Summer 2003

Volume 22 Number 4


IN THIS ISSUE

Introduction

PAA, Fil Fraser & the AV
Preservation Trust Fund


PPCLI Regimental Museum and Archives now on ANA!

Archives Instiute '03

New Archives Technician at Red Deer

Eric Harvie Fonds

U of C Archives projects

Analog Audio Tape Reformatting project

Scanning Hand Tinted Black & White Prints

Un nouvel outil de l'AAQ

Submissions? Questions?

Home Page

 

 

Eric Harvie fonds finished
by Lynette Walton, Glenbow Archives

When Eric Harvie's papers came to the Glenbow Archives in 1979, along with records from his various business interests and charitable organizations, the Devonian Foundation requested that a 20-year restriction be placed on them. At the time, twenty years seemed like a long way off, so these records were pushed to the back of our minds while other non-restricted records were given priority for processing.

One day, however, we realized that the twenty years were almost up! Basic fonds-level descriptions had been in our on-line database for years so the public knew we had the records, and we now began to panic that they would start demanding access to them once the restriction ran out.

We knew that none of the archivists would have time to begin processing these records given all of their other responsibilities, so we decided to apply for a CCA Control of Holdings grant. Before we could do that however, we had to determine what we had.

Although the records had been accessioned and assigned a location number when they were transferred to us, they had always been stored in an inaccessible part of our storage area known as "the back wall" on rickety wooden shelves. There were approximately 300 of the big brown records storage boxes and numerous piles of things like ledger books, oversize material, photograph albums, framed photographs, files which had been removed from boxes and never returned and other mystery items. It was difficult to move in the narrow, crowded aisle, let alone to try and see what was in the boxes or determine any sort of arrangement - so everything had to come out. But where were we going to put that much material so that we could do some initial sorting?

The only space large enough was the Archives' reading room, so one Sunday, our secretary Roberta Ryckman and I came in to work. As Roberta hauled out boxes and loose materials, I began to do a rough sort using the nine large tables in the reference room as well as virtually all of the floor space. I continued to sort and rearrange the boxes until late the next afternoon (as the Glenbow Archives is closed to the public on Mondays); made lists of the various groupings; then put everything back before we opened at 10:00 am on Tuesday morning.

It turned out that approximately half of the records (50 metres) belonged to Eric Harvie's fonds and the other half belonged to the fonds of various other associated businesses and charitable organizations. We determined that three main groups comprised the Eric Harvie fonds - what we called his "Office Files"; his "Law Practice Files"; and miscellaneous personal files and other material including one and one-half metres of photographs. We wanted to deal with this fonds first, but we knew it would take two CCA grants to complete.

My fellow archivist Susan Kooyman and I discussed how best to divide the collection for the two grant applications. We also came to the realization that, given the size, complexity and importance of the fonds to Glenbow, it should be processed by experienced in-house staff, rather than a contract archivist. We both really wanted to do it, so we decided to process the Eric Harvie fonds as a team. In order to have time to do it, however, we would need to be relieved of our reference duties.

When we wrote the first grant application for the "Office Files" portion of the fonds, we applied for funding to pay a Project Archivist (which would be me). Most of our contributing "match" would be the Archivist (Susan) working on the project. The Project Archivist funding would then be used to hire a part-time Reference Archivist who would relieve both of us for our scheduled time on the reference desk..

This worked out incredibly well as we were able to hire local freelance historian and writer Harry Sanders as the Reference Archivist. Harry not only has extensive knowledge of Calgary's history, but he has been doing research at Glenbow since he was thirteen so he knows our collection as well (or better) than any of us. Since he is a researcher himself, he is also really good at helping others do their research.

Susan and I found that working as a team was an efficient way of processing the collection. For example, we started out by creating box lists including the file name, date range and original file number if there was one. Rather than one person pulling the file out of the box, finding the information, typing it and then putting the file back, I read out this information to Susan who entered the information into her computer. As she was finishing one file, I was getting the information from the next file ready to read to her.

We also found it very helpful to be able to discuss arrangement or appraisal issues and it also made the whole exercise much more interesting.

We decided to apply for another CCA grant to process the second half of the fonds - Eric Harvie's miscellaneous personal papers and photographs and his Law Practice files, again working together and hiring Harry to replace us for reference duties.

Thanks to the Canadian Council of Archives grants, we completed processing the Eric Harvie fonds by the end of March, 2003 and the finding aid is on our website at: www.glenbow.org/archhtm/harvie.htm.

We feel that there were several advantages in doing this particular project as we did, rather than by hiring a contract archivist as we have traditionally done in the past:

  • This was a large and complex fonds which was processed by archivists who had in-depth knowledge of the history of the Glenbow organization and considerable experience in arrangement and description.
  • The collaboration of two archivists resulted in a better product than if one person had worked alone.
  • The intimate knowledge gained in processing the collection remains in-house, rather than leaving with a contract archivist.

Although the in-house team approach may not work for all collections or with all archivists, in this instance, it was definitely the right method and provided me, Susan (and Harry) with a rewarding experience.