What did I do this summer?
This summer, I did some preliminary work on my honors project. I read several books on archiving so as to gain an understanding for the theory and the process. More importantly, however, were the hours I spent on Wednesday mornings throughout the summer re-boxing the SPU archives. The University had decided to move the boxes from one location to another, better storehouse. To better preserve the documents and the artifacts, we put them into new, acid-free archival boxes. At the same time, we did a little processing. We put together a new list of what was in the boxes, so as to more easily find things next time. We also removed extras of things such as yearbooks, catalogs, and directories, of which there were many. By doing this, we saved about 500 cubic feet of space (and since the storage company charges by the cubic foot, this was great!). Throughout this process, I learned a lot about preserving documents and items, how to pack them that they would be protected while in storage, and much of the archival terminology and materials. Between my reading, and the re-boxing job, I think that I have gained a greater understanding of the archiving process and what goes into it.