StarGazing in the Desert

One of the most popular events we hold at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum is the StarGazing in the Desert. It's a great opportunity for people, especially families, who haven't been out to the museum before to check us out, there are arts and crafts for the kids, and a talk and astronomy photographs to see, as well as getting to actually look through telescopes.  We usually have 4-6 people bring out telescopes and set them up around the building so you can get different views.

Steve Benton and Neal Hitch checking out Jupiter

This was our sixth StarGazing party and the first where I have been one of the main people in charge. As the Museum Archivist at previous functions my job was to represent the museum, engage visitors,   make sure the volunteers had everything they needed (including taking over for them when they needed breaks), take photographs for our social media sites, work the gift shop, and anything else that came up. As Head Curator, this time I was doing all of the above but more of it and with more institutional responsibility on my head.

Overall it went really well. 165 people came, the talk on the Voyager missions was standing room only, a last minute raffle managed to raise enough money to pay for the event, and the new items I had picked up for the gift shop last week were a big hit.

Our volunteers were wonderful, helping with everything from telescopes and gift shop to snake patrol (walking around with a heavy duty flashlight and walking stick to light people's way when they were walking in the dark and surreptitiously keep an eye out for any unwanted snake visitors). Our idea for button making instead of clay was a hit and a lot easier to set up, break down, and clean up after.  I even got the chance to step outside and look at the stars myself! The Pleiades, Orion's Nebula, and Jupiter were out in full force last night- perfect, clear skies for viewing after a very cloudy night the night before, and I even saw Jupiter's 4 main moons and brown belts.  The new supernova wasn't visible from where we were, which was disappointing, but other than that you couldn't have asked for better.  The kids had a blast coloring and making buttons and looking through the telescopes. I heard several versions of "Stars are awesome!" as they ran from one telescope to the other.  Enthusiastic kids always give you a little extra boost when you look back on an event.

It all goes to show that a great group of volunteers and a lot of enthusiasm can make an event so successful that people can't wait to come back for the next time!

Steve and a junior astronomer excited over clear skies

Westward Ho!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that jobs are hard to come by in today's economy.  For the most part, we have all come to accept that the days of getting hired right out of school and working for the same company for 20-30 years are long gone. In the field of archives and library science there are still some permanent positions that come up on job post feeds or websites, which are instantly overwhelmed with applicants who range from just out of school to having 50 years of experience.  The norm now in our field is the grant funded, project position. We are now almost all  "Project Archivists", no matter what our official title may be in the workplace.  And as with all things, projects come down to money.

My position at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum developing their archives ended, as we knew it would, over the summer when the money for the project ran out.  It was actually a longer stint than we had initially thought and I enjoyed every minute there.  Developing an archive and helping to build a new museum are not opportunities that come along often.  After that job I went back to my home base on Long Island and continued the search for a job in my field.  The owners of Book Revue were nice enough to take me back (I had worked there for years before going to Simmons for grad school), even knowing I was actively searching for another job, so I was able to pay the bills and keep from going completely stir crazy while I hunted. I am very grateful to have their support and the safety net of always being able to go back to work there.

But then, to my surprise, I got a call from the IVDM's director that the museum had gotten more money and did I want to come back out and pick up where I left off in the archives?  They could guarantee money for at least three more months of the project, and were willing to support me as I went to the Small Museum Association's Annual Conference in Ocean City, Maryland in February to present on the Gold Fever! exhibit we had developed.  Going back out west, seeing and working with old friends, living in and exploring the desert, and expanding my experience and resume at a great new museum? You can guess it didn't take much thinking before I said yes!

This Thursday I will head west again.  Taking an airplane instead of boats and ox drawn wagons should mean I get there faster than those struck with gold fever in 1849 did (6 months or more).  But considering the disaster that has become the airports and airlines in the Northeast due to ridiculously cold weather, wind, and snow, that's not the guarantee you would expect. Wish me luck as I travel west and expect more blog posts to follow!

SAA 2013, Part 3: Scanning and Accidental Networking

On Wednesday morning I joined two other archivists in one of the SAA's community service projects.  Every year the SAA tries to give back a little to the community hosting the conference, whether through volunteers helping at a food bank or in a repository.  There were several different options this year and I chose to join the City Park Archives scanning project.  Digitization is something that I haven't had much of an opportunity to work on, either through classes or work, so I was excited to get a little more experience to add to my repertoire.

