The Oregon Historical Society and the Museums for All Program

One of the first things I like to do when moving to a new state (right after ordering a book about the state history) is to join the state historical society. State historical societies usually have a pretty comprehensive museum, plus I like to get their journal.

The Oregon Historical Society is located in downtown Portland. I have not visited yet, first I have to get over my dread of Portland traffic and parking. However, I'm looking forward to checking it out and promise to post some pictures when we visit later this summer. I joined the society ahead of our visit by visiting their website. For $80 I signed up for a family membership for the year. That might sound like a lot but their are benefits. Along with free admission to the museum for two adults and as many children as you have living in your house, you also get a quarterly journal. A few of the articles are posted online so you can see the quality and depth of the publication, but once you join you have access to past issues online through the website (so no need for that JSTOR account). With membership you can also participate in the area "reciprocal membership program." Each month, one of the participating museums admits members of the other museums for free. So if I had been a member of the Oregon Historical Society last month when we visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria while on vacation, we would have saved twenty-eight bucks! And best of all, your membership fee helps the society continue their good work of preserving the state's history through the museum and archive.

One of the things I hate to see is when a museum or historic site charges what I consider to be too high of an entrance fee. I want to see these sites available to everyone, regardless of means. Along with the entry fee, I support every site I visit by buying a book or some kind of souvenir in the gift shop (Sheila collects refrigerator magnets to keep track of where we've been) and I might even drop a couple of dollars in the donation box as well. Now I get it, to run a quality museum takes funds, and sometimes donations just aren't fulfilling the need. But anyone who took economics can tell you that when you raise the price, you might make more money up to a certain price point, but with each increase in entry fee you are going to lose some visitors. I hate the thought of a young person being denied the experience of visiting a museum because they did not have the means to pay the entry fee.

So here's my final point of why I'm praising the Oregon Historical Society before I've even visited the museum. The entry fee is only five dollars. It was a bleeding fourteen dollars at the maritime museum, so for a state museum five bucks sounds like a bargain to me. Moreover, they participate in the "Museums for All" program. Museums for all is "a signature access program that encourages families of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum habits." In other words, let's remove the obstacle of cost, and get kids visiting museums with their families. With this program, all visitors have to do is present a valid EBT card along with a picture ID and up to a family of four can visit the museum for free. I love this program and I'm proud to support it with my membership.

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We are enjoying our new home in Salem, Oregon very much. I'm getting up to speed on the local history. But I wanted to let you know that I took on the challenge of reading "Grant" by Ron Chernow. The reason I call it a challenge is that it is 929 pages not including front and back matter. I'm about a third through it and it is worth the investment of time so far. I'm pretty ignorant of Grant's contributions as President, so I'm looking forward to getting to that part of the book.

That's all for this post. I hope you're visiting some exciting history sites and reading some good books. Recommendations are welcome. ;-)

The Army Heritage and Education Center

In my last post, I told you about my research trip during the first week of May. I started with the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. In this post, I would like to tell you about the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) in Carlisle, PA. This was actually my first stop during my research trip for photos and primary documents on the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

The AHEC is several things in addition to a repository for primary source documents pertaining to military history. Originally, (and still its primary function) the AHEC was created to support the Army’s War College at Carlisle Barracks. In 2002, they moved to their current campus, off base, so you don’t have to have your vehicle and ID checked to park there. If you visit, plan an extra afternoon to visit the museum and the Army Heritage Trail. The trail is a walking path of about a mile that has interactive exhibits that are recreations from army history. For example, you can go into Redoubt #10 from the battle of Yorktown, get into a WWI trench, or walk through a WWII era tarpaper billet.

The fact that the AHEC is a library as well as an archive makes it a “first stop” for researching military history. Before you visit in person, look at several of the AHEC’s online resources, like their list of finding aids and the online catalog. Finding aids have been created for many unit histories and military history subjects. These documents are available online. With these finding aids and the online catalog, you will know what secondary works are available as well as primary source documents. Looking for secondary sources through interlibrary loan with your local public library will save you days of research time at the AHEC. Knowing the primary source material available will help you determine if you need to visit in person, and if so, estimate how many days you will need in the library.

When you enter the main building of the AHEC, you will have to sign in with security before going in the research library. Lockers are provided to store your coat and any carry cases. You can only bring laptops, cameras, writing paper, and pencils into the research room. A research assistant is available to help you fill out your “pull request” from the library. Don’t try to go it alone, use their expertise. The staff is extremely knowledgeable, very friendly, and eager to help you with your project.

