October 2017 - Out of the Box

October 29, 2017September 14, 2021 by cgu-therasat

The Journey Begins – CCEPS – Woman’s Club of Claremont – Friday 10/27/2017

Hello Everyone, my name is Therasa Topete and I am a student
in the master of arts program in religion at CGU. I began my first experience
performing archival work this week processing the records of a wonderful
organization called the Woman’s Club of Claremont. The Woman’s Club of Claremont
has been active since the early twentieth century, and identifies itself as a non-profit
organization open to all adult women with the desire to help the community by
supporting various charities, communities, schools, and organizations. I feel
honored to have a part in recording the history of such an inspiring
organization, and feel a great responsibility to do a good job so current and
future generations will be able to see the impact this wonderful group of women
have had on their community for almost an entire century.

This archival project contains 26 record boxes that
need to be processed, and I was excited and a little intimidated on day one. As
I began to perform the box survey, I kept feeling as though I was getting too
wrapped up in the details and taking too long to complete each box. Once I had
processed the first two boxes, which took a long time, I began to understand
what needed to be noted at this stage, and what should be inspected more
closely at a later stage in the process. The work went much smoother after that,
and I am beginning to process at a much faster pace. I processed twice as many boxes
today as I did in the last three days combined, and I am beginning to feel more
confident performing the task. I really enjoy the work, and as I go through the
materials I am getting to know The Woman’s Club more intimately. I feel like I
will view the Woman’s Club of Claremont as an old friend when my time here is finished,
and I am excited to continue the work. I look forward to keeping you all posted
along my journey!

October 27, 2017September 14, 2021 by pom-alfonsoc

The Building of an Empire

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The Chaffey brothers and their letters are still in my life and I see no separation from them anytime soon. I am still scanning the second Chaffey letters book but, as I have mentioned in a blog before, I also have access to the transcripts of the letters and have been using them to prepare for the Chaffey letters metadata. The transcripts help in understanding the purpose of each letter. If I am able to identify the main subjects of each letter I am able to tag those subjects when the sources go live. Similarly, if I can properly summarize each letter it makes those who may be looking for resources such as the Chaffey letters more easily accessible. Each letter will be separated so it may be quite a while until each of the letters from Book I and II will be in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library but it will happen, I promise you that!

As I read through these transcripts I continue to see the dreams of the Chaffey brothers in purchasing the land that is today known as the Inland Empire. Another CLIR CCEPS fellow had in the past, worked with a brochure style document that was advertising Ontario, CA, “The City That Charms.” As I discover more and more about the Chaffey brothers, I realize the almost utopia of an empire they wanted to build, dare I even say a sort of elite (or elitist) community. In modern day, it would most likely resemble a fancy gated community in a suburban neighborhood. In a letter dated February 28th, 1882 George Chaffey writes, “Our intention is to sell to our immediate friends and those recommended by them, hoping by this means to make a first class colony.” This one sentence brings up two interesting topics. The first involves the use of the word colony. The Chaffey brothers and most other historical/biographical information about the Chaffey brothers and the Inland Empire continuously use the word ‘colony,’ and it is interesting to ponder on why they might use the word, but that is for another time. The second is the obvious intent of the Chaffey brothers to build an empire of perfection, a place where “the aged may rest and the young grow strong.” That quote is from a page of the Ontario brochure (pictured below). It is incredibly more interesting that the Chaffey brothers found this land, mostly desert and lacking water sources, and saw beyond that. They saw possibility and they banked on that possibility.

Ontario the city that charms.jpg

In that same letter George Chaffey also writes, “There is no better land in the state, it all lies to the sun and the water right is perfect, we have however absolute control of the water. Thus avoiding any chance of dispute,” and in another dated September 10th, 1882 writes, “The land is very even of excellent quality. The elevation is above the Frost Belt, the situation commands a view of the valley. The water is pure mountain water which together with the healthy climate must make it all that can be desired for a home.” The Chaffey brothers may have found land that seemed by most undesirable but they looked further. They saw the landscape as a view to die for, they saw the mountains of Southern California as a source to build an irrigation haven, and saw the climate (“sunny California” as it is most known today) as more than desirable. Perhaps that is why we call it the Inland Empire.

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October 25, 2017September 14, 2021 by cgu-kierap

Technology and Libraries

It’s easy to think of libraries simply as repositories full of books, but did you know there is actually a lot of technology that is involved as well? Technology is an important part of every library, and here at special collections we use technology every day. As a CLIR CCEPS fellow I am not just working with books and documents, I have to use a variety of technology. It’s easy to imagine the kinds of technology that the CLIR Water Project uses in digitizing documents and publishing them on the Claremont Colleges Digital Library. In fact, many of us have written about our experiences using technology to scan documents, create metadata, and upload documents.