Unbound minute book being scanned

The project was to help the City Park Archives scan minute books from their collection. The books we were working with from from the 1890s.  They had been unbound and after we scanned them they would be getting rebound.  We got to use a BookEye overhead scanner, which was a first for all of us.  The machine was pretty easy to use, although it got touchy when the size of the pages wasn't exactly what it wanted.  Scanning was slow because of the number of times we had to rearrange and rescan pages, even though the last scan in that same position had gone perfectly.  I'm not sure how many books will eventually be scanned for the project, but we were excited to help, as well as meet some fellow new archivists.

Learning to use a new scanner

The most entertaining part of the experience actually came when we were waiting in the lobby for our ride.  We were joined by two men who asked if we were waiting for a cab.  When we said no they stayed in the lobby as well, clearly waiting for a cab they had called.  When you're standing that close it is impossible not to overhear conversations and it only took a few minutes for them to figure out we were archivists (there are just certain key words that no one else would be using in casual conversation).  They were also in town for the convention, vendors who had been visiting a friend in the same building and were now trying to get to the same hotel we were headed for.  So when our ride came we asked if they could join us, they canceled their cab and we spent the 15 minute drive chatting about the conference, the city, and our jobs.  It was a perfect case of accidental networking.  Everyone exchanged cards and I stopped by their booth the next day to find out more about the scanners they had, which might work well for when the museum has the money to digitize our lantern slide collection.  I'm not a person who's usually comfortable with coming up to strangers at cocktail parties, but it turns out I'm not bad when put into surprise carpools!  On a similar topic, I've discovered that my hair is an ice-breaking asset. Several people came up to me during the conference to compliment me on my hair and then we fell into archival conversations.  I wonder if I can get haircuts to count as business expenses?

SAA 2013, Part 2: The Battle of New Orleans

"In 1814 we took a little trip, along with Colonel Jackson down the Mighty Mississip . . . "

The American lines and cannons at the Chalmette Battlefied, with Malus-Beauregard House and live oaks in the background

On Tuesday I joined members of the SAA's Military Archives Roundtable and 6 Marines currently stationed in New Orleans on a bus tour to explore the New Orleans Campaign (December 1814-January 1815), the final campaign of the War of 1812.  Lillian Jackson Braun once wrote that a historic battlefield is all in your imagination.  Well, take a tour of two historic military sites with a group of archivist military history buffs and you bring far more than your own imagination with you.  Apologies ahead of time to my British friends, but (spoiler alert) you did lose this one.

Inside Fort Pike, with Lake St. Catherine in the background

We began the trip at historic Fort Pike, recently reopened after extensive damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  The outer walls of the fort are 18 feet high and our guide told us the storm surge pushed the water over 14 feet above the walls during the worst of the storm.  The fort is about 23 miles east of New Orleans, and was actually built just after the war ended when the military decided to increase the area's defenses against both land and sea attacks.  We were told there was a fort

in this location before Pike was built in 1819 and it was this strategic location that the British wanted to avoid.  Captured Americans told the British the fort was heavily armed and its cannons would have no trouble taking out British ships.  So to avoid the hundreds of cannons the British thought were there (apparently only something like 12 were actually at the fort at the time) the British made the fateful decision to sail on towards Chalmette and come at New Orleans that way.

Cannon in a protective iron enclosure to keep it from falling into the fort in recoil after firing

 The fort has been restored well and our tour guide was excellent, describing how garrisoned troops would have lived, the blacksmith area where horse shoes and munitions would have been made, a small bakery where bread was baked.  In the heat of the morning you could imagine how miserable the workers would have been in the small stone areas!  Vents built into the walls took the worst of the smoke out, and probably some of the heat, and breezes from Lake St. Catherine helped
cool things down more.  But it was still not a job you'd want for long.  The fort lost its museum and papers, including letters and diaries written during its occupation in the Civil War, to Katrina.  Conservation experts are still working on some areas of the fort and a new museum is being planned.  It was a great way to set the stage for Chalmette.  Our leaders read from archival letters and British orders  to harass and annoy the Americans as much as they could- and take New Orleans if at all possible.  Even though peace talks were being carried out in Europe that would end the war, if the British were able to take New Orleans first they would have the right to plunder the rich city, perhaps even use it as a bargaining chip if the treaty talks stretched out.

