archivist gloved handling photos

A Day in the Life of an Archivist

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Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Edna Fugate

Please welcome guest author Edna Fugate. Fugate is the Archivist and Reference Librarian at the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, KY. She holds a Master in Library Science from the University of Kentucky and is a Certified Archivist. Her Special Collections and Archives at the University of Pikeville can be found on Facebook, and she is currently developing a digital library for the University of Pikeville.

One of the first things I learned when I became a librarian is that librarianship is a dirty job. Maybe not a Mike Rowe type of dirty job, but a dirty job nonetheless. The amount of dirt and dust that can find its way into a book is quite amazing, and contrary to popular belief, we do more than just read those things. After working in a library for a couple of years, I had no idea that I could successfully find a department where I could manage to go home even dirtier. It was one of the best things that I have ever stumbled into.

glove filthy from handling archival items

Archives are typically seen as the dominion of historians or librarians who love books more than people. I began as neither a historian nor a people-shunner. Though I have always enjoyed history, my background is in psychology and religion, and I chose librarianship as a profession that would let me help people learn at a very personal level. I settled into reference work at an academic library, and greatly enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I kept it as part of my duties, even as my job has changed.

I noticed as I moved about the library that we had a door labeled Archives, which opened to a room where no one went. This room was in Special Collections, which was another unused room. Unsure as to why this material was never used, and extremely curious as to what was behind the closed door, I went to our library director. She explained that our archives were no longer used because we had no one to take care of it. I thought that was a shame, and said so.

“Do you want to do something with it?”

With that, I started my career as an archivist.

Picture for a moment those dusty, silent archives you see on television. Imagine the rows upon rows of identical boxes that house the mysteries of antiquity. Now, remove all of that but the dusty part from your mind.

Archives are not always neat and not everything fits in a box. To compound issues, my archives had not been used in over 10 years – except as storage for tables. Plastic covered the items on shelves, portraits leaned in a corner, and photographs lay spread over the tops of boxes. Very little was cataloged in any way, and no one knew what types of items were being housed in archives.

For about 20 seconds I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Then I realized – I was getting a treasure. It wouldn’t be a treasure for everybody, but as a graduate of the school, I knew that I would find things in that room that others had forgotten. I was being given the opportunity to rediscover history and to shape this archive in whatever way I wished.

Now all I needed was to figure out what on Earth I was doing.

collection materials on shelves

My training was in libraries, which one may think is exactly the same thing. One would be wrong. When a librarian keeps and records material, he/she does so with the idea of getting the material out to the patron. While an archivist wishes to do the same thing, there is a different view of preservation that arises. Library books are abused, but then repaired in a way that will keep them going out to patrons.

In archives, the desire is to keep them as close to the original as possible, while still working to make the material accessible. Compounding this is the format of material in archives. Portraits, manuscripts, miner’s helmets, photographs, notepads, scrapbooks, shoe lasts, and countless other items can be found in my archives. These items are usually unique, often fragile, and always need something special to make sure they are properly preserved.

Learning more about archives was particularly important because of my position. I am what is often referred to as a Lone Arranger. I am the only one working in our special collections and archives, which began as only two rooms. It has almost doubled in size over the last year, but it is still considered a small archive. Small collections, cared for by single archivists, can be found all over the country, and we are often very possessive of the material in our care. The lack of others with archival training in my institution has made it necessary for me to educate myself on proper techniques in preservation and archival access.

There is no such thing as a typical day in a small archives. My archives has a two-fold purpose: 1) collect and preserve our institutional history, and 2) preserve history and culture related to Central Appalachia. One day may be spent searching for material for my institution’s Public Relations department, and the next may be digging up genealogical records for a sweet little lady from Michigan. Students researching their dissertations come looking for material. I have had individuals writing books, and others producing television shows. Occasionally, archeologists will wander in looking for background information on the area.

When I am not conducting reference visits with patrons, I am usually working on cataloging the collections, cleaning items, and digitizing material. When researchers once again began making their way back to our archives, it was difficult to properly search the material. I would spend the day before their arrival opening countless boxes just to see if anything might be tucked away that they could use.

And here's the collection after a bit of organization has been applied to those back room shelves!
And here’s the collection after a bit of organization has been applied to those back room shelves!

Since those early days, I have started working through a box at a time, recording folder-level descriptions of items and barcoding the boxes. Now, when someone asks for material on a specific subject, I can search a database of cataloged items and find the box instantly. I am not finished with this project, and I still have to search some boxes for requests, but the random searching is reducing every day.

During the cataloging process, I will often come upon material that needs cleaning. Many larger archives have departments dedicated to repair, with water tables, sealed mold removal chambers, and cabinets filled with special paper and starch pastes. I have only myself and whatever cleaning supplies fell within my budget for the year. I have to determine what I am capable of cleaning, and mark things that need more work for future repair.

There are times that items have such severe mold damage that the time to attempt the cleaning process cannot be justified. When that happens, I take pictures of all of the material so that I can still retain the information, if not the original item, and then dispose of the damaged material. While it is always hard to have to remove items from a collection, the potential threat of mold spores spreading makes it a necessity in some situations.

Damaged book that was beyond repairing, and had to be destroyed.
Damaged book that was beyond repairing, and had to be destroyed.

For my archives, I have found that access to images is one of the most valuable things I can offer many of my patrons. Photos are processed in a variety of ways, but they all share common susceptibilities to light, temperature, and humidity. This means that original images need to be stored in a cool, dry, dark area. The ability to digitize images allows me to share their visual history repeatedly without exposing them to a damaging environment.

What digitization project is complete without internet access? I fill some image requests through email, though I also spend part of my day constructing a digital library so that the images we have available can be freely searched. I try to spend a little time each day determining what to make available, preparing the material for upload, collecting background information, or working on coding for the site so that I can steadily provide more information to our online patrons.

Though it is made more obvious with the large-scale sharing of the internet, it is important for an archivist to have a strong understanding of copyright laws. There are many shades to copyright, and it is important that an archivist knows what they can control and what may need the approval of others before its use.

In addition to the daily activities to keep the archives running smoothly, I often take care of other matters related to institutional history. I work with multiple classes at the university, providing local history lessons for the students. I have also visited an area grade school to provide a similar lesson. I select photos for use in some of the alumni affairs activities, and I write historical articles for the alumni newsletters. I have also helped other community groups in their own preservation activities.

The author speaks to a group of students at University of Pikeville.
The author speaks to a group of students at University of Pikeville.

Being an archivist is an involved profession. The needs of the collections and the needs of the researchers must be constantly evaluated. Archivists are charged with preserving history, and in doing so, we keep a little piece of what we hold alive. Though each archivist has a different focus, we all want you to understand yourself and where you come from more completely through the history we preserve. October is Archives Month – a time to remember not only archives, but to also think about that history and what it means to you. If you value its preservation, support your local archives. Donations are always appreciated, but so are letters of thanks. For many archives, letters of support can help show that an archives is needed, and therefore keep it from being closed. Help us keep your history alive.

More articles on archivists:

Berea College Archives preserve the stories, black and white(Opens in a new browser tab)

App State Project Archivist Shares Thoughts on His Early Career(Opens in a new browser tab)

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