Another week down!

I haven't worked in the archives since Tuesday. Several scholars who are here as part of a workshop needed my materials and so I wasn't able to work on those documents.

I was worried at first that I would be horribly behind, but have gone through a lot of microfilm reels today and have caught up.

I made sure that I introduced myself to these scholars on Wednesday morning when they arrived and then worked at the Borders coffee shop.

Today at 2pm there is a panel on North Africa, part of the summer workshop series that the museum runs. I will be there. I'm very excited about it. I looked up all of the scholars who are participating and I hope I can meet people who work in my field.

The documents haven't been as relevant as I would have hoped. I am finding some things of use, but these finds are few and far between. That is kind of frustrating, but I suppose not every trip can expose a gold mine.

Working at the USHMM

Last Friday I continued to work at the USHMM.

There were no disasters to start the day and I settled in to work. After several hours of not finding anything of interest to me, I started to get frustrated and wonder if there would actually be anything for me here. I read through hundreds upon hundreds of documents on employment and confiscated property. My eyes felt glazed and they were pounding in my head when I hit a large grouping of legal decrees and laws relating to anti-Jewish laws. Finally, something I could use! I perked right up and copied away.

I probably could have found these documents elsewhere, but had just the day before been thinking to myself, "I need to make copies of all of these laws these documents keep referencing." So I felt like I'd found something really valuable. Yes, they are accessible elsewhere, but I found them all together and didn't have to dedicate that time to tracking them down one by one.

I stopped working at around 3, when my eyes just couldn't take it anymore. The microfilm is made up of image negatives, meaning when I look at the documents, it is white type on a black background. I don't have any vision problems, but after 5 or 6 hours, I can't take it anymore! It really tires out my eyes.

On my way out I met with Radu, who had invited me to use this collection. It was the first chance that we had had to talk as he was at a conference until then. His opinion of the collection is that it is probably somewhat valuable to me in terms of content, and certainly valuable in the sense that only a very few people have ever used it. The museum is also in the process of acquiring a large collection from Tunisia and he told me to keep in touch so that I would know when they get it. Everyone here is so helpful!

Today I met a representative from France who is here trying to work with someone on a memorialization project in Caen. He gave me his card and told me to contact him next time I'm in Paris.

The documents today are more of the same that I didn't find relevant, so the work is going more quickly, but at the same time less productively, than on Friday.

I really hope that I find more things that are useful!

First day at the USHMM

Yesterday was my first day at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I was a bundle of nerves Wednesday night and while getting ready Thursday morning. I have special permission to access the collection I am using and was very nervous about making a good impression on the acquisitions department. I was so anxious, in fact, that I made several errors and the day started off very badly. By the time I arrived at my destination, I wondered if it was possible to mess up anything else!

Wednesday night I checked, and double-checked, the train schedule for Laurel. The train leaves Laurel every weekday morning at 7:56am. We even drove to the station to make sure we knew where it was and how long it would take to get there.

Alex and I left the house in a hurry the next morning. We set off a little bit later than I would have liked because I was running around making sure I had everything I might need in the archive, including the kitchen sink.

We arrived at the station and tried to get tickets, but because we were cutting it close to the departure time, gave up after a minute and decided to buy them on the train. 7:56 came and went.

"I wonder if it's late?" I asked Alex. Looking around, I noticed that there were no people on the platform, which seemed odd for a Wednesday morning rush hour train.

"Well, it must be, because you said the train leaves Savage Station at 7:56," he replied.

Oh no. I had received the address to the station from Keith and because we were in the town of Laurel, thought that was the name of the station. It was not. We were at Savage Station and the train had left at 7:48. The next train was supposed to leave at 8:40 and so Alex and I settled in to wait. Unfortunately, it was 30 minutes late. Approximately 5 minutes before it arrived at the station, I realized that the keys to Keith's car and house were no longer in my pocket. They had fallen out of my slippery dress pants pocket somewhere. I checked the station, but didn't find them. I didn't have time to go back to the car. So my stress level, which had already been high, just climbed that much higher as I fretted about where they might have disappeared to between locking the front door and the platform at Savage Station.

