Archives? Who Needs All That Old Stuff? A Look At Our Northern Neighbours

Last night, Edvard Munch's painting called "The Scream" brought nearly $120 million at auction at Sotheby's.  An as-yet-unknown buyer had some very deep pockets.

These days, deep pockets are hard to come by.  In fact, the Canadian Council of Archives could sure use some right about now.

Even though you probably never heard of it, you should be very, very concerned that the Canadian Council of Archives (CCA) will be forced to close its office doors in Ottawa tomorrow afternoon. 

Having lost its principal funding source, the not-for-profit CCA is now one of the latest casualties of the Harper government’s current war on just about everything “not-business.”  Remember, these are the same government folks that decided last year that Canada’s “long-form” census was just a waste of money, having no practical business use.   

Abstract demographics and statistics is not their best game.

This time, Library and Archives Canada (LAC)  will have to reduce its own staff by 20%.  Overall, LAC will wave good-bye to $9.6 million over the next 36 months.  Of course, they’re not alone.  The CBC, the National Film Board, the National Battlefields Commission and other cultural agencies will lose substantial chunks of funding as well.  

At first glance, museums seem to have escaped; still, they got hit hard last year.

Of course, for some, there’s a bright side, even in these austere times.  The budget contains $400 million to increase private sector investments and support creation of large-scale venture capital funds. Oh, yeah, then there’s that $110 million per year to the National Research Council to double support to companies through the Industrial Research Assistance Program.

See, there’s still money for the basics and the essentials.

So it appears that the Harper government has determined that archives and libraries are essentially “non-essentials”, especially when there are deserving private-sector businesses in need of additional subsidies. You know, the “job creators” and all that …  It appears that it has also been determined that “real” research needs to be business-oriented and profit-directed.

While going very politely, the CCA is not going very quietly.  In fact, they’ve issued a “call to action” on their way out the door.

The “call to action” below from the CCA came across my desk yesterday evening and appears in full below.  

Remember: it’s not just those retired hobbyist-genealogists who are worrying about the devastation wrought upon the Library and Archives Canada (LAC)  and other institutions by the 2012 budget of the Harper government.  Here’s the take by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, who, like genealogists, find some passing value in libraries and archives.  

As you read the CCA “Call To Action” below, think hard.  

This is a 100% Canadian thing and could never, ever happen here in the good ol’ US of A, right?  

Crippling budget cuts for cultural institutions and subsidies for businesses? No way!!!  Shuttering libraries and archives?  Unheard of!!!  Who would ever think of such a thing??!!??  We’ll always have our own beloved National Archives and Records Administration and its regional branches, right? 

What’s that?  They shut down the NARA “reading room” in Pittsfield last year to save $$$?  Oh,  well then, never mind….

As I continue to harp on about all this, I also will continue to stress the point that elections usually have unintended consequences.  Failing to understand that can cause you to look very much like that person pictured in the Edvard Munch painting referenced above once you've realised what's actually happened.

Anyway, read the CCA’s “Call” below:

CALL TO ACTION

 Who:  To members of the archival community and archives supporters

What:  The following call to action is in response to the elimination of the National Archival Development Program by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) on April 30, 2012, and the resulting impact on Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial archives councils, and the Canadian Council of Archives.

Background:  On April 30, 2012, LAC eliminated the National Archival Development Program (NADP), a 1.7 million contribution program administered by the non-for-profit Canadian Council of Archives (CCA) for LAC and distributed to Canada’s 13 archives councils to support archival activities locally.  Through the councils, NADP funding is on the ground in our 10 provinces and 3 territories, ensuring that Canada’s history is preserved in local communities.  Canada’s archival councils provide user-centred services, providing support to archives and archivists so that they may better serve all Canadians.

 A one-of-a-kind program, NADP’s goal is to assist in the preservation and accessibility of Canada’s archival heritage through the following objectives:

-          Increase access to Canada’s archival heritage through the national catalogue of archival descriptions ARCHIVESCANADA.ca

-          Increase awareness and broaden use of Canada’s archival heritage

-          Increase representation of Aboriginal peoples and under-represented ethno-cultural groups in Canada’s archival heritage

-          Increase the capacity of archival networks to undertake strategic and development activities; and;

-          Increase the capacity of archival institutions to preserve Canada’s heritage. 

