Beacon Street Diary

Intern wrap-up -- Mary Guinan

I have been interning here at the Congregational Library for the past two months as part of my internship requirement for my LIS 438 class at Simmons College. In those two months, I have had the wonderful opportunity to gain experience processing a small archival collection from start to finish.

The collection consisted of the personal papers of Edward Franklin Williams, a Congregational minister, lecturer, and writer from the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. I started out just taking an inventory of sorts to try to understand who this person was and what materials were in the collection. I think I probably spent more time than necessary doing research about Williams and his life. I really enjoyed working with his actual documents and trying to put together the pieces of his life. I felt like a sort of historical detective!

The arrangement and series I decided on reflect, I think, the most appropriate and logical organization of the materials. I really learned a lot about the various aspects of archival processing. There were a few bumps along the way. The fact that some of the series are split up between boxes wars with my desire to have everything fit exactly right and be 'just so'. Then there was the issue of how to number the folders when the series are split up. These 'bumps' were the instances where I learned the most. I was able to get real-world examples of things that were discussed in my classes.

I was also lucky enough to get experience or at least an exposure to aspects of archival processing that I didn’t really expect to. I heard a lot of talk about EAD and got to work a little bit with DACS. These are both concepts that, I'm told, I will be very familiar with after taking more classes. It was nice to get a little bit of an introduction and get to see how these concepts are applied in the real world. I was also able to get a little bit of preservation experience. Though it was only the basics, I'm glad that I was able to get some exposure to that aspect of archival processing.

-Mary Guinan

Visit to Simmons College GSLIS Library Internship Class

On Thursday, September 13, 2012, I was invited to speak on a panel at the first class of the semester to the students in LIS 501 — Internship in Library and Information Science. This course entails an internship of 150 hours of field experience and four class sessions. The students work under professional librarian supervision to gain hands-on experience in the library information environment. Jennifer Andrews and Kris Liberman are the instructors for this class.

I was asked to be on the panel because of my experience in supervising interns from this class and my expertise in networking within the library community. Rachel Moore and I supervised interns at the library from this class during the 2011 Summer and Fall semesters and the 2012 Summer semester. Our interns were Peter Laurence, music cataloger at Harvard, Steven Picazio, now a member of our staff, and Ethan Wattley, who completed his internship here in August.

Megan Allen, Assistant Director at the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, and Kelly Alice Robinson, Career Information Services Manager at Boston College, were the other two panelists. Our combined experiences covered every type of library (public, academic, and special) except school (K-12) libraries. As panelists we were asked to describe our career histories and provide information on what we look for in a job applicant and on a resume. Students were encouraged to ask questions. Two recommendations made to the students were to be enthusiastic about their work and to use their networking skills.

While I was at Simmons, I stopped in to see Em Claire Knowles, Associate Dean. Dr. Knowles asked if I would be interested in mentoring a new student beginning in January. I have done this in the past and agreed to be a professional mentor to an incoming student. Mentoring involves being available to answer questions, discuss career paths, and provide friendly, supportive encouragement. Contact is generally by email and phone, and I always invite the student to visit the library.

-Claudette

Summer at Old South

For those of you who have been following this blog for a while, you will know that we have had an ongoing project over at Old South Church in Copley Square for a few years now. For those of you just tuning in, the executive summary is as follows:

We have housed the church's earliest records for several decades now. When their historian suggested in December 2009 that there was material that was ready to come over to be added to the existing collection, it dominoed into a 2+ year project. In that time, we have had eleven spectacular students working to sort through their records on site. Our finished product is going to be a finding aid that describes the materials kept here at the library, the microfilmed material, and the records kept at the church.

One of the last students on the job now in a volunteer capacity is Veronica Denison. She is doing the last 10% of the work, writing up the finding aid, and reboxing the collection. Our goal is to be done by the end of August. She will be sharing her thoughts on her summer experience in a few weeks. 

-Jessica

Final word from Rebecca on the Emily Wheeler Project

Last Thursday marked my last day as an intern at the Congregational Library. It has proven to be one of the single most valuable experiences I have had since embarking upon my education in Library Science.

My time here was spent creating a digital exhibit featuring the Emily C. Wheeler and Ingrid Anderson Memorial Scrapbook. The scrapbook documents the missionary work of Emily C. Wheeler and Ingrid Anderson. Prepared by Mrs. Anderson's daughter Bertha, it contains photographs, correspondence, and other ephemera related to their activities in Turkey and India, and the many children they helped.

From the beginning, it was very important to me that the object's original format be preserved as much as possible. For this reason, I incorporated an image slider so that viewers may examine the scrapbook page by page.

