Frank Oliver Collection, Part 2

Day Six

I came in on a day I would not normally come in on today.  I usually work Tuesdays through Thursdays.  Day six is a Friday.  I came in to make up hours for not being able to come in on Thursday this week.  I began searching for information on some of his articles and sketches where dates could not be determined. 

I spent 3 hours doing research on Frank Oliver.  I have been trying to find out what newspapers he wrote for.  I was also trying to discover more biographical information on him.  I have his obituary, but it does not provide enough information.  I also have been trying to discover more information about several articles and sketches with no date information. 

Day Seven

Today started with more research.  I continued with a variety of search methods continuing to look for more information on Frank Oliver and his work.  I did come across other books that were published, but Dallas Public Library does not have them.  Baylor University has six different items on Frank Oliver but all are library use only.  After talking with the archivist and my supervisor, they said it was OK if there ended up being miscellaneous folders in the collection since information and dates could not be found. 

I started writing the finding aid today.  I looked at other finding aids for similar collections and just followed that model.  I am currently writing all the information in Word and will eventually transfer the information into EAD. 

Frank Oliver Collection

Day Four

Today I finished going through the rest of the boxes and placing them in folders and boxes.  I came across several items that needed resorting in order to be placed in proper chronological order.  I find that the time flies by when I am completely engrossed in an activity such as this.  I completely filled two boxes with folders ranging from 1968-1974. 

Day Five

Today I began going through the last two boxes trying to determine where they fell in the chronological order.  I started by looking at the copyright date on the template cards.  I sorted them by copyright year.  I went year by year and tried to find the folders they went with.  I still ended up with a  small stack that did not have years on them.  By the time I finished, everything was in a folder.  I still had a stack of folders that need years placed on them.  This is where the research part comes in.  I will have to start searching for information in order to place these folders in the correct areas.  All the folders fill three large boxes. 

The Texas / Dallas Archives

My first week of my internship proved to be a very exciting one.  I got to jump in with both feet and go!

The Frank Oliver Collection
This collection is an unprocessed collection that my supervisor and the archivist are letting me work on from start to finish.  There are eight long rectangular boxes which contain articles and sketches of Frank Oliver's work.  The assession number is MA 08-11.  This tells me that these are manuscripts (MA) that were received in 2008.  The 11 means this is the 11th collection received in that year.

Day One
After being shown around the archive, I was shown the collection I would be processing.  I spent my first day going through each box, taking notes, and determining original order.  At first it was difficult to determine whether the articles and sketches were ordered geographically or chronologically from publication date.  I made it through three of the eight boxes.  I had at this point determined that more of the boxes seemed to be in chronological order and therefore determined that I would organize the items by date of publication.

Day Two
I finished going through another three of the boxes and took notes on what each one contained.  The boxes were primarily a year a box.  I glanced through the last two boxes and everything was organized geographically by region.  The region of Texas had been written on the back of the template card.  I determined to wait on these two boxes until after I had begun ordering the chronological items and then figure where they fit.

Day Three
I spent the entire day working on placing the sketches and articles in files organized by date.  I filled an entire box with folders dating from 1968-1971.  It appears that an article was published on a weekly basis.  I am still researching which newspaper carried this collection.  The official name of the collection of articles and sketches is Texas! Discovering the Lone Star State with... Frank Oliver.