Still, I think it is important to recognize the hardware and software that is a vital part of our daily lives here at special collections. Thinking about the technology we use is also a good way of breaking down the entire process we go through to get documents onto the Claremont Colleges Digital Library.

The first step is to find and check out a document we want to digitize. Each document or book in special collections has a call number, and just like in the rest of the library, we use the call number to locate and check out an item. CLIR CCEPS fellows use Aeon just like any special collections user. If you are interested in getting access to an item from special collections you can create an Aeon account here: https://claremont.aeon.atlas-sys.com/aeon/.

Next we have to digitize the document. As we’ve previously written about, there are three kinds of hardware we use to capture a digital image of the document: the flat scanner, the book scanner, and the camera. However, to digitize the items we also need software. When using the flat scanner or book scanner we use Adobe Acrobat and the scanner’s software to create PDFs. When using the camera we have to use a variety of software including Capture One, Adobe Photoshop, and finally Adobe Acrobat to convert the photograph to a PDF. We use Capture One and Adobe Photoshop to adjust white balance and generally ensure that the image properly represents the original physical document.

Then we must create metadata before we upload the item to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library. To do this we use the software CONTENTdm, which I learned how to use this week. So far it is an easy way to track metadata for single documents as well as commonly used terms in particular collections to help guide users. After the metadata for the item is completed it is ready to be uploaded, but don’t ask me what technology is required for that step because I haven’t learned how to do that yet!

October 20, 2017September 14, 2021 by cgu-marissah

Creating Metadata

Today I spent the day learning how to create metadata for
all the documents I’ve scanned in the past month. Like the assessment I made last week when I discussed digitizing
the Frankish copy book, I’ll never look at metadata the same! It’s surprisingly
difficult to whittle down a pamphlet or document to the right key words and
subjects that will lead researches to the materials they seek. I hope my first attempt at creating metadata (which I probably spent way too much time overthinking it)
proves fruitful for future researches hoping to learn more about the Etiwanda
Water Company!

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October 20, 2017September 14, 2021 by pom-alfonsoc

In a Relationship with Water Documents?

Hello all,

This week, just like Marissa, I learned about metadata and uploaded my very first item on to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library, California Water Documents. I must admit, for some odd reason, I had not completely thought through the idea that the scanning I do and all the metadata information I find and I identify would be directly placed on the big world-wide net for all to use. As I sat down Thursday afternoon in front of my computer with Tanya by my side looking at my very first uploaded document (titled Preliminary Report upon the American States Water Service Company of California and Bear Valley Utility Company and which you can find here *wink wink*: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cwd/id/4914) I could not help but feel slightly nervous and profoundly conscious of my scanned images (were they too uneven? were they all the same size? were they all rotated correctly?) and especially the metadata I had entered (was it all correct? was it all completely certified by the Library of Congress despite having gone through with Tanya to assure that it was? Is there more I should add? More that could be useful to someone looking up information on the business growth and water rates of a water-supply company from the 1800s??). The information must be precise, even the slightest errors such as an unneeded space or whether a letter is capitalized must be found and fixed. Those attention to detail skills are extremely necessary right now.

Simultaneously I felt a sense of accomplishment for having been responsible for providing this sort of information now accessible to so many people. I mentioned in some of my very first blog posts of how important and incredible it was to make these historical documents easily accessible to such a wide audience and this has just reinforced that feeling inside me. I must also admit that doing metadata allows a different yet deeper understanding of the documents I have been working with. Often in scanning so many pages in a day, sometimes up to 60, 80, or 100 pages, I begin to mechanically scan without taking time to read the page I am scanning let alone take the time to admire the page(s). But, five more documents uploaded (here’s the link to the Claremont College Digital Library, California Water Documents so you can check them out *wink wink wink*: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/cwd) and I can conclude that metadata is a nice break from scanning as well as an opportunity for my relationship with these documents to deepen. I think I can officially say I have spent more time on this relationship than any other…

until next time!

-Alfonso

October 18, 2017September 14, 2021 by cgu-kierap

Oversized Adventures

This week I tackled a stack of oversized maps I have been
accumulating. In the process of digitizing documents, I have been using a flat
scanner and a book scanner for the most part. The flat scanner is familiar to
most people; the document is laid flat on a glass screen, the lid is shut, and
the user presses go. For fragile books unable to lay flat or documents that
would be damaged by being squished under the lid of a flat scanner, a book
scanner is more appropriate. The book scanner lights and captures the image of
the document from above, so the book or document can be propped up into a safe
position to be scanned. You can see and use book scanners in the special
collections reading room. However, there are size limitations for both of these
machines. For oversized documents we need to head to the photography room
downstairs.