In addition, image maps have been embedded in pages that contain items that are not readily visible. For instance, the scrapbook contains several pages that include items such as folded sheets of paper and pieces of correspondence that have been tucked into envelopes. The use of image maps makes it possible to maintain the integrity of the scrapbook as it was originally created, while also allowing remote users to view the enclosed items as they would if they were handling the scrapbook itself.

When a user hovers over an item on the page, he or she will be prompted to click on it:

After doing so, an enlarged detail of what is contained inside appears:

I also prepared an instructional guide so that the library's staff may easily recreate this process to digitize more scrapbooks in the future. It is my hope that the contribution I made this semester has been as beneficial to the library and its staff members as it has been for me.

Thank you!
-Rebecca

 

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The Emily Wheeler Scrapbook will be available on our digital exhibit site soon. Keep an eye out for an announcement on this blog, and in the meantime check out the exhibits we completed over the past year.

--Robin

Final word from the Old South interns

It's almost the end of the semester, so I've had Dan and Veronica sum up their experience. These will be the last two official interns on this project, which started in the winter of 2010. There's been a total of 11 interns including this semester, which is the most ambitious internship project I've ever been involved in. Veronica has volunteered to continue working this summer to get things ship-shape.
-Jessica

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As our time at the Old South Church comes to a conclusion, we have made considerable progress in the collection. We have reorganized the different series into a working collection in which relevant material can be located for future use. With the assistance of a spreadsheet that illustrates the contents of each box, specific documents can be retrieved easily and efficiently. The shelves have been organized by color-coded series that allows for general items to be effortlessly browsed through. The next step in the process is the creation of a refined finding aid under the guidelines of DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), which Veronica will do this summer.

Some things that we found particularly interesting is the vast amount of outreach work the Old South Church conducted both in the United States and globally.  It is important that this information not be forgotten but preserved in an archive to serve as a great example of humanitarian work. The Old South Church's inclusiveness is also well documented and serves as a great example of community support to all groups. This experience has provided us the opportunity to gain valuable archival knowledge while at the same time assisting with a very important project.

~Dan and Veronica

Meet our new Old South interns

Hello, we are Daniel Ness and Veronica Denison, the new archive interns working at the Old South Church during the Spring of 2012. We are both currently enrolled at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, concentrating in Archives Management. We are both very excited about assisting with the processing of the archives at the church.

Initially, we were a bit overwhelmed by the scope and volume of the church's records. However, we have grown more comfortable with the collection. At first, it was hard getting accustomed to the previous interns organization process since we did not know where they left off and where we should begin. Our first two days were spent getting familiar with the manner in which the files were organized. After the second day of working, we have become more familiar and comfortable with processing the collection.

We have been spending our time making sure all of the files are filed correctly. We also have been learning the history of the Old South Church, especially about the past ministers. We both believe these records are important, not only to current and future members of the church, but also to the Boston community as a whole.

We look forward to continuing our work and we hope to make considerable progress towards the completion of this collection.

-Daniel and Veronica

Intern Introduction -- Rebecca Franz

Hello, I'm Rebecca Franz. I am currently in my last semester at Simmons College where I am pursuing an MS in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archives Management.

Prior to enrolling at Simmons, I received a BFA in painting and drawing from Wichita State University and my MFA in painting from The San Francisco Art Institute.

I am thrilled to be at the Congregational Library where I will be picking up where Katherine Williamson left off on the Small Collections Digital Exhibition.

The internships I have completed prior to coming to the Congregational Library reflect my background in the fine arts. From processing scientific illustrations to scanning and cataloging 35mm slides, most of the materials I have handled have been visually based. I am therefore particularly excited about the wealth of textual documents that the Small Collections has to offer.

This project promises to be an exciting, challenging experience... everything I had hoped for and more!

-Rebecca

German holdings in the Congregational Library

The Congregational Library contains a surprisingly large number of German-language periodicals. One standout is the Illustrierte Kirchenbote-Kalender, or "The Illustrated Christian Messenger Almanac". The library has a large number of issues, 23 to be precise, of this annual publication, ranging from 1905 to 1963. Each issue contains a wide variety of visual and written contributions, arranged to be read over the course of the upcoming year. This sister publication to the Kirchenbote is notable for its variety, including devotional fiction, poetry, adventure stories, historical sketches, lives of noteworthy figures, information about weather and daily life, and other writings.

It is also important for publishing a yearly attempt at a reckoning of the scope of German Congregationalism. Each issue of the Kirchenbote Kalender contains a detailed record of the congregations of the German conference of the Congregational church. Thus each issue contains a snapshot of the state of German Congregationalism in the early-to-mid-20th century, including cultural and demographical information, encompassing a wide range of relevant information in each volume. It is also a particularly delightful read within the scope of German publications, beautifully printed and published to have staying value for twelve months, and remains a great window into a little-known group of Congregationalists' particular sensibility for us today.

