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We just received a nice autograph album of Bertha Reid (1882-1970) which has a fine illustrated cover and a number of lovely multi-color illustrations in its pages. The autographs and poems the writers wrote date from 1893 through 1902. The poems are nostalgic about friends, remembering, and many are religious in tone. Born in North Dakota, Bertha lived during some of her teenage years with an aunt in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. She attended high school in Michigan and then moved to Canada where she graduated from the Conservatory of Music at age 18, accomplished in piano and violin. She was one of Alberta's leading musicians for over 50 years. Here are some highlights of the album. The first autograph and poem is from her mother to My Dearest Daughter. 

  We literally ran out of carts last week. As fast as a huge donation of periodicals is being cataloged, more are arriving. We had 8 carts full now there are 11. Even my spare archives carts were seized. These are all railroads or fishing periodicals. We now have the motherload on both topics.

As an archivist I was taught that there are living and dead primary source collections. Dead collections  never grow or have anything added to them after you initially processed and described them. They are finite. Usually the donor (a person or organization) dies or otherwise ceases to exist and their collections are donated by family, friends, or members, or even someone who purchases the collection at a yard sale.  Living collections are donated while an organization or person is alive and functional. As the creator continues to exist and create materials they are routinely donated as additions to their collection in the archives. In the Clarke we have living and dead primary source collections. During my career I have been pleasantly surprised that some collections which were dead for decades, have suddenly revived, similar to although not as excitingly as Jon Snow's gasping, amazing revival. I think much of the revival of dead collections is due to primary source descript...

As fall term approaches, many changes continue with policies and buildings, some of which are due to COVID-19, some not. Here are some building renovation projects on campus. I wonder how many of these projects will be completed in the next week? The big windows in Finch were removed. They still haven't been replaced. Honestly, even the windows being removed is an aesthetic improvement. Java City in the library building is either being updated or wrapped to protect it from damage while the doors around it are updated. I think the bathrooms are being updated as a place to shelter in case of emergencies. In the UC the food court is under renovation (again) and will open later in the term. What was once the Burrito Bowl, and has been repeatedly remodeled since I was hired, is becoming Your Style. It is not yet open, but it looks like it will be soon. It was closed all summer. Except for Star Bucks it will probably be the only place in the UC where you can get food when the term starts...

We received yet another miscellaneous collection of political campaign objects, encompassing both state and national politicians. We have political collections with a wide variety of political campaign objects in them, including clothing, like shirts and hats, banners, bumper stickers, pins, flags, stickers or decals, name cards, dolls, statues, bobbleheads, household and personal care objects, like combs and nail files, photographs, brochures, postcards, calendars, notebooks, balloons, pencils, etc.  There are 3 main archival challenges with these collections: 1) stickiness of bumper stickers and pins. The foil part often falls off making the backs sticky or items are stuck or melted together due to chemical change over time. 2) pokey pins that can send you to an ER for a tetanus shot. As an archivist I am constantly getting papercuts and occasionally, despite my best efforts. Most of the time it is from various objects people used before paperclips were widely available. Straight...

 The August REALM report is interesting, particularly the beneficial import of good ventilation. See https://www.oclc.org/realm/research/research-briefing-20210812.html?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=REALM+New+outputs+8-12-21&utm_campaign=&utm_term=REALM%20Project%20Email%20Updates

  Expand Your Professional Development with New Courses Technology Management for Archivists  September 9, 16, 23, and 30 Encoded Archival Context (EAC-CPF)  | September 13 Accessioning and Ingest of Digital Records | September 29-30 Crosswalking Metadata  | October 5 Email Archiving  | October 13-14 Arrangement & Description Fundamentals | October 25 and October 27 Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Fundamentals) | November 8-9 Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Advanced) | November 10-11 Courses WILL count towards the in-person requirement for the A&D and/or DAS programs. Limited enrollment to ensure a quality online learning experience for attendees. SAA’s Management Track Hone your personnel, finance, facilities, and career management skills to advance in archives. Courses are available on-demand to fit your schedu...

I've spent the last few days hunting for images and related negatives for a researcher related to CMU Track. Here is the process. which involved several hours over several days. This is how research goes in collections which are not digitized. First, I checked the finding aid for the CMU. Athletics collection. I search multiple boxes that had women's track images and the patron's student file. I  finally found the image in the sixth box, in a group of galley proofs. Galley proofs are sheets of image prints made directly from the negatives in the exact order of the negatives. They are small and look little positive prints of the negatives which in this period, 1990s, were in strips. They are organized by school term and year.  The photographers used galley proofs to determine which image of several similar shots were the best. They took a red crayon and circled or marked the images they wanted to print. Sometimes they put an X through an image that is particularly poor quali...

 The US just returned over 17,000 items looted from Iraq  https://www.cnn.com/style/article/iraq-us-artifacts-repatriation/index.html   This is an act of replevin, returning looted, stolen historical and cultural works and artifacts. Hobby Lobby bought a lot of stolen, looted archaeological artifacts.

Hello everyone! We are seeking contributing editors and peer reviewers for an Indigenous SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Contexts) edit-a-thon being planned for the Fall of 2021. The edit-a-thon event will be held on October 11th and 12th as a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This edit-a-thon aims to improve discovery of Indigenous archival material that has been dispersed to multiple repositories, and to begin exploring best practices around entities in SNAC for Indigenous, Native American, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, or First Nations individuals and Nations, as well as for colonial actors and institutions whose records hold relevance for Indigenous researchers. No prior experience participating in an edit-a-thon or working with the SNAC platform is required.   We invite archivists, librarians, and scholars/practitioners in related fields at any career stage to participate. We especially encourage MLIS students (and other graduate students) and early career profess...

 The garden between the library and fountain has morphed from mostly flowers and some veg to include a Native American presence focused on the 3 sisters: beans, squash, corn. Other veg include cukes and kolhrabi. There is a spice section. Many flowers remain, to attract and support bees.