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The Matchteld Mellink Papers, and so long to Bryn Mawr!

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Machteld Mellink (1917-2006) was a Dutch-born archeologist and professor at Bryn Mawr College from the 1950s to 1988. She led a fascinating life, overseeing excavations at sites such as Tarsus and Sardis, as well as publishing extensively on the archeological field. This collection contained Ms. Mellinks notes, correspondence, writings, and photographs from excavations. When it came to processing however, the Machteld Mellink papers at Bryn Mawr were a test of how “More Product, Less Process” could work on a collection with little available information.

When we first saw the collection, all the papers were housed in cardboard boxes and plastic storage bins of varying sizes. Some of the boxes contained labels identifying where the papers were found in Ms. Mellink’s apartment. This included the living room, bathroom, and bedroom.

We occasionally found labeled folders throughout the collection, however for the most part the papers lay loose and unorganized within the boxes. Dealing with such an unprocessed collection was certainly a challenge. Our approach, which relies on using available information such as folder labels and previous finding aids, had to be reconsidered in the face of this lack of information. Our first step then, was to open the boxes and scan for general content. After this, we separated the material within the boxes into our proposed series, which we placed on open shelves.

After the series had been created, we organized each one chronologically or alphabetically. This was time consuming, and considering how much re-foldering and physical arrangement we needed to accomplish, it felt at times as if we weren’t really using “More Process, Less Product.” However, we eventually completed our arrangement and began plugging our finding aid information into Archivists’ Toolkit. Despite the early setbacks of dealing with loose papers and a lack of content information, we were still able to meet our timeframe for completing this collection.

One of the lessons learned from the Machteld Mellink papers is that having more information available for a collection helps the “More Product, Less Product” approach exponentially. Neither I, nor my co-worker Leslie, had much knowledge of twentieth-century archeology; therefore it was extremely difficult to identify many of Ms. Mellink’s writings and notes regarding certain topics. In these instances we had to create general labels for the papers. There are some highlights within this collection though, particularly as we learned more about Ms. Mellink and her career. She led an amazing life, and hopefully researchers will be able to shed more light on her papers one day.

This was our final collection at Bryn Mawr, which ends our time at this wonderful institution. The special collections staff including Eric Pumroy, Marianne Hansen, and Lorett Treese were incredibly helpful in their support of our project. We also received processing assistance from the Special Collections student worker, Lee. Her help with the Mellink papers allowed us to finish the project on time.

Posted in All Posts, Bryn Mawr College, Collection Processors, Forrest Wright, Minimal Processing | 2 Responses »

Woman’s Club of Germantown records at Bryn Mawr College

Friday, March 12th, 2010

During February, I devoted some time – 32 hours, to be precise – to processing a 16 linear foot collection at Bryn Mawr College: The Woman’s Club of Germantown records. It was officially my first “mplp-2-hours” collection and I think it went quite well.

The Woman’s Club of Germantown (WCG) was a long-standing institution in Germantown, Pennsylvania, with an active membership from its inception in 1917 until around 1981. Like so many woman’s groups created around that time, it offered a structured means through which women in the then growing northwestern neighborhoods of Philadelphia became better engaged with each other and in the social and civic activities of their community. The women participated in war-work for World Wars I and II, hosted luncheons and other social events, assisted the American Red Cross and established a child care program in an under-privileged neighborhood, among other things. In addition, for its clubhouse, WCG took charge of the Johnson House, a colonial era building, famous for its witnessing of the Battle of Germantown during the American Revolution and later for its use as a stop on the Underground Railroad before the American Civil War. According to the organization’s records, it seems that the WCG assumed responsibility of all maintenance and historic preservation for this building for numerous years in the mid-twentieth century.

The Club’s records are not complete; however, there is a fair sampling of documentation evidencing its administration and work for most years of its existence. In addition, the records offer a glimpse into community life in Germantown. Broadly speaking this collection related to two major movements in early twentieth-century American life: the development of women’s groups and their work, and the communities that were created as a result of the mass migration of middle and upper class people away from city-centers.

