Recently, the archives received from someone completely unaffiliated with WWC a friendship quilt that had been given to the Dorland-Bell School. [DB was a girls' school located in Hot Springs, about an hour north of Asheville. It was established in the 1888 by the Rev. Luke and Juliette Dorland, retired Presbyterian home missionaries. The school joined with the Farm School in 1942 to create Warren Wilson Junior College at the start of WWII.] The donor bought it at an auction near Cullowhee for $40. He then drove up here and gave it to the WWC Archives. I'm currently doing some research about the quilt and about friendship quilts in general. I hope to place the quilt on display during the final few weeks of classes. After that, I'll box it up for preservation.

What a wonderful gift! The donor did not ask for payment. However, he runs a non-profit shelter for cats, and he asked for donations to that. I gave him a donation. If you'd like to help our donor out, please contact me and I'll give you the information.

These unexpected moments of grace and gifts make being an archivist rewarding.

Cologne Germany

Such horrible news within archives world: the municipal archives of the city of Cologne, Germany has been destroyed. The building, constructed in 1971, collapsed, taking with it the buildings that sat on either side. Emergency personnel think three people may have been inside.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5846343.ece

We don't often think about how much records weigh. When we apply for archival jobs, one of the requirements is that we be able to lift about 40 pounds over head, which is the average weight for a full cubic foot box (10x14). If you have a densely shelved storage space, that's a lot of weight for a floor to take. Add to that, a city that does underground blasting and building for a subway system and heavy construction in the area, you just might find yourself in such a predicament. What is really disturbing is that cracks were discovered in the lower levels of the archives and were found 'safe' by city inspectors.

The City Archives of Cologne held wonderful municipal records and private manuscript collections. The city council meetings, going back to 1376, were absolutely complete, a rarity for a city so old. The oldest records were from 922A.D.

One of the reasons why our archives is on the ground floor is because of the compact shelving system. It weighs significantly more than regular shelving. (And we all have to be careful not to roll the shelving onto someone.)

Be safe!

Thursday musings

Greetings! Since I now have entered the world of archives blogging, I suppose I should post regularly about our activities. For the first time since I've been at Warren Wilson College, I have two mostly full-time processors and one mostly full-time extra student who has been setting up our brand new, shiny website. This is really novel for me. When Max, Katie and Julie are in here with me, as we are on Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings, it gets pretty crowded. Over the next week or so, I want to highlight what they're doing because lots of good things are happening. This week I've been concentrating on getting text written for the website. It's been nearly 4 years, so it's about time. I hope to put up basic html documents of the finding aids, some photo libraries, and an exhibit about the White Barn. But I'm working on getting the basic information and downloadable documents that I use most often. Keep checking the website for updates.

But first, a photo: This is the archives main work area. Katie works at the far end, and I'm closest in. I can spread out and write on the laptop and send things back to the main computer. If you squint, you can see Max's chair in the dark. He's the senior member of the squad so he gets his own office. :D It looks like it's a mess, but the stuff on the table is actually quite organized. Sometimes you have to have a little chaos before imposing order.

The archives has very nice compact shelving which maximizes our limited space. I've never been a huge fan of compact shelving, but it really is appropriate.

You have found the blog of the WWC Archives.