Day 2: Clarence Gordon Campbell

With day 1 under my belt and all administrative paperwork completed, I was able to look forward to a full day of working with the Clarence Gordon Campbell. The collection is comprised of 1.25 linear feet of files and dates range from 1920 to the late 1930s. It was donated by Dr. Campbell's grandson in 2009.

My task for the next few weeks is to

•  review the collection and 
• create a detailed inventory and a processing plan and 
• compile a finding aid for incorporation into the archive's larger collection

Following typical processing procedures outlined in LIS 714 and LIS 721, I began with a review of the collection's provenance information to have it handy for later use in the collection's finding aid. Thankfully my day-job as a prospect researcher aided me in my efforts to confirm the spelling of the grandson's name (which had two different spelling on the provenance paperwork and deed of gift documentation).

After this, I began to delve into the contents of Box 1 which consisted mainly of manuscripts and typescripts of speeches and article drafts, some article reprints and some correspondence which illustrates the variety of societal impacts (both good and bad), which resulted from the popularization of Eugenics.

Day 1 Take-Away:

• Most scientists have abhorrent handwriting.
• The learning curve for eugenics lingo is not too bad. My favorite phrase is "horrible Eugenics Baby" (referring to a series of "Better Baby" and "eugenics Baby" contests that swept the nation in the mid 1920s, once the idea of eugenics had been popularized).
• I need to speed up my processing time. Two folders in 6 hours of work is VERY slow.