July Updated

You might be wondering where I've been. All I can offer is the same excuse we all use: I've been busy. No, I really have! In my last post I told you about taking Dr. Burg's online course in Archives. Well, a ton of reading and writing, six weeks later, and Bob's your uncle, I'm done with the course. I had some great discussions online with my fellow students and really learned a lot. The standards of this online class were every bit as high as an in-person class. If I haven't told you enough about it before, go check out the MA in Applied History program at Shippensburg University. It's a great program taught by some really great people.

What's happening with the Locks Project? Great things! Back on June 18th we held the inaugural meeting of the "Friends of the Ballard Locks." We've elected a President, Vice President, and Secretary (none of them me, on purpose, as I will be leaving the area at the end of the summer). We've talked about goals for the project and organization. And what do you know, the second meeting is tonight.

We started a tradition of putting our meeting minutes and agenda into an archive box to go along with all the cool stuff we're finding that documents the history of the Hiram Chittenden Locks and the Carl English Garden. We've found a lot of neat artifacts from the construction era (1913-1917) that includes a surveyor's transit. We've discovered a binder full of newspaper clippings from that era and into the 30s and 40s as well. As a group we've scanned approximately 2000 slides and photo prints. But there is so much more to do. If you'd like to get in on this, contact our new President, Susan Connole at susanatthelocks@gmail.com.

We're on YouTube!

Other than what I call my "day job" (IT Consulting, http://www.ridinthewave.com/ and the Vet Shop, http://www.militaryvetshop.com/), my life this summer is pretty much dominated by the project at the Ballard Locks. The Summer Term has started back at Shippensburg University so now my volunteering takes on the form of an internship for credit toward my masters degree. I'm also taking an online course about archives, which happens to be taught by my graduate advisor, Dr. Steven Burg.

Since the online class is taught through Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, and I assume that the rest of the class live locally, there will be a couple of "in-person" class meetings. Obviously, spending the summer here in Seattle, I will not be able to attend. In lieu of that, Dr. Burg asked that I make a YouTube video introducing myself to the class. That turned out to be a fun weekend project. Although I really hate seeing myself in pictures or video, I'd like to share it with you (here if the embed is not working):

So, hello to all the folks I'll be chatting with in my online class this summer. We're making great progress with our slide and photo scanning. Aproximately 1500 images scanned so far. We've also started cleaning and organizing one of the storage rooms that we'll use for our archives. We'll be having our first volunteer organization meeting (working name of the group is "Friends of the Ballard Locks) on June 18th, at 6:30 pm at the Locks. Contact us for more details if you'd like to attend. Anyone interested is welcome. And as always, if you are in the Seattle area and would like to volunteer some time to our project, please contact me at jim@ridinthewave.com.

Jim and Michelle's Excellent Adventure

Update on the Ballard Locks Project

Last week Michelle and I went on a field trip to the Seattle District Headquarters of the Corps of Engineers. The Seattle District covers an area that includes the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana. The Seattle District is the next step in the chain of command, leadership, management, and support for the Hiram Chittenden Locks and the Carl S. English Gardens. It is an enormous facility and I felt like the country boy gone to the big city.

Michelle and I took this trip in order to meet some of the players in key departments like Public Affairs, Records, Information Technology, and the District Library. My thanks to Casondra Brewster in Public Affairs for showing us around and introducing us to who we needed to meet. The good news is that there are funds available for us to have some of the 35mm film we have on hand previewed and if appropriate, digitized. Further, if we have records that need to be stored elsewhere to make room at the Locks, we know who to talk to for that.

Now the bad news for us as well as most other government agencies. Due to funding and staff cuts, there are very few, if any, dedicated staff for archiving records or historical activities, especially at the lowest levels of the agencies. Best example is our project here at the Locks. It seems that the usual effort for the archival, or just plain storage, of records is bottom driven to make room for more paper. And given those same budget constraints mentioned, actual archival activities must rely heavily on volunteers or it just won't get done.

The end result is that we now know that once our volunteers have finished scanning the photos and slide collections, the digitized collection can be added to a database maintained by the District. However, the photos themselves could be sent to storage with the District, but it doesn't sound like the optimal location. I think it will be preferrable to keep them on site. After all, where would you look for a photo collection of the Ballard Locks?

Our pictures on this post are both courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hiram Chittenden Locks. The top photo is of a December snow in 1946. The second is of a seaplane forced to land in a snowstorm in the Puget Sound in February of 1947, that took passage through the Locks. If you are interested in helping to bring the rest of this photo collection online, please contact me at jim@ridinthewave.com

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.

April Updates on the Ballard Locks Project

We're off to a good start on scanning slides and photos down at the Ballard Locks project. (Take a look at the March 9th post to get the low down) Welcome to Susan Connole, who has joined us to help with scanning the slide collection, which I estimate to be around 3000 images. Glad to have the help. Thanks, Susan!

