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Vol. 31:1 ISSN 0160-8460 March 2003
Cataloging Manuscript Collections at the California Historical Society
by Wendy Kramer and Mary L. Morganti
Introduction
As we begin our NHPRC-sponsored project to catalog manuscript collections at the North Baker Research Library of the California Historical Society (CHS), we have discovered that manuscript cataloging is by no means a discrete activity. It includes related archival activities that, taken together, mandate a re-evaluation of the library's manuscript collections and a reconsideration of their place within the library's entire holdings. In terms of access, this project enables us to introduce these collections to the historical and archival communities.
One of 32 letters written during 1849 and 1850 by 23-year-old Robert Effinger to family and friends in Ohio, while en route to and during his stay in California, as en employee of the United States Boundary and Survey Commission appointed by President Polk to establish the boundary between California and Mexico. The four letters from March 1849 provide a detailed account of the 10-day voyage aboard the steamship Alabama to Chagres, describing the beauty of the Caribbean, life aboard the steamer, and description of the Chagres River and Panama, including the natives' physical appearance, lifestyle, housing, attitudes toward an influx of Americans, ceremonies (a child's funeral, a fandango), and native foods and their preparation. Effinger spent nearly a year and a half in San Diego and San Francisco, California, and his letters contain keen observations of the social climate of the Southwest and California. Robert Effinger Letters, MS 643 (California Historical Society, Manuscript Collections).
Documentation and Procedures
The CHS library has over 4,000 manuscript collections. Library tools for accessing the collections have thus far consisted of a card catalog and a two-volume, in-house book catalog.
Given the dearth of information as to what had gone on before our tenure, the first thing we did was to draft a procedures manual and a checklist to document what we do, how we do it, and our sources or reasoning behind it. In other words, we determined to set up operational structures that would outlast us. With grant-based projects and varying levels of staffing, the long-term continuity of manuscript cataloging depends on documentation, so that new staff or periodic gaps of inactivity do not make it necessary to reinvent the wheel when work is resumed.
We created an in-house procedures manual and mounted it on the shared drive of our server, so that each cataloger could refer to and edit it as needed. As a work-in-progress, this manual documents our institution's cataloging decisions as we make them. For example, once we decide how and when to use a particular MARC field, or how to word it, we write the guideline in the manual and use it as a model to catalog similar collections consistently. We refer to Library of Congress, AACR2, and APPM cataloging conventions, which we supplement by comparing the records of other institutions that have significant manuscript holdings, and selecting the cataloging practice that best fits existing conventions and our local needs.
The procedures manual is where we collectively communicate our decisions based on this combination of sources. It sets institutional standards and models for catalogers in otherwise gray areas. It also provides an overview of workflow for all library staff involved in manuscript cataloging, from the librarians who do the original cataloging and editing of records, to the library assistant who enters those records into the national bibliographic utility.
Gathering this information together on a checklist for inclusion in the MARC record often leads to the discovery of larger problems. For example, several "collections" consisting of one biographical sketch apiece have been identified as originally belonging to a single manuscript that had been split. By the end of the project, we expect to have found all component parts of the original collection. Once identified, these items can be restored to their original order as one larger manuscript. What had been viewed as separate accounts of pioneer voyages to California can be viewed as materials collected for the purpose of making a book, as the author of the sketches had intended.
As mentioned above, much of the donor information being discovered is from a variety of sources. In the process of gleaning information that assists in identification and description of the collections, our donor files have become much more organized. We are creating new donor files for collections that did not previously have them, and adding information to extant donor files.
In addition to these paper-based files, we are using our RLIN records to record donor and administrative information. Instead of holdings segments at the end of our records, we have chosen to use archival segments, where there are fields for information such as donor name and address, date accessioned, and other non-public notes that are useful for librarians in conducting both reference and technical services activities.
An overland diary, April 25-October 19, 1859, kept by Harriet Booth Griswold while traveling from Kane County, Illinois, to Diamond Springs, California, with her three small children, records road conditions, weather, and descriptions of people and places they encountered en route. Harriet Booth Griswold Diary, MS 884A (California Historical Society, Manuscript Collections).