-Jaime Bonney

Intern wrap-up -- Trevor Winn

The Congregational Library exists to preserve the rich history of the Congregational tradition and provide a repository for clergy, religious scholars, or curious parishioners who wish to gain a fuller understanding of Congregationalism past and present. Throughout the past few months, as a student at the Boston University School of Theology, I have interned at the CL and was given the task of organizing a portion of the vast collection given to the library by Chicago Theological Seminary earlier this year. The hundreds of boxes delivered to the library contained a variety of texts, some new, some old; some religious, some secular. Anyone who's handled aging books knows how messy they can be, and this semester was no exception. Leather-bound books are beautiful... until they begin to disintegrate from wear and age! On many a Friday afternoon my stained hands showed just how important simple preservation measures can be for the life of the physical book, and the valuable information it contains.

Individual monographs and multi-volume sets were a significant portion of the materials I regularly handled. Chicago Theological Seminary's gift included the works of many prominent thinkers, including Stephen Charnock, Thomas Brooks, David Clarkson, Joseph Bellamy, William Law, Edmund Calamy and Thomas Chubb to name a few. Many of these multi-volume sets had been rebound and will surely last for future generations. Also included is an improved set of the works of Jonathan Edwards; not surprisingly several of the library's copies were well worn to the point of disrepair. Also among the collection were many general association and convention reports of various state congregational organizations, many of which the library already held, although the library's holdings of western states such as North Dakota and Washington were strengthened.

CTS also sent a fair number of periodicals which needed to be checked against the library's holdings not only online, but also in the stacks themselves to assess their physical condition. Here too the collection from CTS proved valuable, and a number of the CL's copies were replaced with identical editions in modern or superior bindings. I had not previously had extensive experience with 19th century periodicals, and it is an understatement to say they are complicated. A quick glance at one of the library's (very helpful) periodical finding aids will show that a magazine's title likely changed as often as the wind. That said, with the help of Claudette and other staff at the library, I was able to sort through a portion of the periodicals to the betterment of the library's collection. There remains work to be done, and while a dent has been put in the large collection from CTS, the semester has been fruitful and it was a pleasure working with Claudette who fielded my many questions graciously.

 

-Trevor Winn

Internship Reflections by Steven Picazio

As I look back over the semester that I have spent as an intern at the Congregational Library, I am surprised to realize that my time with the library spanned only fourteen weeks. Over the course of that time, I have gained far more knowledge about librarianship and Congregationalism than I could have imagined when I started in late August. When I came to the library, I hoped of gaining some practical experience as a cataloger. Now, I'm leaving, not only with that, but also with a much deeper appreciation for the wide range of work and knowledge that it takes to run a library.

During the course of my internship, I dedicated much of my time to creating and editing bibliographic records for the online catalog. Many of the records I created were for books on the subjects of church art and architecture and for pamphlets on the Catholic Church. The work of producing these records challenged my grasp of cataloging as the library's collection contains so many unexpected surprises. I found myself cataloging resources as diverse as a 17th century tract from London that detailed the objections of early Congregationalists against Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, to a 20th century book that exhaustively detailed the range of altar designs found in English churches and cathedrals. As someone with a fascination with cataloging work, solving the problem of creating the appropriate records for such varied resources proved extremely rewarding. Each day of the internship, I would find myself learning how to solve different cataloging conundrums. In addition to that, being exposed to these resources afforded me the chance to learn about subjects, like church architecture, of which I had little knowledge. As a result, I came to look forward to encountering each new resource and deepening my scope of knowledge of the art and history of Congregationalism.

In addition to cataloging work, I was also afforded the opportunity to work at the reference desk in the reading room. To my surprise, I found working with patrons and researchers to be a more fulfilling experience than I had initially anticipated. Assisting in the research of the library's visitors not only furthered my knowledge of the library's unique resources, but also gave me a new appreciation for reference librarianship. While, prior to this internship, I had dedicated much of my academic attention to cataloging, I had let my focus on the whole range of librarianship to lapse. Working at the reference desk reawakened my zeal for all types of library work and reminded me why I was attracted to the profession initially.

As the internship comes to a close, I look forward to bringing along the many lessons that I learned at the Congregational Library to wherever the next step my career in the LIS field takes me to. I would like to thank the entire staff of the library, who were always friendly, helpful, and welcoming. I would also like to extend my special thanks to Rachel Moore, who guided me through my work and patiently answered the many cataloging questions that I brought to her. If I continue as a cataloger, I hope that I will be able to emulate her attention to detail and depth of cataloging knowledge in my own career.

 

-Steven Picazio, Simmons GSLIS Librarianship Intern