January 27, 2018 Day 1 at the Archives

Today was the first day to visit the library and the archive room at Saint Stanislaus and their librarian, Ms. Anna Brannin, was very helpful in showing me around the campus and providing some history on the school and its creation. This history, in my opinion, was instrumental so that I could have a better understanding of the importance of the archives that I will be working on organizing, cataloging, and storing.

A tour of the archival room provided an evaluation of the items that the school was still lucky to have possession of since in 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed or removed almost all the school’s historical documents and physical items. However, some items did make it through or have been found by residents, who have returned a few items. The library has been able to purchase a few archival boxes and supplies, as well as being able to utilize some of their own students for library interns as well as having a few volunteers help from time to time.

After the tour and learning about the school’s history I was able to discuss the needs of the archival section and what project Ms. Anna feels is most vital currently. I was shown a few alumni donations and the accession forms that were completed with the various collections as well as the many newspapers that have been collected or donated over the years, mainly because they have articles related to the school or the articles have religious significance related to the school’s history. It has been determined that the newspapers are the critical need, due to their acidic nature. They need to be organized, copied or stored in proper containers that consist of alkaline buffers, if the papers themselves have great historic value. This process will be of great importance to protect other items that are held within the archives.

*This week’s projects will entail researching the proper procedure to archive newspapers, as well as working on a spreadsheet in which to add metadata and shelf location.

From their Webpage:

http://ststan.com/about/history/

“Saint Stanislaus, the oldest existing establishment of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in America, boasts a long and colorful history dating back to 1854. Blessed with talented leaders and generous benefactors, Saint Stanislaus grew from its humble beginnings into an educational institution of great renown on the Gulf Coast.”

Brother Xavier Werneth, SC History of Saint Stanislaus 1854-2004

From their Webpage:

http://ststan.com/about/history/