I want to be a librarian like this when I grow up

The Unknown Librarian Who Saved Queer History: You probably don’t know the name Paul Fasana. But the librarian was instrumental in preserving hundreds of thousands of artifacts of queer history

A working-class gay man and first-gen college student, Fasana came out in the late 1950s, while getting a master’s of library science at UC-Berkeley (where he later established a scholarship for queer students). After rising through the ranks at the New York Public Library, he moved to Florida in the mid-’90s and began the herculean task of organizing SNMAL’s holdings. Since 1972, SNMAL has been a crucial safeguard of queer history—particularly queer Southern history—but like all independent queer archives, its fragile existence has long depended on volunteers like Fasana, passionate pencil pushers who perform the inglorious yet absolutely necessary day-to-day work.

By the time Fasana came on board, SNMAL’s holdings had grown precipitously, particularly as it rescued vast collections from men dying in the first wave of the AIDS crisis. Out of a jumble spread across three different warehouses, Fasana knit the collections together into one usable archive—an archive that has been powering queer scholarship and community in southern Florida and across the country ever since. Today, in honor of Fasana and his partner, Robert Graham, SNMAL’s collection is known as the Fasana/Graham Archive.

SNMAL is the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library in Florida, not connected to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, but it's 50 years old (founded in 1972). For more on them, see their about page.

Any librarians out there looking for a nifty part-time archivist job?

Today I came across a grant-funded part-time job that will be running through July 1, 2015 with a possible extension. It is in Frankfort, Kentucky, at Liberty Hall Historic Site. It's something that is interesting but wouldn't work for me right now. So I thought I'd share. Interested? You can find it posted on the Kentucky Library Job List, with the specific link under Processing Archivist/Special Collections Librarian. Deadline for application is August 20, 2014.

Now this is real librarianship!

The Brave Saga of Timbuktu: Abdel Kader Haidara--The Librarian Revived Interest in Mali's Illustrious Past, Then Tried to Save It from Jihadists

Over nine traumatic months, Haidara and his team rescued 350,000 manuscripts from 45 different libraries in and around Timbuktu and hid them in Barnako, more 400 miles from the AQIM-controlled north.

This was done with great personal risk, and with risk that the precious texts could be destroyed at any checkpoint. I applaud their continued efforts to save their culture from those who would destroy it out of ignorance and hate. This is the type of 'guerilla librarianship' which inspires those of us devoted to preserving information for future generations.

A window into a harsh life

Lives of Victorian poor go online at National Archives

Records detailing the lives of the Victorian poor, including those in workhouses, have been published online.

The National Archives project involves letters and reports passed between poor law authorities in England and Wales.

Project director Dr Paul Carter said the records were "unrivalled" as an important source for examining the lives of the Victorian poor.

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 centralised the way poverty was managed and relieved, and set up workhouses.

"Able-bodied paupers" were offered a place in the workhouse as a last resort.

Conditions were intentionally harsh because workhouses were designed as a deterrent. Dr Carter said the newly published records showed people often felt they would "rather starve than go to the workhouse".

History often emphasises the elite, because there were more records of their lives in the past. However, the last two hundred years or so have seen a wealth of information on the lower classes, although it hasn't always been easily available. Now anyone can research the conditions the Victorian poor lived in and even find their own ancestors if they wish. It's a boon to both history and genealogy.

A different sort of archive

Archiving mementos at Section 60: Curators collect items left at Arlington cemetery

Without a national memorial to the more than 5,300 service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, Section 60 has become its own community of remembrance. Thousands of mementos left at their graves stand testament to the grief of loved ones.

Crown Royal whiskey bottles, war medals, birth announcements, wedding photos, Christmas ornaments, GI Joe action figures, painted rocks, church bulletins, a fishing lure, even a rubber duck are among the items left at the graves of the more than 600 from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are buried at Arlington.

Families gather for birthday parties for the fallen, leaving behind cupcakes and balloons. War orphans drop off handmade valentines. Twenty-somethings with crewcuts and military boots smoke a cigar and set an empty beer bottle next to a buddy's white grave marker.

Arlington is a working cemetery, not a museum, not a memorial. For years items left at the cemetery were thrown away in an effort to keep it clean and presentable. But last fall a request was made to begin to collect items left at the gravesides. Every Thursday, military curators gather non-perishable items, photograph them, and then bag them up and take them with them. They're intentionally not accessessioning them, to prevent them from becoming specifically military property, but they are saving them until a next step can be determined. Someday, I'm sure, there will be a memorial to those who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan, but until that time, curators are preserving history for us. Kudos to them, and to their effort. As one of the women interviewed for the article (who found out she was pregnant a few day after husband's death) said:

When they see a card left from a 2-year-old or a balloon left welcoming a son that they never met, I think that makes more of an impact. It makes Americans a little bit more thankful or appreciative.

She's right. A tangible item puts things into perspective, breathes life into names and numbers, and remind us of the personalities lost and left behind. I hope this pilot project continues.

My mind is reeling at the scope of this loss to history

HISTORY IN RUINS: Archive Collapse Disaster for Historians

The Historical Archive of Köln (Cologne in English) collapsed Tuesday, leaving two people missing and presumed dead and millions of documents, photographs, books, and other archival items imperiled. So far 9,000 documents have been recovered, a small percentage of a collection that took up 18 kilometres of shelving and spanned two millennia. Köln's archives were very rare because they survived the destruction of the World War II era completely intact. It was also the largest municipal archive in Germany.

