New direction

Over the past couple years, this blog has sort of limped along. It's served as a very scant update of my academic and pre-professional career. Now, as my undergraduate studies (FINALLY) draw to a close, I would like to turn it into something a bit more - a place for me to discuss, dissect, and disseminate some of my ideas about this professional life. I want to shore up my online presence and have an established portfolio of digital work that I can be proud of.

One of the things that helped me get into this mindset in a meaningful way was this post from Jason Heppler on what he's learned as an academic blogger.

Another motivator came to me via Kate Theimer at www.archivesnext.com. It's called
23 Things for Archivists, and its a collaborative challenge from archives professionals to archives professionals to embrace the myriad tools of Web 2.0. I think it will be a great platform for exploring new resources and services, which will hopefully give me a head start for grad school.

The first "Thing" is blogging, so consider this step 1!

Progress update

It has been 9 months since I began working full time here in the archives. Every month, I feel more certain that I made the right decision (even though it has meant a 7 month delay in graduating). My expectations for what I might learn here have certainly been exceeded; I may not be able to participate in or initiate all the projects that I can dream up, but I have been exposed to an enormous spectrum of open source software, library technologies, and collaborative projects. I have also had an opportunity to apply archival theory in processing large raw collections. For an introduction to the world of archives, I really could not have been more fortunate.

Working here has meant limiting my activity in local historical societies; tomorrow, I'll be presenting at the Smith County Historical Society meeting and I applied to present at the Digital Frontiers conference in Denton. I haven't heard back from them yet, so it seems likely that my proposal was not selected.

In any case... I'm going to try to do more with this blog, as I explore Web 2.0 technologies, learn to program, and follow conferences. More to come.

Sarah McClendon's take on Watergate

Thought I'd share this blogpost that went up on the UT Tyler UASC blog today, titled "Sarah McClendon, in her own words: Reflections on Nixon, Watergate, and the Press"

http://uttyleruasc.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/sarah-mcclendon-in-her-own-words-reflections-on-nixon-watergate-and-the-press/

Spring updates

After my last update, I dove headfirst into my new position as archives assistant. Transitioning to a full-time position from a 19.5 hr/week student worker job has really shaped my future outlook in unexpected ways.

Some of the things I have been working on in these last six months:

Copy cataloging
Limited original cataloging (theses)
DACS
Digital preservation standards
Metadata standards for digital content
Institutional Repositories
Exhibit making
Records management
Processing university records

My undergraduate studies are winding down. Before I took this full time position, I was set to graduate by May 2012. Now, I'm limited to 6-9 hours per semester. With the course rotation at my relatively small state school, that means I won't graduate until December 2012. On the plus side, this gives me plenty of time to scope out graduate programs.

I had previously found myself on the "public history" side of archives, but now I am leaning towards records management. I am hoping to set up a few informational interviews in the near future to get some more insight on this.

That's all for now.

New job, new research

On September 1st, I began a new full-time position in the Muntz library UASC as the archives assistant. I am in the final stage of processing and describing the McClendon papers. Terra and I have some really exciting ideas for this collection once the finding aid is finalized.

In the meantime, I have a few research projects going in local history. The first is a survey of Smith County Prohibition crime and the second is a survey of post-Reconstruction lynchings in Smith County. Both are quite promising, with significant returns from a scan of historical newspapers.

More to come later. I'll try to update more than once this semester!

Forrays into publishing, and other adventures

With the semester well under way, and most of my midterms behind me, I have an opportunity to catch up.

Amazing things have been happening since the conference.

First and foremost, our local campus chapter of the Walter Prescott Webb Society (a Texas history group for university students, affiliated with TSHA) is experiencing some kind of renaissance. We have somehow managed to attract a plethora of talented and tenacious history students who really want to "do" things. Recent projects we have undertaken include a guest lecture series, volunteer commitments at local history events (a Civil War reenactment and a Pioneer Day), and the design/purchase of club tchotchke (pins, shirts, a banner). We have also discussed hosting student conferences and creating a chapter newsletter.

I am conducting an unofficial campaign to get myself elected "Second Vice-President", a bizarrely named position which includes membership management and community outreach. In addition to handing out calendars of community events each month and soliciting volunteers, I have designed a membership survey through Survey Monkey (AWESOME resource) which has proven exceptionally informative. Elections will be held later in the month.

The internship mentioned previously (at the Parrot Park and Old Mill Pond Museum in Lindale, Texas)is well under way. I have adopted the Blacksmith Shop as my area of interest. I was a blacksmith's apprentice in high school for Shadowhawk Blades out of Winnsboro, Texas. Because our work frequently involved archaic tools and techniques, I gained a life-long appreciation for the topic.

