During the Spring 2021 semester, the RML project supported three interns from the NYU Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program. Each intern was hosted by an organization located on Long Island, which includes Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, and Kings counties. The following post is from Lindsay Miller, who interned at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.
Archival work can be daunting, yet rewarding. We pay attention to details, document everything thoroughly, and circle back on past work. At the heart of all of this work are the collections we care for. We inspect audiovisual materials, inventory them, house them, and store them safely for future access. Archival workflows are tailored to the specifics of these collections, so much so that the addition or subtraction of any one step could drastically shift how things are done. So what happens when an archivist starts working somewhere where they can’t physically access the collection? They have to get creative.
Working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic has taught me a lot about creativity, patience, and the importance of asking questions. When I first started my internship at the R.C. Diocese of Brooklyn Archives in January, I was wary of remote work. I spent my first semester of graduate school in North Carolina, wholly isolated from the rest of my classmates and professors in New York City. It was really easy for me to hide behind a computer screen and fake confidence when in reality I had a million questions, especially during those first few months of the semester. I especially missed those opportunities to form relationships with others, whether it be my mentors, peers, or even the collections I was working to inventory.
What attracted me most to this internship was the opportunity to work with a diverse collection of audiovisual materials. Most of these items had never been inventoried or inspected before, so I was also excited to be the one to help establish the fundamental pieces. Prior to my start date, my supervisor shared a basic inventory template for me to work with but I quickly realized it didn’t quite capture all of the metadata we needed. Over time, I began to make changes to this template based on new information I learned in my Collection Management class and my conversations with others. I also picked up new tricks in Excel, such as creating drop-down lists for standardized data such as media formats.
Let me take you through my workflow. My internship supervisor and I decided early on that our best option was to work with photographs of the materials, as I could then have a better understanding of an item’s housing and general condition. Every few weeks, he would upload a large batch of photos into a shared Google Drive and make sure they were separated by collection. From there, I would begin to organize the photos into separate folders dedicated to each item in the collection. Once a collection was fully organized, I would then move on to inventorying the items in an Excel spreadsheet. Every week I would upload a new version of the spreadsheet to Google Drive. Doing so allowed me to track my progress and provided the archive with additional copies.
Populating this inventory was not without its challenges, especially since I was relying on the photos my supervisor took. At times photos turned out blurry or only showed a small section of the tape. If I couldn’t quite make out what a label said, I would zoom in as far as possible and try to make sense of the squiggle on screen. Those materials that gave me the most trouble were highlighted so that I could come back later with fresh eyes. When I was finished documenting all of my observations, I would then type up an email to my supervisor with any remaining questions and a list of additional photos I needed.
On the surface, this seemed like a pretty simple workflow, but it took quite a while for me to get into the swing of things. It was also a far cry from how I thought I would be spending my time. To me, the process seemed almost too straightforward and incredibly impersonal. The hundreds of first and last names I worked to document remained just that – names. Who are these people? What are they doing on this VHS tape? How did this tape get here? It’s fun to contemplate these questions, but I wasn’t able to consult other collection papers to learn more information because they — like the tapes — had not yet been digitized. I found this disconnect to be frustrating and wondered if my work was suffering as a result. I got better at writing down my questions and made a point to email my supervisor every week with updates on my progress. I shared numerous drafts of my inventory with others and even shared my screen in class, a task I have always found to be quite daunting.
The pandemic may have taken away our ability to work together in person, but it did not take away our generosity. I am in constant awe of my colleagues’ patience and kindness despite these bizarre times. No question ever felt too small or stupid to be asked. My work greatly benefited from this and while I wish I’d known this sooner, I’m happy to have these new collaborative skills and trust in my colleagues as I continue to navigate graduate school and this new field.
I completed my internship at the Diocese back in May. My final deliverables consisted of the following: an inventory for 10 audiovisual collections, an inventory key, a brief collection assessment, and a summary that describes everything I completed over the course of the semester and where it could be found within Google Drive. Looking back, I am honestly amazed that I was able to accomplish so much given the current circumstances. And there is still much work to be done! The benefit of documenting my progress means that someone (maybe even another intern *wink wink*) can easily pick up where I have left off. And hey, maybe by then there will be some sense of normalcy in the world and they can truly explore the collections for themselves.