When I was working on my thesis on Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, a native of Köln, I benefited from other scholars who had studied the humanist and occultist by poring over documents in this very archive. I would love to have been able to go myself.

Now much of that history may be lost. When I think of my emotions, it is not so much sad as horrified. It reminds us how fragile our connexion to the past can be, and the importance of archivists, librarians, and historians in maintaining that connexion. I so hope that more can be saved, and that they can rig up some device to protect against rain as they try to unearth these precious holdings.

Although I'd seen the story in a variety of media, this particular link is courtesy of Steven from Library Stuff.

Photos can be accessed through the article, but these were particularly riveting, I thought:

Building as it was before collapse - After the collapse: View 1 - View 2 - View 3

You can also see an aerial view in this video.

The building is gone, leaving only huge chunks of concrete. Let us hope that treasures may be found under the rubble, but it will be an arduous task that will be painstakingly slow compared to clearing most rubble, due to the great care necessary to preserve the documents. I wish them well.

An archival document/public vs. private ownership debate in the news

Court: Va. man owns 1776 copy of Declaration: Tech entrepreneur purchased document from a book dealer for $475,000

Although it's a loss to archives, I have to agree with the court. I don't think the state of Maine proved its case.

Maine says that the disputed printed copy of the Declaration of Independence is a Maine official public document and is subject to their ownership because it was never officially released, but rather was retained by a clerk and then was mixed up with his personal estate, which was sold.

The collector's lawyers argued that the copy that was transcribed from this one into the town's books was, indeed a public record, but the Declaration itself is not. It is one of a series of copies of the Declaration printed in Salem and sent to Massachusetts towns (Maine was originally part of Massachusetts) to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 so they could be read to the populace.

I just don't see that as an official document; it wasn't produced by the state or local town as a permanently held record, but rather was a copy much like a facsimile of an important federal document might be posted online for others to read. Also, I'm not sure when the state law was made about releasing official documents, but the clerk died in 1929, so I'd be interested in whether the law predated that.

The collector didn't do anything shady, the provenance was not shady, and I don't think the collector should be out anything just because he was shrewd enough to purchase it and a public archives did not. I'm sure there are plenty of my fellow librarians who wouldn't agree, but that's my opinion. It's the court's opinion that really matters. There's nowhere to go up in terms of appeals for cases like this, so the matter is settled.

I'm so glad I got mine first thing Wednesday morning

I picked up a couple of Lexington Herald-Leader newspapers this morning (hey, I was a history major, I knew this was a momentous occasion and they'd go quickly), one for a friend and one for myself. Good thing I did. When I was at the store working later in the day, dozens of people came looking for papers to no avail, and surrounding stores were out as well. One lady said she'd go cruising neighbourhoods looking for one in a stand.

Apparently Lexington was not alone in this phenomenon, which isn't surprising.

Extra! Extra! Barack Obama's election win sends newspaper sales soaring

Let's face it; I may get my news primarily online, but a newspaper is a tangible piece of history, a document that can be archived (in acid-free materials, of course). A lot of people felt today that they wanted something they could show their grandchildren, something they could touch and remember the moment America elected a president of African descent. It amazes me some of the prices major papers were fetching on eBay. Wow.

Okay, I'm up way too late, and it's back to work at the hospital tomorrow morning. Good night.

Interested in digital preservation?

REGISTRATION OPEN!

PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY:
Sustaining Digital Collections
DECEMBER 9-10, 2008
InterContinental Chicago Hotel
Chicago, Illinois

PRESENTED BY the Northeast Document Conservation Center
CO-SPONSORED BY Society of American Archivists, American Library Association, and Center for Research Libraries

TAUGHT BY A FACULTY OF NATIONAL EXPERTS, this two-day conference on digital longevity provides information about the latest developments in digital preservation to help you with the life-cycle management of your institution's collections.

CONFERENCE COST: $425
GROUP CONFERENCE REGISTRATION DISCOUNT RATE: Register 3 or more individuals from the same institution at the same time for $340 each.
INTERCONTINENTAL CHICAGO HOTEL RATE: $175 / NIGHT

FOR COMPLETE CONFERENCE INFORMATION AND ONLINE REGISTRATION:
http://www.nedcc.org

FOR WEB STORIES AND SAMPLE COMMENTS from past participants of Persistence of Memory: http://www.nedcc.org/about/archives.php

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE current information about NEDCC's programs?
Join NEDCC's E-mail Announcement List:
http://www.nedcc.org/contact/signup.php

Partial funding for this conference is provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The NEDCC is one of the world leaders in library and archive conservation/preservation. One of my teachers in school, George Cunha (a truly remarkable man who had been a chemist, a sailor, a conservator, and then a teacher), was a founder of NEDCC and had been director. It's not a conference I can go to, but I thought some of you might be interested, especially if you can get your institution to foot the bill. Thanks to Julie Martin from MEDLIB-L for passing this along.

Archivists gone bad

Man arrested in eBay sale of historic documents

Daniel Lorello, a department of education archivist for the state of New York, was arrested for stealing documents and artefacts since 2002--and about 400 items in 2007 alone. A history buff alerted authorities when he found Lorello selling items on eBay. Police recovered about 400 items from his home, estimated to be about 90% of what he stole; the rest was probably sold.