 NADP funds the following activities across Canada:

-          Development of the national on-line catalogue of archival descriptions, and its provincial and territorial counterparts, so all archives, including the very small, can reach Canadians

-          Provision of archival and preservation advice to archives

-          Job exposure for new graduates from Canada’s archival and information studies programs

-          Access to archival holdings information on-line

-          Outreach and educational activities in communities to help small institutions manage their treasures

-          Cataloguing of archival materials to make them accessible to the public

-          Training opportunities for local archives run by volunteers or one-person operations

-          Site assessments to both urban and rural archives, to safeguard Canada’s documentary heritage

-          Preservation  of at-risk documents and other archival materials, including electronic records

Impact:  NADP was a joint federal/provincial/territorial initiative; NADP, and its predecessor financial assistance program, was a critical source of funding to the community – CCA has operated for 26 years; elimination of NADP means that 11 of the 13 provincial and territorial councils will collapse within 30 days to 6 months, without any financial support.  A number of councils have suspended their operations.  The CCA’s physical office in Ottawa will close its doors to the public effective May 4, as the organization moves to a virtual office and staffing has been immediately be reduced from 8 FTE to  4 FTE, and will soon be further reduced to a maximum of 2.5 FTE.  Further adjustments may be necessary  – but at this time minimum administration services will be maintained for the small program Young Canada Works in Heritage Institutions, ARCHIVESCANADA.ca, Arcan-l and other secretariat services.

WHAT CAN YOU DO:  If your MP is a Cabinet Minister, call the local office and offer a briefing as well as the letter.  Write the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable James Moore, and your MP asking them to stop the NADP cut. 

Use the following key messages:

·         Canada’s documentary heritage is preserved it its over 800 archival institutions

·         NADP supports archives to preserve Canada’s documentary heritage for Canadians

·         NADP leverages financial and partnership opportunities for archives across the country

·         CCA serves the Canadian public. CCA's work ensures the preservation of Canada's heritage for the benefit of all Canadians-now and for the future. Through initiatives such as www.ARCHIVESCANADA.ca , CCA is the window through which the world may access Canadian archival information

 ·         Archives support Canada’s economy. Sustaining Canada's knowledge-based economy means sustaining and facilitating access to our knowledge resources. Archives are fundamental to the success of countless public, private, and educational enterprises.

·         Archives preserve Canada’s past. Millions of historical documents, photographs, maps and audio-visual materials are held in archives across the country

·         LAC’s stakeholder forum meetings cannot and will not take the place of an archival network of dedicated professionals and volunteers across Canada that took 26 years to build.  The damage done by elimination of NADP will take years to re-build.

Tell your own story about the value of the NADP and CCA’s services; use the following examples:

• books and other outputs that have utilized holdings made accessible by NADP

• non-traditional users whose access has been facilitated by NADP

• achievements realized through expertise made available to you through archives advisors, preservation services, training opportunities.

• how has www.ARCHIVESCANADA.ca and provincial/territorial networks helped users find you

• what holdings have been preserved through NADP and in what ways has that had public acknowledgement

• what activities by other groups have been assisted through the results of NADP funded projects

• what federal initiatives have benefitted by records that were preserved or made accessible through NADP

Triple-Washed Veggies, Old Erie Canal Style

Earlier today, in preparation for tonight’s salad, I cut open my bag of Trader Joe’s radicchio - romaine - butter lettuce mix and noticed in the process that it proudly proclaimed to be “triple washed.”  

Normally, I wouldn’t have even noticed that kind of hype or given it a second thought, but I had just finished reading the 1910 Annual Report of the New York State Department of Health, and the section from the state’s Hygienic Laboratory was still in my memory.

