Department of Archives and History Accomplishes Much While Working Remotely

The Department of Archives and History adapted to the COVID-19 world, and I have been pleasantly surprised at the extent to which we’ve been able to continue our normal daily duties at almost maximum capacity. As always, we’re working on processing Revolutionary War and Historical/Commemorative marker applications, answering reference questions and updating the archives database along with myriad other large and small tasks. 

The home quarantine also placed us in the unique position of having distraction-free time to work on projects—some of which we’ve wanted to accomplish for a long time—that will serve to improve upon and add to services we provide to the membership. Our efforts include work on recommending changes to the Daughters of Distinction criteria; plans to deaccession unneeded volumes in the Historical Research Library in preparation for the Americana Room/office renovation; reading and discussion based upon archives sources regarding renovating a collections space; study consistent with our plans to use the renovated space to teach using primary sources; and scanning old marker placement cards for uploading into a new database we plan to create. 

Continuing education has been a prominent theme during these several weeks. We’ve participated in classes and webinars concerning genealogy, archives management, care and preservation of both scrapbooks and archival photographs, organization of archives spaces, and how to convert what were in-person outreach activities to an all-virtual format. Our Continental Congress preparations include devising new ways to expose our exhibits, collections and expertise to members even though we won’t be able to visit with each other in person.