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Thanks for much needed humour and comment on Archival codes



Y'all thanks bunches for the anecdotes both on- and off-list; they made a
world of difference in being able to pull off a lovely event this evening
successfully in spite of a day having gone uncharacteristically "difficult."
(Y'all were spared the gorier details...)

On another note, I've tried to sedate myself with some reading this evening,
but as it would happen, the lead article in _American Archivist_ (special
section on the 25th anniversary of the NHPRC) is by Frank Burke.  If you've
ever taken a class under Dr. Burke you'd understand why this would not be
good material for soporific ambitions.  After the cutest little footnote #6
re: century titles and 18th century titles, I thought he'd settled down to
serious business.  Then I got to footnote #22 (don't worry, I wasn't reading
only the footnotes!) and discovered an archival code--not exactly an archival
code, more the federal code, but the same in an archival context--such as N
for the Archivist of the United States and NS for the Special Assistant to
the Archivist.  It got me to wondering if perhaps it would make an
interesting footnote to the query re: telegram code that recently surfaced on
this list.  At any rate, the thought was intriguing.

Further reading will show that some archivists were not dating their memos.
(I stopped counting the n.d.'s in the footnotes that cited various memos in
archival agencies.)  But does anyone else find it, uhmmm..., "ironic" that
material in the archives of archival agencies is sometimes described as
located in files "loose or unorganized?"  I'm accustomed to seeing
non-archivists cite archival material in some truely bizarre fashions, but am
I the only one who finds it hilarious to see in in Dr. Burke's work?  Or do
you just have to know Dr. Burke (who has an incredibly dry sense of humour!)?

Don't miss the review of his book, _Research and the Manuscript Tradition_,
or better yet, the book.


Holly
in Chatta. TN

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