Hidden Between the Lines - Week 9

Since beginning this project, I've emailed several repositories requesting assistance. As advised by my archival theory course text, I summarized the information I had been able to find, and requested assistance the archivist or special collections librarian might provide to point me to resources. I have never done research in an archive or used primary sources, and reaching out with a reference inquiry was already anxiety inducing. My initial impulse when get no response was to give up, but with some gentle feedback, I'm going to redirect some of my energy to following up with non-responders and continuing email inquiries. Many researchers are not able to travel to repositories, and while most university archives and special collections focuse their mission on supporting curriculum at the institutions they serve, there is still a need to provide access. Remote researchers looking for assistance value responsiveness. Understanding that point from this side will make me a better archivist if I am ever on the other end.

In preparing to follow-up, I looked over the collections I had identified to see what I needed to request. For institutions posting subject guides, with thorough, standard descriptive inventories, I feel less need to contact the archivists for help. Where I have no finding aids online, or finding aids with limited information, I find I need help determining if the collection would be useful for research on LGBTQ history. Institutions with fewer resources to provide reference services, particularly for remote inquiries, would benefit from online access of finding aids.

Weeks of searching has provided the experience of where and what to look for. I began with little previous knowledge of LGBTQ history in Mississippi. Tracking that information in a spreadsheet has allowed me to focus in on certain locations or time periods to do a more specific search. Queer Mississippi history is definitely there, I just haven't known what to look for. I plan on going back over the earlier reviews. This week I found a little more detail for Mississippi State and University of Mississippi. My goal as I go back over the institutions likely to have more developed resources will be to look for:

• General sources, like LGBTQ tags for online student newspaper articles and keywords for digitized university publications and yearbooks;

• Manuscript collections and photographs (digital and finding aids) for known persons and organizations related to LGBTQ history; and

• Thorough web search for "institution name and historical names" AND (LGBTQ keywords) to find persons, events, and issues associated with the area local for each repository.

A case for Pre-screening History

While doing a web search for LGBTQ history related to Mississippi State University, I discovered a 1976 court case in which the Mississippi Gay Alliance in Starkville (at a time no Mississippi universities recognized gay student groups) sued the Reflector, the student newspaper, for refusing to run an advertisement. Having names and a date to reference I was able to use the digitized yearbook The Reveille to find a brief mention when the event occured during the 1973/4 academic year. "The Reflector saw a busy year. A gay group sued to get an ad in the publication," reads the entry.

Digitized page from the 1974 MSU yearbook describing a lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Gay Alliance.

Additionally, I was able to search and find entries related to Mississippi author Thomas Hal Phillips, who graduated from Mississippi State University in 1943 and would go on to write The Bitterweed Path, a novel with homoerotic themes. In his senior year, Phillips was an active member of several student groups, including the Y.M.C.A.

Screengrab from a page about MSU graduating seniors in 1943.

OCR allows searching within massive digitized documents, like this yearbook.

I have found the value of keeping notes about bits of information I find and in trying to document information that doesn't seem immediately relevant. I am embarassed to say I am just learning the concept of vertical files through the archival theory class I am taking this semester. I have seen references to vertical files, and did not fully grasp the curation of information, similar to library card catalogs, where the news clipping is classified with a topic (and would more fully be indexed with controlled vocabulary) for future reference. I have begun doing this, creating PDF digital files that can be searched. I love the idea of old paper resources, but as this is a remote internship project. I am excited to be getting experience with online information systems and metadata. I feel like I am just figuring out how to make progress even when I'm not sure what I'm looking for.