Looking into one woman’s journey in learning about her genealogy.

After working with such a small collection, I was eager to begin “getting dirty” and to start working on a larger collection. Of course the Phillips Library with the Peabody Essex Museum holds collections to spare for an intern to process.

The second collection I encountered was the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection (as it is now called). Martha Jane Averill was a woman living in Middleton, Massachusetts during the mid and late 19^th century who dedicated her adulthood to researching the

Newspaper clipping tucked away in one of Martha’s memo books. Undated. Manuscript from the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection at the Phillips Library

genealogy of both her family and other, older local Massachusetts families. Martha was born in 1838 in Middleton, Massachusetts, to Samuel A. Weston and Polly Gould, both members of their respective families that tied into the colonial history of Massachusetts. Martha worked as a grammar and primary school teacher from 1859 until she married Alfred Augustus Averill, a local shoe maker, in 1868. Once married, Martha stopped teaching, instead pursuing local genealogy. Martha studied, recorded information, and collected various documents pertaining to multiple old Massachusetts families, such as Ingalls, Howe, Peabody, and Putnam, as well as her own family

 

Deed for Thomas Wilkins, a distant relative to Martha Averill, dated 1693. Manuscript from the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection at the Phillips Library.

such as Weston, Gould, and Averill. This genealogical endeavor continued until her death in 1908.

 

Once again, the manuscripts in this collection are not going to change the courses of history; however like the Archibald Wheel Company Papers beforehand, this collection provides a different look into local history. In the case of this collection, the histories present go further back in history and provide the stories of multiple families, including Martha’s own family history.

Six memo books where Martha kept some of her genealogy research notes. Manuscript from the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection at the Phillips Library.

For example, remember back to my first blog post where I mentioned a bill/receipt for killing two hogs? The manuscript is from Martha’s own collection, and the receiver of the payment for killing two hogs came from Martha’s grandfather, Samuel Gould, who served as an Essex County (Massachusetts) constable from circa 1760 to circa 1830. The Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Papers Collection contains numerous manuscripts just like this particular document from centuries ago.

 

Along with memo books and journals, Martha wrote down her genealogy notes on anything she had handy. For example, she wrote notes on the back of a flyer for ratifying the 19th amendment. Six memo books where Martha kept some of her genealogy research notes. Manuscript from the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection at the Phillips Library.

Besides the historical value in these original documents from multiple Massachusetts families, the notes that Martha created in order to better understand the histories of these families provides both a look into these families, but also into the dedication of one woman who decided to learn more about her family and those who asked for her help.

Family tree of the Wilkins Family, going back to the 1500s in England. Manuscript from the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection at the Phillips Library.

 

 

 

For the next blog post, I will be describing the actual processing of this collection and how this collection took some creative thinking regarding organization.

**Pictured throughout this blog post are just some of the items found in this collection (these are just of the more interesting ones), ranging in date from 17^th century to 20^th century.**

Racing through the Archibald Collection

As written about in my previous blog post, the Archibald Wheel Company records and Edward A. Archibald papers is a collection relating to both the business transactions of the Archibald Wheel Company, a 19th century iron wheel company catering to both the North Shore area north of Boston, and throughout the United States, and the personal papers of its founder and wheelwright, Edward A. Archibald. The collection itself was itself an easy start to this summer internship: the collection was only approximately one linear foot, and a previous volunteer started the research and processing progress. Working with this smaller and easier collection allowed me to re-tune my archival processing skills due to its ease and size.

The processing of this collection only took a total of two days, which although technically consisted of two weeks (I conduct my internship once a week), the actual processing was a breeze. When I started working on this collection, I decided to maintain the basic original organization of the previous processor: why reinvent the wheel? The previous processor organized the collection by splitting the business papers of the Archibald Wheel Company and the personal papers of Edward A. Archibald. However, that is where the previous organization ended, and where I picked up the reigns.

For my final finding aid, the archivist Tamra and I decided to go with my third edition of my processing plan. First, the collection is split into two series: Archibald Wheel Company Records, and Edward A. Archibald papers. Since the collection was originally so small, the collection did not need to be separated into sub series: instead, the series were then dealt with on the folder level. I then divided the collection into nine folders with the first series, the Archibald Wheel Company records, into six folders, and the Edward A. Archibald papers into three folders. A simple organization for a simple collection. The documents themselves were also reorganized and placed in date order, ranging from 1867 to 1908, with each folder maintaining different years that are present on the final finding aid.

The Archibald Wheel Company records and Edward A. Archibald papers Collection after final processing!

By the end of the entire processing and creating of the finding aid, the Archibald Wheel Company records and the Edward A. Archibald papers found a new home in brand new folders in a brand new box, and the collection eventually made its way back to the large storage collections room to await a researcher to learn more about a valuable member of the local community of the 19th century. Not too shabby for a first collection!

The final finding aid is now online here: http://www.pem.org/library/finding_aids/MSS657_ArchibaldWheelCompanyRecords.pdf

For my next blog post, I will write about my second collection, the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Papers, a medium sized collection from a woman who dedicated her life researching and collecting on old Massachusetts families. Stay tuned!

 

Getting Started Greasing the Wheel

   By some people, museum collections (of any kind) are romanticized as being ground-breaking treasures similar in importance, most radically to the Declaration of Independence. Although those objects obviously exist, that is not exactly the reality of some manuscript collections: most of the time, the collections are simpler, maybe even anti-heroic in scope. More likely, a manuscript collection is similar to the one that I first encountered at the PEM library: a collection pertaining to the everyday life of an ordinary member of the local community.