My intern duties at the Old Mill Pond Museum include cataloging, appraising, and describing tools and equipment which date back to the Great Depression (and the turn of the century). Finding the resources to appraise these tools has been a real adventure. I have made it my mission to leave a healthy catalog of sources for the interns who will follow me. We are the inaugural group, so I am compiling everything from scratch. The real danger with the internship is the temptation to spend my entire weekend on the site. It is an astounding collection of historic tools, machines, gadgets, and displays representing Lindale, Texas from 1890-1940.

Check out the museum's Youtube channel here, including live tours and working demonstrations.

The next event worth noting: Our new archivist has arrived. This is a major milestone in the growth of our department, and I am very excited about future projects. The finding aid I created last semester should be published to the website soon. I am still processing the Sarah McClendon papers (about eight archival boxes of material left to go). Once this drudgery is completed, I will create a finding aid for this collection as well. It is a tremendous opportunity for me, and I am learning constantly (even through the drudgery, I will admit).

Last but not least, I have taken on a rather ambitious project. I have volunteered to act as "interim" chair for the Chronicles publication committee of the Smith County Historical Society. The Chronicles have been dormant for over seven years, although the market for backordered issues remains rather robust. We anticipate that a revival of the Chronicles will attract new members and strengthen interest in the activities of the Historical Society.

That being said, my work is really cut out for me on this project. I have limited experience with publishing and editing (fortunately, we have no shortage of volunteer editors, as well as a volunteer to handle layout and design). The bulk of my duties, as I see them now, will consist of coordinating between authors and editors, reaching out to local groups, promoting the Chronicles, and possibly writing grants. At this point, our venture is purely exploratory. We will meet again in about two months; at that time, I hope to have a host of information prepared as well as a "plan of attack".

So. Enough said for tonight (or maybe too much!)

Lessons from the conference

Overall, the STEM conference ("Bridging Research and Practices) was a great experience. I definitely underestimated how exhausted I would be this morning. I left campus Wednesday afternoon right after my last class and drove to Austin, presented Thursday at 1:30 (90 minute workshop), and left Austin Thursday night at 5. I lost about twenty minutes on some back country roads after I missed a turn, but I managed to arrive in Tyler about 10:30.

Here, in the foggy aftermath, is what I have learned.

1. If you can upgrade from the economy rental to the compact, do it. I didn't. I know now how much I appreciate my truck's cruise control.

2. Always, always, always opt for the GPS rental... at least if you are me. I have a horrible sense of direction. If I had not had my GPS, I would probably still be driving around in some tiny farm town outside of Buffalo.

3. Hotel desserts are never as yummy as they look.

4. When in doubt, take a nap. They are awesome.

5. One word: Audiobooks. If I had planned better, I would have stopped at the public library before I left town and picked up Keith Richard's biography (narrated by Johnny Depp). As it happened, I ended up buying David Sedaris' "Squirrel seeks Chipmunk" for the drive home.

6. Plan your presentation, practice like crazy, and take all evaluations with a grain of salt. One person said I did a great job answering questions, another said I did poorly; one person said I went too fast and covered too much, one person said I didn't cover enough, and another said I went "just the right pace" (this person also wrote that I "made [her] feel comfortable to make mistakes". Yay!)

Working with K-12 educators was a surreal experience. I was glad to have the opportunity to see what kind of strategies real teachers employed in the classroom, and to discuss some of the unique concerns which inevitably pop up when you are working with kids. It was definitely a departure from my normal milieu.

On that note, I'm headed back to the grind...

STEM conference presentation

On Thursday, January 20th I will be leading a Prezi workshop at the 4th annual Texas STEM conference, "Bridging Research and Practices". This Prezi will be part of my demonstration to social science educators. Enjoy!

Fourscore and seven zooms ago: Prezi in the History Classroom on Prezi

A look ahead

Next semester looks promising so far.

The Archives will be participating in the UT Tyler 40th Anniversary celebration (a semester long event), which should bring considerable publicity and attention to our work and the people who made the university possible.

The Webb society has a terrific group of members who are eager to dive into some nitty gritty work, which brings the possibility of exciting projects (some of the ideas tossed around: helping the Smith County Historical Society index original texts and newspapers; collecting oral histories of prominent community members; documenting forgotten and neglected cemetaries, in conjunction with the genealogical society).