Inner walls of Fort Pike

Our next stop was, of course, the Chalmette Battlefield.  Downriver of New Orleans, the battlefield stretches across a very flat plain against a levee and the Mississippi River.  The Battle of New Orleans was important for two main reasons.  First, it was a perfect melding of cultures and people into a new 'America'.  Native Americans fought along side freedmen, slaves, Creoles, pirates, and sharpshooters from Kentucky and Tennessee.  Remember that the Lousisiana Purchase had been concluded only a few years ago and Louisiana didn't consider itself 'American'.  Legend claims this is where the term "neutral ground" comes from- Creoles lived on one side of what America calls a median, the Americans lived on the other side and the grass in the middle was 'Neutral ground"between two peoples and cultures that didn't like each other.  The Battle of New Orleans was one of the first times everyone living in the region had to work together for a common goal.  Second,  it was a decisive victory for American.  Roughly 2,000 British troops died and about 20 American troops.  A huge moral booster!  According to our group leaders this is where the British learned they were dealing with "a new kind of American".  This was not meant as a compliment.  The American troops fighting here didn't worry about the rules of polite warfare (if there is such an oxymoron) that had governed Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.  They had no problems shooting at troops camped at night, aiming at their campfires, and at the very least making sure the soldiers had no sleep and few steady nerves when they finally fought.

Chalmette Battlefield- as flat today as it was in 1815. Not an inspiring march for the British

 The battlefield itself is as flat today as it was in the winter of 1815, the only rise being an earthen wall the Americans built to use for protection. One story was told about an American whose hat was shot at least five times, but was himself not harmed at all while he put his gun over the wall and shot at British soldiers (given the guns at the time I'm not sure this story is real, but it certainly sounds American).  The British marched straight into cannon fire with several of their commanders in the front ranks.  One of our Marines said that leading from the front was the perfect way to get killed and leave your troops to lose the battle, sending up an apology to British Major General Pakenham in particular, but telling the man "You were an idiot." Several commanders died on the front lines and their forces had to wait for orders from the back before continuing.

 I hadn't been to the battlefield since a school field trip a long time ago, and I enjoyed the discussion and debates of military enthusiasts and seeing the field through their eyes instead of just walking the paths and reading the signs describing a few key points in the battle.  I'm by no means a military expert but I am interested and want to learn more.  I'm going to have to do some research into good books on the campaign to make sure I remember what I learned on the trip, and hopefully pick up a few more things about one of the greatest battles in the area. Sink or Be Sunk was recommended by name, but anyone who has other suggestions, please pass them on!  

Cannons lined up as the British would have faced them

SAA 2013, Part 1: World War II Museum

A variety of planes hang overhead in the atrium

I spent this last week in my native city of New Orleans attending the 2013 annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists.  Going a few days early had the advantages of being able to spend some time with friends and family, eat really good food, and revisit a few favorite sites.  I saw the amazing rebuilding efforts in my old neighborhood, hit a few favorite restaurants, and no visit to New Orleans would be complete (for me anyway) without at least one trip to the French Market to search for new earrings.  This time I also returned to the National World War II Museum, which I hadn't been to since it opened as the D-Day Museum in 2000.  The museum has expanded dramatically in the last 13 years and now consists of about six different buildings and designated exhibit spaces where visitors can see a wide range of artifacts from the war.

A Sherman tank

We started our tour in the US Freedom Pavilion, a three story open spaced building with a variety of airplanes and tanks from the war.  Visitors can go up to the top level of the atrium to see the planes from different angles and read information about them.  The highest level is high enough up that the museum has signs warning visitors that those who aren't good with heights should probably not go all the way up.  The part of the Pavilion that impressed me the most was a level containing three large, interactive computer screens- very similar to what we want in our museum.  These screens start with a map of the globe and different important battles, the visitor can then touch on various battles to get specific information, photographs, videos, etc. about the battle, including the types of weapons both sides used. Other interactive screens listed every soldier who earned the Medal of Honor in the war and viewers can touch specific individuals to read their full biographies.  This area was wonderfully effective, and the interactive capabilities were not only cutting edge, but proved themselves very useful at engaging the interest of young visitors.  I watched a father and son looking over the screen, the son enjoyed touching things and bringing up pictures and the father reading about what they were seeing and keeping the boy's interest. He might or might not remember (or have understood) what he was hearing, but he will definitely remember the museum for the planes and "fun computers."

Smart screen, interactive computers impressed visitors of all ages

 The exhibits on the Pacific and European campaigns were well done.  I don't think that the European exhibit has changed much since the last time I was there, but they still stand the test of time.  Well designed displays of uniforms and weapons mix with effectively enlarged posters and newspaper articles to create a flow of information.  Many small side chambers are available with brief oral histories on various topics for true first hand accounts.  My favorite area is, probably not surprisingly, the  section on the D-Day invasion and Andrew Higgins. Anyone who doesn't know the story of the Higgins boats (made in New Orleans, tested in Lake Pontchartrain, landed at Normandy) should definitely spend time here.

