Tme to Celebrate!

For this week’s internship we spent time working on some of our projects and celebrating all of our work!

On Monday, I went to UCF and continued to scan scrapbook pages with the RICHES MI scanner. This proved to be a little difficult since I had to re-name and re-organize the files as I went. A little background - The scanner had messed up our numbering system and Betty and I could not figure out how to rename the scans on either of our personal computers. However, we discovered that the external hard drive seemed to work with any UCF computer. So Betty started renaming the scanned images on her work computer. Then, it was my responsibility to rename the old photos and fix the new photos as I scanned. The interesting thing, it sounded easy enough in theory, but proved rather difficult. For example, according to the book, I needed to save page x as page 38. But, there was already another page, mislabeled due to the scanner, as page 38. So before I could scan the real page 38 I had to figure out what page the mislabeled page 38 was really supposed to be named, fix that one, and then upload the new one. Well, when I uploaded the right page 38, the scanner would automatically number it as to fill in numbers were missing. So, once I scanned the image, I would have to go back through the pictures to find where the computer had placed it… then… I could finally give it the accurate name – page 38. I know this sounds like a silly story, but I think its important because it demonstrates some of the technical difficulties of archival work. Normally, I could get about 20 pages scanned each hour. This time, I could only get about 6 pages scanned.

A few days later on Thursday ,I went to the church like normal. I continued to add metadata to a new scrapbook.

Then, on Friday, I had the opportunity to go to lunch with all the ladies involved in the project. This was such a special time!  I got the chance to meet Nancy, one of the ladies who’s helped with the research part of the project. She was full of knowledge about some of the history of the church that wasn’t in the scrapbook. For instance, she knew details about one of the church’s pastors, Douglass. She learned about the different churches he had served at before going to FBCWP.  Shirley, Nan, and Nan’s husband joined us as well. Nan flew down from North Carolina just so she could be with us! And then, about half way through lunch, the church Pastor showed up – Walter Jackson. It was such a pleasure talking with him! Pastor Jackson has a heart for this archival project and it’s really cool. Pastor Jackson studied history for his undergraduate degree, so he has a unique interest in the project. When he showed up, he asked each of us what we had learned about the church. And I have to say, that was the coolest thing. It was really neat to be at lunch with everyone and to be able to tell the pastor some of the most interesting things we’ve learned in the project so far. I showed Pastor Jackson the word cloud, since that was one of the coolest discoveries I’ve had this semester.

Even though the semester’s over, the project will continue on! If you’re interested in being involved, contact Betty Sample with the University of Central Florida.