June 26, 2023, 8:30am-12:00pm, 12:20pm-3:50pm
My name is Apolonia Behm. I am an intern at the Cushing Memorial Library and Archive, and my supervisors names are Jeremy Brett and John Bondurant.
I started today by adding a note under the file names in the Access to Memory finding aid system to help users better understand what all of the numbers actually mean. The first image below is a screenshot of the first few file names are called as well as a note I wrote to explain what all the numbers and letters in the case file names mean. At first glance, it looks like the letters and numbers are all random. However, after having read all of the documents in the collection, I was given an insight to the collection that many others don't have. I believe that the file numbers were simply assigned to each individual who applied for Cherokee Freedmen status in order. The "R" possibly stands for rejected since the entire collection is made up of rejected applications. The "D" stands for doubtful because after the first initial hearing in each applicants case, if the judge or commissioner were not fully satisfied with the evidence the applicant provided trying to prove that they were slaves in the Cherokee Nation, then the applicants name was placed on a "doubtful card." Hopefully, this information will be helpful to future users!
I continued to work on the scope and content portion of the finding aid. I finally managed to complete it! I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to finish the scope and content before the end of my internship. Jeremy had even mentioned that if I did not finish the scope and content, I could work remotely to complete it, but now that's not necessary because it's done! I still need to go back through and edit, but I am so happy to have completed it. Then I was able to ask Jeremy the rest of my supervisor interview questions. I will provide the questions and answers in a future post, but overall I learned a lot about Cushing Library and what it is like to be an archivist. It really opened my eyes about archives and all the little details that are extremely important to the profession.
The image above displays what the first few file names are called as well as a note I wrote to explain what all the numbers and letters in the case file names mean.
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