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 19th 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 17th century to 20th century.**
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!
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.
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.
“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 21st century museum are its outstanding collections, ranging from Native American artwork to grand artwork depicting 18th 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 20th 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 19th century “iron-hubbed wheel,” while the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill papers consists of genealogical research notes and 18th century family manuscripts. Both collections contribute to a better historical understanding of Essex County in the 19th 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!
In the fall of 2016, I set out on an amazing journey as an intern archivist for the National Park Service under the supervision of Liz Banks, senior archivist at the Northeast Museum Services Center in the Charlestown Navy Yard. With a Congressional Act in 1872 to protect what is now known as Yellowstone National Park, a movement was born to protect our nation’s cultural and natural resources for perpetuity. This campaign resulted in a bill that founded the National Park Service in 1916 by President Wilson. The signed bill mandated the agency “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”¹Today, the NPS cares for over 400 national parks and historic sites and strives to preserve our local history and provide recreational spaces for all.
The Chief Regional Scientists’ Records, 1962-2012 (bulk 1974-2010)
My mission for the Park Service was to begin to process the collection of the three Chief Regional Scientists for the Northeast Region. The organization and philosophy of the NPS treats research as part of resource management and the two areas were combined to enhance cooperation between the two functions. Park Service research and resource management were organized at three levels of authority: in the Washington office, in the 10 regional offices, and in the individual park units. In fact, when the NPS science program was being developed in the 1960s the original structure selected was a centralized organization patterned after the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This structure gave the NPS a chief scientist in Washington with authority to supervise all field scientists, whether they were assigned to parks, universities, or regions. However, the records reflect an organizational change in 1971 when the current decentralized plan was instituted. The regional chief scientists now administer the regional programs in concert with the regional directors and superintendents. The regional chief scientists serve as the technical directors of their programs, and the regional director and superintendents administer them.
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I had 22 boxes to sift through and find the story of natural resource stewardship under the three Chief Regional Scientists, Paul Buckley (c.1977-1979), Mike Soukup (c.1985-1989), and Mary Foley (c.1989-2013). I quickly found that there was minimal discernible order to how the files were arranged in the boxes and the newer files were less so.
All my boxes stacked on the floor.
Inventory
Taking an inventory of the collection proved to be more difficult than I originally thought. I sifted through budget proposals, budget discussions, scientific reports, scientific data, correspondence between the scientists and the park scientists. Not only was I attempting to find out who the major players were in the collections but also trying to figure the different types of records. Budgets and correspondence were easily identified but scientific data sheets were challenging to find context, or even dates–many of the scientists did not date their reports or data sheets so I had to refer to NPS website to see if there was information regarding the different projects.
From the inventory, I was able to take some time to devise a solid processing plan, which we deviated from and readopted several times. As the records told me more about the story of natural resource management in the Northeast Region, I began to see some obvious areas that could be grouped together. I was not anticipating having an entire series dedicated to the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study project (FIMP) that spanned from the 1960s to the present but 4.38 linear feet of material out of the total 27.5 warranted a separate series.
Program files vs. park files
After finishing a thorough inventory, I was tasked with flagging folders that I thought were park files that should be shipped off to the individual parks as well as flagging folders with file codes that told whether the folder had permanent files or files that needed to be destroyed according to the disposition schedule. This was a difficult task for many of the items I encountered at first, but what I learned from Liz was if the item helps tell the story of natural resource management from the regional level (budgets, decision making, final reports), then it is a program file. If the item is very detailed and is mainly data gathered for the project, then it is most likely a park project file that can be sent to park of origin.
Flagging folders with file codes
Nearing the end
On the last two days, Liz and I finally felt confident that we had enough of a grasp on the files that we could start moving them to their proper places. We spread out all 22 boxes over 2 folding picnic tables and started pulling files by decades to place on additional tables that were marked for the decades and stacked them by year on the tables. The only files that stayed in place were the FIMP files, since they had been pull together a week prior. Once we had all the boxes emptied, we placed all the Series I: Budget and Administration files together and arranged them by year, then Series II: Projects, which we arranged by year first, then park. I will admit that it was tough for me to walk away from this project, especially when I felt that i had not been able to do enough. I envisioned a finished product, neatly organized with a finding aid in hand, but I was assured by Liz that it would have been impossible to achieve a finished product in the time span I was given.
