Down in the archives

"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97) 05/10/2019 at 16:06 • Filed to: None

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We continued weeding the collection of an Operation Paperclip scientist that was donated to us many years ago. Everything here is weeded material we’re not keeping in the collection but that caught my eye nonetheless. Some of this will go that great big recycling bin in the sky, and some of it will go to a s pace m useum in the area (some of it may be added to their library, and some of it might end up being sacrificial display or exhibit items in the future). This is all non-unique material available elsewhere, so it gets weeded with regards to the practical limitations of space, money and staff time for processing.

As an added bonus (that I didn’t picture), I found a folder of maintenance records for one of the VW Rabbits who’s owner’s manual I featured last week.

For those of you who were ever lifeguards or pool operators, you’ll likely be familiar with the Taylor company and their products for measuring water chemistry.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Nibby and/or Torch bait:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Finally, for all you keyboard nerds we’ve got some Cherry keyboard literature:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

ttyymmnn > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 05/10/2019 at 16:56

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You sure this isn’t Starf leet?

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 05/10/2019 at 17:20

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I thought of you at one point while weeding. Among this guy’ s many hobbies and interests was flying sailplanes. There are boxes upon boxes of material about them. Magazines, sales literature, flight manuals, stuff about competitive glider flying...

Kiltedpadre > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 05/10/2019 at 17:52

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The Nibby bait led me to track down a photo my wife shared of her dad at IBM in 1981.

There’s a group photo with his team that shows more old computers that I can’t seem to find.

ttyymmnn > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 05/10/2019 at 18:16

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In a way, it’s a shame to throw so much of that stuff out. But who’s going to look at it? It’s good that you are weeding out the important stuff. 

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 05/10/2019 at 18:54

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Indeed. Our focus for this collection has to primarily be on the non-unique, original parts on the collection. His personal research files are the heart of the collection, along with certain aspects of his personal papers. The materials dealing with his experience being brought over as part of Operation Paperclip are certainly of historical and research value.   We’ll also keep the German research from the 30's and 40's that he brought over with him, as some of that is probably not particularly common, and we’ll keep the published reports and documents that relate to immediate region.

A lot of the NASA stuff is seriously cool, but it’s not unique and outside of our collecting scope. We’re not where a researcher would look to find those materials, and they’re all held by the National Archives (and many of them by the Library of Congress) and other repositories that focus on that type of material. It’s out there for anyone that wants to read it (even some of it in corporate records) , we just can’t justify us keeping another copy. Much of the NASA related materials are going to space museum up the road from us.

This actually highlights an interesting progression for archivists. When you’re new in the field, this kind of weeding is difficult to do. It all tells a story together, and its all cool, and you want to keep all of it. Once you’ve been around long enough, you approach this kind of thing differently. On this collection, I open   box of published government reports, or a box Scientific American magazine and have thoughts more along the lines of “who the *#^$ ever accessioned this, and they should’ve been kicked in nuts for doing so...”

ttyymmnn > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 05/10/2019 at 19:04

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That Operation Paperclip stuff might be really fascinating. Most Americans have no idea how much we relied on the Germans for our early work in space. And the Russians, too, for that matter. They grabbed their own German scientists, though I’m sure ours were more willing to come along.

What entity is the “we” you are working with/for?

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 05/10/2019 at 19:09

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New Mexico State University.

Future Heap Owner > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 05/11/2019 at 01:49

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Wow, I am so jealous you get to do this.