Dr. Newsom, faculty sponsor of the Frank R. Smyrl chapter of the Webb Society (and a truly inspiring professor, mentor, and historian), has arranged an internship for the Spring 2011 semester with the Old Mill Pond Museum (through the City of Lindale). About six students (including myself) are enrolled.

I have also been asked to speak at a statewide conference in Austin next January (the STEM 2011 Bridging Research & Practice conference) on ways to integrate specific technologies in history classrooms. At this point, I expect to present demos on Livescribe technology and the Prezi tool. I have attempted to raise interest in this topic on my own campus all semester (we seem to lack the infrastructure, motivation, or personnel to host a conference at this point in time). Fortunately for me, Texas STEM Centers have been looking for a way to collaborate with educators and professionals in English/Language Arts, History, and the Social Sciences.

My ultimate hope is that, as an ambassador for UT Tyler, I can generate interest on my own campus - and beyond. I would really love to see a cross-departmental effort (including our own STEM center, the history/political science department, the education department, and our resident geographers, anthropologists, and archaeologists). With the success of recent Project Based Learning initiatives among the history departments of local public schools (and with the growing interest in "History 2.0", if you'll pardon my meme), I think we could expect broad participation from the community.

A really ambitious project might incorporate local non-profit groups including the Genealogical Society (which has already embraced collaborative digitization efforts), local museums, and historical conservation groups.

In the meantime, however... I've got to finish what's on my plate right now.

Semester Wrap-up

Of all the semesters I've attended university, this has been the most recent - by that I mean I am sure glad to see the end of it.

Bureaucratic frustrations and tedious coursework aside, the semester has been great for my career advancement.

Although the Williamson collection has not gone live yet, it is completed and documented in Archivists Toolkit. I had a fantastic opportunity to give a brief presentation on Mr. Williamson's legislative legacy to the Smith County Historical Society, which was well recieved.

I had a chance to learn a smidge about museum work through the Tim Anthony Jackson collection of political memorabilia (namely, through sorting and storing campaign pins dating back to President McKinley).

My current project is the Sarah McClendon collection, a moderately hectic bundle of papers reflecting the personal life and professional career of a traiblazing female journalist (born in Tyler, Texas) whose Beltway career spanned eight presidents. The collection contains research, personal correspondence, interview notes (although her handwriting is virtually indecipherable), transcriptions of interviews and testimonies, reports from government and private sector agencies, and myriad articles (at all stages of the editing process). Her papers are a treasure trove of information.

The first candidate for the archivist's position arrives on campus next week; I am eager to settle back into a regular directed routine, but the prospect of change in the workplace is always an uncomfortable one for me. I don't know what kind of skills, methodology, or personality Ms. Joyce's replacement will bring to UT Tyler.

Beyond the archives, I have pursued deepening involvement in the Smith County Historical Society and the campus branch of the Webb Historical Society. Two weeks ago I recieved my official invitation to the historical honor society, Phi Alpha Theta. Last month I was inducted into the Alpha Chi honor society (a cross-disciplinary academic honor society).

Strange things afoot at the circle K

My department underwent some radical changes in the week between the end of the long summer semester and the start of the fall term. I returned from my mandatory vacation (imposed on all student workers) to find the following:

a. Three professors had quit (one decided to retire early, one simply didn't renew his contract, and the last one - the real shocker, as the other two were somewhat expected - went on "medical leave"... he probably won't be back)
b. The brand new department chair was asked to step down (because of a.)The dean appointed a math professor as interim history chair.
c. My boss, the university archivist, found a job in New York starting October 1st
(The university may or may not replace her, depending on whatever the administration's magic eight ball says).
d. The history department's scholarship account was slashed.

A week into classes, one of my professors contracted pneumonia and spent a week in the ICU (he is nearly 80).

All in all, a pretty hectic start. The feeling of imminent crisis has mostly passed. With graduation looming near, I have turned my attention to grad school hunting.

The situation in the archives is still pretty uncertain, but I did manage to polish off the Williamson collection. I hope to post a link to the finding aid soon. The various library departments have been wonderfully accomodating in providing me little jobs. I do odd bits for acquisitions/periodicals, I've begun work on a new manuscript collection (picking up about half-way through), and I'm undertaking a lengthy project weeding our ERIC files.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

As the first summer session draws to end, I have tentatively decided to stick to my guns and take the rest of the summer off. Given that the University offered a Museum Studies course at the last minute, this has been a tough choice (largely dictated by the demands of money, transportation, and early marriage). Well, as that great philosopher Mick Jagger once opined, you can't always get what you want.

