Readings: An American Political Archives Reader

For the rest of my readings I read some different chapters out of An American Political Archives Reader. This book is composed of chapters written by a number of political papers archivist on a wide range of issues that come up with Congressional Collections.

Chapter 9: Oral History as a Documentation Strategy for Political Collections

Oral Histories can be an extremely valuable piece of information that can supplement a Congressional collection. While the paper and electronic records can show which issues and pieces of legislation a politician was interested in, we may not know why they were so interested or how they went about researching and working with other politicians. One way of doing that would be to gather oral histories of the donor as well as staff member, campaign workers, or even journalists. The oral histories can give insight and more depth to things that might have played a major role or influence during the politician’s time of service. It can also give a context to past experiences that may have shaped the views of the politician and why they developed the type of stance that they did on an issue.

Oral histories can provide insight into areas other than that of a politician’s career. If a politician work at another capacity that is not included in the collection an oral history can provide researcher information as what the politician’s thoughts were when they were serving in this other capacity. Oral histories can also provide information that is not included in a collection. Meeting or conversations are rarely if ever documented and they can hold valuable information as to how something was discussed or debated. By getting oral histories of the participants or their aids we can gather valuable information that would have been lost to the ether of time. Oral histories can also provide a valuable amount of information if a collection is limited in the amount of materials that were left after a politician has retired.

To work on an oral history project the institution needs to do some back work prior to conduction the interviews. A good idea of what is wanted to be accomplished in the sessions should be worked out, i.e. knowing certain subjects or events that are to be discussed. The person doing the interview needs to do background research to be knowledgeable on the subjects and events that will be discussed. Funding also needs to be arranged for this type of work, especially if the archivist is going to be going to offsite places to conduct the interviews. After the interview is completed time must be committed to creating transcripts for the interview, because in the end a researcher would prefer to use the transcripts, which the researcher can scan rather having to listen to two hours of audio.

Chapter 10: Electronic Record Systems on Capitol Hill – Finding and Obtaining What You Want

Dealing with electronic records from a Congressional office can be quite extensive and troublesome. There are many types of electronic record systems used on Capitol Hill; Correspondence Management Systems, Legislative Information Systems, Local Area Networks, Legislative Databases, Members Schedule, Home Pages, and email. When it comes to these types of systems the archivist needs to work with the staff to see what types of materials are being stored in them. Once this is established, the materials that are relevant can be requested and summaries can be produced using some of the different systems. It need to be established how the records are going to be preserved in the repository and how they will be transferred to the repository. This need to be done with the staff, IT, and archivist all working together so that material and metadata is not lost or corrupted. The archivist also needs to find out what type of software has been used in the past, what is currently being used and how the office set up the system, because no two offices have the exact same set up.

The management and preservation of electronic records is a collaborative effort, much of which happens long before an archivist will have any contact with these materials. An office needs to have a plan on how they are going to organize and store the files. This leads to the staff members need to be aware of how to classify and store the materials so that the proper files are being saved and they are being saved in the right place. By having a well organize plan it will make it easier for the staff to find materials that they may end up wanting at a later date, as well as providing a well organized system for when the records will be transferred to a repository.

Chapter 17: Taking a Byte out of the Senate – Reconsidering the Research Use of Correspondence and Casework Files

Correspondence and casework files can contain some valuable information for researchers. The problem that surfaces though is how to find information in this type of mail. The old paper based system of filing correspondences was usually topic based, but the vast amount of information to search through made this also difficult. With the development of automated systems and electronic mail a whole new type of problem evolved. Electronic mail allowed for mass amounts of mail to be sent by constituents and lobbyists.

These automated constituent correspondence systems are well suited for aggregate, quantitative research. They provide good access tools and an index of the information that is contained in the system. The systems can be used as a finding aid for the correspondence records and to sample or weed the files. It can also be used to purge confidential information, which can result in opening up the correspondences to researchers more quickly. The information in these systems has more than likely been coded topically and demographically, meaning the systems can be used as database that can easily be searched.