   The first collection I encountered was the Archibald Wheel Company records and Edward A. Archibald papers. The Archibald Wheel Company was a wheel manufacturer active between 1867 and 1910, founded and co-owned by Edward A. Archibald (1838-1910) of Methuen, Massachusetts. Developed in the late 1860s, the Archibald Wheel Company provided spoked wheels for wagons. The Archibald Wheel Company quickly gained favor in the industry after 1869 with their patent for the machine that created iron-hubbed wheels, serving clientele across the United States from 1870 until the 1910s.

Patent for the Archibald Wheel Company/Edward A. Archibald  for Iron-hubbed Wheel.

 

Meanwhile, Edward A. Archibald immigrated to Boston from Canada on April 15, 1852. Shortly after moving to Boston, Archibald married Addie E. on December 24, 1857, had 8 children, and then 10 years later started the Archibald Wheel Company. Besides running the Archibald Wheel Company, Archibald served multiple positions within his community, including as a trustee for the Essex Mechanics Association (1874), and as a deacon for the North Essex Congregational Church from approximately 1866 until his death in 1910.

   Sounds thrilling, right? Sure, this collection may not contain undiscovered treasure and information relating to fame and glory; this collection simply contains documents relating to the Archibald Wheel Company and Edward A. Archibald. However, as any good historian and archivist knows, the treasure lies in the simplest of words and papers, and that rings true to this collection. History is made through the actions and interactions with a person and their world, and Edward A. Archibald interacted with his 19th century world through invention and business determination.

   Edward A. Archibald and his Archibald Wheel Company served multiple communities in the mid to late 19th century by providing a patented state of the art wagon wheel, and the papers in this collection prove his grandeur. Edward A. Archibald also served his community religiously, and alongside his business papers, Archibald leaves behind his thoughts on the development and status of his beliefs into the 20th century.

   Without Edward A. Archibald there would be no iron-hubbed wheel, which served both domestic and military purposes. Without Archibald (and the previous owner of his collection), the PEM library would not have this valuable collection pertaining to a local man grasping the American dream and creating a better world for himself and his community. That sounds pretty heroic to me.

   For the next blog post, I will be describing the actual processing of this collection and how it only took two days to completely transform this collection into something valuable for researchers.

Starting an Internship with Wheels and Hogs

“To celebrate outstanding artistic and cultural creativity by collecting, stewarding, and interpreting objects of art and culture in ways that increase knowledge, enrich the spirit, engage the mind, and stimulate the senses” This passage is the first sentence of the mission statement for the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), an internationally recognized art and cultural museum located just north of Boston, Massachusetts.

Alongside this 21^st century museum are its outstanding collections, ranging from Native American artwork to grand artwork depicting 18^th century maritime merchant ships. The museum creates a sense of wonder and imagination that tickles the senses and encourages new and bold ideas.

And then there are the bills. I am not talking about the bill for the millions of dollars to operate the museum: I am talking about the bill for .50$ for killing two hogs. Now this leaves to wonder: where does killing two hogs come into play in a cultural institution as grand as the PEM? The answer is in the collections, literally.

“To Killing Two Hogs”, 1846   Manuscript from the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection at the Phillips Library

Among the thousands of artistic items curated in their museum facilities, the PEM also owns a library archive to store their millions of manuscripts donated throughout the 20^th century to further the understanding of the culture of the North Shore area outside of Boston.

The PEM Library, known as the Phillips Library, is where I am currently conducting my archival internship. Under the supervision of the Phillips Library archivist, my summer work will consist of working with two manuscript collections through processing and developing new finding aids for each collection. These collections are the Archibald Wheel Company Records, and the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Papers. The Archibald manuscript collection relates to the business work of Edward Archibald, inventor of the 19^th century “iron-hubbed wheel,” while the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill papers consists of genealogical research notes and 18^th century family manuscripts. Both collections contribute to a better historical understanding of Essex County in the 19^th century. All very exciting!

I will be updating on my journey through the archives periodically, where I will be providing my experiences in working on these collections and images of the interesting pieces. Join me on my journey through the archives this summer to learn more about what lies within the PEM Library Archives.

As for the bill for killing two hogs, you will just have to wait and see!

 

Is This a Real Job?

The more I experience and learn at the Frederick Law Olmsted Historic Site, the more this question has popped into mind: is this a real job?

I am sure most archivists know this feeling. Having unbridled access to the unseen treasures found within a collection is very exciting. Even collections that have already been processed often remain untouched for long periods of time and still evoke this feeling. Handling documents with so much age and significance has an almost magical, transcendent quality.

The first collection I am working with documents the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Souvenir map of World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893. Wikimedia Commons.

My work updating the finding aid has involved looking through the items within the collection, which contains meticulously assembled scrapbooks, landscape plans, tree and plant lists, and invitations & memorabilia from the event. Part of my finding aid update includes supplementing the historical context provided. It has been immensely interesting to dive into the history and significance of world’s fairs in the late 19th century, and I have really enjoyed this piece of the work.

One of the aspects of the environment at the Frederick Law Olmsted Historic Site that I have really enjoyed is the encouragement to participate in activities that are not strictly archival processing. Yesterday I was invited to attend the Boston Flower and Garden Show with the Mona McKindley, the gardner at the Olmsted site. In spending time with Mona at this venue I learned about about how the grounds at the site were maintained and designed.

2017 Boston Flower and Garden Show

I also recently accompanied my supervisor, Michele Clark, to the Springfield Armory where some of the larger items from the Olmsted collections are stored. While there we received a tour of the Olmsted records onsite, as well as the armory museum. I have already come to appreciate the relationships between archivists and interpretation staff at different National Park Service historic sites.

I am really excited by everything I have experienced thus far at my internship. I have had to pinch myself a few times, but it is real, and I am enjoying every minute of it!