For my essay I met with Peter Alter, a historian and the archivist at the Chicago History Museum (CHM) since 2010. Peter was exceptionally helpful and patient in answering all of my questions. The archives at the CHM house many important collections relating to life in the Chicago region that go back as far as 1683. Having used their research center, I have always been impressed at how user-friendly their searchable database is, and how quickly they are able to locate the folders requested by scholars. Considering how unwieldy the huge nature of the documentation they house must be, I was excited to meet with Peter and learn about their processing approaches.
For our interview Peter and I met in the archive in the basement of the museum. …show more content…
Though Peter explained that there are archivists who approach collections with an organized strategy of attack, he admitted that he functioned more on a “whatever comes up” way. As with many archives, the CHM is belonged by a museum with a group of board members. Unfortunately, as with many public institutions, the board at the CHM calls the shots, and often does not understand the big picture. Additionally, funding often ends before a project can be finished, or the board decides to move funds into other projects. Peter explained that while he had long term, big projects that he either slowly works at, or even projects that he'd like to focus on in the future, the everyday reality oftentimes means that he spends his days working on paperwork, managing the volunteer staff, or attending board meetings and making their projects his main priority. While the first two significant issues came as a bit of a surprise to me during our conversation, this third one did not. Archives and museums, like every other humanitarian institution, are feeling the squeeze and seeing their funding slashed. Thankfully, places like the CHM are doing better than the smaller, less funded ones, but even the CHM is feeling it. Peter gave one particularly compelling example to explain how these funding cuts limit the work he is able to do. About 25 years ago, the CHM allotted funds to the archives so that they could attempt to get an idea of what percentage of their total collection was processed and available to researchers. This, incidentally, was the exact question that brought me to the CHM. Once the money became available, the CHM brought on a staff of students tasked with figuring this out. While the students were making headway and helping to create a snapshot of the archives that would be useful and helpful to the museum moving forward, they lost their funding before the project was complete. Therefore, they were
For our interview Peter and I met in the archive in the basement of the museum. …show more content…
Though Peter explained that there are archivists who approach collections with an organized strategy of attack, he admitted that he functioned more on a “whatever comes up” way. As with many archives, the CHM is belonged by a museum with a group of board members. Unfortunately, as with many public institutions, the board at the CHM calls the shots, and often does not understand the big picture. Additionally, funding often ends before a project can be finished, or the board decides to move funds into other projects. Peter explained that while he had long term, big projects that he either slowly works at, or even projects that he'd like to focus on in the future, the everyday reality oftentimes means that he spends his days working on paperwork, managing the volunteer staff, or attending board meetings and making their projects his main priority. While the first two significant issues came as a bit of a surprise to me during our conversation, this third one did not. Archives and museums, like every other humanitarian institution, are feeling the squeeze and seeing their funding slashed. Thankfully, places like the CHM are doing better than the smaller, less funded ones, but even the CHM is feeling it. Peter gave one particularly compelling example to explain how these funding cuts limit the work he is able to do. About 25 years ago, the CHM allotted funds to the archives so that they could attempt to get an idea of what percentage of their total collection was processed and available to researchers. This, incidentally, was the exact question that brought me to the CHM. Once the money became available, the CHM brought on a staff of students tasked with figuring this out. While the students were making headway and helping to create a snapshot of the archives that would be useful and helpful to the museum moving forward, they lost their funding before the project was complete. Therefore, they were