IGHR 2012-Day 2

Today has been an extremely full day. This morning started out with a lecture by Craig R. Scott, on "Federal Research: Finding Aids." He discussed Record Groups (RG), Preliminary Inventories (PI), and researching at the National Archives (NARA). It was the first of several mind boggling discussions of the day. During the discussion I somehow managed to achieve the distinct honor of making Craig blush. Apparently this is a difficult thing to do. Later his wife said he probably deserved it. If you know Craig, then you understand that remark.

Anyway, the next presenter was Rick Sayre. He covered a very broad and a somewhat confusing discussion on Government Documents. This included details on the Serial Set and the American State Papers. I'm not going to attempt to explain either of these here, because a) it would take too long, and
b) I'm not sure my understanding of them is complete enough right now to describe them properly. That may change by tomorrow night, as I hear we will have homework involving these resources.

The afternoon was spent with Marian L. Smith, who discussed Immigration and Naturalization Records. This was a fascinating topic! There are all sorts of records and possibilities to acquire more information than what is listed on ship manifests. In fact, our homework tonight involved looking up immigrants listed on a INS Subject Index card. All of the people listed on this card were detained for one reason or another when they arrived in New York. Most of them were ill and required a medical exam, however one person on the list was a stowaway.

At the end of the day Elizabeth had a short session with us. During that time we did an in class exercise using the Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, a text written by Lucille H. Pendell and Elizabeth Bethel. The purpose of this exercise was to get us familiar with the text, and I suspect it will have something to do with homework later in the week.

When we left for dinner, my fellow classmates had a dazed look about them. I really can't do justice to the amount of information that was thrown at us today. It's a bit overwhelming. After dinner I attended an evening lecture on BCG Certification. The people attending this lecture, who have achieved certification, gave advice on the process. I'm glad I attended. Believe it or not, one bit of advice was to read the directions for certification and follow them. We were also told that the fee for the application and certification was going up as of January 1, 2013 to $75 and $300 respectively.

My homework is done and now it's time to get some sleep. The schedule looks like it is going to be just as full tomorrow. I can't wait!