Archives

LITS Annual Report 2002- 2003

I. Highlights of Research and Statistics
Overall our numbers in terms of use are up over last year. The numbers provided below reflect the number of uses of the collection and not the number of people who have visited the collection. We feel that this number more accurately reflects the amount of work done since many users return several times over a year. We also have no real way of documenting the work that goes into phone calls or use during times like reunion weekend when it is impractical to require that all users sign a Registration Form.

There are a few notable numbers in terms of numbers of people using the collection: this year we worked with approximately 13.7% of the student body and 11.5% of the faculty. While we certainly want to increase these numbers, they are significant when one considers the specialized nature of the collection and the limited access to the collection (as compared to the rest of the library). Another important number is that of offices and departments that have used the collection. This points up the administrative nature of the Archives and Special Collections work in regard to assisting with the operation of the college. While statistically we had 123 requests from 14 offices or departments this number does not represent the number of interactions we had in terms of assisting offices and departments with records issues.

This year we taught 18 class sessions to 175 students. This figure includes the six sessions taught as part of the January Term class offered by the archives this year.

1. General Use Statistics

Visitors:

2002-2003
Archives: 1,347 (estimated) Special Collections: 182
Total: 1,529

2001-2002
Archives: 1,148 (estimated) Special Collections: 62
Total: 1,210

Telephone calls received:
627 (405 reference, 222 administrative). 2001/2002: 608 (no further breakdown available)

Correspondence (letters written): 1,374 letters (803 reference, 571 administrative). 2001/2002: 1,124 letters (no further breakdown available)

Requests for reproductions of photographs, documents, or objects in the collection:
42 requests for 78 reproductions. 2001/2002: 36 requests for 106 reproductions

2. Highlights of Use Statistics

MHC Student Use:
Archives: 267 Special Collections: 83 Total: 350

MHC Departments and Offices Use:
Archives: 123 Special Collections: NA Total: 123

MHC Faculty Use:
Archives: 57 Special Collections: 19 Total: 76

Non-MHC Students:
Archives: 56 Special Collections: 6 Total: 62

Non MHC Faculty:
Archives: 64 Special Collections: 13 Total: 77

Non MHC Staff:
Archives: 46 Special Collections: NA Total: 46

3. Items Paged From Stacks

Archives:
5,056 items (1,679 boxes, 2,272 folders, 1,105 volumes)
Special Collections:
149 items (2 boxes, 6 folders, 141 volumes)
Total: 5,205 items

4. Class Presentations and Teaching

• 13 students (two class sessions) in Art History 290, Issues in Art History: Mount Holyoke the Mountain. Bergmann
• 13 students in History 341, Topics in African History--When Worlds Collide: The Colonial Movement in Africa. Hanson
• 16 students in Classics 106, Voyages to the Past: Real and Fantastic Visions of Ancient Greece. Debnar
• 12 students in Art History 290, Issues in Art History: Illuminated Manuscripts. Nisimura
• 17 students in English 101, Crossing Medieval Boundaries. Collette
• 20 students in English 210, Development of Literature in English: Medieval through Commonwealth. Hill
• 31 students in English 311, Chaucer. Collette
• 6 students in English 313, Milton. Hill
• 15 students in Italian 211, Introduction to Italian Literature. Mazzocco,
• 11 students in Spanish 331, Mapping the Latin American Metropolis. Gerassi-Navarro
• 10 students in Spanish 244, Foundations of Spanish Literature. Ruiz
• 11 students (6 class sessions) in History 122j. Carini

5. Acquisitions and Processing

Accessions:
  241 (158.1 linear ft.)
Processing:
  Manuscript Collections: 47 (42.1 linear feet)
  Institutional Record Groups or Series: 16 (20.25 linear ft.)
  Total Materials Processed from Accessions: 210 Items
  (76.1 linear feet)

6. Selected Highlights of Research Use

Mount Holyoke Students:

• History of black women at MH before 1960 (for an honors paper)
• History of community based learning at MHC and of public service work by students and alumnae (for an honors paper)
• Frances Perkins and social activism work by women (2 students in History 171, the American People Since 1865, Daniel Czitrom, instructor)
• History of campus planning and development (3 students in Art History 290, Issues in Art History: Mount Holyoke the Mountain, Betinna Bergmann, instructor)
• Missionary work in Persia, now Iran (for an independent study)

