A few random thoughts on my time at NARA today:
I started on the Senate Judiciary Committee records today, and the first thing that hit me was how well organized these records were. Each box and file was clearly labeled (and the label matched what was inside,) the boxes had indexes in some cases, and more or less the records were in good shape. 16 boxes so far...and these only cover 1954-1960, and only on refugees.
I also found out that I can only take about 170 pictures (w/o flash) before my camera battery dies. I need to start bringing my camera charger with me - I think this is going to be brutal on my rechargeable battery.
From what I read today it seems like the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 was much more controversial than I had previously thought (or had previously seen in the literature.) The Act is usually portrayed as either an emergency piece of legislation that only functioned on a very narrow level, or as one of the first to break down the strictures of the McCarran-Walter Act, by letting in refugees over and above quota limitations. From what I saw today, it seems that while the Act itself contained a number of more liberal provisions, the administrators dragged their feet and really slowed the numbers being admitted. This led to a showdown between between John Foster Dulles (the Secretary of State,) and Edward Corsi, a former Commissioner of Immigration in 1955. The archival record seems to show much more pushback on the restrictiveness of the RRA in general, and much more of a connection to the Refugee-Escapee Act of 1957 than I've seen anywhere. I'm still working out what exactly this means for the greater story of postwar immigration and refugee policy, but it is promising...
Showing posts with label Camera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camera. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Welcome to DC or Spinning My Wheels
I finally made it into D.C. yesterday, and stepping off the train the first thing I felt was the heat and humidity. I forgot just how hot it is here, and I think after two years in California, I’ve lost my tolerance for anything other than temperate climates. I also forgot about the flash thunderstorms on the east coast, but thankfully missed the vast majority of the heavy rain. (There is something really beautiful though about sitting inside watching the lightning.)
This afternoon I went to NARA (Downtown) for the first time. I had already spoken with the INS archivist (see previous posts,) who assured me that there were two boxes of materials already waiting for me here. I got to the archives and went through the registration process (signing into the building and going through the airport-style security; registering my computer and camera serial numbers; registering for a researcher card and going through an informational slideshow about preservation.) At this point the archivist on the main floor told me my materials should already by in the reading room, so I headed to the second floor. When I got into the reading room and went through security, the people at the desk told me they had no record of my materials, and sent me back to the first floor. Back again on the first floor the front-desk archivist sent me to the finding aid room, where they also could not locate my files or an archivist who knew about my case. After about 45 minutes we finally reached the INS archivist who came down and found my boxes. By this time I had missed the 1:30pm pull time, and had to kill another half an hour before the 2:30 pull time (basically I had to wait for a page to literally bring the boxes two flights up. This is only done at specific times during the day, naturally.)
Thankfully while I was waiting I did have the time to meet with an archivist from the Legislative Division, to talk about Senate and House Subcommittee Hearings. Hopefully I will be able to get unpublished documents on committee hearings for various Congressional legislation, but again, since everything needs to be screened in advance, I need to write up a list of the House and Senate Bill Numbers for each piece of legislation I’m looking for, and email it to the archivist to see if they have the files I need.
At 2:30 I headed to the reading room and finally got 2 boxes of materials. Surprisingly, considering all of the security getting into the room, the staff basically leaves you alone once you’re there. I was also struck by how noisy the room was – people freely talking loudly…shocking for a library. Of the two boxes of materials, one contained nothing really relevant – mainly documents too early for my project. The other box seems promising, and I was able to photograph most of it today. Unfortunately it’s mostly correspondence INTO the INS – I was hoping to find responses FROM the INS as well. I may just be missing an obvious oversight, but where do I find the outgoing records???
In terms of equipment – I bought a new tripod before I left California, and it’s made life a lot easier. I’m using a Cannon PowerShot SD400 (5 Megapixels) to document my work. So far so good…
This afternoon I went to NARA (Downtown) for the first time. I had already spoken with the INS archivist (see previous posts,) who assured me that there were two boxes of materials already waiting for me here. I got to the archives and went through the registration process (signing into the building and going through the airport-style security; registering my computer and camera serial numbers; registering for a researcher card and going through an informational slideshow about preservation.) At this point the archivist on the main floor told me my materials should already by in the reading room, so I headed to the second floor. When I got into the reading room and went through security, the people at the desk told me they had no record of my materials, and sent me back to the first floor. Back again on the first floor the front-desk archivist sent me to the finding aid room, where they also could not locate my files or an archivist who knew about my case. After about 45 minutes we finally reached the INS archivist who came down and found my boxes. By this time I had missed the 1:30pm pull time, and had to kill another half an hour before the 2:30 pull time (basically I had to wait for a page to literally bring the boxes two flights up. This is only done at specific times during the day, naturally.)
Thankfully while I was waiting I did have the time to meet with an archivist from the Legislative Division, to talk about Senate and House Subcommittee Hearings. Hopefully I will be able to get unpublished documents on committee hearings for various Congressional legislation, but again, since everything needs to be screened in advance, I need to write up a list of the House and Senate Bill Numbers for each piece of legislation I’m looking for, and email it to the archivist to see if they have the files I need.
At 2:30 I headed to the reading room and finally got 2 boxes of materials. Surprisingly, considering all of the security getting into the room, the staff basically leaves you alone once you’re there. I was also struck by how noisy the room was – people freely talking loudly…shocking for a library. Of the two boxes of materials, one contained nothing really relevant – mainly documents too early for my project. The other box seems promising, and I was able to photograph most of it today. Unfortunately it’s mostly correspondence INTO the INS – I was hoping to find responses FROM the INS as well. I may just be missing an obvious oversight, but where do I find the outgoing records???
In terms of equipment – I bought a new tripod before I left California, and it’s made life a lot easier. I’m using a Cannon PowerShot SD400 (5 Megapixels) to document my work. So far so good…
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