Washing produce before its sale to make it more attractive to the consumer has been going on for a long time, but not always in the best of conditions.  Moreover, food inspection of any kind by government is a relatively recent thing, all things considered.  While colonial governments were concerned about short-weighting, actual food quality wasn't much to be concerned about.

 Here’s the section of the Report that stuck in my memory, mostly because the geographic area referred to is just a few miles from where many of my ancestors lived:

Albany, N. Y., May 27, 1910.

Hon. Eugene H. Porter, A.M., M.D., State Commissioner of Health, Albany, N. Y.: 

Sir:—Under date of May 21st, the attention of your Department was called to the washing of vegetables by truck gardeners in the water of the Erie canal, between Troy and Albany. This complaint was received by you on May 23d and transmitted to Inspector Number [___ ], with your instructions to investigate that matter on the following day.

Your inspector called upon the gentleman making this complaint, but was unable to find him at home. He accordingly proceeded to the direct investigation of the subject-matter.

He found that it is a constant practice and has been for some time for a number of truck gardeners to wash vegetables in the water of the Erie canal at various places, which vegetables they subsequently supply to the markets of Troy and Albany.

In particular at a point in the canal near Schuyler bridge, spinach was seen by your inspector to be washed and his investigation showed that this spinach was the property of a Mr. Beattie, who had built a wooden rack pen in the canal, into which pen vegetables to be washed were thrown from a wagon with forks; and after remaining in this pen, submerged with water, were taken out with the forks and thrown upon the bank to drain. They were subsequently loaded on to wagons, which wagons as a matter of custom usually left his residence from two to three in the morning to arrive at the Troy market at an early hour the following day.

At the time of this inspection a number of boys were in swimming at this place and samples of the water of the canal were taken at this time for examination at the laboratory.

In this vicinity also another pen, in which spinach, lettuce and onions were washed, was found existing in the canal, stated to be the property of O'Leary, a truck gardener who conveyed the most of his produce to Troy and also to the Albany market.

Another installation of the same sort served for the washing of products, the property of a man named Keys, who sold this produce at Troy.

At another point a similar installation belonging to Mr. O'Brien, was found; he washed practically all of his green produce in this way; at the time he was washing spinach, lettuce and onions and he sold all of this produce both in Troy and Albany.

Another installation was visited belonging to a Mr. Mattimore, where the actual washing of thirteen barrels of spinach, three of lettuce and a quantity of onions were seen and the two sons of this proprietor were interrogated. They stated it to be the usual custom to wash green produce here in this way; that after the produce remained in the water for some half hour or more, it was removed therefrom with forks, allowed to drain on the banks, subsequently loaded on to wagons and driven to the barn. From this barn the wagons started about two or three o'clock in the morning to arrive at the market at an early hour and sell the produce.

Another installation for washing the produce of Mr. T. Smith was also found, where spinach and lettuce were washed, which produce it was stated was carted early the following morning for sale at the Troy market.

Another installation opposite the farm of Mr. Clancy was said to be used by Mr. J. Mullen of Island Park, for washing of his green produce and a further installation was found of this nature, utilized by Mr. Burns.

Nearer to Albany, in the rear of Altro Park, a Mr. Burns was found to have a similar wash stand; and a Mr. Sheller and Mr. Carmend, vendors of such products, were found in this vicinity, but these last two were not provided with wash stands. The last three mentioned bring their truck for sale in Albany.

This method of washing green produce has been known for a long time by the people dwelling in that vicinity and is easily observed by passengers in the car line running between Troy and Albany and has been so observed in actual operation by members of the Laboratory Staff.

A report of the actual nature of the water in this Erie canal at the time of the washing is appended.

I will not bore you with the specific lab report on the water quality.  I will not even comment on the questionable practice of soaking vegetables in the Erie canal (with its rather exotic assortment of toxic effluents) and then letting them dry on the canal’s banks. 

Suffice it to say, it is my fervent hope that the good folks at Trader Joe’s have found a better, cleaner, more hygienic source of water for their “triple washing” than the early 20^th century produce dealers of upstate New York.  

For those who are familiar with the general state of cleanliness of the Erie canal in that time period, it’s actually surprising that so many people in this area survived eating their veggies.