With the exception of around 10 files that were already transferred to acid free folders, the collection was previously untouched by an archivist. Materials were quite mixed up, but record types were easily identifiable and easy to move around and collocate. Additionally, because the collection contains straightforward documentation – meeting minutes, yearbooks, annual reports and scrapbooks – folders were easy to title and arrange within series as well. There are only a handful of files in the collection that would benefit from further arrangement though I am not sure the quality of documentation in those particular files warrants that attention. What this collection does need are phase boxes for the many oversize scrapbooks that are unfortunately in poor repair. It also would have been nice to have a couple more hours (really, just one or two) to read through some of the papers, especially the meeting minutes, to determine how extensively the Club women documented their meetings and activities.

I’d say this collection was helped immensely by minimal processing and I think it was an excellent candidate for our project. I believe it is now to a point of near-complete accessibility and I probably would not recommend much more in terms of processing for this collection.

BMC - Woman's Club of Germantown records

Posted in All Posts, Bryn Mawr College, Minimal Processing, Project Archivist | No Responses »

Working for Victory: the Alma A. Clarke papers

Monday, March 1st, 2010

I LOVE the Alma A. Clarke papers at Bryn Mawr College… I love everything about them, except having had only 2 hours per linear foot to look at them! For, indeed, I did manage to get this collection done in 4 hours, only a tiny bit over the allowance for a 1.66 linear foot collection.

While this collection is only 1.66 linear feet in size, it packs a whollop as far as being incredible. Alma A. Clarke was an American who volunteered in France during World War I, working with French children orphaned by the war through the Committee France-America for the Protection of the Children of the Frontier and as an auxiliary nurse serving the American Red Cross Military Hospital No. 1 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She was clearly a collector and her materials result in one of the most intimate portraits of World War I that I have ever seen.

The real treasures in the collection are her two scrapbooks which document her experiences and the experiences of those around her. They are full of photographs, clippings, post cards, letters, memorabilia, sketches by the children and soldiers for whom she cared, and writings by the wounded in her ward. Of the more amazing aspects of her scrapbooks are the pages which contain the wounded soldiers’ accounts of the way in which they were wounded.

I love this collection not only because it provides a fascinating window into an event that changed our world, but also because it shows, by its content, the apparent selflessness of its creator. I know almost nothing of Alma A. Clarke, but I know a lot about how the cities, countryside, art and architecture of France suffered during the war, about the children who were orphaned, and about the soldier wounded in battle. I know how the American home front knitted, dried fruits and vegetables, and worked together for victory. In trying to write a biographical note on Ms. Clarke, I came up with almost nothing–her collection is full of amazing documents including travel documents, passports and ration cards, but while these records deliver some vital statistics, they do not provide a glimpse into who she was. There is a fair amount of correspondence glued into the scrapbooks which I did not have the chance to read and which may provide a more complete picture of this person. My research outside the scope of the collection similarly yielded very little information on her. However, despite all this, Ms. Clarke’s scrapbooks and collected papers have guaranteed her a place in history.

Posted in All Posts, Bryn Mawr College, Project Manager | No Responses »

Jean Scobie Davis papers at Bryn Mawr College

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

This week Forrest and I completed our third collection at Bryn Mawr College’s Special Collections, the Jean Scobie Davis papers. This collection chronicled the life of Jean Scobie Davis (1892-1985), who graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1914 and later received her master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin. Davis was a professor and taught at such colleges as Vassar, Pierce, and the American Women’s College in Beirut. She also held a lifelong interest in prison reform, serving on the Board of Visitors of the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills. Davis studied and researched the development of professional social work in Atlanta, and was heavily involved in studying women’s prisons and reformatories for teenagers.

When we first opened the 10 cartons holding this collection, we knew it would need a bit of attention. While parts of the collection were carefully arranged, other parts were completely disorganized and in great need of foldering and description. We spent quite a bit of time sorting through materials and identifying additional series, but at the same time, attempting to process the collection at our MPLP standard: 2 hours per linear foot. Once we completed, we had seven defined series and a collection that would be truly accessible.