Mount Holyoke Faculty:

• History of the Entretiens de Pontigny conferences of intellectuals at MHC, 1942-1944, in preparation for a November 2003 Weissman Center conference celebrating the history of those events (4 Faculty Members)
• History of Jewish students and faculty at MHC

Mount Holyoke Offices and Departments:

• The President's Office and the Office of Communications asked for information about the history of affirmative action at MHC for use in an amicus curiae legal brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the University of Michigan's affirmative action policy with regard to admissions
• The President's Office asked for information relating to coeducation for use in the Plan for 2010
• The President's Office and Dean of the Faculty used historical information from the Archives when considering the question of allowing secret societies/sororities to be re-established at MHC
• The President's Office and the Dean of the Faculty asked for information to use in planning a conference about women's colleges
• The President's Office and the Office of Communications selected an image from the Archives to use on President Creighton's holiday greeting card for 2002
• The Dean of the Faculty's Office gathered historical information for use in the new MHC Code of Conduct concerning fair labor practices
• The Office of Communications used images in a Development Office Campaign for Mount Holyoke newsletter and a Weissman Center for Leadership brochure, both published during the fall of 2002

Non Mount Holyoke Students:

• Americans who studied at Leipzig University in Germany before 1910 (Leipzig University, for a dissertation)
• Reading and writing by 19th century American women (University of Michigan, for a dissertation)
• Dating and sexuality in the 1950s (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, for a dissertation)
• History of the Mary Lyon birth site (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, for an archaeology course paper)
• Missionary work by women in Turkey before 1920 (Princeton University, for a course paper)
• Women scientists who became teachers during the 19th century (University of Rochester, for course paper)
• Post-World War II curricula of American colleges (Harvard University, for a course paper)
• History of atomic energy policy in the U.S., 1945-1946 (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, for an article)
• History of the greenhouses and botany program at MHC (Amherst Regional High School, for a course paper)
• Chinese women educated in the U.S. (Princeton University, for a dissertation)
• Lives of scientists Lydia Shattuck (MH 1851) and Cornelia M. Clapp (MH 1871) (2 elementary school students, for reports)

Non Mount Holyoke Faculty:

• Missionaries in 19th century Persia (Brown University, for a book)
• World views of 19th century American women (University of Hartford, for a book)
• Southern women at Northern colleges, 1875-1915 (Northeastern Illinois University, for a book)
• Student life at the Seven Sister colleges, 1860-1920 (University of South Florida, for a book)
• Experiences of Chinese women attending women's colleges in the U.S. before 1940 (Grinnell College, for a book)
• History of birth defects (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for a book)
• Entretiens de Pontigny conferences of intellectuals at MHC, 1942-1944 (Universite Paris, for a conference paper, and Duke University, for a book)
• Work of MH alumnae missionaries in Hawaii (Concordia University, for an article about the education of women in Hawaii during the 19th century)

Non Mount Holyoke Staff:

• Women teachers in Illinois during the first half of the 19th century (Lovejoy Society, for a book)
• History of field hockey in the U.S. (National Field Hockey Coaches Association, for a book)Frances Perkins, MHC 1902 (Washington Post, for a biography)
• Lives of abolitionist and former slave John P. Parker and his daughter, Hortense Parker, MH Class of 1883 (the John P. Parker Museum in Ripley, Ohio, for an exhibit)History of the higher education of women in the U.S. (Kunhardt Productions, for use in Freedom: A History of Us, a documentary film shown on PBS)
• Life and work of playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, MHC 1985 (Storyville Films, for a documentary film about her shown on PBS)
• Luis Cernuda at MHC ( Residencia de Estudiantes, Madrid, Spain, for an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Spanish writer's birth)
• Work of the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars before World War II, of which Edward R. Murrow was a member (for an exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
• Images of faculty member Ellen Deborah Ellis (for use in an American Political Science Association exhibit)
• Images of Mary Lyon, Emma Perry Carr, and Anna J. Harrison (for use in a Chemical Heritage Foundation exhibit)
• Images of Mary Emma Woolley and Jeannette Marks (for use in an American Association of University Women article)
• Images relating to Virginia Apgar, MHC 1929 (or use in a children's book)

