Assignment #3: Notes from first visit to AHS

AHS Collection Survey
Notes from first visit - 2/2/09

Environment and Storage

• The archive is located in a room off the office in the library; no windows; is the far wall an exterior?
• The 2 librarians, Angie and Carmen, have keys to the archive; it’s usually locked, but Angie said she sometimes forgets.
• There’s a note on the door to the archive asking folks to keep the door closed since there’s a dehumidifier running.
• They have a dehumidifier running, and 2 environmental monitors, one near the entrance and one at the back of the room; the one at the back of the room collects data that can be downloaded and analyzed.
• The humidity reading on the front monitor said 30%; this seems unlikely to us, so we should look into the environmental conditions a little more closely while we’re there.
• Angie mentioned that they have had mold problems in the past.
• The collections are all housed in one room; most stuff is on shelves, a few things are on the floor.
• The room was originally used for magazine storage; about half the room (maybe less) is still being used for that, and is apparently inaccessible (check this).
• There are some empty shelves in the room.
• Most of the shelving is fake wood – covered plywood? Find out more about the materials; tile floor; some metal shelving towards back of room (the metal shelving is new, bought per recommendations from the first general survey).
  
• Framed photos are stored flat with pieces of cardboard between each one.
• Some shelves are labeled with what’s on them, but the labeling is inconsistent.
• We’ll have to find where all of the scrapbooks are in order to get a good count for surveying.
• The scrapbooks looked like they were mostly 3-ring binders and stab-bound photo albums.

General Info

• AHS was founded in 1881; it's oldest school in the state.
• This is the 7th campus; the school moved here in the mid 1970s.
• The archive was started by Mr. Schenk, a retired social studies teacher, in the early 1980s; he now works part-time as the archivist.
• In addition to the 2 librarians and the archivist, the archive is maintained by an assistant archivist, 2 volunteers, and at least one student aide. Do other students work there?

The Collections

• The collections include: scrapbooks, yearbooks, oversize framed photos and artwork, books, AV equipment, trophies, uniforms, various AV media, stereocards & viewer, loose posters, easels (find out for sure that these are just stored here, rather than archival), T shirts and knick-knacks the school has sold
• The school’s theater group, The Red Dragons, worked on transferring some of their group’s scrapbooks to new albums - we should look closely at these to see what they did and how the new albums are affecting the conditions of the materials.
• The scrapbook subjects include: Red Dragons, Student Council, PTA, basketball, Hall of Honor
• The scrapbooks are located throughout the room; not all shelved together.
• Materials from the archive are occasionally displayed in cases in the library; large quantities of the collections are put on display once a year at the Dedication Day celebration (end of April); this involves putting the scrapbooks and other materials out on tables in the hallway outside the library; we may have the chance to come see this later in the semester – I wonder how closely the materials are monitored while they’re out there...
• The AV equipment – overhead projector, film projectors – are occasionally still used, but are primarily kept for archival purposes.
• There is a database of the Archive -- find out if this is a complete inventory.
  

Assessment Issues

• We can work at the table in the outer office, or out in the main library at a reading table.
• One goal Angie mentioned was to know how to better preserve the scrapbooks, particularly regarding the possibility of digitization.
• The archivist and assistant archivist have plans to apply for a grant to buy digitizing equipment, so our surveying should be done with that in mind. Where are they applying for the grant?
• They have a budget of about $1000 for supplies; they also sell back copies of yearbooks to earn money.
• Dedication Day is also often used to solicit donations for the archive; there is also a blurb on the alumni homepage soliciting donations; sounds like this is the only active collecting they do for the archive; they do receive unsolicited donations of both money and items for the collection.
• Find out if there are any more archival boxes available.
• Ask Maria: what kind of paperwork/evaluation will Angie have to do for us at the end of the project? (Angie wants to know).
  
• We are allowed to take pictures documenting our work and the state of the archive.

Rough Numbers

• 45 cardboard boxes of clothing and memorabilia
• 60 flat archival boxes of jackets and clothing
• 20 boxes of slides
• An old wood stereo viewer with 5 or so boxes of cards
• 3 shelves of old books
• 1 shelf of old A/V equipment
• 4 shelves of framed art and photographs, stored flat and stacked with cardboard between individual items
• Loose posters, stacked
• 2 large filing cabinets
• 1 shelf of VHS (labels say they've been digitized)

Other Questions

• Is there a fire suppression system? smoke detectors? etc.
• Do they have a disaster plan?
• Does the room get cleaned regularly?