what kinds of containers do archival collections arrive in?

-




There is no limit, amazingly, to the variety of containers in which people store collections and in which they are donated to the archives.  This week is the first time I've received a flash drive in a VHS videotape case, although I have received information in a wide variety of containers over the years. Sometimes they are taped or stapled to containers. Here are some of the containers I've experienced: boxes-wooden, cardboard, plastic, decorative and plain, handmade or purchased; envelopes of all shapes, sizes, and materials-paper, plastic, carboard; photographic storage containers, a wide variety, including slide carousels in boxes, plastic pages for negatives of all shapes and sizes, and wooden boxes for glass-plate negatives; bags of all kinds, shapes, sizes, and material- shopping, garbage, clothing bags, and food storage baggies, as well as  plastic wrap and tin foil; luggage and briefcases; milk crates; desk organizers and portfolio file carry cases, both the kind you carry by the handle or mounted on wheels that you pull; plastic storage tubs of all kinds and sizes; diverse office file cabinets; in purses, wallets; in or pinned to clothing; wrapped in sheets; and in mill or feed sacks.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some. It's always an interesting experience opening archival donations containers. I do so with both excitement and trepidation and often fear damaging my fingers. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

25th work anniversary

-
Image
Today is my 25th work year anniversary. I don't think anyone knows it but me. On July 5, 1996 I parked in the small lot west of Park Library and took the elevator to 4th floor. I had just cracked my windshield and was so embarrassed about it. My desk was in a work room with a kitchen where everyone ate, no privacy at all. My first job with a few students was processing Senator Griffin's 400 cubic foot collection. I had a brand new, huge computer that wasn't plugged in yet. It took up most of my desk space. When I taught Lib 197 we did so in a room where only I had a computer. My job has morphed so much since then. I am grateful for all the positives over the years and through my various jobs. Mostly it's been good. I try to learn from the good and the bad. I thank God for  this job and the interesting work I've done, and mostly for my amazing students throughout the years, and all the wonderful people on and off campus I've met and collaborated with and been pri
Read more

Packing the last of CMU. Athletics' physical historical records cache

-
Image
Yesterday my students, Rebekah and Natalie, and I had quite an experience. We loaded my car with 100 flattened cubic foot boxes. We drove them to the Athletics complex and unloaded and made them into boxes. With help from four of the Athletics staff and students we moved the boxes down three levels to what was a handball court, now a storage room. The elevator only goes down one level. We then started boxing file cabinets and a table full of CMU Athletics' student athlete folders and photographs. It was hot and humid with no air flow. We packed about 25 cubic feet. We could not pack everything because three cabinets remain locked. While one is missing a drawer, the rest are completely full of records. Once those cabinets are unlocked, the Athletics students will pack their contents. Eventually, Facilities Management will move all those boxes to the Clarke. Yippee for collaboration. Everyone did a great job. This is the last of Athletics' historical physical records cache in the
Read more

Slides and negatives

-
Image
  Yes, we still get non-digital slides and negatives donated. There are two negatives of an identified man holding his infant son in the backyard in summer. The slides are of  buildings, street scenes, and trees, some in winter, in Millbrook, Michigan, where the man lived. There are also slides of a goat. Many of the images are dated with a year, which is helpful for anyone researching the village's history.  During archival processing I will withdraw duplicate images, of which there appear to be many, and images of the goat. It's cute, but has no long term research value. 
Read more