II. Accomplishments (Selected Highlights)

Administrative

• Created a new advertisement for summer jobs in the Archives and posted it on the Web
• Prepared a new brochure for Archives and Special Collections
• Developed a new policy and forms relating to the reproduction of collection materials

Outreach

• At the request of the Development Office, Peter gave an architectural history walking tour of the campus for alumnae and other visitors during the weekend celebrating the rededication of the Art Building
• Peter gave a talk about the history of MH as part of the Family Weekend program
• The Archives was open from 1-5 on both Saturdays during reunions
• Peter gave an historical tour of the MH campus on each Saturday during reunions

Processing

• Patty and Nancy revised descriptions of 32 manuscript collections
• Under Patty's direction student assistant completed a survey of papers of Florence Brugger, Class of 1922 (12 linear feet) and began surveying papers of Mary Williamson McHenry, Class of 1954 (18.75 linear feet) in accessions
• Reviewed 125 volumes for possible transfer to the Rare Book stacks

Reference

• Archives began offering Saturday hours from 1-5 (by appointment only, with student staffing)
• Responded to an urgent request from the President's Office to find sources relating to affirmative action at MHC, for use in an amicus curiae legal brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the University of Michigan's policy
• Student assistants continued digitizing Reggie Ludwig's summaries of manuscript collections
• Student assistants continued revising descriptions of collections for the Five College Finding Aids grant project
• Student assistants continued indexing issues of the College Street Journal and the Mount Holyoke News

Website work

• Peter, Patty, Nancy, and student assistants revised and added new information to the Archives and Special Collections Website
• A student continued scanning postcards and entering information about them into the Postcard Collections part of the Archives and Special Collections Web site
• Peter and Patty met with Robert Schwartz, Marietta Clement, Robert Primmer, and others to plan for creating an electronic historical atlas of MHC
• Peter helped set up a data base for use for the electronic historical atlas of MHC

Exhibits

• Collection sources relating to travel (in conjunction with the Weissman Center for Leadership Program for 2002/2003)
• Valentines in collections
• Recent acquisitions to the collection
• Writings based on sources in the Archives

III. Personnel

1. Professional Staff

Patricia Albright:

• Answered or oversaw the answering of reference requests by students
• Attended the spring meeting of New England Archivists at Simmons College
• Took two course at Holyoke Community College as part of her work toward receiving a certificate from the American Management Institute Program
• With Nancy, revised descriptions of 32 manuscript collections
• Oversaw a student assistant surveying of papers of Florence Brugger, Class of 1922 (12 linear feet) and began surveying papers of Mary Williamson McHenry, Class of  1954 (18.75 linear feet) in accessions
• Partially oversaw the work of five Simmons interns
• Accessioned all incoming materials
• Developed and mounted three exhibits
• Assisted with teaching of three class sessions
• Assisted with planning for Historic Atlas Project
• Researched and found images for the Historic Atlas Project
• Supervised work of two volunteers

Nancy Birkrem:

• Worked on the preliminary retrocon of the Archives card catalog
• Developed procedures for students working on data cleanup for the Five College Finding Aid Project
• With Peter and Anne Miller worked to create metadata standards for digitized documents
• Participated in the work of the Digital Resources Working Group
• Developed and mounted three exhibits

Peter Carini:

• Chaired the Digital Resources Working Group
• Developed and taught History 122j
• Worked on the Five College Finding Aid Project
• Participated in the development and implementation of the Historic Atlas Project
• Worked with Nancy Birkrem and Anne Miller to create metadata standards for digitized documents
• Redesigned the Archives and Special Collections Website
• Hosted Archivists Workbench meeting at MHC
• Attended New England Archivists spring meeting
• Attended NERCOMP SIG Workshop on D-Space
• Attended management workshops held by the Five College Training and Development Collaborative
• Partially oversaw the work of five Simmons College GSLIS interns
• Interviewed by New Hampshire Public Radio about Ester Howland and the history of the commercial valentine industry
• Gave five Talks or Tours
        - Campus Landscape Tour for Art Building Dedication
        - Talk "Early History of Mount Holyoke College" for
          Family Weekend
        - Talk on the history of the college for Staff Council
        - Talk "The Town's Gown" to the South Hadley Chamber   of Commerce
        - "Historic Walking Tour of the Campus," Reunions I
          and II

2. Part-time Professional, Paraprofessional and Volunteer

Archives Assistant
Sara Jamison, administrative assistant to the College Librarian, continued working in the Archives for about 12 hours a week in July, and August 2002. This arrangement was discontinued in September. Sara performed reference work, assisted with the travel exhibit, and began processing two collections.

