Welcome back to another processing update for the Senator Richard Burr Collection! Since my last update, I have been busy working on one of the largest and most challenging series in the collection: memorabilia. This series has posed some tough challenges during processing, but the effort has been worth it to make this fascinating and unique series available. There are definitely some hidden gems in this series to be discovered!

However, before the memorabilia can be discovered by researchers, first it had to be processed. There were two main stages to my processing work on this series. First, I made an itemized inventory of every item that was transferred as part of the Burr collection. This was a time consuming task, but it helped me to wrap my mind around the entire collection and get a sense of what types of items were there. As I went, I also appraised each item based on its research value. The appraisal was a necessary step because there were over 1,600 items in the collection initially. Many of these items were duplicates, repetitive, or just plain bulky–and critically, many items had no research value or were unidentified as to what they were. I wanted to focus the collection on items that were unique, informative, and visually appealing, keeping in mind that they might be used in future exhibits. I also wanted to capture the breadth of the memorabilia collection as a representation of Richard Burr’s career and interests, both personally and professionally. With all of these factors in mind, I was able to document and appraise the memorabilia collection over the course of about six months.

After this work was done, I moved on to storing the items. I was tasked with storing the remaining 950 items securely according to archival standards, while also making sure they were findable and usable for researchers and reference archivists. This was no small feat! Items in the memorabilia collection ranged from small lapel pins to oversized picture frames and everything in between, and many of the items were breakable! I had to research and order appropriate archival boxes for the smallest and largest items while also safely packing and labeling them. Luckily, I had the help of two wonderful SCA student employees who helped me to pack, label, take photos, and document the collection (thanks Gaby and Helen!). Now, as I’m wrapping up processing work on the memorabilia collection, I’m working on putting it all together in a spreadsheet that will eventually become the finding aid for the series. From start to finish, this has been a nine month process, with work still ongoing. The good news is, we are one step closer to having the collection open for research! Stay tuned…