Stuff is just, like, cool… ya know?

So it’s been a hot sec! We’re entering the last few weeks of the semester, so I’m just chugging along on long term projects like the LP collection inventory (I’m at number 238!) and the Tennessee Williams research guide. I’m still getting intermittent patron requests — like right now I’m trying to figure out how to summarize the contents of the 27ish boxes of David Mamet journals so they can decide whether it’s worth it to fly to Austin and look themselves. Since none of my projects are super urgent, I can help out other interns on days like today, when someone was pulling materials for a class discussing themes of charity in Shakespeare’s King Lear. Because I was in several performances of King Lear with the Shakespeare at Winedale program and conducted research on textual differences in Lear in a class before that, I offered a few leads on materials to pull for the class. We looked at Donald Wolfit’s promptbook from World War II, which had staging, lighting, and director’s notes, as well as Tom Stoppard’s early draft of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet King Lear.

Today was a day of a bit of distraction, admittedly… BUT! I found something on my way to the room with the LP collection that seriously blew my mind. I saw a box shaped like the ones that hold hats in the costume collection, but in the Woody Allen collection. Obviously I had to open it up to peek inside. What did I find, but a Woody Allen mask??? At first glance when I lifted the lid, it looked like there was a human head in there, and I almost screamed. Now that box will stare at me every time I walk down the hallway…

I try not to be too hard on myself for spending a little time exploring, because the serendipitous magic of the archives continues to fuel my love for research. I know there will never come a day when I am no longer surprised by something I find in the Ransom Center. It’s an incredible space to work, and I’m so so so lucky to be here.

“Time travels in divers paces with divers persons”

The LP inventory is coming along! I’m at a little over 150 titles catalogued so far. Most of the LPs are kept in protective casings, so taking them out to find the information I need for the spreadsheet is a lot slower than if they all just sat on the shelf. It’s a mystery every time I pull one off the shelf because the tag with the catalog number on it only has the (sometimes incorrect) title of the LP and maybe the artist. I’m able to listen to music or a podcast while I create the inventory, and having the privilege to almost zone out makes coming to the internship such a gift. With classes starting to wrap up, everything is due all of the sudden, and the freedom to listen to something that’s just for myself while also getting the satisfaction of completing a task has been so important to me this week.

Yesterday I attended a workshop for the BDP reflection essay about my internship that I’ll need to write at the end of the semester. The workshop leader guided us through the prompt and encouraged us to begin creating an outline with our ideas as we broke down the ideas. She asked us to consider all the disciplines we come in contact with during our internships and how they work in tandem to teach us new ways of thinking about things. At first I felt reluctant to engage extensively, since it had taken valuable homework time away from me. Then, as I consulted the list of common disciplines that internships in the Museum Studies field engage with, I realized just how many different access points to research the Ransom Center has given me. I’m learning so much about information science, from completing the research guide to answering patron questions to creating an inventory of the LP collection. I’ve become familiar with the finding aids, card catalog, and preliminary inventory lists at the Ransom Center, and I’ll carry that knowledge with me for as long as I continue conducting research.

This internship is teaching me how much I enjoy having diverse tasks to complete. I love having the choice to do research or deep digging in the archives or teaching or calming, almost mindless inventorying. I have so much agency to work on what will feel/be the most productive that day, and that freedom allows me to work hard and not get burned out. I love doing work here because you know what? It hardly ever feels like work.

Endings and Beginnings

Apologies for missing a week! A lot has been happening, and I have some wonderful updates to share! Last week I finished revamping the Oscar Wilde Research Guide! It now contains a list and description of other collections that contain material related to Wilde, as well as a list of the art, photography, visual materials, and library holdings that could be of use to researchers of Wilde. I learned so much information about Wilde and the people he surrounded himself with. So much information, in fact, that the research I’ve done for the guide influenced my choice in topics for a final paper for a class! Lord Alfred Douglas, here I come!

This week I got to teach (my first!) group about Carson McCullers material regarding her play adaptation of her novel, Member of the Wedding. For the past couple weeks, I’ve been pulling materials that seem relevant like letters to her husband, biographies of McCullers, heavily edited drafts of the script, and a letter about censoring the word “pee-pee.” The group is putting on a production of The Member of the Wedding at the Vortex: http://vortexrep.org/productions/ The group was delightful, and we were all able to have a conversation about the materials, using knowledge from many different access points.

Since I finished my long term Oscar Wilde project, my new task is to do the same thing for Tennessee Williams AND to create an inventory of the Theatre Arts LP collection! I’ve gotten through a little over fifty of the LP’s in the collection, and there are definitely some gems. My favorite so far has got to be a live recording of Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in 1961. So that’s what I’m doing now! I’ll be making my way through the collection and keeping this blog updated!