unhiding philadelphia's archival collections
DESCRIPTION
Presented to the University of Pennsylvania's McNeil Center for Early American Studies to make fellows aware of newly available archival collections in their fields of studyTRANSCRIPT
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UnhidingPhiladelphia'sArchivalCollec5onsUniversityofPennsylvania–MacNeilCenter
February2,2011
HollyMengel,ProjectManagerCourtneySmerz,ProjectArchivist
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WhatisPACSCL?
PhiladelphiaAreaConsor5umofSpecialCollec5onsLibraries
– Coopera5vegroupofspecialcollec5onslibrarieswithsharedgoalsfortheircollec5ons
– Foundedin1985with16memberlibraries
– Today,PACSCLiscomposedof35memberlibraries• 4,000,000rarebooks• 260,000linearfeetofmanuscriptsandarchivalmaterials• 9,000,000photographs,maps,architecturaldrawings,andworksofartonpaper• BUT,PACSCLitself,doesnotowncollec5ons
– Longhistoryofconsor5alwork
www.pacscl.org
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HiddenCollec5onsProject
• PACSCLdevelopedandadministered
• FundedbyCouncilonLibraryandInforma5onResources’(CLIR)CatalogingHiddenSpecialCollec5onsandArchivesini5a5ve
www.clir.org/hiddencollec5ons/
• Processandmakeaccessibleforresearchapproximately200hiddencollec*onsofmanuscriptsandarchives
• 23par5cipa5ngPACSCLrepositories
• 27month‐longproject
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Whatarehiddencollec5ons?
• Hiddencollec5ons:
– Unprocessedorunder‐processedcollec5ons
– NOTresearchready
– NOTadver5sedtotheresearchingpublic
– 1000sofhiddencollec5onsinPhiladelphia
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WhyaretheyNOTresearchready?
• Notphysicallyorintellectuallyaccessible
• Havebeenontheshelfforalong5me
– Repositorystaffdoesknowwhat’sinthem
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Theproblemwithhiddencollec5ons
• Managingarchivalcollec5onsis5meconsuming
• BACKLOGofworktobedone
• BUT‐Ifnooneknowsitsthere,andnooneusesit,whykeepit?
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HowPACSCLisdealingwithHiddenCollec*ons
• Follow‐uptoPACSCLsurveyproject,2006‐2008
• Processing/makingaccessible200hiddencollec*ons
• Processing:• Theactofarranginganarchival
collec5on,• Providingarchivalqualityhousing,
and• Describingthecollec5on,orwri5nga
findingaid
• Findingaid:acatalogofthecollec5on,whichcommunicatestoarchivistsandresearcherswhatisinthecollec5onandhowtoaccessthematerialsquicklyandeasily
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Experimenta5on,archivallyspeaking
• Using“MPLP”– Processingatalessintensiverate– Collec5onsrangefromthe17thtothe21stcenturies
• Usestudentlabor
• UsetheArchivists’Toolkitdatabase
• CreateamodeltoeliminateprocessingBACKLOGs
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…Makingcollec5onsresearchready…
Beforearchivalprocessing AVerarchivalprocessing
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…Andeasiertofind
• Createdacentralonlinefindingaidsite– DevelopedbytheUniversityofPennsylvaniaLibraries– Findingaidsfromall23repositoriesinoneplace– Weareaddingnewfindingaidsallthe5me– WeareNOTdigi5zingcollec5ons
findingaids.pacscl.org
• Relatedcollec5onsalloverPhiladelphia
– i.e.theWisterfamily,women’shistory,hor5culturalcollec5ons,etc.
• Collec5onsandinforma5oninunexpectedplaces– WordWarIIphotosattheAcademyofNaturalSciences
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Searchingcapabili5es
• Searchacrossrepositories
• Keywordsearching
• Facetedsearching– Selectasmanyorasfewfacetcategoriesasyoulike
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Oneyearin…
90unhiddencollec5onsin18repositories:
AcademyofNaturalSciencesBrynMawrCollegeChesterCountyHistoricalSocietyCollegeofPhysiciansofPhiladelphiaDrexelUniversityDrexelUniversityCollegeofMedicineFreeLibraryofPhiladelphiaHaverfordCollegeHistoricalSocietyofPennsylvaniaIndependenceSeaportMuseumLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphiaLutheranSeminaryatPhiladelphiaPresbyterianHistoricalSocietyUniversityofDelawareTempleUniversityWagnerFreeIns5tuteofScience
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Upcomingprocessingwork
• Another60collec5onstogo
TempleUniversity–SpecialCollec5ons
HistoricalSocietyofPennsylvania
PresbyterianHistoricalSocietyPhiladelphiaMuseumofArt
UniversityofDelaware
Na5onalArchivesRosenbachMuseumandLibrary
Thisisjustthe5poftheiceberg
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Whatareweprocessing?
Justaboutanything!AllwithaHIGHresearchvalue
clir.pacscl.org
• TheAmericanRevolu5on• TheArts:FineArts,Music,Performing
Arts,andWri5ng• BusinessandCommerce• ColonialHistory• Educa5on• FamilyHistoriesandGenealogy• HistoryofPhiladelphiaCultural
Ins5tu5ons• Law,Poli5csandGovernment• Mari5meHistory• Medicine• MilitaryHistory• RaceandEthnicHistory• Religion• Science• TravelandTourism• Women’sHistory• Wri5ng,PublishingandBookselling
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Collec5onsbyTopic
clir.pacscl.org
Pre‐1850sStrengths
• AmericanRevolu5on
• Colonialhistory• Medicine
• Quakerfamilies
• Women’shistory
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DillwynandEmlenfamilycorrespondence,1770‐1818
AttheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
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PierreEugeneDuSimi5èrepapers,1492‐1784
AttheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
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SarahWistarRhoadsfamilypapers
AtHaverfordCollege
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ThomasLeiperandfamilybusinessrecords,1771‐1947
AttheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
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MinimalProcessing
• Designedforlate20thcenturyrecords…– Sosmallerrepresenta5onofpre‐1850material
• ExtensiveholdingsNOTnecessarilyrepresented:– ChesterCountyHistoricalSociety– CollegeofPhysiciansofPhiladelphia– FreeLibraryofPhiladelphia– GermanSocietyofPennsylvania– HaverfordCollege– HistoricalSocietyofPennsylvania– IndependenceSeaportMuseum– LibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia– LutheranTheologicalSeminaryatPhiladelphia– PresbyterianHistoricalSociety– RosenbachMuseumandLibrary– UniversityofDelaware– UniversityofPennsylvania– WagnerFreeIns5tuteofScience
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HistoryofMedicalEduca5on
FromtheLoganfamilypapersattheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
FromtheRushfamilypapersattheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
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Women’sHistory
FromtheElizabethGraemeFergussonpapersatLibrarycompanyofPhiladelphia FromtheLoganfamilypapers
atLibrarycompanyofPhiladelphia
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Howtofindus……andthecollec5ons
clir.pacscl.org
findingaids.pacscl.org‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
www.pacsclsurvey.org/
www.pacscl.org
www.clir.org/hiddencollec5ons/