What was fascinating about this collection was the diversity and range of the materials. Within the collection were tintypes in cases, handwritten notes, bound diaries, loose journal pages, scrapbooks, institutional reports from prisons and disciplinary facilities, and letters.

I feel that the Jean Scobie Davis papers is an outstanding collection for researchers studying women’s history and social issues. Davis’ diaries document the struggles of women as scholars, and in academia, as well as her own personal experiences and reflections as a woman. This collection also holds material rich in the history and development of prison reform in the United States. The Westfield State Farm material contains reports, minutes, and accounts of life for not only inmates, but employees and staff inside a mid-century prison.

Posted in All Posts, Bryn Mawr College, Collection Processors, Leslie O'Neill, Minimal Processing | 1 Response »

Olivia Stokes Hatch papers at Bryn Mawr College

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

This past week Forrest and I started and completed the Olivia Stokes Hatch papers in the Special Collections at Bryn Mawr College. Dating from 1859 to 1993, the collection measured approximately 12 linear feet and was in ideal condition for minimal processing: material was accurately foldered and arranged by series, and needed very little hands on processing. With the exception of the foldering of a few items, the collection was essentially ready to be entered into Archivists’ Toolkit. The bulk of our time was spent actually reading off and inputting 408 folder labels into AT. The collection is comprised almost entirely of correspondence and had it not been well processed before we arrived, it would not have been a good candidate for minimal processing. However, letters had already been removed from envelopes, and then arranged by sender and date, which saved us valuable time.

We divided the collection into three series: Olivia Stokes Hatch; Anna V.S. Mitchell; and Collected Correspondence. The first series, Olivia Stokes Hatch, included biographical information, material she collected, correspondence, family material, and photographs.

Olivia Stokes Hatch was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1908, and attended Bryn Mawr College from 1925 to 1930. Prior to her marriage she was very active with the American Red Cross and American Conferences of Social Work. In 1939, Olivia Phelps Stokes married John Davis Hatch, Jr. an art collector, consultant, and museum director. They had four children: John Davis Hatch III, Daniel Lindley Hatch, James Stokes Hatch, and Sarah Stokes Hatch. Much of the correspondence in the collection is between Olivia, her husband, her mother Caroline Mitchell Phelps Stokes and her father Anson Phelps Stokes.

The second series, Anna V.S. Mitchell, is comprised also largely of correspondence, as well as diaries, and essay. Much of the correspondence is regarding her work during World War I and domestic fundraising efforts on behalf of Russian refugees in Constantinople. Her diaries date from 1896 to 1925, and provide an intimate and firsthand account of her work and experiences in World War I.

The final series, Collected Correspondence, is more correspondence! This correspondence is mostly between friends and relatives of the Mitchell and Stokes families.

This collection is an excellent resource for those researching family dynamics and relationships in the early to mid 20th century. The collection also provides an intimate look into the relief work of women during World War I through correspondence and diaries created by those involved directly. The work of women in the American Red Cross is also well documented through correspondence within the collection.

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Posted in All Posts, Bryn Mawr College, Collection Processors, Leslie O'Neill, Minimal Processing | 1 Response »

Bryn Mawr College’s Philadelphia Club of Advertising Women

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

BMC - Philadelphia Club of Advertising Women records

The Philadelphia Club of Advertising Women (PCAW) Collection is filled with gems from this club’s fascinating history. Formed in 1916 by sixteen women advertising executives, PCAW participated in charitable efforts, offered advertising courses, and published a newsletter (Ad-Land News). These efforts garnered both local and national recognition for the organization. Adding to its reputation as an influential Philadelphia area organization, one of PCAW’s trademark activities was hosting social events. Included in this collection are dozens of invitations for these events, many of which reflect the advertising styles and fonts of the day.

The collection contains several photographs of these gatherings, giving us glimpses into what these gatherings entailed. Pictured here are women smoking and drinking at the bar.

Some events were held annually, such as the Children’s Christmas Party. Pictured at left is Harry Hawkins, President of the Poor Richard Club in Philadelphia dressed as Santa. The Poor Richard Club often hosted events along with PCAW.