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Re: A Description Dilemma



Would not removing them to a different collection be a total violation of the
principles of provenance and context?
Separating them and noting their availability would, I think, be preferable.
Are you certain they are genuine originals of the period and not a prankster's later
insertion?

Nick Gilliam

Darrell Beauchamp wrote:

> Ms. Goyette,
> Please don't pull them from the others.  To do so would be criminal.  Describe
> them using the PC terminology of today.  Something like "unsigned
> documents/letters of a personal nature using sexually explicit and graphic
> language..."  I know why the family kept them together, because they are part of
> the whole.  And, if the National Civil War Museum doesn't want them, the Pearce
> Civil War Collection will be more than happy to take the entire package, or just
> the three, off your hands.
>
> Darrell Beauchamp
> Dean of Learning Resources and Special Collections
> The Pearce Civil War Collection
> Corsicana, TX
>
> Elayne Goyette wrote:
>
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > I've been processing a large and, at times, quite personal family collection
> > at The National Civil War Museum, made up of 26 binders containing between
> > 75-99 documents each.  The date range is 1826-1891 and covers the letters and
> > documents written by three generations.  Family members have been, for lack
> > of a better term, housewives, elected officials, lawyers and merchants.
> >
> > Until now the documents contained in the first 18 binders have given me, and
> > will give our researchers, a fairly complete picture of life in rural
> > Virginia before, during and after the Civil War.  Describing them has been
> > pretty straight forward...until now.
> >
> > Binder 19 contains three documents that I would describe as filthy, and none
> > of them are signed.  I'm not just talking about the kind of filth that can be
> > removed by dry cleaning.  Portions of the letters are sexually explicit and
> > not too kindly phrased.  I don't know why the family has kept them for well
> > over 100 years!
> >
> > I've never come across stuff like this before and wonder whether any of you
> > have, and if you have, I'd really like to know how you've described them, for
> > describe them I must.
> >
> > All replies and advice would be gratefully accepted.
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Elayne Goyette
> > YEGoyette@aol.com
> >
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> > Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>
> --
> **************************************************************************
>  Darrell Beauchamp, Ed.D.
>  Dean of Learning Resources & Special Collections
>   The Pearce Civil War Documents Collection
>   The Pearce Western Art Collection
>   The Robert S. Reading Indian Artifact Collection
>   The Samuels Hobbit Carving Collection
>
>                                        Internet:  dbeau@nav.cc.tx.us
>  Navarro College                       Phone   :  903-875-7441
>  3200 W. 7th Ave.                      FAX     :  903-874-4636
>  Corsicana,  TX  75110
>
> "Unless indicated, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the
> official views of Navarro College.  They might, and then again, they might
> not."
> **************************************************************************
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
>       In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
>                     *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
> To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu
>
> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
>
> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>