While all libraries and archives have similar procedures, they also differ from place to place. Unlike NARA, at the AHEC you cannot bring in a flatbed scanner. I use a small digital camera to take pictures of documents (reproduction costs would kill you) that are too lengthy to take notes on. I used the same camera at AHEC to reproduce photographs. A photo station is set up in the research room for this purpose. You mount your camera on a photo stand and adjust two studio lights beside the table on tripods. I at first had my doubts, but this system worked beautifully. For textual items, I just set my camera to a “copy” preset and use it handheld. I reproduced 13 photographs and over 200 pages of documents in one long day at the AHEC.

I am a huge fan of digitizing primary documents so we don’t have to travel to an archive to look up this information. However, I know we will never be able to put every document and picture held in repositories online. There is just too much. You have to travel to where it is stored. Also, there is just no beating the thrill of holding the document in your hand, or to read the contents in its entirety for yourself, unedited and not interpreted for you by someone else. Again, I urge anyone who is interested in any subject to visit the appropriate archive and look up the information. I do not consider myself to be a scholar, an academic, or an intellectual. No one asked me what my qualifications or reasons were before allowing me access to any materials at either the AHEC or NARA. It is our history. Go get it.

Picture credits from the top:

• Screen capture of AHEC website, 6/1/2010.
• WWII in-service airborne recruiting poster, AHEC.
• Text document from William B. Breuer Collection, AHEC.

An Excellent Adventure at NARA

The Roving Historian has finally gotten to rove again. The first week of May, I was out on my research trip to down to the D.C. area. I visited the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) in Carlisle, PA, and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the D.C. suburb of College Park, MD. At both archives, I was looking for photographs and primary source documents on the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion during WWII. This trip was the last major step in my research for a book project that I’ve been working on for the last several months. I’ll tell you about my visit to the AHEC and the afternoon I spent traipsing around Gettysburg Battlefield in other posts. In today’s post I would like to try to alleviate some of the apprehension that novice researchers might feel about going to visit NARA. What better way than to tell you about my visit?

The National Archives facility at College Park is also referred to as “Archives II.” Archives I is the main NARA building on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Archives II is a huge facility that was specially designed to house archival records and support research. There are five floors that contain separate research rooms for textual records, still pictures, motion pictures and sound, cartographic and architectural records, and electronic media. Once you go through security, you then go to the basement where lockers are available to store your belongings. The only items that you can carry into a research room are laptops, flatbed scanners, and cameras. Pencils and notepaper are provided.

The first day that I visited College Park my friend Paul (http://www.historydelivered.com/) went with me and helped in the still pictures branch. It was the first visit for both of us. I have to admit that it is nice to have a friend along on the first visit until you feel comfortable with the procedures. I wouldn’t blame you for being uneasy…simply because you don’t know what to expect. However, there is really no reason for hesitation. The folks that work at NARA, especially in the research rooms are super friendly and helpful.

My first day was spent in the Still Pictures research room. Teresa and Holly, the NARA staff members on duty that day were incredible to work with. Teresa showed us how to search the card catalog by keyword. Yes, the estimated 8 million images are indexed by an old-fashioned card catalog. Then she helped us fill out the request form to have the boxes “pulled.” I was lucky to have Paul with me that day as a research partner. He cut my work time in half and at the end of the day we had found and scanned more than three dozen photographs. The biggest distraction you have to fight is the desire to go browsing through the boxes of photographs you’ve had pulled. You have to make a quick decision on whether you need the image or not. Time flies, and what is fun early in the morning becomes work by early afternoon.

Two days later, I was in NARA again. This time flying solo, I visited the textual records room. Here, like in Still Pictures, the catalog was not computerized. A research staff member is there to help, but once you know the procedure, finding what you need is a piece of cake. An index of records of military units from WWII and Korea are kept in three ring binders on the shelf. You can literally help yourself, and write down the boxes you need on a request form. Again, you have to wait for your records to be pulled, which for textual records takes a little longer. But I only had to wait about twenty minutes. You check out your records cart, push it over to a table, and go to work. If you have so much information that you can’t finish in one session, check it back in. Your records are held for you for up to three days, ready for you to work on when you return. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about “pulling” them each day that you are in the archive. For text records, I used my “research camera” and made images of more than 200 pages of primary source documents…mostly operations orders and after action reports created by the 509th PIB.

I would not say that I am an overly experienced researcher. However, I have worked with primary source documents in several local historical societies, two university libraries, and the AHEC on several occasions. In my opinion, my short time at College Park was the best research experience I have ever had. The staff was patient, friendly, and helpful. The work environment was relaxing. Most importantly, I found what I was looking for. Lack of computerized catalogs was not a problem, other than the fact that you can’t find out exactly what is held at NARA until you go there.

