Box of Audio Visual

I'm still sorting out various boxes of folklore materials. Today's task was to tackle the big box of audio visual materials. This box has more than 50 audio cassettes, 20 VHS tapes, and one Umatic tape (which I've only seen in text books).

For the most part these materials are pretty well described, but what is missing consistently are dates. I know that everyone does not approach research materials the way an archivist does, but as a researcher wouldn't you need to know when these recordings happened? It's one of those strange quandaries about how people conduct research. I would think that even if one intended only to use research for one paper or presentation, that dates would still be important. Alas, archivists do not rule the world and, per usual, we are left to piece together the picture with the surrounding context.

Collection #2

So after completing the Dorson collection, though I am still hoping to do the EAD encoding for the finding aid, Professor Bantin has assigned me to sort out the rest of the folklore archives as my next collection. I have to say that this part of the collection is in pretty rough shape.














Piles of files, publications, slides, and photos have just been sitting without any real organization. It will be my task to sort this material and either place the material with an existing collection that it was separated from or create a new collection depending on the content.

The great thing about this collection is the amount of research I get to do to find the rightful place for these materials. I'm excited about the amount of photos, slides, and audio recordings found so far.


I'm really looking forward to working with this collection, especially the multi-media aspects. This collection will definitely sharpen my archival research and arranging skills.