After switching into the archives program and speaking with Professor Morgan, I was able to do an internship early at the Boston City Archives located in West Roxbury. My eventual capstone project will have something to do with digital archives and/or Peace Pilgrim, and by doing my internship early I was able to get an idea of what both the field and digital archives was like. My project focused on collecting documents having to do with Black and Women’s History, so they could be posted in the coming year.
On my first day, Marta Crilly, the Archivist for Reference and Outreach, gave me a tour of the BCA and showed me where I could find documents. During that first month, I got used to the catalog and figured out where people or events could be found. Someone like Julia Harrington Duff, a teacher who fought for Irish-American, female teachers, would be found in the teacher qualification records. I also found Julia in the city documents, as she served on the Boston School Committee in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, the Grimke sisters were nowhere to be found and I could not locate Rebecca Lee Crumpler’s tax records. However, I saw September as a positive first start, as I managed to write seven blogs including ones on schoolgirls from the Franklin School and William Monroe Trotter.
An example of what High School Graduation records looked like.
In October, I managed to find three neat tricks to help me track down some of Boston’s finest. The first of which included looking for famous alumni of Boston public schools. I found alumni from South Boston High, Girls’ High, and Hyde Park High. This tended to graduation records, but state representative Russell Holmes’ happened to have a yearbook in the BCA. Some graduation records were missing, but I still made use of knowing who went where. By using a photo of Girls High’ or a document from the Phillips School, I wrote a blog about alumni who went to those schools later on in my internship. Others I managed to find listed on other documents, like Melnea Cass who attended Girls’ High.
Second, I realized that photographs could easily be used as documents, especially because they are a nice visual to accompany a blog post. When writing about Bobbi Gibb and Katherine Switzer, the first women to run the Boston marathon, I included a photo of Lisa Rainsberger, the last American woman to win the marathon. The John F. Collins album on the BCA flickr page was a gold mine. The Boston mayor met so many famous people during his term in office. This included Julia Andrews, Anna May Wong, and swing musicians. By using these photos, I was able to write about topics I would not have been able to otherwise.
The third trick I learned in October carried over to November. In the middle of the month,
Marta came to me with folders she had found in the John Collins’ papers from the Civil Rights Movement. These documents were things like Collin’s reaction to Selma, letters from CORE about housing inequality in Roxbury, and documents from the NAACP. Looking at records from mayors, then going by folder names and important years, actually turned up far more information than looking for people directly. That same month I found
Eunice Shriver with Mayor Flynn.
Melnea Cass’ eulogy and documents from Eunice Shriver’s Special Olympics in the Kevin White papers. In November, I continued finding documents in Kevin White’s records. I found things I could use on women’s issues and items from the Boston Centennial celebration.
Right before October ended, I posted my first blog and did some actual sleuthing. Marta noticed that it was Edward Brooke’s birthday on October 26, so we took the blog I had written and posted it on the BCA Tumblr page. I learned how the BCA announced blog posts on the Facebook and Twitter pages. Instead of using Twitter directly, Marta normally uses a separate website to post tweets. That website allows her to clearly see any favorites and retweets without clicking separate links. I also learned how to source material and schedule posts on social media.
The application requesting use of Faneuil Hall, sent by Ida M. Hebbard, president of the Housekeepers League.
As for the sleuthing, I found the name of a woman on an application to use Faneuil Hall from the Housekeepers League. Using both google and the Newspaper Archive online, I managed to track her down. Ida M. Hebbard was the president of the Housekeepers League, but this League was not just a group of housekeepers or housewives. They were wives and mothers who were concerned about the prices of household goods. Articles in The Boston Globe and The Boston Postduring World War I stated that she lead the group in various boycotts to decrease the prices of goods, advocated for the Bob Veal Bill, and noticed violations in the way food was stored. Ida, extremely influential in Boston in 1910s Boston, is as of right now barely remembered by Bostonians. The fact that I brought back her memory is something I’m extremely proud of.