Admittedly, most research for a project like mine can, and is, done through secondary sources. Even if you live in a rural or remote area like I do, you can take advantage of interlibrary loan and find most of the information you need. However, for a historian and writer of any experience level, nothing can replace reviewing the primary documents pertaining to your subject. I encourage anyone interested to make the trip to the repository that houses the information you are looking for. Moreover, if it happens to be in the National Archives, you will enjoy the experience.

For more information on conducting research at NARA, take a look at General Information Leaflet #71: The National Archives in the Nation's Capital: Information for Researchers.

Picture descriptions, from the top:

Entry gate to the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
The Still Pictures research room at Archives II. Image from Microsoft Case Study.
The Textual Records research room at Archives II. Image from Microsoft Case Study.
LTC William P. Yarborough, Commanding Officer of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion (left) and LTC Roy A. Murray, Commanding Officer of the 4th Ranger Battalion, aboard the Winchester Castle, study model of the beach where troops aboard the ship will make their assault on Anzio, Jan 1944. NARA image SC 186957.
Infantrymen of the 509th Parachute Infantry moving out with a tank from the 7th Armored Division near St Vith, Belgium, January 24, 1945. NARA image SC 279944.

Moving Through The Locks

Through the closets and shelves at the Locks that is. Our project of creating an archive out of the collections at the Ballard Locks is gaining momentum. The wonderful folks over at the MyBallard.com community forum posted a call for volunteers for us back on April 9th. The response was fantastic! Within minutes the offers to help started dropping into my inbox.

Unfortunately, right now we only have access to the facilities during the work week. So we have a few folks waiting in the wings to help us out in the evenings and on weekends once we get that worked out. However, we now have a crew of eight (8) volunteers signing up during the week to scan slides and photos. We also have a couple more who might join us shortly. My thanks to all of the volunteers who give of their time to help out with the project!

We've set up a Google Group in order to post messages and updates to all of the volunteers. We're also utilizing a Google Calendar to sign up for our scanning session. (Thank you, Amanda, for setting those up for us!) Basically we've divided up the work week into morning and afternoon work periods. Volunteers sign up for a work period on the calendar. Then they come in anytime during that period and put in as much time as they can spare, usually two to three hours. We might tighten up the schedule as more volunteers join us, but for now it is working out great. We have a talented and motivated group of volunteers with some great ideas. I could never do this project without them.

When it comes to setting up an archive, I will admit to being a rank amateur. I've researched in them, but I've never worked in one. I guess that is what makes this a good internship. I will be taking an online class this summer on Archive Management from Dr. Burg at Shippensburg University this summer. Nevertheless, like anything else I want to do and don't know how, I head for the library or Amazon. Currently, I'm reading "Managing Historical Records Programs" by Bruce Dearstyne. It's not nearly as dry as it might sound. In the first chapter, the author reviews the eight functions that archivists carry out. I thought they would make excellent mission goals for our project, so I'd like to share them with you:

1. Acting as agents of the present and the past for the future. All I can say is that I owe a debt of gratitude to those who saved documents, artifacts, and photos and those who determined that they were worth saving. I hope we can do the same.

2. Partnering in the information field. There is no point in saving the information if it is not in a usable form. That means our work is not complete until we've created finding aids and databases.

3. Organizing and managing coherent, comprehensive programs. Dearstyne says that archivists are not only custodians of important materials, but also program managers. There is no "Lone Arranger" here. This requires a team effort.

4. Deciding which records have enduring value and therefore warrant continuing retention. This is important to keep in mind as we work with Corps of Engineer staff to determine what is "archival." We will not need, or should not, keep everything. A lesson we are already learning with duplicate slides.

5. Asserting control and order. This is straightforward. There currently is no systematic approach to storage and organization.

6. Preserving and protecting. Again, very straightforward. Some artifacts and documents are not being properly stored.

7. Fostering access and use. This is very important in that once the collections are inventoried and organized, we must determine how to make it available to the public.

8. Broadening awareness and support. As this group of volunteers move on with their lives, we need to pass on the responsibility of caring for, and adding to, these collections to an ever changing group of new, motivated volunteers.

And finally I'd leave you with another piece of wisdom from this book. The author quotes an AASLH technical leaflet discussing leadership in an historical records program: "Programs must avoid 'obsolete traditions of elitism and aloofness' and be open to new ideas. While stored at the Hiram Chittenden Locks, and currently worked on by eight volunteers and one or two staff members, the history these collections represent belongs to everyone.