A hearty bunch, those long-gone New Yorkers, who took more risks than they suspected when they decided to fix a nice vegetable side dish.

Bookseller Rant!

Lately, our business email box is getting any number of book inquiries re: out-of-print titles we have listed on our website.  

The inquiries usually include a “cut and paste” description of an item listed on our “Jonathan Sheppard Books” website, followed by the question, “Is this book still available?”

Look, if you’re dealing with a “real” (i.e., professional experienced bookseller like JSB that’s been in business since 1977), you can probably safely assume that the item (if cataloged on the bookseller’s own website) is, in fact, still available.   

Why would it not be?  Real booksellers do not list items that they don’t have in inventory. That would be counter-productive.  Moreover, most of us tend to remove sold items ASAP, simply to avoid potential customer disappointment.

In fact, in the very unlikely event that the book in question was just sold a few minutes before you sent your inquiry, any reputable seller will quickly respond to your actual order with a message informing you that the item was just sold, is no longer available and will likely offer you first refusal on the next copy that becomes available.  

Moreover, most of us will direct you to a colleague if we know there’s another copy of that particular title available elsewhere. After all, we only had one copy of that $15 book you wanted, so there wasn’t much profit to be had anyway.  Most of it was eaten up by the time it took to check the shelves and compose a response. 

Might as well send you off to our colleague for that other $20 copy.

Yeah, I know ours was less expensive, but if you really, truly want a copy…

Also, don’t worry about us charging your credit card for a non-existent item we no longer have; no “real” bookseller would ever do that because of the associated cost. 

It’s simple business math.

As the customer with the credit card, you’d protest the charge for the undelivered item and it would then be back-charged to us (the retailer), along with a rather hefty selection of fees, thus costing us far more in fees than any potential profit we might have made, had you failed to notice and thus not protested the charge.  (What, you think the credit card companies give you all those points and bonuses out of their profits?  Think again! Those things come directly out of the retailer’s fees to (a.) process your credit card in the first place, which are far more than you think and (b.) cover charge-backs by customers who “forgot” they bought something.)

Still, that’s not the real issue; it’s the fact that after we locate the book you inquired about on the shelf (yeah, we actually check) and then confirm availability via email, and also ask if we should reserve it for you (yeah, we always write back), couldn’t you at least take the time to respond to our note with a simple “yes” or “no”?

Or, maybe, just a “thanks anyway”?

Apparently not.

Apparently, that all takes far too much time in the age of internet instant gratification.  Fewer than half of out “inquiring” customers ever respond. 

Sheesh!!!

The Question of Slavery

So, how is it that some of the good folks selected to be the focus of "Who Do You Think You Are?" are always somewhat surprised and also somewhat embarrassed to discover that their middle-class white ancestors in the the South were actually slave-owners?

And that they sold slave children at slave auctions? And that some of those children were mulattoes, and probably the children of their owners?

In other words, they sold their own children?

Do we not teach this? Is this a mystery?

History is hard, apparently.

It's much easier if we don't dwell on the really complicated parts, like slavery.  Of course, that's why slavery comes as such a surprise to many folks for whom the Civil War was supposed to be all about "states' rights" (whatever that might be) and the "war of northern aggression."

Nobody wants to address the hard parts, like buying and selling people.

It's simple, really. 

There were parts of the United States in 1860 where people - real people with names and faces and personalities - could be bought and sold like houses, horses and sacks of potatoes.  The "state's rights" in question were the rights of slave-owners - often lower middle class white folks, not plantation owners - to be able to buy and sell people and in the process, divide up families.

 It's just that simple.

Everything else is commentary.

The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act - Did You Remember?

D.C. Emancipation Celebration

Today, April 16^th, 2012 is Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts.  It’s also the anniversary of the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, which pretty much nobody outside of D.C.’s boundaries ever heard of.  

You probably missed it.  However, that’s the reason why you don’t need to file your taxes today.

Everybody knows about the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.   However, the earlier District of Columbia Emancipation Act, signed by President Lincoln on 16 April 1862, produced a number of records that genealogists need to know about.  

