We have started our final phase of processing in which the collection is being put in perfect alphabetical order (which could take until the middle of next summer to complete). Almost 2 years ago when we started processing the materials were housed in boxes, but there was no order throughout the collection. In the previous phase we removed the material from those boxes and put it in boxes based on the letter of the alphabet for the name of that organization. So all of the material from an organization that started with “A” was placed in an A box.
In this step we taking the collection one letter at a time and putting it into perfect alphabetical order. To do this, the contents of each box must be removed and stacked on carts or tables. Then separated into sections based on the first few letters of the organization name. The next step is to put the material in perfect order and then back into the boxes. Finally once the materials are rehoused the inventory for the collection must be updated to show the new box numbers for the folders. As a reference point, there are slight under 8,000 folders that all start with the letter B.
The totals for each letter of the alphabet are as follows: A-102, B-58, C-165 (!!!!), D-28, E-19 ,F-48, G-31, H-31, I-35, J-24, K-13, L-49, M-65, N-107, O-17, P-65 ,Q-1, R-41, S-70, T-26, U-56, V-14, W-59. X-1, Y-8 and Z-1
In addition there are 2 boxes that start with numbers, 21 audiovisual, 96 books, 54 clippings, 10 index cards, 107 correspondence, 12 photographs, 29 unidentified, and 38 oversized material boxes.