On March 27th we had a visit from my friend Dr. John Bloom, who is a professor of history at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Dr. Bloom was out here in Seattle for the Organization of American Historians conference and he took a few hours out to come tour the Locks and take a look at what we are trying to do. He had some good input and suggestions for us. It actually made me feel better to hear him say that the project was overwhelming. I was afraid I was the only one who was thinking that! But as they say, we'll eat this elephant one bite at at time. And I know I'll be getting more volunteers to join us soon. Here's a picture for you of (from left) Dr. Bloom, myself, and Michelle McMoran who is the gardener and volunteer scheduler at the Carl English Garden. Click here to view more pictures from Dr. Bloom's visit.

Just a reminder that all the photos you find on this site are courtesy of either me, Jim Broumley, or the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, United States Army Corps of Engineers. If you use them, please give photo credit. Right now we need more volunteers to help with scanning photos and slides, or conducting inventory of documents and artifacts. No experience necessary. If you are in the Seattle area and would like to help, contact me, Jim Broumley at jim@ridinthewave.com. We'll post our project updates on this blog. Stay tuned!

Project started, volunteers needed!

A most exciting project is starting to gain steam. We have talked before about the “un-cataloged” archives at the Ballard Locks and Carl English Gardens. I have started a project that will benefit the Corps of Engineers, the local community, future visitors, and…me. I need an internship project to complete the requirements for my MA in History from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. (Sheila and I were on walkabout in 06/07 and found ourselves in Carlisle, so I went back to school. Long story) The Corps of Engineers, who run the facilities, needs volunteers to inventory and create finding aids for the collections at the Ballard Locks. I will be working with Michelle McMorran, gardener and volunteer coordinator at the Carl English Garden. Here’s what we are planning on accomplishing between now and the end of the summer:

- Inventory all photo collections, documents, and artifacts while creating finding aids by subject.

- Create a volunteer organization to fundraise for specific equipment and supplies, and recruit volunteers for the history project and gardens.

- Scanning all photos and slides in the collections (thousands!)

- Conduct several oral history interviews of former staff and volunteers

Eventually, we would like to see all of the finding aids and a database of the photos be available for convenience to the public online. For the garden side, our long-term goal is a new website showcasing photos of all of the plants in different seasons.

We’ll use this blog to keep you up to date on our progress. Read along with us and see how we do. Feel free to offer suggestions and (hopefully) encouragement. I've just gotten started scanning a huge collection of 35mm slides. Some of those pictures are in this post.

Obviously, there is a great deal of work to be done, and I can’t possibly accomplish this alone. Besides, the point is to organize a system of volunteers that will be caretakers of the Locks and Gardens and pass along this responsibility and privilege to others to continue after we’ve all moved on. As it should be with all historical sites and archives.

If you would like to help with scanning slides and photos, or working with creating a historical archive, please contact me, Jim Broumley, at jim@ridinthewave.com. This will be a unique opportunity for us to create an archive from scratch and really "do history."

If you would like to volunteer in the Carl English Garden (green thumb not required), please contact Michelle McMorran at Michelle.K.Mcmorran@usace.army.mil, or (206) 789-2622 ext 216. My wife, Sheila, volunteers in the garden and greenhouse and she has a blast “getting her green on.” Michelle is super nice and a wellspring of horticulture knowledge. So go get your hands dirty. ;-)

The Worst Job and One of the Best Jobs

A couple of things that I found interesting in the news this past week:

I suppose I started following this premise that George W. Bush will be considered the worst President in U.S. history back in ’06 with the article in Rolling Stone. I’m not a regular reader of this particular periodical, but I must admit the caricature of the President wearing a dunce hat on the cover of the magazine really piqued my interest.

This idea that George Bush will be honored as the worst President came up again as I was watching CBS Sunday Morning. According to the story, it seems that “In a 2006 Siena College survey of 744 history professors, 82% rated President Bush below average, or a failure.” Back in April of 2008, George Mason University’s History News Network website conducted an informal poll of 109 historians. An incredible 98% considered Mr. Bush a failed president. And 61% said that he is one of the worst in American history. That’s quite an honor considering some of his fellow contenders like Buchanan, Harding, and Nixon. Oh! And with the recent downturn in the economy, Hoover is getting a lot of press lately.

Now it’s time for the good news. The employment website CareerCast.com recently researched and ranked 200 jobs. They have determined that Historian is rated the seventh (7th) best job in America! The jobs were ranked by income and employment outlook as well as other factors like job stress, working environment, and physical peril. Apparently, being a Mathematician (the number one rated job) is a lot better in all of these factors, including safety. But hey, maybe it really is cool to be a historian.

Update: I finally made it over to the Pacific Region of NARA here in Seattle. Not only did I find what I was looking for – original garden maps for the Carl English Gardens at the Ballard Locks – but the customer service was FANTASTIC. My thanks to archivists Kathleen Crosman and Patty McNamee as well as Senior Records Analyst Leslie Malek. These individuals not only helped me find what I needed there at the National Archives, but also got on the computer and found information at other archives and libraries. I was so impressed by the service and professionalism that I’m going to volunteer there.