke (my co-junior fellow) starting on our Display Day project for the end of the summer. My supervisor suggested we take a look at William Temple Hornaday's journal from his Buffalo hunt in the west. The journal is from 1886 when Hornaday was sent west to hunt Buffalo for displays in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. It's an incredibly personal and detailed account of the day to day activities of the hunting party, including weather conditions, travel arrangements and beautiful descriptions of scenery. Luke and I are hoping to find another item in the collection to supplement the journal for display, but it on its own is a wonderful piece of history. I'm hoping to read the whole thing before the end of the summer, although with all the researchers and questions, reading time is not a luxury I often have.

So week 2 ended and left me in a quiet but content exhaustion - this weekend is dedicated to rest and relaxation before the Monday morning frenzy starts again.

The entrance to the Manuscript Reading Room

The table length mini show and tell display that my boss allowed me to help "curate"

On the left, the letters exchanged between Jacob Trieber and Teddy Roosevelt and on the right, letters between Trieber and Taft

In the middle (on top of the green folder) you can see the petition against Arkansas entering the Union

My most interesting pull this week: A giant, very heavy, leather bound book from 1912, it's 1902 counterpart is on the cart on the next shelf down - I thought they were really cool (except for the fact that one was on the top shelf...)

Hitting the ground running

So one week under my belt at the Library and I'm feeling pretty confident. The week began on Tuesday with paperwork processing and getting our official ID badges that allow us to enter the library before the general public and use staff entrances around other sides of the building. We met our supervisors as well as other Junior Fellows who will be working within our departments before multiple informational sessions dealing with security, collections management, and our research presentation day at the end of the summer.

The next morning (Wednesday), we had our keynote address delivered by the head of the D.C. Public Library, which was fantastic. However, the real highlight of the morning was our guided tour of the Jefferson Building with a library rector. She pointed out the symbolism and meanings of architectural elements and artwork throughout the main hall and reading room. I've been in the Jefferson Building before, but had never fully appreciated all the nuanced work that went into the decor and the ingenuity of the architects who were building it in the 1890's.

Beginning work that afternoon, I was led around the Manuscript stacks by my supervisor and given a (VERY) brief overview of the general flow of the reference desk and duties I'll be expected to preform. The other Junior Fellow and I began to orientate ourselves to the layout of the building by retrieving materials for patrons as new call slips came in - asking for help along the way for materials that were difficult to locate or off-site. I felt fairly comfortable forging my way through the maze of manuscripts due to my supervisor's note that the only awful mistake I could make would be to allow a patron access to a restricted collection - and as long as I didn't do that, I was doing fine.

By far, the best part of working in the stacks is walking by some of (in my humble opinion) the most amazing collections within the Manuscript Division. Notable names that I saw listed on document boxes include: Clara Barton, Thurgood Marshall, George McClellan, the Wright Brothers, and of course, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Another responsibility I enjoy is answering reference questions posed via the LOC website. In  responding to a patron's research question about Peter Force (He's a very cool guy, you should look him up), I found on one of the microfilm reels a letter written by John Hancock, which was clearly recognizable from his famous signature. Working on these questions is the main method by which I get to investigate the collections, so needless to say, I'm looking forward to more of them!

By Friday afternoon, both the other Junior Fellow and I were both pretty exhausted, but I feel like we both are integrating ourselves well into the staff and slowly but surely are learning the way things work.

The cover of the orientation booklet. Also known as the guide to everything that's going on this summer in the Library

One of the hallways on the upper floor of the great hall in the Jefferson Building. Neoclassicism was a huge influence on the design of the library before it opened in 1897.

This is the original office door of the Librarian of Congress from when the building opened.