In the meantime, I am going to make it my mission over the remaining weeks of this stifling Texas summer to gather a comprehensive list of perfectly free resources for the aspiring young historian.

Some things we will be exploring:

1. Free online lectures
-- Videos, presentations, and notes from some of the top professors of the country's most acclaimed universities, all at your fingertips. Although resources for the liberal disciplines lag a bit behind the sciences, expect to be amazed/delighted/impressed.
2. Government resources
-- In the spirit of David Ferriero, self-titled "Collector-In-Chief"... those wacky historians who find themselves high in the federal ranks get just giddy at the opportunity to share their findings with the people at large; we will have a look at some of the programs, resources, and websites they have sponsored.
3. Disciplinary resources
-- Sites like http://archiveswiki.historians.org, put together by professional historians to facilitate research at all levels.
4. Whatever else we can find!

So, stay tuned...

Ever one to keep a promise...

Obviously,in my last post, I proposed a rather ambitious project (especially considering it fell right in the middle of Finals Season and coincided with my belated honeymoon). While I would love to touch on that subject at some point in the future, there are many other blogs far funnier and better suited. So, in lieu of adding to the web clutter I will recommend a few books on the topic instead.

1. "Free for all: oddballs, geeks, and gangstas in the public library."
Borchert, Don.
2. "Quiet, please : dispatches from a public librarian."
Douglas, Scott

Public librarianship is largely misunderstood, at least on the front lines of reference and circulation. Basically, you should ask yourself whether you have ever wanted to be a grocery clerk, babysitter, public case worker, security guard, manual laborer, secretary, custodian, private detective, and teacher. Simultaneously. With little pay (and even less appreciation).

If your adoration of literature, humanity, and inquiry can withstand those demands, you my friend are destined to be a librarian. That being said, it was a tremendously satisfying job in the same way a bag of Bertie Bott's jelly beans might be satisfying... sometimes, the flavors are sublime, and sometimes you find yourself eating a booger.

A career transition

In ten days, I will leave the Public Library forever. An opportunity opened up in the University Collections Development department to extend my hours (beyond what the University Archives are able to offer), so I will be transitioning over to the university fully.

In honor of my love for the dark and dirty world of public libraries, I will devote my blogs this coming week to the many wonders of civil servant-hood.

Call for student papers, aviation history

The League of WWI Aviation Historians will award $500 for the best original paper by a high school, undergrad, or graduate student on ANY aspect of aviation between 1914 and 1918. The deadline is May 31. More information at the link below...

http://www.overthefront.com/League-WWI-Aviation-Historians-Student-Papers.php

(courtesy of the AHA blog)

More about Williamson. and exciting news in the world of research

First of all, I want to share some incredible information, care of the Library of Congress Blog (see the post here: http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2010/04/pictures-2-0/). The Library of Congress has just launched a brand new version of their Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) which enables users to brows over 1.2 million online prints and photos. PPOC has a lot of great interactive features, so go check it out. This is a fantastic resource for researchers, especially if you dabble in local or public history like moi.

Now that that's covered, I want to give you a brief look at the Williamson Collection (see previous post) so you will understand why I think Mr. Williamson was such a unique legislature.

I would say the collection itself consists of three (sometimes overlapping) categories:

1. Correspondence (between Mr. Williamson and his constituents, state agencies, interest groups, and corporations)

By far the most fascinating portion of this category is the correspondence with constituents. Mr. Williamson, who came to the Texas Congress as a seasoned lawyer, was a ceaseless advocate for his constituents (and occasionally, for people out of his district who wrote him as well). He was happy to send whatever information he had at his disposal regarding various bills and issues to anyone who inquired, answering questions and clearing up discrepancies.

Mr. Williamson spent a tremendous amount of time and resources assisting his constituents in legal matters as well (without discrimination). The best example of this in the collection is a series of letters to lawyers, legislators, and state agents on behalf of a young man coming up for parole review. The young man in question was convicted of armed robbery. His mother, who lived in Mr. Williamson's district, believed her son was not receiving fair consideration from the parole board. Because she could not afford a lawyer, she contacted Mr. Williamson, who proceeded to contact the head of the parole board, refer a pro bono lawyer to represent the young man, and review his trial transcript. In another instance, Mr. Williamson facilitated the transfer of a mentally disabled man from the Austin State Hospital to a Denton facility where he could be closer to his family. Mr. Williamson was especially vigilant in advocating for the fair treatment of his constituents by their insurance companies (often maintaining lengthy correspondences with the state insurance board and the companies in question on behalf of his voters).