After a coffee and a pep-talk to myself on the walk to the museum, I was feeling calmer. While many things had gone wrong, none of them was catastrophic, and I wasn't actually late to the museum. They don't open until 10am and I had not designated a specific time that I would arrive, knowing that I couldn't be sure how long it would take to get there until I made the trek at least once.

I gave myself five minutes in the air conditioning before I tried to find someone. It was really very hot outside and I needed to cool down. Then I found out that the collection I am using is not housed in the regular archive, but at another location.

Finally, a little after 11, I arrived at my destination. Carl, with whom I had been in contact, showed me around and helped me get started on the microfilm reader. He was extremely helpful.

I spent the next four and a half hours going through two rolls of microfilm. At that point, my eyes were aching something fierce and my stomach was reminding me that I had not eaten lunch, so I left at 4.

The collection I'm working with is from the National Library in Rabat, Morocco. It has 48 reels full of information and is in the process of being catalogued for the archive. This means that there is only a preliminary finding aid and I'm sorting through many many many documents that are of no use to me on this project to find the things that are related to my topic.

Most things that I read relate to property confiscation or are letters written by Jews in North Africa to French officials requesting special permission to continue their profession, as many professions were forbidden to Jews after anti-Jewish legislation went into effect in 1940.

The day started out rough, but everything turned out alright. And I found the keys. Fortunately, they had slipped out of my pocket in Alex's car. Phew!

Arrival in DC

Alex and I are staying in Laurel, MD, where we arrived Wednesday evening. It's a little bit of a commute into the city, but I am staying at the home of a friend of a friend (Keith) to save money. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice his house is. The best thing about it, other than the money I'm saving on lodging, is the fact that by staying there, I have access to a full kitchen. Both my stomach and my wallet suffered from eating out every meal in New York and Princeton!

Not having access to a kitchen is one of the most frustrating things about research trips. To sublease an apartment, I need to be somewhere for a long period, but to stay in a hotel with a kitchenette, I would have to pay much more than I can afford.

I definitely consider the commute a worthy sacrifice!

Princeton, NJ

Alex and I spent a very nice weekend in New York City.

Early Saturday morning we went to the box office for Mary Stuart and got student rush tickets for the 8pm show. We really enjoyed it and had a great evening, with dinner before and dessert after. Sunday we ate pie for breakfast and then went into Harlem for my uncle's wedding reception before heading to Princeton, NJ.

There isn't any work archival work for me here at Princeton University, but Alex has been working in the rare books and documents room at the main library. I have been holed up at the Psychology Library working on other tasks. Those other tasks include working on my dissertation proto-proposal, editing my comprehensive exam required reading lists, researching fellowships, and, now, updating this blog.

The campus here is beautiful. Stunning even.

Alex and I leave tomorrow evening for Washington, D.C. and I will start my research at the USHMM on Thursday.

A full first day!

Well, I promised both adventures and misadventures and I will not disappoint!

My destination in New York City was the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) archives, housed in Queens.

After a hearty breakfast at a diner, I caught the 7 line and walked the two blocks from the station to The Fortress. The Fortress is the name of the facility where the JDC houses their archival collection.

I had high hopes that I would finish all of my research at the JDC during this trip. I accessed the archives in January but was not able to finish in the time I had.

When I arrived, I re-introduced myself to Peter, one of the men who works for the JDC at The Fortress. With a sinking heart, I observed his blank stare. He had had no idea that I was coming!

After assuring him that I had communicated with the archivist about my visit, I settled in to review some documents I had copied during my last visit and he tried to straighten out the mix-up. A few phone calls later and the error was traced to a misunderstanding on my part. While I had confirmed with the archivist that the dates I had requested were available and that it would be fine for me to visit then, I had not re-confirmed that I would be at The Fortress in the days immediately preceding my arrival.

