Tales from the Irving Archives

Las Colinas Women's Association materials Photo by A. Blythe, 2018 Friday, June 29 Today, I worked on combining the various materials and creating the collection of the Las Colinas Women's Association.  I had already completed Series I, which was Scrapbooks, the day before.  I started working on the fourth box which had several binders filled with program notes, newsletters, membership rosters and budget reports.  Kevin and I had discussed that the binders would have to be removed and the materials would have to be placed into file folders.  I created a file for membership rosters, a file for newsletters and then a folder for the contents of each of the binders.  As I was extracting the newsletters out of the binders, Kevin came by to check on my progress.  He and I discussed that the binder's were the president's binder of the association, therefore all of the contents of each binder, including the tabs, would be placed into a folder.  Since t...

The six boxes of the Las Colinas Women's Association collection Photo by A. Blythe, 2018 Thursday, June 28 This was my sixth day working at the Irving Archives and I started working with the Las Colinas Women's Association collection.  I finished examining the remaining files in the sixth box and recorded the contents on my finding aid rough draft.  Once I was finished with that I spoke with Kevin about what to do next.  Kevin explained that the next step to to combine boxes, files and put papers from binders into file folders.  I decided to work with the first three boxes and ended up emptying one of the boxes.  I asked Kevin about the ascension number of that particular box and he told me that I would still list it on the finding aid.  I combined the box with one scrapbook and folder into the first box containing scrapbooks.  I kept the scrapbooks in annual order and the two CDs of the Las Colinas Women's Association 2011 Slide Show that we...

Foundation of the Estelle School and Masonic Lodge at the Estelle Community Photo by A. Blythe, 2008 Friday, June 22 Today was a special event, which was a Historical Marker Dedication at the Estelle Community, which is one of the early communities of the area, and the Harrington Cemetery, that is located within the Estelle Community.  The City of Irving annexed the Estelle area in 1968 and the land belongs to the Irving Independent School District.  The Dedication was at 10:00am therefore Kevin, Chris and I left the archives at about 9:30am to arrive at the site.  Once we arrived, we helped put out chairs, covered the historical markers with black fabric so they could be uncovered once they were dedicated.    I asked what had happened to the original historical markers, in which Kevin replied that they had been vandalized.  It took several years to get the new historical makers created and hence the dedication of them. There were several impo...

Card Catalog of Oral History tapes Photo by A. Blythe, 2018 Thursday, June 21 Today, I examined the fifth and sixth box that make up the Las Colinas Women's Association collection.  As I examined each box, I recorded the contents of each box on paper so I could reference the contents later.  The sixth box was the most disorganized of the boxes within the collection.  The sixth box contained the financial records of the Las Colinas Women's Association.  The first several folders were in chronological order, however there were several folders that the financial papers were not in any order.  The Las Colinas Women's Association kept every receipt that they received for  any purchase they made for the association, but these receipts were not in any logical order.    I remembered back to one of the discussions from Special Collections class and remembered that many times one should keep the materials the same way as they were dona...

Bear Creek Heritage Center              Photo by A. Blythe, 2018 Friday, June 15 Today, I was shown and got to tour, the Jackie Townsell Bear Creek Heritage Center, which is the other museum that the Irving Archives manages.  The Bear Creek community is the African-American community in Dallas County,.  It was established by freed slaves in the 1850s and grew after the Civil War.   There are three museums on the property that is owned by the City of Irving.  The first museum is the Bear Creek Masonic Lodge #263, the next museum is the J.O. Davis house and the third museum is the Sam Green House.  The two houses are from the founding families of Bear Creek. Kevin had a group of about 40 students which were allowed to tour the three museums on the grounds.  Then Kevin meet with all of the students in the table area to discuss the history of the area.  I got to tour and see all of the history and informatio...

Ruth Paine House Museum and Visitor's Center Photo by A. Blythe, 2018    Tuesday, June 12 Today, I learned that the Irving Archives manages the Ruth Paine house and Visitor's Center.  The reason for this is because the Irving Archives is part of the City of Irving's Arts and Culture Department therefore the Irving Archives assists with the management of several City of Irving's museums. One can schedule a tour of the Ruth Paine House by contacting the Irving Archives and making an appointment.  Tour run three times a week or on request.  Tours begin in the Ruth Paine House and Visitor's Center which is located across the lobby from the Irving Archives.  This allows the guests to learn some of the background history about  the Paine and Oswald families that lived in Irving.   After touring the visitor's center, then the guests are taken to the Ruth Paine House and allowed to tour it.  I was allowed to come along on the Ruth...

Old central library building where the Irving Archives is located  Photo by A. Blythe, 2018 Friday, June 8 Today, was my first day as an intern working at the Irving Archives.  The archives is located in downtown Irving in the old central library building.  The doors are locked therefore I called Kevin Kendro, who is the head archivist at the Irving Archives.  He let me into the building and guided me to the archives.  I entered a small office area where Kevin's and Chris's offices are located and pass them is the room where many of the archives is stored. The first item of interest that Kevin showed me was how to locate the items within the archives.  There are two ways to locate items.  The first way is an excel spreadsheet that is handwritten with where the materials are located.  The second way is on the computer, which is alot easier to use.  The boxes are marked with Accession numbers, then I had to go find them on th...