To reduce the amount of time collections will be at DLG and thus inaccessible to researchers, the project staff decided to deliver the content in three installments, the first of which occurred on March 19, 2012. To illustrate the volume of materials to be digitized, AHC staff pulled half of the collections set to be digitized for the grant.
Since the collections will be inaccessible to researchers until they are returned to the Atlanta History Center and reshelved in their original containers, inventories and catalog records for these collections have been temporarily removed from our online catalogs.
For the first installment, we chose forty-six collections, many of which are relatively small in size with only a few documents in each. However, the Wilber Kurtz Jr. visual arts collection contains over 6,000 images to be digitized. We carefully rehoused all the collections in record boxes for the trip and created spreadsheets that include an accurate account of the scans required for the contents of each collection.
Which brings me to an occupational hazard: reading the material with which you are working.
Found in Carrie Berry’s diary on 3 August 1864 (MSS 29f, spelling unchanged):
This was my birthday I was ten years old but I did not hav (sic) a cake times was too hard so I celebrated by ironing I hope by my next birthday we will have peace in our land so I can have a nice dinner
And from the 1864 diary of George J. Johnston, Co. F, 60th Alabama, Gracie’s Brigade (MSS 187f, spelling unchanged):
Should I be killed in battle or die in hospital be kind enough my dear soldier friend to inform Mrs Mary L McGibbon Opelika, Ala. where my remains may be found And if you saw me fall on the battlefield tell her how I behaved myself in the presence of the enemy.
On the opposite page from the entry listed above, Private Johnston left a note for any Federal soldiers who might have stumbled on his remains:
Pay respect to my body you infernal thievish Yankee scoundrel. I have someone at home to read this book.
Should I be killed in battle or die in hospital be kind enough my dear soldier friend to inform Mrs Mary L McGibbon Opelika, Ala. where my remains may be found And if you saw me fall on the battlefield tell her how I behaved myself in the presence of the enemy.
On the opposite page from the entry listed above, Private Johnston left a note for any Federal soldiers who might have stumbled on his remains:
Pay respect to my body you infernal thievish Yankee scoundrel. I have someone at home to read this book.
Yes, reading what we're processing does tend to slow things down a tad. But who can resist taking a peek into the past? We're very glad to be a part of the process.
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