Initial visits

Visit #1:  On Feb. 3, Crystal and I met with Elizabeth Haluska-Rauch at the Law Library for the first time to discuss our preservation assessment of the Justice Tom Clark collection.  In preparation for our meeting, Elizabeth suggested that we consult two websites:

www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utlaw/00021/law-00021pl.html

http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/clark/

The first is the finding aid for the Justice Tom Clark collection; it was very useful in terms of providing an overview of items in the collection, which include foldered papers in boxes, bound journals, scrapboks, sound recordings, film, photos, plaques, framed papes, and  a wide variety of objects labeled "Artifacts" (i.e. feather headdresses). The second website is part of the UTopia project, and gives some contextual information about cases in which Justice Clark was involved.  A small percentage of materials from the collection have been digitized and are available on this website.

We started our visit with a brief walk through the area of the stacks where the collection is located.  Most of the items are boxed, but we did get to see the two headdresses and Justice Clark's chair.  It is quite dirty and Elizabeth expressed a strong desire to have it cleaned, or possibly deaccessioned.  We also saw the desk where we will be doing our work; it is not large but is clean and will work well for our purposes.

Afterwards, we discussed the collection with Elizabeth.  We were curious to learn about its storage history; she was able to tell us that after being donated in 1977, it was stored in the UT Tower before being moved into the Law Library building when it opened in January of 1980.  Neither location is climate controlled, and they do not have a functioning hygrothermograph.  Because the collection is closed at night, the area is cleaned only by request; Elizabeth and her assistant, Jennifer, do most of the housekeeping themselves.  The parts of the collection that are accessible (mostly the papers) are used often.  Luckily, the items were very well organized when they arrived at UT and have stayed in this order.  Some do go on exhibit, and a few years ago they acquired secure cases with UV protection for this purpose.

Though the papers are frequently used, some portions of the collection, namely the audio and the film, are not used simply because they are not accessible.  They are currently working with School of Information students to migrate some of this material so that it can be used, and ultimately would like to digitize all of the film and audio files to which they have clear title.  This goal is slightly complicated by the fact that they lack formal documentation of a deed of gift, but they do not expect this to be a major obstacle.  In terms of the currently accessible materials, they would like to develop more stringent policies for the handling of the photos (patrons are not currently required to wear gloves), and to acquire new book cradles for the handling of scrapbooks as the current ones are old and crumbling.

The paper materials, which constitute about 80-90% of the collection, were foldered in the mid-80's in folders that Elizabeth said "look acid-free" but did not know about for certain.  She thinks that the bound volumes are in stable condition, but could possibly use phase boxes.  Her primary concern was the "uncategorizable" material--the headdresses, judicial robe, academic hoods, the dirty chair, and an apparently hideous lamp that we did not get to see, to name a few examples; the main goal that she hopes that the assessment will accomplish is to provide recommendations for re-housing these items.

In class after our visit, we discussed the situation with Maria, who was concerned that the size and scope of the collection were too large for a semester-long project.  She suggested that we choose one or two areas on which to focus, and that we perform the assessment on an item level since the varied nature of the materials will not lend itself well to random sampling.  Since Elizabeth had expressed the most concern about the uncategorizable objects, we chose those as our main focus, and decided that if time permits we will also examine the scrapbooks.

Visit #2:

On Feb. 10, I visited the collection in preparation for developing our survey tool.  Since most of the objects we will focus on are stored in boxes, we didn't get to see them during the first quick tour and I wanted to have a better idea of what we would be dealing with.

I first opened the two boxes of academic hoods (according to the finding aid there are 29 hoods total).  The hoods are folded in the boxes, and each appears (though I did not rifle through to the bottom of the boxes) to have a piece of paper mechanically attached (some with straight pins, some with paper clips, etc.) specifying the university it represents and the date it was awarded to Justice Clark.  The paper labels are in many cases discolored and a variety of inks are used.  It is my initial impression that the labels/attachments may be the biggest problem involved with the hoods.

The next box contained Justice Clark's robe, which looks very well worn and loved.  Again, I did not remove it from the box, but was able to see many areas of wear, particularly around the sleeves and neck, and a white stain on the front.  As a textile novice it is not immediately clear to me what material the hoods and the robes are made of--my first guess would be something synthetic, but they do seem heavily creased/wrinkled at the folds.  No labels were immediately visible to me.

The two headdresses are sitting open on the shelves and are supported by crumpled paper.  We will need to determine if there are organic materials involved--to me it looked possible that the feathers are artificial, but I did not remove the headdresses from the shelf or examine them closely.  Judge Clark's Stetson hat is also open on the shelf and shows some evidence of wear around the brim.

There were two boxes filled with small objects, for example pins/badges, some with ribbons attached with varying degrees of wear, some plastic paperweights, leather (possibly synthetic) folders, a pen, another hat (this one folded flat in an envelope), keys to cities, and a small replica of the St. Louis arch.  Most of these items are stored in small boxes within the larger ones, and the arch is wrapped in tissue paper.  Though most of this material does not seem too fragile, it does rattle around in the boxes as it is currently stored and would probably do better in padded out custom enclosures.

Since neither of us has worked with many of these materials before, we will have some research to do before we can make recommendations for their rehousing.  But for now, the first task is to devise the survey tools.  At the moment we are planning one for the scrapbooks, one for the textiles, and one for the miscellaneous objects.