Monday, August 29, 2011

Week 1

Last week I was introduced into the archiving process, which I've learned is very diverse in nature. My first day I spent my time scanning and copying photos and articles recently published about people affiliated with the college to go into the PC People files. The PC People files is a set of documents, mostly gained from local newspapers, that center on anyone affiliated with the college - whether it be students, alumni, staff, or faculty. We clip these articles and pictures and then copy them before adding them to the files. I archived everything from recent weddings (there were a lot of those since we just went through wedding season in May and June), announcements about the Athletic Department's progression to Division 1, and Dr. Griffith's initiatives for PC this coming year. So, you never know, maybe you're in the PC People files. Perhaps you should come by the Archives to see what fame you've garnered for yourself.

The rest of my day was spent reading and taking notes on the Bee Mail project. The Bee Mail project, as you may recall from my last post, is a series of newsletters and letter responses centered on the registrar during World War Two, Mrs. Bee. By far, this was my favorite thing I did that day. Not because I didn't like copying. I actually do: there's relaxation to be found in the rhythm of laying out pages and pressing a button for thirty minutes. I liked working with Bee Mail though because I was touching and dealing with such personal objects. Articles and pictures have a nature of detachment to them, but letters are personal. I was actually touching real history - putting my hands on someone's letter from the 1940s. Some of these documents had been mailed from destinations as far away as Texas, Europe, and Japan. Having never left the Southeast, to me touching these was a mini cultural adventure. I only had the chance to read and chronicle a few of the letters, but the most interesting one I read came from a "PC'un" (the term used in the 40s to refer to those associated with PC) stationed in Georgia. He wrote regarding the apples he had previously sent Mrs. Bee, to tell her that they were picked by German prisoners of war, who had been tortured prior to being sent out into the orchard to pluck apples. I can only imagine how she must have felt at receiving such news and I can't help but wonder if she threw the remaining apples, if she had any, away or if she kept them. Sadly, though, Mrs. Bee did not respond to each letter, but instead sent out a newsletter which appealed to all, so for now I have no way of knowing how she felt about such fruit.

My second day Sarah Leckie gave me a tour of the Isabel Arnold Collection and the Founder's Library. This was another favorite experience. For those of you who don't already know, the Archives has a small museum attached to it and in this museum are two rooms, which are pretty fascinating. The first is the Isabel Arnold Collection which features items related to Stonewall Jackson and his family. For me, going into this room was a pretty big deal. Being a Civil War enthusiast, this collection amazed me. The room is set up to look like a bedroom and contains a bed that Stonewall Jackson and his wife shared. I'll repeat: Stonewall Jackson once slept in a bed and we, Presbyterian College, have it. Is that not amazing? After completing my tour through the trinkets and belongings from Jackson's family, including a parlor set, paintings, pretty sleeping gowns, and ornate rugs, we made our way to the Founder's library. This room contains the private library of William Plumer Jacobs, PC's founder. This library is without a doubt the most extensive and vast private collection I've ever seen. Jacobs had books on religion, science, geography, and history. By looking at his collection, one can tell he was a man of many interests. As with the Arnold Collection, I again, had a favorite item in the room. Above the mantle hangs a copy of South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession. It's there because Jacobs was a page for the session of the state congress that decided to secede from the Union. This one document simultaneously connects Jacobs with Stonewall Jackson and PC with the Civil War. It's mind blowing to think what our founder lived through and how his experiences, good and bad, ultimately shaped the institution he founded. The Founder's Library and the Isabel Arnold Collection are definitely worth the trip to the Archives. They're free and simply astounding.

Thursday I worked mostly on a soon-to-come exhibit to the Archives that features men who played baseball at PC and later went on to strike it large in the minor and big leagues. Most of this involved taking old photos out of their frames and sorting through boxes of old photographs. Though the de-framing was difficult - those metal things on the back of frames are evil - looking at the pictures was fascinating. Even though the pictures dated back for decades, I still felt the homey and loving feeling of PC when I looked at every photograph. Having come across some old pictures of Homecoming I was surprised to see that the 1970s homecoming was similar to the three I've experienced at school. Also, it was exciting to learn that so many former PC students had gone on to play for larger and nationally known baseball teams. I look forward to seeing the baseball exhibit unfold. It's going to be great and I hope that many of you come see it!

