“Archivist in a Backpack:” Create a Portable Archiving Kit

A new “Archivist in a Backpack” project to support community archiving offers genealogists a great idea: a portable archiving kit for on-the-go genealogy research and preservation projects. The Archive Lady Melissa Barker explains the initiative and offers her ideas for archiving supplies that you can stuff into your own backpack.

Archivist in a Backpack Project

A new prototype project from the Southern Historical Collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library aims to promote community-driven archiving efforts. The project, “Archivist in a Backpack,” is part of a three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Through this grant, the Southern Historical Collections will provide training, technical know-how, supplies and equipment to help local communities record and preserve their own history. Currently, the SHC is partnering with four community archiving projects: The Appalachian Student Health Coalition, Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project, The Historic Black Towns & Settlements Association and the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum.

 

Using rolling suitcases that contain items to help community-based historians begin building a local archive, the archivists hope to teach archival skills to those who are building an archive in their community. Included in the archiving kits are items like portable scanners, gloves, archival sleeves, archival file folders, soft #2 pencils and instructions on how to use these items when working with historical and genealogical records.

Josephine McRobbie, community archivist at the Southern Historical Collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library, says in this press release, “When community members learn these skills and gain familiarity with common tools and equipment like acid-free folders to portable audio recorders, it is empowering and builds their sense of identity as historians and community archivists.” McRobbie and her colleagues want people to know that “telling the stories of their lives in their own community are well within reach and that the rewards can be tremendous. Simply making good records of what is gathered, and keeping everything in a cool, dry place, will go a long way toward preserving stories for future generations.”

The project is only in its first year and in the second and third year they are planning on refining the program. They will assess the work done to date and create new kits based on user feedback. They will also share their experience with additional community partners and with the archival profession. Keep an eye out for the “Archivist in a Backpack” project in your area! 

 

Create your own portable archiving kit

You can create your own “archivist backpack” for whenever you have opportunities to preserve family history documents, photos, memorabilia and even memories. These opportunities can come up suddenly when visiting a relative’s house, attending a family reunion or stopping by a local historical or genealogical society. Here are some suggestions on what to include in your archiving-on-the-go kit:

  • Soft archival gloves for handling fragile items without getting them dirty;
  • Soft #2 Pencils for identifying photos and other items (Use on the backs, preferably along the edge, and if pencil markings won’t adhere to the photograph, you can use an Identi-Pen);
  • portable scanner to quickly scan photos or documents;
  • Your favorite digital camera to snap pictures or record interviews (your smartphone may be just as good or better than a digital camera and easier to carry);
  • A thumb drive with plenty of room on it to copy digital files between computers or devices;
  • Your laptop, to organize files, type notes, etc. (make sure it holds its charge well, as sometimes you’re not able to plug in while you’re working).

More great tips for the mobile genealogist

Are you an on-the-go family history researcher? Let these articles inspire your next genealogy (or other) road trip!

Ultimate genealogy playlist for your summer road trip

How to upload your ebooks to your own Google Play Books library

Great local history apps for genealogists

 

 

About the Author: Melissa Barker

About the Author: Melissa Barker

The Archive Lady

Melissa is a Certified Archives Records Manager, the Houston County, Tennessee Archivist and author of the popular blog A Genealogist in the Archives and an advice columnist. She has been researching her own family history for the past 27 years.

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Finding Unprocessed Records at an Archive

This isn’t a mess—it’s a pile of unprocessed records at an archive, and buried within may be clues about your family history. Eventually, these items may be filed away neatly for you to find. But how can you access them in the meantime?

As an archivist who works in an archive every day, I get very excited when someone walks through the door with a records donation in hand. Many of our archives would not have the genealogical and historical records they have without the generosity of others. Archives receive donations of documents, photographs, ephemera and artifacts—almost on a daily basis.

Unprocessed records at archives

Many archives have back rooms full of unprocessed and uncatalogued records collections. Sometimes they are even sitting in the original boxes they were donated. These records collections have not been microfilmed. They are not online anywhere. But they exist and the genealogist needs to seek them out.

If you have made a research trip to an archive, it wouldn’t hurt to ask about any new record donations or collections. There could very well be records in those boxes about your ancestors. The archivist should know what they have in those collections and should be able to help you decide if a particular collection will be of help to you and your genealogy research. The archivist might even let you look through a specific collection. (Be prepared: sometimes the answer will be no. But it doesn’t hurt to ask.)

If you are emailing or talking to the archives by phone, be sure and ask about any new records collections that have been processed or that have recently been donated and are waiting to be processed. Most likely, you will have to travel to the facility to see the records but you can get an idea of what is available. 

Remember, the answer to your genealogical question could be sitting in a box of unprocessed records. I like to always encourage genealogists to put “unprocessed records” on their to-do list. As genealogists, we should leave no stone (or box of records) unturned.

