Week 5:
African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa

June 25, 2013

Monday starts off with a staff meeting, the rest of the week I keep chugging along sorting the Powell Collection photos. I end up finishing on Friday, and even get to go home a bit early, which was fantastic, because an archivist’s job is never done! It’s a double edged sword. Cornell alum (and previous Small Fellow) Claire Solak and I discuss this often. Because I have such giving staff to answer questions, etc. here at the museum, and Claire back in Mount Vernon the sorting process is very much an in-the-zone kind of job, but hardly mindless. Much consideration goes into it, as I won’t always be here to answer questions on why I sorted the collection photos the way I have, what went into my decision making process re: what may be a still life photo or what may be a vacation photo. Because this week was very heavy on moving through materials, and I did the same task all week, I don’t have too much to share, but here’s a little look at how the photo collection ended up being sorted.

On Friday when I was all done, I wrote a finding guide. Here is what that looked like:

Finding Aid: Virgil Powell Collection – Photographs

Box 1:
Folder 1: Professional work – Police Portraiture
Folder 2: Professional work – Police Documentation
Folder 3: Professional work – Professional Portraits of Virgil Powell
Folder 4: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Vacation

Box 2:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Vacation
Folder 2: Personal work – Amateur photography – Still Life

Box 3:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Still Life
Folder 2: Personal work – Amateur photography – Architecture / Landscape
Folder 3: Personal work – Amateur photography – Architecture / Landscape

Box 4:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Animals
Folder 2: Personal work – Amateur photography – Activity – Leisure
Folder 3: Personal work – Amateur photography – Activity – Physical
Folder 4: Personal work – Amateur photography – Activity – Vehicular

Box 5:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Portraits (1)
Folder 2: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Portraits (1)

Box 6:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Portraits (1)

Box 7:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Portraits (1)
Folder 2: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Duos (2)
Folder 3: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Duos (2)

Box 8:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Trios (3)
Folder 2: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Quads (4)

Box 9:
Folder 1: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Groups (5+)
Folder 2: Personal work – Amateur photography – Family and Friends – Groups (5+)
Folder 3: Personal work – Amateur photography – Photos of Documentation