I felt so foolish! It is very frustrating to think that you have arranged everything in a very timely and professional way only to realize, too late, that you overlooked something. I apologized profusely and told the JDC representative from their Manhattan office with whom I had been communicating that I could come back the next day, but she insisted that she would come out to pull files for me.

It was very nice of her to do so and I was very grateful and apologetic when she arrived. Setting to work with vigor, I thought my difficulties were behind me. It was not to be.

After handing in the list of files I needed, the woman who was helping me soon discovered that all files on topics beginning with the letters S and T were out for microfilming! Two of the files that I needed, on Tunisia and Tangiers, were included in this lot. My hopes that I would finish in the JDC archives this week were dashed.

But, it wasn't all bad news and mistakes in the archives. I took digital photographs of approximately 500 documents and discovered a rich file on internment camps in North Africa. I also took the opportunity to consolidate these photos into pdf files for easy reference.

I finished everything they had there today, but will need to come back for a day trip sometime in September to complete the work I need to do there.

I won't be going back tomorrow, so I will spend the day converting the rest of the photos to pdfs and working on other school projects.

Every trip to an archive is a learning experience!

"I'm in a New York state of mind..."

Alex and I set off from Worcester yesterday afternoon.

Our first stop - Acoustic Java.

What better way to start off our trip than with Dave's famous bagel sandwiches? Which, if you haven't ever had one, you are missing out. They are fantastic! Egg, bacon, and cheese on an everything bagel is my combination of choice.

It is a relatively common thing for Alex or me to wake up to a text message demanding, "Bagel sandwiches???"

We made the three-hour drive to New York City in good time, but dreaded that we would hit rush hour traffic in the city. Yet somehow, we managed to pull up to our hotel at exactly 5pm without hitting a single traffic jam! What luck!

Last month I searched and searched the internet until I found a hotel in Manhattan with free parking. I found one, and as we passed parking lot after parking lot with exorbitant fees, I considered that time well-spent!

We had arrived too late to venture into any archives. After dinner and an evening stroll, we settled in with our respective computers and books, readying ourselves for our first forays.

Welcome to my research blog!

As you can see from my blogger profile, my name is Emily and I am a doctoral student at Clark University. Before following my journey down the eastern seaboard, allow me to tell you a little more about myself.

I joined the History department at Clark University in the Fall semester of 2007. Prior to my enrollment at Clark, I graduated from Georgia Southern University with degrees in French and History and spent the 2006-2007 academic year in Saumur, France.

My time at Clark's Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies has been a flurry of activity, intense study, and self-discovery. Working with Debórah Dwork as my advisor, I settled on a dissertation topic during my second semester at Clark. While constantly evolving as I explore archives around the world, my research interests pivot around forced labor camps in French North Africa during the Second World War.

From day one, archival research is an integral part of the program at Clark. The faculty encouraged me and my colleagues to wrap our arms around archival collections at the earliest opportunity, which, for me, began in December 2007 with a brief foray into the holdings at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). My research trips have since taken me to Poland, Germany, France, Philadelphia, and New York City.

This summer I find myself drawn back to the USHMM to conduct research in recent acquisitions from Tunisia and Morocco, previously unavailable in North America. A fantastic opportunity!

As luck has it, my colleague and roommate, Alexander Marriott, also needs to access archives in Washington, D.C. A perfect occasion for a road trip! Lengthy trips can get lonely for the solo researcher and who better to travel with than a fellow historian? We can share advice, frustrations and achievements, and, of course, gas money!

Over the first half of the summer, our plan took shape: We would set off from Worcester, MA and then work our way down the east coast, resting first in New York City, then Princeton, NJ, and finally stopping in Washington, D.C., where I will remain behind as he continues to parts further south.

This is a record of my journey, adventures and misadventures alike.