These are the articles from The Boston Globe/Boston Post I used if anyone would like to take a look:
“Coal Dealers Put the Blame on Mine Men.” Boston Evening Globe, May 29, 1917 “15,000 Women Banded in Fight Against H.C.L.” The Boston Globe, May 12, 1917 “Potato Boycott by Housekeepers.” The Boston Globe, January 27, 1917 “To Start Probe of Cold Storage Foods.” Boston Post, December 5, 1916 “Watch on Legislators.” Boston Post, March 17, 1917 “Women Who Let Fight For ‘Bob Veal’ Bill” The Boston Globe, February 22, 1917
I continued writing more and more as my internship was coming to a close. In addition to the forgotten Ida M. Hebbard, I found
Grace Lorch(left) with Elizabeth Eckford(right), one of the Little Rock Nine.
military enlistments from the 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry, the creator of the Drop-a-Dime hotline Georgette Watson, the first Black female firefighter Karen Miller, and Grace Lorch who was a white escort for the Little Rock Nine. Marta told me that she had expected me to write two or three blogs per week for Black History Month and Women’s History Month, but by the end of my internship I had exceeded her expectations by writing a blog for every day in February and March. I kept on finding more and more information at the Boston City Archives, and I enjoyed challenging myself to write more.
A list of some of the recruits for the 5th Regiment Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry.
During any given day, I would watch the research room, while doing my work. So I gained experience watching researchers and making sure everyone handled documents correctly. In addition to this, Marta began giving me small tasks as I had some extra time. These tasks included answering requests to find relatives in the city employee list or looking through building permits to see if there were any precedents set on a lot someone had recently bought. I realized while doing these tasks that I really enjoyed acting as a bit of a detective for the public.
Until I did this internship, I didn’t know that it was the documents and the preservation of those documents (not writing about those documents) that made me want to “go into history.” By working at the Boston City Archives, I learned how to become a better writer, what working in an archive entailed, and how to serve the public. I began to see myself there and enjoyed going there. While the idea of what career I want is still foggy, I do know that wherever I end up working needs to involve archives or some aspect of it.
Application from the Housekeepers League, January 7, 1913, Box 1, Petitions to use Faneuil Hall 1912-1914, Applications to use Faneuil Hall 4320.001, Boston City Archives
Max Brantley, “Lee Lorch, a figure in Little Rock’s ‘57 crisis, dies at 98.” Arkansas Times, March 02, 2014
Lists of Recruits, March 1864, Box 18, Folder 118, Town of Dorchester records 1100.001, Boston City Archives
Wednesday was my final day at the Archives. I spent a portion of my time editing the blogs I had sent to Marta earlier this week. I managed to get to my goal of having twenty-eight blogs for Black History Month and thirty-one blogs for Women’s History Month. Unfortunately, the one that I had written for Anna May Wong disappeared. I just finished rewriting it. I also just sent a message to Marta that both it and my Malcolm X blog are ready to be looked over. Once she gets back to me with edits and I fix them, I’ll be done with my internship.
Second, I made copies of some more documents to go with my New England Female Medical College, New England Hospital for Women and Children, and Rebecca Lee Crumpler blogs. As you may remember, earlier this fall I tried and failed to find Rebecca in the tax records. She was the first African American female doctor in the country. Although I was not able to find a document with her name on it, I decided I could still write about her with a document from the New England Female Medical College. I incorporated a petition from the students, trustees, and teachers sent to the city asking to use Boston City Hospital. This was the third petition the school sent to the city, and it was rejected. I was able to surmise that Rebecca Lee Crumpler like other students at the school would not have had the same educational opportunities as male students attending medical schools in the area, and even with the disadvantages, Rebecca was able to succeed.
Third, I spent a lot of time creating a schedule for both February and March. I looked up important dates, like birthdays, deaths, important events in people’s lives, historical events, and national days. For example, February 1 happens to be National Freedom Day, and the day Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment. So the blog for the 5th Cavalry will start off Black History Month. As a side note, I could not find any additional information on Betsey, but by mentioning her, I was able to say that African American women were active in the Civil War. National Doctors Day is on March 30, so that’s when the blog for the New England Female Medical College will be posted. I tried to find as many connections as I could and schedule blogs correctly. When I could not find any more, I placed blogs on days where it would best fit with what was already scheduled.
Finally, I created two new files for my blogs. In these files I ordered everything for Women’s History Month and Black History Month separately. Everything was also ordered chronologically to how it will be posted throughout both months. I went through and checked to make sure all citations and sources were correct. If any citations were missing, I went in and added them.
By the end of my day, everything was basically set for Marta to post on Black and Women’s History Month. Once I finish the edits for Malcolm X and Anna May Wong, everything will be complete. I really enjoyed my internship at the Boston City Archives. I did a lot of researching, writing, and learned a lot. I even did some small tasks for researchers. I am so grateful for having this opportunity and all the time I spent at the Archives.
Most of what I did this week was just gathering the last bit of information that I needed. I found the teaching record for Grace Lorch, who was one of the white escorts during the events at Little Rock. I plotted Malcolm X’s Roxbury home on a map, so I could write something on him. The most interesting part of this week though was finding information on the 5th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War.