These systems though promise more than they can deliver. Any errors that may have occurred when the correspondences were categorized can cause issues for researchers. A miss spelling would not bring up materials that a researcher was searching for. The repository must know how that the staff used the system so as to help the researcher. This whole system can be confusing to the archivist and researcher. No two Congressional Offices file materials in the same way. This can result in not knowing the different terms or issues that something might be filed under. Another problem with correspondence mail is that most of the pieces of mail do not focus on one single issue, meaning that they often have more than one issue brought up in the letter. This is an area can get confusing, because staff members often file the letter under one of the issues, which they thought was the most pertinent. For a researcher this can mean lost information.

To be able to properly use the system files, repositories need to spend time with staff members to know how they filed correspondences in the system. This whole process can get expensive with the amount of time that needs to be spent with the staff members. There is also going to be money that needs to be invested in reformatting the data into smaller files as well as to migrate and refresh the data to keep the data available to researchers. Although these systems can be advantageous in data manipulation and quantitative analysis, in the end the materials in the system can be as archivist Margery Sly feared, “an unholy mess”.

Chapter 20: Classified – What to Do If National Security Officials Visit

When dealing with Congressional collections there is a possibility that they might contain classified or sensitive materials. These materials can come from a number of different places (constituents, committee files, research materials, reports, and findings) but all must be taken seriously. These materials need to be looked at more closely because they can have information that can be sensitive to constituents (SSN), the US government, and the process of contracts or how investigations take place. If these types of materials are discover in a collection then they should be reflected in the collection and then removed for further review. The review process will be conducted by a agency that will have the best knowledge of the subject or issue.

There are a few different resources that archivist can contact to find out who would be the best agency to contact to review the materials. The National Archives and Records Administration can be a helpful entity as well as the Center for Legislative Archives. These entities will have the best idea as to which agency should be contacted to take a closer look at the document/s in question. Once the document is reviewed it can either be considered declassified and be reintegrated into the collection or if it is considered classified then the document/s need to be stored in a classified storage facility until it has been declassified. Some repositories may have this onsite, but if they do not then a regional NARA facility, Presidential library, or some other classified storage unit can hold these original documents.

The Last Week

So I have finished up the last week of my internship. This week I worked on the Residence Hall Association Collection, although I did not get this finished during my internship I have gotten some extra hours as a student worker and will be able to finish up the collection. I need to finish up the EAD finding aid and that is about it. In other news, the podcasts have been put up on the IU website and word from Dina is that through the first couple of days they are getting hits. I'm so glad that this is happening, makes it worthwhile knowing that they are already getting used. My time during the internship has been a great experience. I was able to learn a lot of things dealing with an archival collection as well as learned some new skills on how to create a podcast series. These things should serve me well during my career. Would also like to take this moment to say thanks to Dina for all the help and mentoring that she gave me during this process, its greatly appreciated.

Readings: Managing Congressional Records

For my first chunk of readings I read a handbook published my the SAA and written by Cynthia Pease Miller. It was entitled Managing Congressional Collections, and covered the basics on how to set up a repository for acquiring, processing, and managing a Congressional Collection. The handbook had five chapters and I have written summaries/abstracts on them as follows:

Chapter 1: Soliciting or Donating Congressional Records

When acquiring a Congressional collection steps need to be taken for appraisal reasons. Many things need to be looked at when making these decisions. The archivist needs to look at the member’s stature on the national and international scene. Things that can influence this are if they served on a committee or subcommittee, was a majority or minority whip or leader, a caucus leader or even served for an extended period of time. Congressmen who had these kinds of service should be persons of high interest.
When looking at the quality of content of a collection some areas must be looked at. Besides the obvious areas like files dealing with committee, subcommittee, legislative, press, subject, and projects, things like office procedures, invitations, staff, campaign, and “personal” files should be included in a collection. Other areas of importance would be areas that the congress member took great interest in when dealing with legislative issues, as well as materials that cover the non-congressional components of the members career. The collection should also be one that covers a long span of time, which would give context to the members career and views/policy on certain issues. Another very important aspect is that no portion of the collection should have been transferred to committeed to another repository.
Some other things that need to be taken into consideration when acquiring a collection, things like having good documentation of how things are filed, copies electronically generated responses are included in the collection, recordings(voice and video), electronic files, and photographs are properly label/identified and dated.
This chapter when on to provide checklists for both the repository and the donor as a way to prepare for collecting/donating congressional records for the repository. This Handbook was published by the SAA and is something that I will be purchasing in the near future to have for a reference when I am working in an archives.