Preservation
Original cataloging has given us the perfect opportunity to assess the condition of the collections we are processing. When we examine a collection, we also note any preservation needs, such as re-labeling, re-housing, or conservation, and file this information separately for future reference. Of course, the simpler problems, such as re-labeling a few folders, are solved on the spot. Since we also include notes on microfilm availability in the catalog records, we are checking for the existence of positive film copies for all existing negatives. We have thus been able to develop a reproduction policy for manuscripts that involves referral to microfilm copies when available.
Connections to Other Collections
Collections that have been split up into several smaller entities, collections with photographic components (with the photographs shelved in the Photography Collections), collections donated as part of much larger collections (such as those given by Templeton Crocker), and collections with items removed for inclusion in the Society's Fine Arts Collections are recognized in the catalog records with descriptive notes and, where applicable, with added entries. Most of these connections would remain undiscovered, and would be unretrievable along these parameters, if not for the work of this cataloging project.
Wider Accessibility
A basic premise of the worth of a cataloging project is that the records provide accessibility to existing and potential researchers. A collection of which people are unaware will not get used, and a catalog record is a marker of the collection's existence. Including such records in regional and national catalogs and utilities such as MELVYL and RLIN places the CHS Library collections intellectually with like materials in other repositories, and allows them to be retrieved by researchers both locally and remotely via the Web. These days, it is not enough to prepare a catalog record for internal use. That record must be published, and for our library, MELVYL and RLIN are these publishing locales.
Another means of making our collections available outside their home institution is through participating in consortium projects. Through the cataloging supported by the NHPRC, the library is making records needed to support the inclusion of our materials in two consortium projects conducted by The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Portions of our collections that pertain to the Chinese in California were digitized together with similar portions of Bancroft's holdings in the Library of Congress American Memory Project. Our materials relating to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire will join digitized images from several repositories in California for inclusion in the digital project of the Online Archive of California (OAC).
Finally, having access to manuscript collections via MARC records in a catalog or utility integrates these collections with other formats. Researchers can be reminded of manuscripts as vital source material, together with books, maps, audiovisual materials, and images. By virtue of being "interfiled" with books, manuscripts gain the visibility once known only to published materials.
Finding Aids
The 550 records with "finding aids" mounted on the OAC that were the focus of our initial project remain our top priority for cataloging. We have learned that many of these descriptive guides have incorrect information, are not appropriate in tone or format, or are unnecessary for a small collection that is better served by a MARC record. The aforementioned checklist for each collection includes a section advising whether to delete, edit, or rewrite the existing guides. A library school intern is sorting, evaluating, and suggesting corrections to improve these finding aids prior to republication.
Evaluating existing finding aids while we are cataloging gives us an opportunity to examine them side by side with their MARC records, enabling us to work with two kinds of descriptive tools that complement one another. The degree of specificity and analysis that a MARC record possesses, as represented in descriptive notes and subject headings, is affected by the purpose these records serve in relation to finding aids.
Smaller collections of one folder or even one item will have their OAC finding aids replaced by MARC records. Collections whose existing finding aid contains a significant amount of supplementary information or page-specific indexing with non-standard terms are being removed from the web site, but will be retained in paper copy for use in-house. And larger collections for which a MARC record best serves as an overview or first point of access will have their finding aids revised or replaced, with their main entries, titles, added entries, and notes edited and corrected to conform with archival and library standards. Once these collections are cataloged, we will proceed with cataloging other small collections that do not have or require finding aids, and plans will be made to produce finding aids and catalog records for our remaining larger collections.
Conclusion
In the introduction to this article, we pointed out that the creation of our MARC records for manuscript collections involves archival activities that might not normally be considered to be part of cataloging. It is perhaps more accurate to state that manuscript cataloging is an integral part of archival work. An electronic catalog record can serve as a nexus between collections and institutions, as well as archival and library practices. Procedural documentation, preservation, and organization of donor files are activities that anchor archival collections physically and place them intellectually in their institution. This basic work provides a base upon which intellectual access, via catalog records and finding aids, can be built.
Wendy Kramer is manuscript cataloger and Mary L. Morganti is director of Research Collections at the California Historical Society's North Baker Research Library.
