So I recently met with Becky Simmons at the RIT Archives to talk to her about the Mark Ellingson collection. The collection is a large and old one in the archives and it hasn't had much done with it since it moved into the storage area. Becky gave me a copy of a preliminary list of what is contained in the large collection of 37 boxes, 25 scrapbooks made by Mark Ellingson, 7 scrapbooks made by his wife Marcia Ellingson, as well as miscellaneous albums and notebooks, framed awards/certificates, framed drawings, prints and photographs and Mark Ellingson's cap and gown.
However a lot more needs to be done with the collection. There are many papers and objects in the boxes of the collection have very little if anything to do with Mark Ellingson such as wedding photos, vacation photos, school photos, and other similar personal paraphernalia that don't have any outward connection to the former president. There are also many books that were just part of the collection when it was brought in that also have no outward connection to RIT or Mark Ellingson that could be removed to make more space. Becky wants me to look through the collection and weed out these unrelated materials as well as any personal financial information and other personal stuff that shouldn't be kept in a public archive. Becky also wants to open up a dialog with the aging donors of this collection to see if they want any of the personal and family related items that don't belong with the collection, as they seem like something that the family may want back to remember previous generations.
The other major part of this project will be rehousing the 32 scrapbooks in the collection. Currently the scrapbooks, which contain newspaper clippings and other paper scraps important to Mark and Marcia Ellingson, are housed in cheap plastic sleeves in their books. Becky would like the pages of the scrapbooks to be removed and rehoused into nice Mylar sleeves instead to make sure that the cheap plastic can't harm the scrapbooks.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to your thesis regarding the Mark Ellingson collection. There are so many interesting parts of your project. I wish you the best of luck with all the work ahead of you.