Chapter 2: Administering a Congressional Collection

An open line of communication be repository and congress members office is very important. By having an archivist in contact with members office can help with basic archival practices. This will allow for the office to know what types of materials to keep and also what they and discard. By having an open line of communication the repository and the members office can communicate when each have questions. This open line of communication will also allow for the repository to know what the members expectations are for the collection as well as to see if the member is willing to help with funding either through unused campaign funds, a list of donors, or even host a fund raiser.
Access to a collection a main goal of having these materials. By having access to these collections researchers can see the workings of the US Congress as well as how the Congress person dealt with certain issues. The goal of the repository is to get the collections available to researchers in a timely manner with as little restrictions as possible. That being said, there are times when it is necessary to impose restrictions. Some of these restrictions are government based, like dealing with unpublished committee records or findings or areas of national security. Personal information of constituents like dealing with case work, academy applications (SSN), judicial appointments, or other personal information should be restricted as well. All of these types of restrictions should be spelled out in the Deed of Gift.
The Deed of Gift is legal way of transferring the ownership of a collection from a Congress member to a repository. The Deed of Gift spells out when a collection will be transferred and the expectations of both the donor and the repository. The Deed of Gift will also spell out restriction to the collection, which I talked about a little above, as well as copyright issues. I learned in reading this that there it is no copyright for materials produced dealing with public service. It is also suggested to avoid at all costs Deed of Deposits or Loans. These things restrict the availability of the materials with having problems with not being able to process a collection or having the materials being temporarily moved to another location.

Chapter 3: Transferring the Papers

When planning for the transfer of the collection steps need to be taken to so that the process will go smoothly. Having contact early on with the staff allows for knowing how to organize the materials, what staff members did what and office procedures. Getting lists of who served on the staff and their duties, different record keeping practices and when the changed, and information dealing with electronic records should be done to easy in the processing of the collection. By getting these materials before the transfer of the collection archivist can start to make a plan on how the collection will be dealt with.
The costs dealing with collections can be expensive for the repository, but there are some things that can be done to reduce these costs. In house services for the Senate make it free for them to have materials scanned or microfilmed to make dealing the transfer of materials easier. There are also steps of working with the staff early on to eliminate non-essential materials from the collection. Having the staff also label photos and organize materials into obvious series will also cut down on costs for the the repository.
Electronic records are something that have become common in Congressional offices. The repository must plan for these types of records and to do so need to work with the members staff to find out all that they can. Questions need to be asked as to why types of files are stored electronically (legislative, committee, correspondences, speeches) and if they have any endearing value. Also what types of systems that the office has used over the course of the members time in congress and if any of the files are in outdated formats. If there are outdated formats will they be migrated to a new format before being sent to the repository. Any keys/codes need to be retrieved so that files and guidelines can be accessed. A survey of where e-files are stored: on individual computer or a central hard drive.
When dealing with memorabilia or artifacts , most of these materials do not fall into the repository’s research goals. By clarifying this early on, important ones can be held by the repository and photographs and copies can be made of the other and these “copies” can be held at the repository while the physical materials can be kept at the members home or office, or the materials can be donated to a local museum, library or historical society.

Chapter 4: Processing a Congressional Collection

Prior to physically processing a collection, an overview should be taken to see what kind of resources are available in dealing with the collection, a strategy for processing the collection, a timeline, and how often updates will be given to administration and the donor. All of these things should be looked into prior to beginning processing, as it will mean a smoother process when working on the collection. This will give the workers, administration, and the donor what expectations there are and how things will be handled.
When getting into the collection a inventory should be made so as to know what materials that are included in the collection. This can also be used to check with the inventory that was sent from the office to know if any boxes or files are missing. Once the inventory is completed, items that should be separated (photos, memorabilia/artifacts, oversized materials, audio visual, newsprint, electronic files) can be identified, a marker place where they fell in the collection and then moved to the proper area for handling of the material. Decisions can also be made as to what areas can be lightly processed or if the need to be sampled or weeded.
The physical processing of a collection can be a bit complex. At times the idea of “more product, less process” can be used, but at the same time more sensitive areas may require item level processing to avoid liability issues. Some of this can be alleviated by working with the member’s staff and having a some of the more sensitive issues resolved before they reach the repository.
Appraisal can be an essential part of the processing of the collection. Appraisal will lend itself to reducing the bulk of a collection that is being processed. Appraisal decisions can be set up from the beginning to recognize what materials are essential to a collection and need to be kept, what files need to be reviewed and looked at more closely, and finally which files are of no real historical value and can be discarded.