First of all, the Act freed all the slaves in the District of Columbia. In addition, it established an owners’ compensation schedule, as well as a way for them to apply for it.

The D.C. Emancipation Act provided slave-owners loyal to the Union with compensation of up to $300 for each of their freed slaves and also provided for the voluntary relocation of slaves to locations outside the United States, with each former slave choosing to emigrate entitled to a cash payment of $100.00. 

Slave owners seeking compensation had to swear an oath of allegiance to the United States.  

No oath of allegiance, no payment for you!

According to the National Archives and Records Administration website, over the nine month period following the signing of the Act, “…the Board of Commissioners appointed to administer the act approved 930 petitions, completely or in part, from former owners for the freedom of 2,989 former slaves”.

So, what’s a genealogist to do with this kind of information?

First off, a visit to the website being developed by the folks at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln is probably in order.  The website, called “Civil War Washington” and findable at http://civilwardc.org/texts/petitions/ contains transcripts of many of the applications for reimbursement, all of which come from “…Records of the Board of Commissioners for the Emancipation of Slaves in D.C.," National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 217.6.5, Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, 1775-1978, as part of the "Settled Treasury Accounts" series. ”

There are some petitions that have not yet been transcribed, but those that have provide a unique insight for genealogists, both for slave-owning families and the slaves themselves.  

In addition to detailed physical and character descriptions of slaves, the petitions often describe specifically how the owners acquired their slaves, thus providing evidence of purchases from other owners, or, in the case of some slave-owners, a line of descent from an earlier ancestor that may not be available elsewhere.

For example, on 6 May 1862, about 3 weeks after the Act went into effect, Lucy A. M. Counselman, of Montgomery County, Maryland filed for compensation for her freed slave Lucinda Martin, who had been living (and working as a slave) in Georgetown for the previous two years.  In the application for compensation, Lucinda Martin was described as “…A black woman, Five feet, Two inches high, named​ Lucinda Martin, large eyes, wide mouth.”   She further notes that “said woman was willed to me by my Grandfather (Samuel Counselman,) Six years since, which said will is Recorded in Rockville Maryland.” Valuable genealogical information that provides today’s researchers with additional information on the Counselman family.    

As for Lucinda Martin, her former owner noted that she was “…of the value of Eight hundred dollars in money [and that] said woman is a good housekeeper she has been living out, since a child.”

While this petition seems – on the surface – straightforward, slavery itself was complicated. 

This becomes obvious if you search for Lucy Counselman in the 1860 census.  There she is, age 23, in District Four, Rockville, Maryland, in her father’s household.  At the very end of the family listing, we find listings for two free blacks:  Virginia (the family’s washerwoman) and William Martin. 

 Here’s the actual listing:

In addition, the slave schedules for District Four, Montgomery County Maryland, show that John Counselman, Lucy’s father, owned eight slaves.  A William Counselman of Rockville, Maryland also owned eight slaves, and Rachel, John, Marion and Charles Counselman of the same location each owned one slave.  No doubt a familial connection could be established with these various Counselman slaveowners, likely going back to Lucy’s grandfather Samuel Counselman.

So exactly how were Counselman household free blacks William and Virginia Martin related to Lucy’s slave Lucinda Martin of D.C.?  This information is unavailable.   Were the other eight slaves of John Counselman also surnamed “Martin?”  Again, this information is not available.

There’s still more to come on this UNL website, as more petitions get transcribed and uploaded.   

However, even as it stands, it’s a great illustration that (a.) not all slaves worked on plantations;  (b.) slaves were hired out by their owners and were therefore a source of income; and (c.)  slaves and slave-owners’ fates were inexorably intertwined. 

The genealogical information in slave records often pertains to the owners and slaves alike.

Check it out, even if you’re not tracing a slave or slave-owning family.

Some Folks Call It "...The Single Best Civil War Photograph Collection in the World"

Sometimes, the best things are those things you find on your way to trying to find other things.  

