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This entry began because of a word but fits in wonderfully with Memorial Day. There are some words that always  make me smile, and "Skedaddled" is one of them. I found "Skedaddled" while processing a small collection of  Civil War letters, 1861-1862, from Charles Nelson to his uncle, Sam French. "Skedaddled" is an informal way of saying "ran away." You can see "Skedaddled" in the top image, 2 lines of penmanship above the pencil. Charley wrote letters typical for a Civil War soldier, about battles, marching, camp life, fighting and killing rebs or rebels (Confederates), the weather, and he missed and that he wanted news of family. He was literate and had legible penmanship. Half of his letters are partial, pages are now missing. It is clear he was fond of his uncle.  Battles Charly describes in his letters include 1st Bull Run,  Williamsburg, and Fredericksburg.  Below is a transcription of the letter in which he wrote about how he and ...

  Sometimes even an archives loving archivist needs to take a break and smell the flowers. I did this the other day in CMU's Botanical Garden next to the Park library building. Enjoy.

NEDCC has conserved and digitized a 15 th century manuscript,  "the most extensively-illustrated  Vitae Augustini  still in existence,"   on the Life of St. Augustine  from  the Boston Public Library. The volume was selected as  a conservation and digitization priority because of i ts extremely fragile state, that it is "bound in a binding nearly as old as the text,  and both (text and binding) had never been conserved or altered with the exception of one or two historic paper repairs."  Click here to see amazing images of text and the complex and wonderful work of conservators.   LEARN MORE  and view detailed photographs of the conservation treatment steps for this extraordinary manuscript. To learn more about NEDCC projects and activities click here    NEDCC Stories  

  The past year has been a whirlwind for me. While it has been busy, it has also been full of many educational opportunities that I am infinitely grateful for. In January 2020, I was introduced to the Clarke Historical Library’s Historic Film Project. During that time, in a pre-pandemic world, I was trained by another student, Katie Zwick, in the building. Katie was the lead on the project, and I was being trained to take over where she left off once she graduated later that year. I was enjoying my training and looking forward to my future work on the project when the COVID lockdown happened. From March-August 2020, we were not allowed on campus. I had loved working with the film project and was sad that I would not be able to work with it again for a while (at this point, we did not know if we would be allowed back in August). From my short time working on the project, I realized that I wanted to become an audiovisual archivist. I realized that preserving film encompassed my passi...

 The brief blog at the bottom is a nice summary if you are interested in the latest news.   What’s new and next for the REALM project     The latest outputs from the REALM project include new toolkit resources, research on the impacts of vaccines, variants, and ventilation systems on COVID-19 transmission, as well as a blog post on the next phase of t...

On Tues May 18, 2021 the BBC reported "Some Smithsonian museums have reopened following a significant drop in Covid-19 cases and rising vaccination rates in Washington DC. Visitors are still required to social distance and wear masks. The Smithsonian Institution is the largest museum group in the world. Some of the museums now opening their doors include the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African American History and Culture."   For more information see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57147330 The poster is one of many we have documenting CMU history. Enjoy the beautiful colors and thoughts of summer it hopefully brings you.

  As a new archivist there are times when you think what is this or what is the best way to handle this situation (see photo)? With its online conferences and meetings, desired, participation from brand new archivists and students, and now mentoring, SAA is providing more meaningful opportunities for students and new archivists than it did when I began my career, which is wonderful. And the online conferences makes attending and participating a much more feasible option for those with less time, funding, or who have commitments so they cannot leave home for a week, which is also fantastic. I am now in my second year as a SAA mentor for an individual new member or conference attendee, but the option below is a wonderful opportunity to connect with professional in SAA groups, with a specific area/function of interest to you. I encourage participation in this group-specific mentoring. SAA's appointed groups are now seeking to mentor early-career members! Students and new profe...

  This is an example of  extensive use of 1977 masking tape on 1977 Michigan news footage, courtesy of then Channel 9&10 News film crew or editorial staff members.  The green you see is leader, or colored blank film used to separate different film footage or, in this case, news stories. Leader comes in various bright colors and is used in between different films on a large reel, and at the beginning and end of each reel.  They also taped together two broken, incomplete parts of one film cell showing the nose of a plane (see middle image). Standard archival film practice is to cut out that damaged cell completely and splice the complete cells before and after it together. This avoids adding tape and helps preserve the film. Tape dries out over time and leaves adhesive on the film, speeding its decay. Splicing also allows film to move  smoothly through a film projector so it doesn't snag and damage the film. Katie, who is processing this film, looked at this a...

  The libraries parking lot fence was removed during the last two weeks. Campus has moved towards fewer flowers, more grass, lower cost and less maintenance. 

Mystery packages await me now that I'm back from vacation.  The BBC recently reported about the substantial Torlonia collection of ancient marbles that have been locked up in storage for decades. At last some have been cleaned and will be exhibited. I always tell my students what good is it if collections are inaccessible in storage? What good do they do anyone in storage? They need to be accessible. For more about the marbles see https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-57030067

  All my ex-students and ex-interns knows what this image means. It is the end of the term, all processing projects are wrapped up, Mr. Shredder has shredded the last mountain of WD boxes for the term, and we are doing a lot of mini projects such as interfiling, sleeving, copying, updating of information, final checking of finding aids and EAD finding aids, and I'm prepping for summer students. Soon the room will get its once/term good vacuuming and cleaning. I will feel totally cleansed. This is a nice transition to summer in the archives. This summer Katie will process film while doing McNair scholar work and I'll have 3 online summer interns each taking 6 intern (240 hours). With them, my planned work, and learning new things for fall, and covering for someone having surgery, it is going to be a busy summer. I'm taking a break from blogging next week.

  Happy May the 4th be with you day!

The University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center is hiring a Research Services Librarian. I've copied the first part of the job posting and the salary details below; please see the following link for more information (including desired qualifications) and to apply:  https://careers.umich.edu/job_detail/197211/research_services_librarian   Information The  University of Michigan Library  is one of the world’s largest academic research libraries and serves a vibrant University community that is home to 19 schools and colleges, 100 top ten graduate programs, and annual research expenditures approaching $1.5 billion a year. To enable the University’s world-changing work and to serve the public good, the library collects, preserves, and shares the scholarly and cultural record in all existing and emerging forms, and leads the reinvention of the academic research library in the digital age. The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) is seeking a Res...

  A number of campus changes have been and continue to occur. One of the most physically visible to me, because I park in the parking lot right next to the fence, is that the library building fence is coming down. Parts of it were bent. One section near Preston St. is still standing.