Chapter 5: References Services and Outreach

Finding aids are a necessity when dealing with an archival collection. Creating an EAD finding aid allows for the description of the collection and a way for researchers to find material in the collection. By providing administrative information and descriptive information in the finding aid it give a researcher a good idea of what a collection the collection is about and what kind of materials that is held in the collection. By having a well documented finding aid it will also aid in references services. Reference is a very important aspect when dealing with these collections, as it lets researchers look for materials that they want to look at.
Exhibits and outreach also play an important role when dealing with a Congressional collection. Repositories may have many different collections in their holdings but Congressional collections are a high profile holding, meaning that they can attract fundraising events, publicity, and improve public relations. By reaching out to the community and having an exhibit of the collection, people will know that the repository is committed to preserving the history of the government of the United States. This outreach can also bring more light onto the repository and allow for people to learn about what types of materials that is housed in them. By having speeches, tours, exhibits, or mini lecture series the repository can have the collection featured in a number of different ways.

Entering the home stretch

Wrapped up my second to last week. Been working on integrating materials into the Residence Hall Association collection for the past week. It's pretty simple work but it is giving more experience dealing with a collection. Once I get done adding these materials I will need to update the EAD finding aid and will be finished with my internship. I have had couple of the collections that I did processed from beginning to end up through the archives website.

Yesterday Dina and I met with Eric for a final meeting dealing with the podcast series. He showed us how to upload the podcast onto the IU webpage, and starting next Tuesday (4/13) they will start to be released. They will be released on Tuesdays over a ten week period, and I hope they will be used by students, alumni, faculty, or anybody else who would like to know more about IUB's Old Crescent.

Back at it

Well the last couple of days I have been back working at processing a collection. I have finished up all of my editing on the podcasts and am waiting for final approval, but the word I have received is that Eric really liked what was on the unedited versions of the files so it would seem he would like what the final product would be. Next Thursday Dina and I will be meeting with him with the idea of the meeting to set up a plan of action for releasing the podcasts. So I am hoping that within the next week we will release the first podcast at the end of next week.

For my work with the archive collection, the Residence Hall Association, I have been going over the list and was looking at where the materials would fall into the series that have already been established. Today I started to refolder some of the binders that are in the collection and integrated a few of them into the files. I've only got about a week and a half left in my internship, but I am pretty sure that I will be able to finish integrating the materials and update the EAD finding aid.

Seem to have hooked something with the Podcasting

Started working on editing the podcasts two weeks ago, and now that I am back from Spring Break I should be finishing up the editing on them pretty soon here. After I edited the audio and added photos to the file I was able to create the first podcast. I then sent it Eric to see what he thought, and he approved so I have gone on with editing and creating the rest of the episodes. Its been a very fun project so far, from doing the research, to recording the material and now being able to edit the files. I thought it might be difficult but after some help from a friend and the software that I am using the process is actually quite simple. In total there will be 10 podcasts over covering the buildings and structures of the Old Crescent. Over the period of ten weeks the podcasts will be released on the IUB webpage for people to download or subscribe to.

Pod-casting, We'll see what I can catch

Over the last few days I've been working on the podcasts. Dina and I went out to he Old Crescent and did the recordings on Tuesday. It was a neat experience and we were able to get some of the background sounds that we were hoping for. During the first recording the Chimes from the Student Building went off and they are in the background while I am talking about what the series will be about. We were able to get all of the recordings done on Tuesday and I spent the rest of Tuesday and all intern hours today working with the files. Over the next week or two I hope to get edit the podcasts and make the final composition, once that is done they will start to be released over a 10 week period. I've really enjoyed working on these podcasts so far. I was able to do research on the Old Crescent and Seminary Square and learn some very interesting history about Indiana University. I also think that learning how to create the podcasts will be a very valuable tool, and it seems that after getting a little instruction this should be a fairly easy project.