Tag: Woman’s Club of Claremont

Hello Everyone, 

Today is my last blog entry and the day of my culminating
CCEPS presentation. My presentation was an introduction to the Woman’s Club of
Claremont, showcasing some of the interesting items in the collection, and a
summary of my experience processing the collection. I have managed to get the
original 27 boxes processed into 19 organized boxes of folders that will
hopefully enable future researchers to easily access any materials they may be
looking for in the collection. I have a great sense of accomplishment, and my
experience with the CCEPS fellowship taught me many valuable skills I can take
with me into the future, but it also allowed me the opportunity to informally
meet the wonderful ladies of the Woman’s Club of Claremont. Enjoy your weekend
everyone!

Hello Everyone, 

I can’t
believe my time at CCEPS is almost over, next week will be my last.
I am so close to being finished with my goals for this project! I am almost
done with the basics of the finding aid. I have been able to work on condensing
the boxes down even further and will continue to work on it next Tuesday. My
goal is to get it all done by next Thursday and be ready for my CCEPS project
presentation by next Friday. Wish me luck!

Hello Everyone,

Again, not much to report this week. I have been spending
the week working on the finding aid for the Woman’s Club of Claremont collection.
I have been writing the series and collection scope and content notes. These
notes summarize what is in the collection. It was more difficult than I thought
it was going to be. I found myself having to go back to my box survey, as well
as the records boxes themselves, to formulate how I was going to summarize the
contents and what I was going to include in the scope and content notes. I
began with the series scope and content notes and will finish those and move on
to the collection scope and content notes next week. There is a lot to learn
and I am really enjoying the journey. Have a great weekend!

Hello Everyone,

There is not much to report this week. I have spent
the week getting acquainted with materials, sites, and tools associated with
creating the Finding Aid for what will become the Woman’s Club of Claremont
collection. This involves learning how to use an open source archival data
management system called ArchiveSpace. The program is fairly user
friendly and it will just take some time to get familiar with using it. I started
out slowly, a little hesitant to make a mistake, but eventually just dove in to
creating headings and writing paragraphs for the Scope and Content notes. The
Scope and Content notes will let researchers know the content of the archive,
so they can determine the material’s relevance to their research. Luckily, I
was provided many examples to follow so I just allowed the work of those that
came before me to guide my way. I am wrapping up my week happy to have learned
something new. Have a great weekend! 

Hello Everyone,

I have spent the week organizing and hitting the
books. I have condensed and organized all the boxes. It is satisfying to
see everything nice and neat and orderly!

I have been reviewing the manuals on how to proceed to
the next steps, creating the Collection Description and the Finding Aid. I have
also been studying the Describing Archives A Content Standard (DACS) to
help me understand what’s next.

I am excited to move on to the next and continue this
wonderful learning experience. Have a great weekend!

Hello Everyone, I have finally managed to make my way
through all the boxes for some initial processing. I began with twenty-seven
boxes and ended up with twenty-one boxes of sorted records. I have another pass
through to perform so I can double check my work, and a few odds and ends to fix,
but I have a satisfying feeling of accomplishment. I am looking forward to continuing
to the next phase in the processing plan next week. Have a great weekend!   

Hello Everyone, I now have nineteen of the twenty-seven boxes completed
and I am almost finished with the initial phase of processing the records
boxes. I am going to try to work fast next week and may be able to finish up and
move on to the next phase in processing the collection. The volume of club records
speaks to the club’s longevity within the Claremont community. It is inspiring
to think that a club which began with a few members meeting during the First
World War to do Red Cross sewing, knitting, and community service was able to
grow in membership and purpose, and endure an entire century. The day the Woman’s
Club of Claremont moved out of meeting at member houses and into their new
clubhouse was a big event which the ladies recorded in notes and photographs. I
have included more images found in a record book titled, Woman’s Club of Claremont 1924 – 1944, for your
consideration.

Procession to the new clubhouse. Images found in a record book titled,
Woman’s Club of Claremont 1924 – 1944.

At the new clubhouse. Images found in a record book titled, Woman’s Club of Claremont 1924 – 1944

Hello Everyone, this week has been productive, but
time on this project seems to be passing quickly and I am trying to pick up the
pace to accomplish as much as possible. I now have nine of the twenty-seven
boxes completed with much of the annual and monthly operational club activity
records and Junior Club project reports in folders. I have also made significant
progress on creating folders for Club history as well as Woman’s Club events
and projects. The remaining boxes awaiting processing contain ledgers and
journals, printed matter and ephemera, newspaper clippings, photos, and slides,
and some remaining loose paperwork. I have a good plan of attack for next week
and am eager to get started on Tuesday.

The Woman’s Club of
Claremont has had some great fundraising events throughout their history and
have been very creative in coming up with event themes. I have come across some
wonderful event programs for fashion shows from the 1950’s and 1960’s with such
titles as “Autumn Fashion Treasures,” “Fashions for a Goddess,” and “Strawberry
Supreme,” with some programs being handmade. Check them out!

Hi Everyone, this week has been spent sorting and
creating folders. I have continued working on processing Junior Club project report
folders. It is time consuming work. I have been removing staples and
transferring the contents of the reports from report covers to file folders.
It took longer than I estimated, but I managed to get through two boxes of
project reports. I was beginning to feel as though I hadn’t accomplished much,
but I felt a little better after looking at the tidy boxes of folders I have
processed. It is hard to believe the amount of work it has taken to produce
these six organized boxes. Still a long way to go!