Mr. Williamson frequently requested information from interest groups and state agencies that pertained to his committee duties (and his personal curiosities). He also contacted independent experts and individuals who worked in the fields. Mr. Williamson also worked on behalf of his professional constituents (the most significant case I found involved the rights and wages of tuberculosis specialists in state-funded hospitals).

The most amusing collection of correspondence is a series of files he labeled "psy", or "psycho". This includes newspapers, letters, and various publications sent to him by conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, and radical religious groups (among others). One of the most bizarre inclusions was a state ceramics group, which he apparently considered pretty off-base.

2. Bills
Mr. Williamson maintained records of every bill, resolution, and amendment during his term. I personally find it interesting to peruse the texts for his personal notes in the margin. He (or his secretary) cross-referenced the bills with correspondence and newspaper clippings.

(side note: at some point, either in his transition away from Capitol Hill or during transit to the University, the files got pretty jumbled up... so a big part of my job is trying to discern what the original system was).

3. Newspaper clippings
Mr. Williamson maintained a massive number of newspaper clippings on all kinds of topics and individuals. Some of these went into yearly scrapbooks and some are attached to various issue files and bills. He scoured newspapers from all across the state.

(another major facet of my job is making copies of the individual articles, due to the acidic nature of the newspaper material)



In the course of my work, I have really become convinced that Mr. Williamson came from a different breed of legislator... his humor, his dedication, and his tireless self-education are attributes mostly lacking from politics today.

As a historian, the Williamson collection has really opened up a whole new world of resources and research possibilities for me. I would never have known how rich and intriguing personal papers could be.


This is the archive blog, maintained by Archivist Deirdre Joyce: http://uttylarchives.wordpress.com/

Check it out for updates on our activities and collections.

Meditation on archival work

This coming week, the archive employees will be setting up a display in the new university student center.

I have been tentatively tasked with selecting a few interesting items from the collection I am working on, to include in the display.

A word about that...

As a student worker I perform a variety of tasks, often involving manual labor and/or digging staples out of the carpet. My primary project is the Williamson Collection (a series of correspondence, legislative research, bill proposals, and other miscellaneous records, from House Rep. Billy Williamson of Tyler).

Mr. Williamson served from 1965-1975. He was a unique legislator, and the process of preserving his papers has proven surprisingly interesting. He served during a crucial period of Texas legislative history (check out "The House Will Come to Order: How the Texas Speaker Became a Power in State and National Politics", by Patrick L. Cox and Michael Phillips). His correspondence is really fascinating.

From a researcher's perspective, I am fascinated by the methodology of archive work. Whether I orient my career towards archive work or not, I think this experience will significantly impact my future research. Maintaining an archive requires a huge amount of manual labor, and there are so many gray areas. Watching my supervisor make her day to day decisions has given me a new appreciation for those brave individuals who set out to preserve historical documents.

More about Williamson later... there's so much to say.

The Dread Presentation

The presentation has come and gone (see last post for a full version of the interactive Prezi). I had to cut out a dramatic portion of the original presentation to squeeze into the ten-minute time limit for my class... somehow, I still managed to run over (considerably).

The presentation itself was fairly well-received (no one fell asleep). My favorite comment from our anonymous peer evaluation forms was "Very prepared.... maybe over-prepared." :)

Phase II will be polishing up the research paper itself for final evaluation.

This summer, I plan to submit the final draft to the East Texas Historical Association journal for possible publication.


The next frontier:

I may expand this research on my own time, to really get into the nitty-gritty details. Local history resources have more information than I was able to access or afford during this semester, and the National Archives have the mother lode of project files and pictures (also highly cost prohibitive). I may pursue a university research grant to cover some of the costs of travel and printing.

Where would this lead, you might ask? I have my ambitions set here:
Or, perhaps it will come in handy down the road when I begin my master's thesis.

Overall, I enjoyed this project far more than I expected to. Even more important, I discovered that I may be a public historian at heart...

Useful Works and Damned Good Projects: An Overview of the WPA in Smith County, Texas

Originally a research paper for my Historical Methods course at University of Texas at Tyler, this is my full presentation (the final portion, within Texas, was presented to my classmates on Thursday, April 22, 2010).

If you would like to know more about this free online presentation tool, check out prezi.com.

Please stay tuned to this blog for future updates and further research regarding this topic.

Thank you for stopping by!

(full screen is best)

Useful Works and Damn Good Projects: on Prezi

Useful Works and Damned Good Projects: on Prezi

(NOTE: This presentation has been updated since this post. The version above represents the most current version).