A Higgins Boat landing craft, one of the highlights of the museum for every NOLA native

We also saw the 4D movie Beyond All Boundaries, a movie produced and narrated by Tom Hanks, done specifically for the museum.  Going in I had no idea what 4D meant.  What it means is a rather remarkable combination of movie, raised and lowered objects like other tv screens, radios, the nose of a bomber that lines up with a movie image so that it appears to be coming out of the screen, and 'snow' coming down on the audience.  Your chair vibrates when tanks roll by and bombs are dropped.  Bright lights flash rapidly to simulate gunfire during certain battle scenes (this was one problem I had- as someone prone to seizures I could have done without the flashing lights, or at least a warning).  The dropping of the bomb at the end was both dramatic, breathtaking, and eye-searing.  The movie was well done, although condensing the war into less than an hour meant editing out most of what our allies did to focus on America's actions during the war.  The movie was 'sanitized' so as not to shock young viewers- you knew what happened in the concentration camps without it being too graphic.  That said, it probably isn't a movie parents should take young children to. We sat next to a boy who was 10-12 years old who was clearly going to have nightmares for a week by the time it was over.  The museum as a whole is probably one that parents should think about before bringing their children to- obviously it covers serious themes and parents need to be sure their children can handle what they see (especially when the new exhibit on the concentration camps is finished).

As a museum professional I came away very impressed with the museum, and more than a little jealous of some of their technology.  There were a few things I was not completely happy with.  The large number of videos and narrating tapes were extremely effective, captured your attention, and would be very useful for those with visual disabilities.  However, because of the size of the rooms you were constantly bombarded by different narrations at the same time, which proved rather distracting.  The sheer size of the museum and its exhibits meant that by the time we reached the Pacific arena we were tired and overwhelmed.  It would have been better to see the movie, the Pacific and European campaigns over two different days to get everything out of it.  This will only increase with later exhibit openings.  While locals who buy memberships will be able to return frequently to get the most out of this museum, visitors who have only one day will not be able to fully take in the museum.  There were also a number of exhibit panels in a remarkably awful shade of orange that, combined with white lettering, made it difficult for the viewer to read, even if they wanted to.  Overall however, this museum remains one of the best I have ever visited, holding to high standards as a museum and honoring those who served and were effected by the war.  A remarkable place, not to be missed.

Continuing Education: the Exciting World of EAC-CPF

Just because you have a degree and have tossed your graduation cap in the air doesn't mean the learning is over.  Continuing education, conferences, and workshops are a big deal since technology and ideas continue to change- often faster than we can keep up with, or slower than we think reasonable.  On Monday I ventured into New York City to take advantage of a SAA (Society of American Archivists) workshop on the new and exciting world of EAC-CPF.

Warning to my non-archives readers! More than perhaps any other industry (except for computer technology) librarians and archivists love acronyms, initials, and alphabet soup.

What is EAC-CPF and why do we care? Encoded Archival Context- Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families is Encoded Archival Description (EAD) on steroids.  It takes the regular finding aids, keeps (most of) the standards we all know and love, and then dives deeper. I started hearing about EAC-CPF last spring in Kathy Wisser's Archival Access and Use class.  Kathy is one of the people working with an international group to develop EAC-CPF (their last meeting was three days in Italy. Poor them.) so she is very excited about the concept.  And by the end of the workshop I think the rest of us were almost as excited by the idea as she is.

What's the excitement about? Here's an example.  While I was interning at the Massachusetts Historical Society I processed a collection of bound volumes collected by Frederick Lewis Gay.  He collected a lot of Massachusetts historical items including several ledgers from a man named Knight, who recorded the amount of fish caught in the area each day (more complicated than this actually and I'd give you the link to the finding aid, but MHS hasn't activated it yet). I discovered several other of his ledgers made it to an archive in Newfoundland, and I'm sure there are more I didn't discover in other collections across the East Coast.  So if you want to research Knight and cod fishing, how do you know about all the places holding his ledgers? What if you want to find out about the man and his family? Before EAC-CPF you'd have to go to every possible archive, historical society, town hall records office, college, etc. that could reasonably be expected to have an interest in a collection like that and hope you got lucky.  The internet might make it easier, but you'd still worry you'd missed something and halfway through your thesis you'd be going insane, asking random squirrels why the archives didn't all talk to each other just enough to have a list of all the places you could find different collections that connected to Knight.  With the implementation of EAC-CPF, you would no longer have to rant at innocent wildlife like a lunatic (although depending on your thesis, I guess you still might do some ranting).  You could go to one record on Knight, or cod fishing ledgers, or a few other access points, and there he'd be: with connections to people and places he lived and worked, family members who might also have archival collections, other people who kept cod ledgers, etc.  You could be reasonably sure you now had a comprehensive list of all the places you needed to go to actually look at the ledgers and plan your research trips accordingly. Your sanity would be saved, your thesis would rewrite views on cod fishing on the East Coast, and you'd win a Pulitzer Prize.  Or get a cod named after you.  It's a small example for an encoding project that can also turn Corporate Bodies and Families into something more manageable to archivists and researchers alike, but you can see why it's exciting.

