I got to learn a bit more about archiving today. The Guggenheim is currently working to complete the archival of a collection of materials from the Hilla von Rebay Foundation, made possible by a grant from the Foundation. Hilla von Rebay was the first director of the Guggenheim making her a rather important figure in the history of the museum. In addition to the archive, the Guggenheim library houses Rebay's personal library. If you are interested in learning more about the collection, the list of folders is available here along with links to a large portion of digitized items.
But what was I actually doing today? Ah yes, I had the oh so glamorous task of numbering folders. Now, you may be thinking that that must be some technical term for a complex task which would require a great deal of training; nope. It's exactly was it sounds like - I was literally writing numbers on folders pretty much all day long. The fact of the matter is that the reason why materials get archived or cataloged is so that they will be accessible at a later date. Thus, finding aids, like the one linked to above, are created which point to the exact box and folder in which an item should be. And in order to create said finding aid, someone must verify the folders in the boxes, number them, and condense that information into a single document. And that's exactly what I was doing today.
I've got some pretty cool stuff coming up, you guys. Just letting you know - you may want to break out the popcorn soon.
Today's mileage: 3.24 mi
No comments:
Post a Comment