Below is my reflective journal for my final 2019 Field Period at the Lightner Library at Keuka College!
December 17th, 2018:
Today was my first day at the library! I learned of the projects I will be doing and began diving into some of the archive rooms to figure out some logistics and set some objectives for myself. The archives will be moving and the college writing center will be moving down stairs in the library, so we need to make room!
December 18th, 2018:
Today was my second day! I worked on sorting more boxes and learned a lot more about the college. I spent a lot of my day looking at business and architectural paperwork for Norton Chapel. I actually was able to learn a lot about soliciting and fundraising for major projects through this, which was very interesting.
December 19th, 2018
Today, my third day, was spent around the library and looking at photos. I found a lot of very old photos, and learned how to take them off of glued paper best. I learned how to scan photos. I found one of Dave Sweet in 1984. I emailed it to him!
December 20th, 2018
Today was full of my archiving. I always get side tracked because everything I look at I tend to get very interested in. I found a lot of old assignments today and I filed them. A lot of things from the 1950’s-1960’s. It was really interesting to see how they “Prospective Plans” for the college that were in 1960 and comparing them to what actually happened.
December 21st, 2018
Today I spent a lot of time reading about the state of the college in the 1960’s and 1980’s. I found it very interesting to see what they hoped would happen, and see what actually happened. Then the college announced it would close early.
January 2nd, 2019
Today was fun! I went through a lot of things and found something awesome. I found a folder with a paper on Glenn Curtiss, and then found some original photos of Glenn Curtiss and his planes. I’m really excited because one of the photos potentially has the Wright Brothers in it.
January 3rd, 2019
Today was nice. I found some information about the colleges financial emergency in the early 1980’s which was interesting. Then I started going through financial ledgers from the early 1900’s. It was interesting to see the accounts receivable and payable from way back then.
January 4th, 2019
Today I worked on inventorying the books all day. I got half done. I found a lot of really interesting old financial paperwork and handwritten letters from the 1860’s. It was neat!
January 7th, 2019
Long day today, went in early. Worked on finding things for a request we have for archival work. I pulled nursing information from the 1940’s-1990’s for someone trying to learn about the college’s history in nursing. Spent the rest of my day going through more books. Found a handwritten copy of “The Builders of Keuka College” which was really neat.
January 8th, 2019
Fun day. I helped work on a request for another field period student. I helped her find some information in the archives and scan it. Then I took a break to watch Allen get demolished, and then went back to sorting my box.
January 9th, 2019
Good day. I finished working on inventorying the books in the archives room. Then I began helping another FP student with her request for nursing documents and photos. I then began weeding the books to make space for the new writing center in the lower level of the library.
January 10th, 2019
Long day. I weeded books all day so we could get the project of moving the writing center to the basement done faster. I also was asked by another FP student to see if we have any information on Allen Hall in our archives. I could not find anything related to exactly what she was looking for, unfortunately. Tomorrow I plan to look further and see if I can find anything else for her!
January 11th, 2019
Today I threw out more books. I then worked on more archive stuff. I found some interesting information from when Kirk joined the college and turned it around. He seems like a really smart man!
January 14th, 2019
Today I did some archival work and then began a new project: VHS tapes. I went through over 200 VHS tapes and tried to put them in order by year. Tomorrow I’ll put it into a system online. I threw more books out as well.
January 15th, 2019
Today I finished my VHS tape project. It was painstaking but it’s not complete and completely organized. Feels good to have it done! Then I started working on weeding and discarding really old textbooks.
January 16th, 2019
Today I focused on tossing books out to catch up on the day I missed. I finished they day by continuing going through the archive boxes and sorting and inventorying them. Supposed to be a blizzard this weekend!
January 17th, 2019
Today I went through textbooks from the first Keuka students. I had to look them up on amazon to see if they are culturally or historically important (a few are!) and then check them on World Cat which is a worldwide library system that tells us which libraries have the same book. If over 20 libraries have it, we discard the book.
January 18th, 2019
Spent most of my day working on more archival stuff and also threw out more books. Pretty uneventful
January 22nd, 2019
Spent a lot of time working on checking books for value and discarding old ones. After work I started working on my outside stuff. I read a book and started working on the paper summarizing it.
January 23rd, 2019
Today I finished throwing out books to make room! Then I finished inventorying some older books downstairs in the archives. I then began working on my other outside project. I am creating a finding aid for information on Keuka Libraries.
January 24th, 2019
Last day at the Library. I am pretty sad. All there was left to do was some shelving, and going through more documents. I helped April move some things around and organize the Nancy Dean Bailey archives room as well. Then I was able to look at, and actually hold, the original Keuka College and Keuka Institute charters. What an amazing experience.