And the possibilities keep going.  Although she didn't go into it too much in our workshop, I've heard Kathy give other talks on EAC-CPF and discuss the idea that you could also encode relationships between people, families, and corporations: linking one person to any number of others through different relationships they had.  Married this person, worked for that person, attended the execution of another person (although that relationship seems a little one sided to me). Kathy says she's counted over 800 different sorts of relationships you might want to explore.  She was even asked recently about the encoded relationship between Dr. Samuel Johnson and his cat, Hodge.  Is the cat a Corporate Body or a Person?  Everyone agreed Hodge was a Person, in case you were wondering.

London, England: Statue of Hodge, Dr. Johnson's famous cat

Yes, some of this may be a little too detailed.  Maybe Johnson's cat doesn't need his own record since Hodge probably didn't leave any writings behind for archivists to collect (although I did find a poem about Hodge and Johnson written by Percival Stockdale for my cat loving friends). The implementation of EAC-CPF may still be out of reach for all institutions, some of which can't even afford to implement EAD let alone encode EAC-CPF for their backlogs.  But I think this is the archival future, gearing up in the present to make our professional lives both easier and more time consuming.  Most archivists I know are at least a little obsessive compulsive about details.  The more the merrier.  They want to be able to tell researchers all the places to find what they need when they need it.  Cooperation, not competition is becoming more and more the name of the game.  It's a concept we're talking about in the small museum world as well as the archival world, as something that might be worth looking into.  I'm sure the outside point of view is, what took you so long?

The future is now and it's name is EAC-CPF.

Reflections

Our museum coyote, who came out to say goodbye my last day of work

Changing times are always a good time for reflections.  Looking back on what’s worked, what hasn’t, what was surprising.  I live in the second hottest place in America (beaten only by Death Valley) and it’s a place that no one lives during the summer if they can get out.  Tomorrow I join the exodus and head back to the East Coast- at least for the summer.

I took this position 10 months ago and have come to love the desert, the mountains, and the rhythm of the area.  Seeing so many different plants and animals and developing the eyes to see the story the desert has to tell about the life its lived.  It’s a crazy place, and certainly not for everyone, but I love it.  I was given the opportunity to help build a new museum and the archives for that museum- pretty rare nowadays.  It’s been amazing.  I’ve learned more about developing an archive and the little things that go into creating a sustainable museum in a town of 200 people than I could have imagined at the beginning.  I’ve learned how much I enjoy researching and helping to build an exhibit, and the pleasure I take in watching other people enjoy it when I give tours.  I’ve worked with a lantern slide collection instead of just hearing about it in class. I’ve learned a little about the different levels of politics even a small museum must deal with to get things done. I’ve expanded my idea of what makes a successful event, and that it’s ok to be a little crazy when the occasion calls for it.  Not every event can have a Jugless Jug Band, but it’s almost as popular as a taco cart when they come.  I'm currently working on my first article to be published (hopefully) in a peer-reviewed journal and a conference presentation for the spring with my co-worker and roommate, Jessica Brody- which would be somce very exciting firsts if we selected!

I’ve got crazy stories that I will hopefully remember forever. Like the sidewinder who wanted to come to the latest Star Gazing Party we held.  Watching windmills rise (and fall) and the controversy they can cause.  Climbing trails and rocks I never thought I’d be able to do and being thrilled when I could do it.  Learning that cars need to have coolant, or at least water, added to them to function properly (long story, and I wasn’t driving!)  Exploring an ancient oyster bed in the desert, driving to a casino on a mountain to get a glimpse of a comet, and seeing some of the most amazing night skies that it is possible to see.  

I’ve met people I hope to stay in touch with the rest of my life, been adopted by multiple grandparents and the wonderful Hitch family, and fallen in love with an adorable little Pomeranian.  I’ve seen snakes, hawks, coyotes, and even the elusive big horned sheep.  I think I’ve gained a certain amount of confidence in myself and my work that only comes from being treated as an equal in a work environment and knowing that, in the end, while there are plenty of people who have travelled more, or have more or different experiences, than I have so far, I can still be their equal.