Archives Intern
Julie Kuipers, Class of 2002 (May-September 2002) worked as a paid intern in the Archives from June to the middle of September in 2002. She processed 10 manuscript collections and 9 groups of College records, did reference work, and assisted with the travel exhibit.

Volunteers
Ellen Carey, Class of 2000 (May-June 2003): processed 2 manuscript collections
Clara R. Ludwig, Class of 1937 (September 2002-June 2003): prepared summaries of 8 manuscript collections

3. Student Workers

Student Assistants
The following 15 student assistants worked in the Archives in 2002/2003 during the months indicated after each person's name:

Fariha Ansari, Class of 2003 (October 2002-February 2003): reference work; worked on Web site redesign and the Five College Finding Aids Project; proofread digitized catalogues

Natalie Araujo, Class of 2005 (May-June 2003): reference work; deceased alumnae files; scanned summaries of manuscript collections; processed 1 manuscript collection; re-described collections for the Five College Finding Aids Project

Amber Cushing, Class of 2003 (February-May 2003): reference work; re-shelving; deceased alumnae files; worked on description of Jeannette Marks Papers

Ralitsa Donkova, Class of 2005 (June 2003): electronic historical atlas of MHC project

Kristiana Georgieva, Class of 2005 (June 2003): reference work; newspaper photocopying; deceased alumnae files

Sarah Hayes, Class of 2004 (September 2002-May 2003): reference work; re-shelving; new filing; deceased alumnae files; control files; processed 1 manuscript collection; reviewed book for possible inclusion in Special Collections

Julia Mensah, Class of 2004 (June 2003): reference work, College Street Journal and Mount Holyoke News indexing; processed 1 manuscript collection; re-described collections for the Five College Finding Aids Project

Tolulope Ojo, Class of 2006 (May-June 2003): reference work; re-shelving; Class of 2002 files; processed 1 manuscript collection; re-described collections for the Five College Finding Aids Project

Andrea Parr, Class of 2003 (September-December 2002): reference work; College Street Journal indexing; Postcard Collections project

Kristina Pueschel, Class of 2004 (June 2002-May 2003): reference work; deceased alumnae files; processed 7 manuscript collections; processed items from accessions; exported or re-exported descriptions of collections in Minaret data base; filing; surveyed Florence Brugger Papers and part of Mary Williamson McHenry Papers in accessions

Heather Roberts-McEvoy, Class of 2006 (March-May 2003): alumnae biographical file survey

Sara Rzeszutek, Class of 2003 (June 2002-April 2003): reference work; processed 8 manuscript collections; edited descriptions of collections in Minaret; worked on Five College Finding Aids Project

Victoria Stepanenko, Class of 2003 (February-May 2003): Website redesign

Allison Trzop, Class of 2004 (September 2002-December 2003) reference work; alumnae biographical file survey; exported or re-exported descriptions of collections in Minaret; worked on description of Jeannette Marks Papers

Lahari Yanthrawaduge, Class of 2004 (June 2002-April 2003): reference work; re-shelving; newspaper photocopying; trustee biographical files survey; processed 8 manuscript collections; scanned summaries of manuscript collections

4. Interns from the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Program at MHC

Adrienne Boudreau (spring 2003): worked on description of the Jeannette Marks Papers; withdrew from class
Eileen Chapman (spring 2003): processed 1 manuscript collection and 1 series of College records
Nick Edwards (spring 2003): processed 1 manuscript collection and 1 series of College records
Susan Holman (fall 2002): processed 1 manuscript collection and began work on a second
Catherine Reynolds (fall 2002): processed 2 manuscript collections

Submitted:
July 25, 2003
by Peter Carini
Director of Archives and Special Collections