Week Six, Day Nine- October 26

Today we continued to work on the materials from the 1950s. There are just a ton of photos in this collection! Most of the photos were head shots or promotional photos of various radio personalities which I think is interesting, but I'm not sure how it would be helpful to researchers unless they were just looking for a picture of a particular radio personality that they had already researched. Whenever I work on processing a collection, I always like to imagine the ways in which researcher might be able to use the items in the collection. I guess I just haven't thought hard enough to discover the ways in which this collections will be used, but I'm sure that I will come up with something. When I first started to work on a collection at the archive at the university, I hard a very difficult time thinking of ways someone would want to use the materials I was working with, but as time went on, I began to see the value in the items and the entire collection. I'm sure with time I will be able to think of something.

We were able to finish up the pictures today and go a start on the documents. I find this to be much more entertaining and interesting because some of the letters and newspaper articles really tell the story of the development of black radio in Birmingham and other cities in the United States. I especially enjoyed looking at various Federal Communication Commission reports because they give facts and figures to the overall history of black radio.

Week Five, Day Eight- October 23

Today we continued to work on creating a metadata spread sheet for the collection. Since we had finished the 1930s and 1940s, we began working on the 1950s. There is a lot more material for this decade so it will probably take us at least another day of working to finish it up. There are a lot more photos in the this collection and many of them are head shots of various radio personalities. It looks like Bob or someone else has written names and dates on some of them, but we will have to talk with him after we finish processing all the materials to find as much information about each item as he has. I'm also beginning to think about ways that we can put information that Bob might not be totally sure about into the metadata. If he thinks he knows who is in a picture, but isn't totally sure, we don't want to put that into the description field because it might end up being wrong and that might lead a researcher down the wrong path. But it could be right and we wouldn't want to exclude information we are not sure about.

This issue is something that the world of metadata must work on and try to figure out a solution. When one is processing a collection and making the metadata, you can't put in information that you are unsure of, but you also don't want to leave it out. It would be helpful to develop a field within the metadata schema that would also a person to include information but make sure the patron or researcher know the information may or may not be correct. It would also be helpful to let users make additions to metadata, but this also could only be done if the information is displayed in such a way as to make it clear it came from the public rather than the archive itself.

Week Five, Day Seven- October 19

I felt like today was one of the most productive days that we had at the museum. Since most of the photos had made it into protective sleeves, we were able to move on to the actual cataloging of the images and papers. We began with the 1930s since this decade had the least amount of materials. At first we started out with the unique identifier system that Latoya and I had developed earlier, but as we worked, we found that it really wasn't going to work for the needs the collection. At first, we thought that we should work each individual radio station into the number, but this became a problem because some of the materials were not related to any one radio station. This caused us to drop the radio station from the system. So, our final unique identifier number will look like this 0002.0002.000001. The first number tells you what type of material the item is, whether its a picture, manuscript, or recording. The next number tells you what decade the item is from and the last number is the individual item's number within each collection. We were able to make a spread sheet for the 1930s and 1940s. Once we have made a spread sheet for each decade and given each item its own unique identifier, Latoya and I are going to sit down with Bob and have him give us as much information about each piece as he can. We will use this information to refine the metadata and to create a finding aid that can be used by researchers or other interested persons.

Week Four, Day Six- October 16

Today, more archive materials from Gaylord arrived so we were able to finish putting all the photographs into protective sleeves and finish putting all the manuscripts into their own folders. Even though this process takes forever, I think it is really important because we want to know this collection as well as we possibly can before we begin the cataloging process. Not taking the time to get to know the collection can have a very negative affect on the final product of a finding aid because we would not be able to link up similar materials so that it is easier for a researcher to find the information they are looking for. I know it can be very frustrating when you don't have any idea the proper chronology for a collection and you are forced to make one up by yourself. Because a collection may no longer be in the correct order, it is so very important to take the time to look at each item, both as an individual record and as the item relates to the rest of the collection. If the person developing the finding aid does not take the time to match similar materials, a researcher may find it difficult and frustrating to use the materials. It really is up to the person who is working one on one with the materials to take the time to put them in the most logical order possible. I hope that all the time we are spending looking at the materials as we put them in protective sleeves and folders will enable us to develop the most logical system for organizing everything which will lead to a well thought out and developed finding aid.

Week Four, Day Five- October 12

Today we were able to get into the workroom and spend most of the time putting pictures into the protective cases. We then moved on to putting all the transcription disks into folders. This gave us a chance to see what kind of recording we will be dealing with. As I understand it, each transcription disk contains a radio program that was recorded at an earlier date, then played by different radio stations at different times. They seem to be the almost like a re-run of a radio program. I really enjoy getting to go through all the materials and find out what types of materials make up the beginning of the museum.

Since it was a some what slow day, we were able to talk more about the cataloging process. I hope that we will be able to get through all the materials and make a metadata spread sheet for each collection and then take that information to make a finding aid.

Week Three, Day Four- October 5

Today was a rather slow day at the directed study because we were unable to get into the project work room. Although we had no chance to work with the materials, Latoya and I decided that we would use this time to begin to develop a mission statement for the museum and a collection development policy that can be used as more materials are added to the collection.

Here is what I came up with as the mission statement. "The mission of the Birmingham Black Radio Museum is to collect and preserve materials relating to the history of African-American radio in the city of Birmingham, Alabama and the surrounding areas." I feel like this is a good mission statement because it is simple and it lays out exactly what the museum is, or at least what it wants to become.
The collection development policy is also a vital part in the beginning of an archive or museum.

The museum will collect any materials relating to the history and development of black radio in the city of Birmingham, Alabama and the surrounding areas. The museum is most interested in collections materials that explain the history of specific black radio stations in the Birmingham area.

Materials to be collected
• Newspaper articles
• Photographs of radio personalities
• Photographs of radio sponsored events
• Oral histories from persons who were active in the development of black radio in the Birmingham area.
• Manuscripts from radio stations
• Manuscripts from radio personalities
• 3-D artifacts from radio stations

I feel like this is a good collection development policy because it is simple and includes all types of materials that the museum might want to collect. It lays out specifically what materials the museum wants so there will not be any problems with what to do with irrelevant materials.