A week later and ten finding aids down and I’m feeling pretty good about this summer interning thing!
Mark was gifted this week via a good ole Google share a folder of finding aids I’ve been plucking away at since my early weeks of the summer. I’m proud of what I’ve managed to come up with seeing as I’ve never sat down and actually done one; I feel like the exercises in my various archival classes don’t really count since all the information was given to us and it was just a matter of putting all the round pegs in the round holes and and square pegs in the square holes. Or like a paint by number. Or something equally obvious and intentionally well mapped out for a classroom-like setting.
I know my finding aids are far from perfect and I’m fully prepared to go back and fix/edit more, but Mark seemed okay with what I gave him and I hope they live on to serve him well…or at least until another intern or volunteer comes along and levels them up like an evolving Pokemon. That’s something I might try to remind to check on in a year or so (let’s be real, I’m going to totally forget).
Speaking of forgetfulness, I feel like a bag lady. Or a paper lady. I have stuff everywhere — clipped together, shoved in my purse, in a backpack, in my work cubby, saved in three different emails and Google drives that, for some reason, I feel the need to print physical copies of. I never said I was organized and I’m still a ride-or-die Post-It noter, but I can see the appeal of digital memos typed neatly on my phone; paper gets heavy after a while.
And why all this paper, you ask? Mark’s going on a world tour! Not really, just over to Germany for some archival training, but he’s still leaving Ashley and I here at WWPL to hold down the fort for two weeks so we can keep on burning through hours. This week was mostly Ashley and I getting work lined up to keep us busy both on and offsite which, in turn, resulted in me scribbling a lot of reminders and notes to myself on my various pieces of paper. Thus, paper lady.
So tune in next week to see what shenanigans — if any — Ashley and I get up to while Mark’s away!
