Switching Things Up

In the spring of 2016 the Musselman Library intern blog, Blogging the Library, moved to a new platform. Please check our new blog for the latest posts from interns at the library:

http://blogging.musselmanlibrary.org/

Thanks for checking in with the interns at Musselman Library!

The Day is Done

It truly seems as though my time in Special Collections started only a few short weeks ago, when in actuality three months and a variety of projects have since taken place. From making countless boxes, to repairing a 200 year old book, to digitizing dance cards, my time in Special Collections has provided me with invaluable hands-on conservation and processing experience. One of the most unique aspects about Special Collections (that I’ll greatly miss) is the spontaneous experiences of discovering a new historical treasure on every shelf or seeing a patron bring in a valuable item and share their side of the story on any given historical event or time period. I think it goes without saying that I won’t be able to stay away for too long before coming back to visit!

As the Holley Intern, my internship continues through the end of the 2015-2016 academic year; so even though my time in Special Collections has drawn to an end, I’m only moving a few floors down and will be splitting my days between Technical Services and the Research and Instruction Department. It is with sadness that I will be leaving Special Collections, but eager excitement with which I will be starting what are sure to be a variety of new projects!

-Alexa 

And Then There Was One. . .

As you can tell from the many “last posts” below, Special Collections has grown increasingly quiet over the past two weeks, as all of the other interns have completed their time here at the library. Despite being the last one standing, a very quiet Special Collections has allowed me to put the finishing touches on the Dance Card Collection (Shall We Dance) that Avery and I spent a large portion of the summer working on. Though at times the project seemed never ending, between finding new dance cards in the depth of already existing collections, to learning what it means to create metadata for our newly digitized dance cards, the project has been finally launched. 

Here’s a quick screenshot to entice you on over to the actual page. Make sure to pay special attention to the variety of ways to search through the dance card, either by event theme or Greek affiliation.

Enjoy discovering the many treasures we’ve been spending each and every day with! 

For Good: My Last Post of the Summer

Hello!
So the summer has flown by and as my last day is Friday,  here's my last post. I have finished my first draft transcription of the H.L Baugher travel diary and am in the process of proofreading it (which I hope to finish tomorrow!).  I have made a finding guide to describe the diary and it's contents and digitized several pages containing flower samples as well! This project has been so much fun and I have truly enjoyed working so closely with such an amazing artifact. Baugher describes the interesting stories and experiences so well, I feel like I'm right there with him climbing St. Bernarnd (yes the mountain the dogs are named after) or boating around Switzerland. His descriptions are breathtaking and I would love to travel to all the places he visited some day. This internship has certainly changed my perspective for the better and I would like to thank the staff in Special Collections for this amazing opportunity I have had this summer. I can't wait to take all I learned and use it in the future!

Have a great last bit of summer!
Liz

Parting is such Sweet Sorrow

Book repair

Book making

As the words of William Shakespeare elaborate, this will be my final blog post of the summer. Tomorrow will be my last day here at Special Collections as the Diane Werley Smith '73 intern and it is amazing how fast the summer has flown by. For the past few months I have learned and experienced so much and I am grateful for every moment. From processing the letters of a World War II housewife, Lillian Quinn, to rehousing and digitizing dance cards, it has been a busy and fulfilling summer. I believe one of my favorite projects was my work with the dance card collection. After having begun the project this Spring semester it has been wonderful seeing it come full circle; being rehoused and transformed into a digital collection. I can’t thank the staff of Special Collections enough for the great opportunity and all the help that they gave me. Also thank you to my fellow interns for the good times, and fantastic pie times J I’m looking forward to the fall! So for the last time, Avery over and out. Cheers!                                                  

Envelope from the Lillian Quinn Letter Collection

Dance Card rehousing

Our first day

"Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees", My Final Post for the Summer

Showing the swords to the
other interns

As the summer comes to a close, the more I think about my experiences here at Special Collections. This internship was completely different compared to my past internships, going from giving tours to creating finding aids for collections. I lived a Civil War Era Studies student's dream, being able to handle a wide range of artifacts and documents while helping preserve them at the same time. The Hosford Collection has portions of it digitized on GettDigital and I am currently working on reorganizing and editing the Civil War Vertical File Manuscript.  The Hosford Collection helped me establish my understanding of archiving very quickly, double and triple checking my work. His diaries strengthened my understanding of what a soldier's life entailed and the hardships they faced. 

Civil War Book Display
for the CWI Conference

Hoadly G. Hosford
44th New York, Co. I
Post War Years

Hosford's collection was the first of many collections that I got to preserve and explore this summer. They ranged from swords, diaries, personal items, to even rifles. The access to all of the collections allowed me to get a better understanding of what soldiers experienced, remembered and carried during the Civil War. I could have not asked for a better internship this summer to establish my archiving skills and add to my knowledge about the Civil War. I want to thank the staff at Special Collections for their hard work and extremely kind nature in training me and working with me on the Civil War collections. This summer was one full of great memories with coworkers and friends in the area. 
  I wish everyone the best and have a great rest of the summer!

Shall We Dance?

Hello readers! The summer at Special collections is flying by and next week will already be my last week here as the Diane Werley Smith intern ’73. Though the weeks are winding down, we still are busy as bees here in Special Collections. As I said in my last post, I finally finished the rehousing of the Dance Card collection, and the next step taken my Alexa and myself was to start scanning and digitizing the cards for a digital collection. We chose to digitize 56 from around 80 dance cards to serve as highlights of the collection, for their aesthetics and unique charm. From that point we went through the tedious task of scanning each card, some just the front and cover, others multiple pages. After that we learned from Catherine how to create metadata for each card and to upload them into a digital collection. Just today I finished uploading the last of the cards that Alexa and I have been working on for the last few weeks. The next step for this and next week will be some additional corrections and proof reading. We decided to title the collection, Shall We Dance ~ The Gettysburg College Dance Card Collection. I’ll be sure to let you all know when the collection is primed and ready for viewers. So far the project looks great and both Alexa and I are excited for everyone to enjoy these small pieces of Gettysburg College history.

                

In other news, I finally got to rehouse the Lillian Quinn Letter Collection into new binder boxes. The letters are now really happy in their new home with their finding guide and are ready for eager researchers J That is all for today but be sure to tune in next week for the last updates on my, and the other interns’, projects. Ta-Ta for now!