Try these 3 steps for searching for unprocessed records at an archive

  1. Make a quick list of your ancestral surnames, time periods and places that might be mentioned in records a particular local or regional archive. Then add the names of local organizations with which your family may have been affiliated (schools, industries or businesses, churches, local militia units). Finally, jot down a few kinds of original records you’d love to find, such as photos, maps, news clippings, business or church records, militia rosters and the like.
  2. With this “wish list” in hand, look first for any processed records. Start at ArchiveGrid.org, an online catalog of collections at thousands of archives. Enter different combinations of your search terms as keywords. If you have a specific archive in mind that’s not coming up at ArchiveGrid, go to that archive’s website. Search any online catalog or digital finding aids (collection descriptions) with different combinations of your search terms. Or use Google site search to let Google help you look for your keywords across the entire site.
  3. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, call or email the archive. Mention that you’ve already searched online for items relating to your family. Ask whether they may have any additional items pertaining to your wish list (people, places, organizations, record types) that haven’t yet been processed or may not be on their website or in Archive Grid. Ask whether or when access might be available.

Tell us about your discoveries!

We love hearing about the “genealogy gems” you find, especially in original old manuscript records! Will you write in and let us know about them? Meanwhile, let these two success stories inspire your own search:

“I found 130 letters by my ancestor!”

Railroad retirement record discovery prompts a “happy dance”

 

About the Author: Melissa Barker

About the Author: Melissa Barker

The Archive Lady

Melissa is a Certified Archives Records Manager, the Houston County, Tennessee Archivist and author of the popular blog A Genealogist in the Archives and an advice columnist. She has been researching her own family history for the past 27 years.

Images courtesy of Melissa Barker and Houston County, TN Archives.

Using Vertical Files in Archives

Vertical files in archives are like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get. The Archive Lady Melissa Barker shows us the fabulous genealogy finds that may be awaiting you in an archive somewhere. The family history you may find may be even sweeter than your favorite truffles.

In the movie Forrest Gump, the character Forrest Gump says: “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” In an archive, it can be said: “Vertical files are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” So, what are vertical files?

Vertical files in archives

Vertical files (or subject files as they are sometimes called) can be found in most state and local archives, historical societies, genealogical societies, libraries and even in some museum collections.

Vertical files are a collection of documents and ephemera that are put in file folders which are then put in filing cabinets and cataloged by surname or subject. These files could contain just about anything that can fit into a file folder. Most archives will create an index by the title on each folder but most of the time what is inside of each folder is not cataloged. Vertical files are sometimes seen as a “catch-all” or a “hodgepodge” for all those documents that don’t really go anywhere else but should not be discarded.

Images courtesy of Melissa Barker and Houston County, TN Archives.

Most archivists file family group sheets and genealogical information that has been donated to the archives in vertical files. Other wonderful items found in vertical files could be compiled family histories, photographs, and even receipts like the one shown here for E.E. Collison Jr’s Portrait and Landscape Photography studio.

Images courtesy of Melissa Barker and Houston County, TN Archives.

One of the most popular genealogical items to find in vertical files is newspaper clippings. These clippings could be an obituary, a marriage announcement, a birth announcement or just about anything that has been clipped from the newspaper. Above is an example: an advertisement for Skelton’s Super Market.

Accessing and using vertical files in archives

When doing genealogy research in an archive, ask the archivist if they have vertical files. These collections of records could be very valuable for genealogy research. Some archives don’t always advertise that they have a collection of vertical files, so it’s important that the researcher ask the archivist specifically about this collection. Vertical files are usually stored in back rooms of the archives but the index is available at the archivist’s front desk or they could be on the in-house computer.

Once you have found what interests you in the index, you can request the files that you would like to investigate further. The archivist will retrieve them and bring them to you, sometimes only one or two files at a time. Once you have received the files, you can look at each item and make copies of what is of interest to you and your genealogy research. When you have finished with the file, give it back to the archivist who will then bring other files you have requested.

So next time you are researching at an archive, ask if they have vertical files! Like that box of chocolates,”you never know what you are going to get.”

My motto is, “It’s not all online, contact or visit an archive today!” Read more articles about uncovering genealogy gems in original manuscript repositories–you may soon find yourself visiting one.

Found in an archive: 10 unexpected discoveries

Keeping up: How to know what’s new at your favorite archive

Top 5 questions I get asked as an archivist

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Melissa Barker

About the Author: Melissa Barker

The Archive Lady

Melissa is a Certified Archives Records Manager, the Houston County, Tennessee Archivist and author of the popular blog A Genealogist in the Archives and an advice columnist. She has been researching her own family history for the past 27 years.

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