The photography room has two methods of capturing large
documents. The camera can be mounted on a tripod facing a magnetic whiteboard
and the document can be attached to the whiteboard with a series of magnets.
This method is best for large, flat, single documents that are relatively
durable. Maps, posters, and similar documents are captured best using this
method. However, sometimes documents are unable to be hung up on the
whiteboard. Perhaps they are very fragile and might rip with the force of
gravity or perhaps they are attached to a larger volume and cannot be removed.
In these cases the camera can be mounted on a large vertical arm above a table
where the document can be placed. This method is similar to the book scanner,
but on a larger scale.

This week I used both methods to photograph oversized maps
of Southern California, in particular Ontario and the greater San Bernardino
County area. A few of the maps were glued into a volume full of land deeds and
folded out of the book. Because they could not be removed, I unfolded the maps
on the table and photographed them from above using the vertical arm. This was
difficult because a couple of these maps were huge and even the standard oversized
methods had trouble capturing the entirety of the document. The vertical arm holding
the camera is quite tall, and although I’m quite tall I eventually had to use a
step stool to reach the camera. Even still I couldn’t capture the entirety of
one of these maps! I couldn’t believe it. However, after some maneuvering I was
finally able to get a clear image of the large maps.

Next I used the tripod and magnetic whiteboard to photograph
some of the single maps. As you can imagine, this process is much easier and
faster than using the vertical arm. After I finished photographing the maps I used
software to edit, crop and convert the image into a usable document. Eventually
these images will be uploaded to the Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Keep
an eye out for these maps, as some of them are quite intricate!

October 13, 2017September 14, 2021 by cgu-marissah

The Wet Letter Book (continued – for another eight weeks)

I’m finishing my second week of scanning the 500-page
Charles Frankish copy book. At 150 pages per week, I expect to be working on
the book for the remainder of my fellowship. That’s right! It will likely be seven
to eight weeks before I finish scanning the book in its entirety because once I
scan through the whole right-side of the book, I’ll begin on the left. Now that
I know how much time goes into digitizing whole books, I will read them with a
new appreciation!

Right now this process simply involves the scanning
of each delicate page. My attempts at producing meaning out of the handwritten letters
have mostly been futile as the ink is blurred due to the copying process and is
often quite faint. However, in the coming weeks we will receive printed
transcripts of the letters produced by a handwriting expert. The metadata that
I will create when I finish scanning the copy book will come from these
transcripts, which I now look forward to having just read Alfonso’s post on how
the letters from the Chaffey brothers reveal their contrasting personalities.
For now however the contents of what I’m scanning will remain a mystery.

I’ve had a chance to work on other materials as well.
In between scans of the Frankish book, I’ve begun scanning a pamphlet published
by The Ontario Land & Improvement Company in 1909. Falling under what Kiera
describes as ephemeral materials in her latest post, the pamphlet serves as an
advertisement seeking to persuade Americans to come west and live and invest in
the newly established “City That Charms” – Ontario, California.

October 13, 2017September 14, 2021 by pom-alfonsoc

Chaffey? Chaffey Who?

Hello,

For the last few blog entries I have been working on the Chaffey Letters, a book comprised of letters written by two brothers who I mentioned in my last blog, William and George Chaffey. If you’re from the Inland Empire you might know of the Chaffey Brothers, but I’m sure for many, including a SoCal student such as myself, you might be asking, Chaffey? Chaffey who? You might not know the Chaffey Brothers let alone their life’s work.

I found, after a bit of research, that the Canadian born brothers are known to have developed the cities we today know as Ontario, Upland and Etiwanda (among many). I must admit that it blew. my. mind. finding out that the letters I have been reading and scanning were written by two men known not only for developing these cities, but two brothers known as making Los Angeles the first “all-electricity-lit-city” as well as introducing irrigation and thus agriculture production (specifically, fruit-farming) to the Southern California desert aka the modern day Inland Empire. Understanding California as the number one agricultural producing state in the United States and that the entire state remains almost completely dependent on irrigation, it is profound to know that the Chaffey Brothers introduced irrigation to such a large area of Southern California. According to a website called Inside the Inland Empire, a website in part dedicated to the history of the Inland Empire, the Chaffey brothers are described as having started the Inland Empire Land Boom.

(George Chaffey) (William Chaffey)

(photos from: http://www.ontarioheritage.org/history-of-ontario.html)

Purchasing the land in 1881, the Chaffey Brothers would, in a span of just four years, create the Etiwanda Water Company, the San Antonio Water Company, open Chaffey Jr. High and make an estimated 1 million dollars (both would die very, very wealthy). Today, the Chaffey Brothers have both a high school (Chaffey High School) and a community college (Chaffey College) named after them, as well as many cities both named by them and functioning in present day because of them.

Originally, before it was the Inland empire, much of the land was in the hands of a Captain by the name of Joseph Garcia. Before Captain Garcia and before European and Spanish colonization, the land belonged to American Indians Tongva, Serrano, and Cahuillia.

