This week was a productive and fun week with APS. I worked 14 hours and should be working 12-14 hours this week as well. This week we are planning to start surveying a collection and starting the organizational process. I plan to ask about the way APS process their collections, and how they differ from other organizations. I’m going to make notes on my own from my readings and practicum on what appears different or similar to me, but I’d like to hear what someone with years of experience in the field thinks. I’ll be reading through some articles this weekend to see start my literature review and try to compare what is being said in these articles, and how the process will be done with APS.
On Thursday I started my morning off by going over the metadata exercise from the week before. I was unaware these documents have already been posted online, so we compared the metadata I collected to the metadata that is on the Rev City Portal. After this, I worked on creating metadata for the John Leacock commonplace book that I scanned my first week. I was reading through the book and pulling out information that I felt would help researchers and using Library of Congress headings. I met with Bethany at 2pm to go over transcription, and how APS handles their transcription work. I don’t have any formal training in this, but I’ve had a lot of experience transcribing historic documents and it’s something I enjoy. Bethany told me that Penn used to offer free classes on how to conduct historic transcription and I’ll have to see if that’s still available or something I’d like to take for a certificate. We sat together and she had me read through historic documents out loud and we would discuss when I got stuck on a word. She reminded me to use clues to letters or words from previous examples, such as how someone’s commas are done or how they write their I’s, etc. This was a lot of fun for me and felt like solving a puzzle. Bethany was an incredible teacher and I’m thankful for her taking the time to sit with me. At 3 pm I met Mary Grace Wahl, who is the Associate Director of Collections and Exhibits. She told us about her life and her experiences, from her schooling and start in the field, to the last 15 years she’s been with APS. It was great listening to her speak, and honestly enlightening. I’ve been having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what I’d like to do after I graduate, and archives are something I enjoy and would be happy to do, but it was nice to know there’s something else I’d enjoy. The way Mary Grace spoke about her work experience and what she does normally drew me to the idea of working in collections and exhibit design. Hopefully, the Temple food truck exhibit does go through with the library because I’d love to get some first-hand experience with exhibit design. I asked Mary Grace at the end of her talk about what she anticipates the field would be like for someone looking for a job in collections and she was open and honest about her belief that there will be entry-level opportunities in Philadelphia and discussed the difference in working with large and small organizations. She asked us all to keep in touch, and I followed up with her after the talk to thank her and express my gratitude for her sharing her story with us. She told me about positioning their posting this week for an exhibit assistant, which I’ll be sharing with a friend when it’s posted. Sabrina told me about archivesgigs as a job board to use to search for positions as well.
Friday was transcription and finishing metadata on the John Leacock commonplace book. I finished reading this book and put together all the metadata I could think of, and Sabrina and I will have to review it together at some point before the book is uploaded to the portal. I also transcribed 20 pages of letters from A. Swift to her Mother and Father. As Bethany said on Thursday to me, the writing really hasn’t changed much since the American Revolution. I found the letters easy to read and interesting. I followed the guides that were set for me and enjoyed my time transcribing them. They’re from a book that is on the portal now, but they want to have a transcription of the contents for finding aids as well as making it more accessible and easier to use for anyone that wants to view them. The transcriptions are meant to be paired directly with the letters and can be followed from line to line to help anyone who wants to read them. I was surprised by how much I was able to transcribe in the hours I worked on it. I wonder if I will be transcribing the full book during my time with APS. Sabrina mentioned that it could be something placed on the backburner for when I need something to do, or when I feel like just working on transcription instead of jumping into a new project. Anyway, this was a great week with a lot of learning. My time with APS so far has been incredible, and everyone is beyond kind and supportive. My total hours so far are 35, which is a little behind where I want to be. With the fiscal year coming to a close and us switching to a new database at Penn, I’ve been very busy there. As well as holidays limiting the days in which I can be at APS. Thankfully, that all has come to pass. My hope is to maintain a minimum of 14 hours a week and try to get to 19 hours a week potentially every week, or every other. I’m going to take some time this week or weekend to map out the specific days and hours I want to work, and how that fits with my work at Penn.