Everyone knows about the 54th Regiment as because of the movie Glory starring Mathew Broderick, but Massachusetts actually had three African American regiments during the Civil War. This included the 54th Infantry Regiment, 55th Infantry Regiment, and the 5th Colored Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. I spent time looking through the records for the then town of Dorchester during the war and found so many records for the 5th Colored Cavalry.
There were documents listing men from Dorchester who had enlisted, and those included a Stephen Jacobs and a Betsey Smith. Stephen and Betsey enlisted together. Stephen’s form said he had originally come from Virginia, and Betsey said her home was Africa. The fact that Betsey had written Africa after the slave trade ended was really interesting. I did some digging and found out that she went into the war as a private and left with the rank of private. I could not find anything specific online about whether nurses in the Civil War had ranks, so I could not pinpoint what Betsey actually did in the war, if she was a nurse, cook, or something entirely different. Other documents found on Ancestry showed me that she was in the hospital during a portion of the war.
I’m glad I found another mystery to keep me occupied for this coming weekend. I will be digging around to see if I can figure out who Betsey was or if there is any information on her. All my blogs have been mapped out as well, so I will be writing fourteen more and sending them to Marta to edit. As long as I keep writing, there will be a blog for every day of the month for both Women’s History Month and Black History Month.
As I have done more than expected, Marta has started giving me small tasks researching various requests for the public. There were two this week.
For the first one, I went into the back to look through building permits. A woman had recently bought a house and was wondering if there was anything built there before. She would like to build something there, and by looking at the permits, she’d be able to establish if there was any precedent for it. Unfortunately there was only a permit for a house a few house numbers away and none for the house she had bought. Marta told me that we would still send the information that we found, as house numbers could have changed.
The second task required looking though the list of city employees from 1925 and 1931 to find someone’s relative who used to work for Mayor Curley. I went though the public works department for both those years and managed to find the name in the sewage department. In 1925, he was a laborer, but by 1931, he was both a labor and chauffer in the same department. I scanned both lists on the book scanner and forwarded them to Marta, so they could be sent on their way.
I did some additional research as well this week. I found a few more things for Black History Month like Florida Ruffin Ridley’s teaching record, information on Jane Edmond, and an invitation from the Black Congressional Caucus for Kevin White. Ridley was an African American suffragette, Edmond worked under Kevin White who later supported Mitt Romney for president and Aretha Franklin happened to be one of the organizers for the Caucus. I also noticed that I had enough material for five more Women’s History blogs. Maybe I will make it to sixteen more blogs by the end of my time at the Boston City Archives after all.
After scanning the new material and writing a bit, Marta allowed me to leave early as it was the day before Thanksgiving.
By the end of Wednesday, I had written a total of eleven more blogs, five for Women’s History Month and six for Black History Month. This puts my total at nineteen for Black History Month and twenty-two for Women’s History Month. If I write just one more for each one, I’ll have a blog for every weekday of the corresponding month!
Of course I’d like to keep writing. If I’m going to get to my larger goal for writing a blog for every day of the two months, I’m going to need to find topic for and write sixteen more blogs before my time at the Archives is over. There are some photographs of important people in the Boston City Archives’ flickr account that I could write about. That is where I have gotten some of my leads for a few of my blogs. I recently wrote about Georgette Watson, who created the Drop-A-Dime anonymous tip hotline in Boston during the 1980s. There is a photograph of her holding her certificate of achievement from the city on flickr. I also plan to look into the Kevin White records again, this time looking through some of the folders labeled “Black Issues” or similar titles to that.
In addition to writing, I went into the back attempting to find a few things. I knew that Otto P. Snowden fought during the Second World War and was discharged in 1944. I tried finding his discharge papers, hoping he was discharged in Boston. Unfortunately he was not. I also tried to find Doris Bunte’s trial documents from when she sued the mayor of Boston. She was the first black woman to be a Massachusetts state representative and administrator of the housing authority. Mayor Raymond Flynn had fired her for “misconduct in office,” and she sued, won and was reinstated to her position in the housing authority. Unfortunately I was not able to find either the box with her trial documents or the original appointment to her job. Hopefully when I look again next week, I might find them.
I’ll be doing some work at home this week, editing much of what I wrote on Wednesday and brainstorming ideas of what else I can search for in the archives.
Archives in Turn: Interns in Archives 