Here at HSP we are excited about a project that is currently brewing in our back offices and bringing music to our ears! It stems from the rich collection of Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt.

This month HSP begins a new 26-month project to process and conserve fourteen collections related to civic engagement in Philadelphia and beyond. Willhem Echevarría has already started work as project archivist, and in December he will be joined by Leah Mackin as project preservation technician. Previously, both Willhem and Leah worked on our Chew papers project and Digital Center for Americana pilot project, and we’re fortunate that they’ll be continuing on with this new initiative.

When deciding what to do for coursework this summer at Drexel University (I am a library and information science graduate student), I decided that I wanted to complete a practicum in an archival setting.  It seemed like few places were hiring, and I was worried that I would not find a practicum site before classes began.  However, I found the Summer Archives Intern posting on HSP’s website, right before the application due date.   Just days later, Cary Majewicz and Matthew Lyons were interviewing me, and a few days after that, I was offered the position.

In my last blog post I wrote about HSP's ongoing wrestling match with its card catalog and the difficulties in converting legacy systems and data.  One thing I failed to mention is the importance of designing any information system with future data migration in mind.  This is of particular importance for an archival institution, like HSP, which has the end goal of maintaining records in perpetuity.