When I decided to change employers and change jobs, I had two criteria that had to be met - my next adventure had to be either much simpler, or much more interesting.
Becoming a steward of hundreds of thousands of documents, photographs, images, and words that tell the story of ERIE’s history is not so simple.
But, this job so far exceeded expectations for interesting work and elevated it to inspiring work, that I forgot all about simple.
How to begin writing a required weekly blog? Searching an archive database is helpful, but “flipping box lids” to see what is under them is way more fun.
Claire Varrieur, the interim Director of Archives, directed me to a solid list of collections. BTW-a big part of this job is keeping really good lists.
This list has 467 collections - plenty of material. So for simplicity sake, I started this blog series “The Inspired Archivist” with Collection 1 -- The Edith Buck Papers, and will commit to finding an inspiring fact or image from each collection on the list.
As it turns out, the papers are not about Edith Buck, but about the Battles Family, her family. A collection can be named for the individual or institution that collected the materials.
Edith Buck may have been born in 1934, according to a sketch of a family tree in the collection and is a descendant of six generations of the prominent Battles family who contributed significantly to the growth of Girard Township over the past centuries.
Here are some inspiring images from the collection she donated in 1997.
Travel to Girard on Thursday, June 24th from 5 to 8 pm, when the Battles Estate White House will be open for tours.