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Re: Arrangement Question



<<How/where did Mrs. keep the letters?
Did she think they were from her husband?
Did she keep them with his other letters?
Is there another series that has to do with an interest in spirit writing
or seances?
How did Mrs. refer to the letters?  (Did she call them "Letters, Posthumous"?)
Did she pursue any activity as a result of the letters?
Is any such activity also documented in the collection?

Local practice varies (series, sub-series, folder in existing series--it's
all academic) as long as the information is presented accurately and the
context is not obscured by "arranging" all meaning out of it.

Context, context, context!>>

Many thanks to Kate for bringing up some key issues (I've been  in somewhat restrictive email circumstances and will be until Saturday; I know, my boss is in digital heaven at the E-Text Center, and even luckier to be in Virginia!)

Some more of the cataloguing points (and yes, I know the question was for finding aid info not cataloguing, but I cannot resist!)

I've checked the online Art and Architecture Thesaurus at the Getty and found aat terms for spirit photographs.  None for spirit writings.  That's more likely to be in the Rare Book Genre Terms.  Since the letters were presumably dictated ta paarallel should probably be "spirit communications" unless the letters were written by the spirit.  Okay, one could say spirit letters if one considers bosses used to dictate letters to secretaries, but the letters were still considered to be the bosses.  But spirit communication gives one leeway.  But again, AAT's scope note for spirit photographs clearly states "purported to be..." and stretching it to Rare Book Genre seems to be making an assumption which would not necessarily be warranted.

I do not have my AACR2 nor my APPM with me--it's back in Texas at the moment, in the trunk of my car where I keep my professional library--but if I remember correctly one should use the LCSH in the 650 (or 651) when indicating when the material is _about_ something.  One should use the 655 to describe what an item _is_.  The two concepts are different.

A diary would be described as [655] Diary.
A book or essay about diaries would be described with [650] Diaries.

I'm outta time.

Holly Hodges

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