Things that are totally unrelated to what you went looking for in the first place.  Things that are interesting in their own right, but not seemingly connected with your own very specific research interests.

In other words, serendipitous discoveries.

The word “serendipitous” and the noun “serendipity” came into general English usage because of the English writer Horace Walpole, the fourth Earl of Orford (1717 – 1797).  Walpole recounted the amazing (albeit fictional) story of the three princes of the phantasmagorical kingdom of Serendip, who were in hot pursuit of a lost camel.  

In the process of recounting the story, Walpole coined the word “serendipity.”

These days, “serendipity” suggests fortuitous things or discoveries that seem to just pop up by happenstance, unplanned and unsought-after.

And so it was that in the search for something entirely different, I learned that the folks at the U.S.Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle Pennsylvania had digitized the 19^th century photo albums of the Massachusetts Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States(Mass - MOLLUS).  

This was no small feat as those albums contain literally thousands of Civil War era photographs.  In fact, the finding aid to the Massachusetts MOLLUS collection indicates that there are more than 4100 photographs taken in the mid-19^th century in the collection.

The photographs cover a wide variety of topics:  portraits, group shots, panoramas, buildings.  You name it – there are all kinds of stuff in the one-of-a-kind photos in the Mass-MOLLUS albums.

Note that this is not actually a “new” online resource.  The digitization of these photos – and their appearance online - goes back to 2009.  However, like lots of stuff, if you haven’t seen it before, it’s “new” to you, just as it was “new” to me a few days ago.

That’s the thing with online resources – it’s hard to keep up with all the new stuff as it becomes available.

How important is this collection?   Here’s a quote for someone who should know:

"This collection is truly unique and considered the single best Civil War photograph collection in the world," stated the USAHEC's photo curator, Molly Bompane. "Now not only have we preserved this collection for future generations, we have made it much more accessible to the many researchers and enthusiasts around the globe who have an interest in the Civil War." 

So, what exactly was (or is) the “Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States” or MOLLUS?

MOLLUS was established in Philadelphia in 1865 after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.  It was set up as a Civil War equivalent of the Revolutionary War’s Society of the Cincinnati, with membership open to officers and former officers of the Union military forces loyal to the Federal government.  Today, it is a hereditary organization open to male descendants of those Union officers who served during the Civil War.  You can learn more about it here.  Pehaps you can even qualify as a "hereditary companion."

The online collection of MOLLUS photographs on the USAHEC website is searchable, although I noticed that the results returned are not always correct.  (Note to USAHEC catalogers – “Port Royal” Virginia and “Port Royal” South Carolina are two different places.)  Still, with that caveat in mind, give it a try.

When you search and find a photo of particular interest, be sure to click on the “metadata” button.  You’ll learn a whole lot more about what you’re looking at.

So, what did I find?

A hitherto unseen Civil War-era photo of one of the grandkids’ third great-grandfathers, Edward William Hooper (1839 – 1901), the grandson of pirate fighter and entrepreneur William Sturgis, whose adventures were described in one of my earlier blogsposts here. 

Hooper, a recent Harvard graduate lawyer (class of 1859) that everyone called "Ned", was sent to Port Royal, South Carolina in March 1862 as part of the contingent of teachers & administrators from the New England Freedmen’s Aid Society (of which his father was vice-president) and served as private secretary to General Rufus Saxton, during which time he held the nominal rank of Colonel.  He was an important part of what is now known as the "Port Royal Experiment", about which I will write more in the near future.

Here’s the nattily dressed Ned Hooper, not yet 23 years old, looking quite properly Bostonian Brahmin-ish and all "private secretarial.”  The photo is part of the digitized MOLLUS photo albums on the USAHEC website.

Maybe you have no Massachusetts Civil War officers in your family, so you figure that MOLLUS is not for you.  Don't be so sure.  You may find that it doesn’t matter.   

Try searching by place (North Carolina) or event (Gettysburg).  All kinds of interesting photos will appear.

More importantly, poke around the nooks and crannies of the US Army Heritage and Education Center’s website and learn about resources you never knew existed. 

Remember, serendipitous discoveries are always great fun!