Hi everyone!
I was on spring break last week so there were no blog posts.
As I was drafting the processing plan for the Yao family papers, I was surprised by the freedom I was given in determining the arrangement method and potential research value of the collection. Because the materials in the Yao family papers varies vastly in their forms, ranging from official documents to film rolls, I decided to generally arrange the collection into series based on the format of the materials.
Initially I was going to determine that the collection had medium potential research value because the events Norman Yao documented as a commercial photographer did not have an inherent connection between them. But after much hesitation, I determined that the collection has high research value because it reveals much about the local history of Claremont and tells a story of an immigrant family. Additionally, the collection would be accessible to the researchers because most of the documents in this collection are well preserved and can be dated, and certain parts of the collection are even systematically labeled.
I hope one day the Yao family papers can be available for researchers and benefit them in their research.
Hope you have a good week!
Marcus