My experiences this week have helped me to realize the vastness of history, especially the history that involves PC. It's astounding to work with so many different materials including Civil War relics, letters from World War Two, and pictures of sporting events at PC. PC's truly a community that branches out and touches people's lives all over the globe. Seeing the evidence that fellow bluehose and those affiliated with the college lived through eras of history which I have studied made the events all the more real to me. This was extremely important because above all things in history, I have come to value the personal nature of it. That is, the impact of the individual on the larger picture. This week I saw how a former registrar, relatives of Stonewall Jackson, William Plumer Jacobs, baseball players, and soldiers all wove their own individual stories, but the most fascinating was the way in which they interacted with one another and helped to build the PC legacy.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Need to Know Information

Hey y'all! I'm very excited to be starting this blog. My fingers are crossed: I hope to get my first follower today. This fall I am exploring the career opportunities that a hard earned history major can offer me by interning at the Arnold Archives located on the second floor of PC's library. I've decided to use this first post to provide a bit of background information on what I will be doing this fall.

I will be working eight hours a week - I feel like I should say playing because so far I've loved what I've been doing so much that it does not even seem like work. I have several projects which I'll be working on, including this blog. This blog is designed as a way to update my professors and mentors with the progression of my internship. Typically, students compile a journal or portfolio of their work. To me, blogging sounded like more fun, and it also lets a wide range of people keep in touch with me and learn about what I'm doing. I am hoping that this blog will simultaneously attract majors to the history department, promote the career center, and attract visitors to the archives. I am very excited to be working in conjunction with all of the people in these fields.

This semester I will be working on several projects including an ongoing project of the Arnold Archives dubbed "Bee mail." Mrs. Lillian Gross Brown, more commonly known as Mrs. Bee, served as the registrar at PC during the Second World War. She was the wife of Marshall W. Brown, one of the college's history professors who would later become the President of the college. During the war, Mrs. Bee organized a newsletter for those affiliated with the college who were actively serving with the armed forces. Her newsletters helped to keep the displaced "PC'uns" in touch with their PC family. This semester I will be looking at letters written to and by Mrs. Bee during WW2 in order to help the Arnold Archives continue their Bee Mail project. You can read more about Mrs. Bee and her newsletter on the Archives Website located here.

I will also be working on my own project, which I started this summer at PC Summer Fellows. Summer Fellows is a program conducted by the college each summer in which undergraduate students gather for two months and work with a faculty mentor on a topic of their interest. This summer I decided to research into my hometown, Laurens, South Carolina. In my research, I looked into the legacy of Confederate memory within Laurens County. Confederate memory, in the context of my work, refers not only to the way in which people remember the Civil War, but also what they have forgotten, as well as the many different legacies left of the War Between the States. This summer I interviewed several people in my community about this remembrance. Part of my work will be to transcribe these interviews and donate them along with my finished paper to the Archives. Alongside this transcription I am enrolled in a directed study to further my knowledge on the subject of Confederate memory and I plan to do Honors level work on this subject.

Other duties I will gladly perform while I am here include giving tours of the Founder's Library and the Isabella Arnold Collection. The former being the personal library of William P. Jacobs and the latter being the collection of relatives of Stonewall Jackson's. I will also be doing clerical work, including archiving, cataloging, and photocopying of documents as well as helping to update the displays located outside and within the Arnold Archives. Overall, I am very excited, and I eagerly anticipate getting started.

I would like to take a minute to extend thank-yous to the people who have helped me so far. Lynn Downie in Career Services was very helpful in pointing me in the direction of this internship and has been more than gracious in letting me worry over my future and gush about my Civil War research to her in the past few months. Dr. Alan Shackelford is serving as my internship adviser and has also been my adviser in my Confederate memory research. He has always had an open ear and a helping hand toward my endeavors. He and the rest of the History Department have always been there for me. I am thrilled to be working with Mrs. Nancy Griffith and Sarah Leckie in the Archives. They have been nothing but help and kind words since I began talking to them about this internship last spring. Thanks!

Well, that's it for my first post. I hope to update everyone soon on my first few days at work! Happy reading!