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Presented to the University of Pennsylvania's McNeil Center for Early American Studies to make fellows aware of newly available archival collections in their fields of study
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UnhidingPhiladelphia'sArchivalCollec5onsUniversityofPennsylvania–MacNeilCenter
February2,2011
HollyMengel,ProjectManagerCourtneySmerz,ProjectArchivist
WhatisPACSCL?
PhiladelphiaAreaConsor5umofSpecialCollec5onsLibraries
– Coopera5vegroupofspecialcollec5onslibrarieswithsharedgoalsfortheircollec5ons
– Foundedin1985with16memberlibraries
– Today,PACSCLiscomposedof35memberlibraries• 4,000,000rarebooks• 260,000linearfeetofmanuscriptsandarchivalmaterials• 9,000,000photographs,maps,architecturaldrawings,andworksofartonpaper• BUT,PACSCLitself,doesnotowncollec5ons
– Longhistoryofconsor5alwork
www.pacscl.org
HiddenCollec5onsProject
• PACSCLdevelopedandadministered
• FundedbyCouncilonLibraryandInforma5onResources’(CLIR)CatalogingHiddenSpecialCollec5onsandArchivesini5a5ve
www.clir.org/hiddencollec5ons/
• Processandmakeaccessibleforresearchapproximately200hiddencollec*onsofmanuscriptsandarchives
• 23par5cipa5ngPACSCLrepositories
• 27month‐longproject
Whatarehiddencollec5ons?
• Hiddencollec5ons:
– Unprocessedorunder‐processedcollec5ons
– NOTresearchready
– NOTadver5sedtotheresearchingpublic
– 1000sofhiddencollec5onsinPhiladelphia
WhyaretheyNOTresearchready?
• Notphysicallyorintellectuallyaccessible
• Havebeenontheshelfforalong5me
– Repositorystaffdoesknowwhat’sinthem
Theproblemwithhiddencollec5ons
• Managingarchivalcollec5onsis5meconsuming
• BACKLOGofworktobedone
• BUT‐Ifnooneknowsitsthere,andnooneusesit,whykeepit?
HowPACSCLisdealingwithHiddenCollec*ons
• Follow‐uptoPACSCLsurveyproject,2006‐2008
• Processing/makingaccessible200hiddencollec*ons
• Processing:• Theactofarranginganarchival
collec5on,• Providingarchivalqualityhousing,
and• Describingthecollec5on,orwri5nga
findingaid
• Findingaid:acatalogofthecollec5on,whichcommunicatestoarchivistsandresearcherswhatisinthecollec5onandhowtoaccessthematerialsquicklyandeasily
Experimenta5on,archivallyspeaking
• Using“MPLP”– Processingatalessintensiverate– Collec5onsrangefromthe17thtothe21stcenturies
• Usestudentlabor
• UsetheArchivists’Toolkitdatabase
• CreateamodeltoeliminateprocessingBACKLOGs
…Makingcollec5onsresearchready…
Beforearchivalprocessing AVerarchivalprocessing
…Andeasiertofind
• Createdacentralonlinefindingaidsite– DevelopedbytheUniversityofPennsylvaniaLibraries– Findingaidsfromall23repositoriesinoneplace– Weareaddingnewfindingaidsallthe5me– WeareNOTdigi5zingcollec5ons
findingaids.pacscl.org
• Relatedcollec5onsalloverPhiladelphia
– i.e.theWisterfamily,women’shistory,hor5culturalcollec5ons,etc.
• Collec5onsandinforma5oninunexpectedplaces– WordWarIIphotosattheAcademyofNaturalSciences
Searchingcapabili5es
• Searchacrossrepositories
• Keywordsearching
• Facetedsearching– Selectasmanyorasfewfacetcategoriesasyoulike
Oneyearin…
90unhiddencollec5onsin18repositories:
AcademyofNaturalSciencesBrynMawrCollegeChesterCountyHistoricalSocietyCollegeofPhysiciansofPhiladelphiaDrexelUniversityDrexelUniversityCollegeofMedicineFreeLibraryofPhiladelphiaHaverfordCollegeHistoricalSocietyofPennsylvaniaIndependenceSeaportMuseumLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphiaLutheranSeminaryatPhiladelphiaPresbyterianHistoricalSocietyUniversityofDelawareTempleUniversityWagnerFreeIns5tuteofScience
Upcomingprocessingwork
• Another60collec5onstogo
TempleUniversity–SpecialCollec5ons
HistoricalSocietyofPennsylvania
PresbyterianHistoricalSocietyPhiladelphiaMuseumofArt
UniversityofDelaware
Na5onalArchivesRosenbachMuseumandLibrary
Thisisjustthe5poftheiceberg
Whatareweprocessing?
Justaboutanything!AllwithaHIGHresearchvalue
clir.pacscl.org
• TheAmericanRevolu5on• TheArts:FineArts,Music,Performing
Arts,andWri5ng• BusinessandCommerce• ColonialHistory• Educa5on• FamilyHistoriesandGenealogy• HistoryofPhiladelphiaCultural
Ins5tu5ons• Law,Poli5csandGovernment• Mari5meHistory• Medicine• MilitaryHistory• RaceandEthnicHistory• Religion• Science• TravelandTourism• Women’sHistory• Wri5ng,PublishingandBookselling
Collec5onsbyTopic
clir.pacscl.org
Pre‐1850sStrengths
• AmericanRevolu5on
• Colonialhistory• Medicine
• Quakerfamilies
• Women’shistory
DillwynandEmlenfamilycorrespondence,1770‐1818
AttheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
PierreEugeneDuSimi5èrepapers,1492‐1784
AttheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
SarahWistarRhoadsfamilypapers
AtHaverfordCollege
ThomasLeiperandfamilybusinessrecords,1771‐1947
AttheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
MinimalProcessing
• Designedforlate20thcenturyrecords…– Sosmallerrepresenta5onofpre‐1850material
• ExtensiveholdingsNOTnecessarilyrepresented:– ChesterCountyHistoricalSociety– CollegeofPhysiciansofPhiladelphia– FreeLibraryofPhiladelphia– GermanSocietyofPennsylvania– HaverfordCollege– HistoricalSocietyofPennsylvania– IndependenceSeaportMuseum– LibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia– LutheranTheologicalSeminaryatPhiladelphia– PresbyterianHistoricalSociety– RosenbachMuseumandLibrary– UniversityofDelaware– UniversityofPennsylvania– WagnerFreeIns5tuteofScience
HistoryofMedicalEduca5on
FromtheLoganfamilypapersattheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
FromtheRushfamilypapersattheLibraryCompanyofPhiladelphia
Women’sHistory
FromtheElizabethGraemeFergussonpapersatLibrarycompanyofPhiladelphia FromtheLoganfamilypapers
atLibrarycompanyofPhiladelphia
Howtofindus……andthecollec5ons
clir.pacscl.org
findingaids.pacscl.org‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
www.pacsclsurvey.org/
www.pacscl.org
www.clir.org/hiddencollec5ons/