Since then, the Inland Empire became the major center of agriculture production in the late 1800s and early 1900s and then, as can be seen today, into a large residential, industrial and commercial area with an estimated 4 million people populating the area.

The more you know!

till next time,

Alfonso.

October 11, 2017September 14, 2021 by cgu-kierap

Ephemeral Advertisements

‘Ephemera’ is a term used by archivists to describe written or printed materials that were not created to be preserved. Unlike official legal documents or important personal papers, the importance and relevance of ephemera is considered short-term. This includes items like tickets, correspondence, flyers, posters and more. Nevertheless, most archival collections include ephemera in their collections. This might sound odd if you consider that we have already deemed these documents as having temporary importance. However, how many of you have held onto concert tickets, birthday cards, or fortunes from a fortune cookie? It turns out that ephemera is really interesting and quite telling–whether it is used to examine a time in a person’s life or a wider societal trend.

This week I have been scanning some very interesting ephemera for the CLIR Water Project. I wanted to share some of what I have found that I thought was interesting. These examples were all taken from a single Municipal League of Los Angeles Bulletin from December 1, 1929. The bulletin details several issues related to the Colorado River, the Imperial Valley, Flood Control programs, and upcoming elections. Additionally, within the bulletin there are several advertisements I found particularly interesting.

The first advertisement offers details on a merchant tailor whose prices range from $60 to $75 for a custom suit. The advertisement states that this tailor “Specializes in Scotch and Irish Tweeds, the Ideal Cloth for Southern California Wear”.

The panel below the tailor advertises a sanitarium in Santa Monica that specializes in osteopathy, a type of alternative medicine. This sanitarium promises to care for people with “mental and nervous diseases” and that “in the calm of these quiet gardens patients are finding their way back to normal living.” The title of the advertisement is “All’s Quiet on the Western Front.”

There is an advertisement for the Woodhead Lumber Company that features a mascot by the name of Woody. This advertisement warns that the “winter rains are due,” an appropriate advertisement for early December.

The next advertisement is for a bookshop that specializes in rare books. The panel is quite small and includes very few details other than that you can receive “Catalogues on Request.”

The last advertisement is the largest in the bulletin and promotes a music store. In particular this advertisement addresses women, stating, “The modern home demands a baby grand piano and every woman is eager to buy one.” The advertisement also guarantees that there are pianos available to “fit every income.”

Each of these advertisements gives insights to what the commercial life was like in Southern California in December, 1929. Which advertisements did you find interesting?

October 6, 2017September 14, 2021 by pom-alfonsoc

A Deeper Look

Hello,

I was recently able to look at the transcripts for the Chaffey Letters Book I and it turns out that all those beautiful pages actually said real stuff! In my last blog post I mentioned the sign off each letter had and found out that it indeed says, “Yours Truly, Chaffey Bros.”

The letters in this book are majority written by two brothers, Will Chaffey and George Chaffey (and sometimes an individual by the name of Wm. Henderson writes the letters, but a small portion). The dates for the letters range from 1882-1884. As I read through the transcript, I notice that the letters have different tones depending on the brother as well as the purpose of each letter. I have observed that many of the letters written by George Chaffey have a more serious and dominant tone in comparison to that of Will, who has written more letters with an apologetic tone. It’s an interesting game of good cop bad cop between the two and makes one ponder on the relationship between the two brothers. While Will Chaffey often writes letters when something has gone wrong on their end, George Chaffey is often blaming someone else for his problems or confronting someone else for their faults. In one letter, George Chaffey writes, “I think too that you might have had the courtesy to write explaining why you could or could not ship the mould board.” It’s odd, but pleasant to have a glimpse into the personal life of the Chaffey Bros through some of their letters. For example, I noticed some letters end with a personal message depending on the receiver. In one of the letters, writing to a person by the name of Jim, George ends the letter by stating that,

“All well. Mrs. Chaffey and children have spent the summer at Santa
Barbara on the cost (sic) but complain of its being too cold there, and
want to get back to a warmer country.”

(below is the letter where this is written and the transcript for the letter)
Image-1.png.jpg

Image.png.jpg

It’s hard to believe that one was able to transcribe the original letter considering how difficult it was for me to decipher the words, but understanding what each of these letters say adds a whole new dimension to these documents. In my past blogs, I’ve talked about the aesthetic value, but the ability to understand the words written on these letters provides a whole heap of new character. The ability to distinguish by the language of the letters George Chaffey from Will Chaffey is both hilarious and, for a lack of a better word, awesome. For myself, it allows me to move towards looking at these letters through the lens of sociology and psychology. The letter pictured above in specific allows the familial workings/relations of this company to sink in; the reader of these documents may witness what could very much have been a mix of business and personal for the Chaffey Bros. Incredible that 130 years could pass, and a student such as myself take a peek inside the life of two brothers.

until next time,

Alfonso