Civil War records and preservation

The following appeared on ARCHIVES and is reposted here without the
knowledge or consent of the author.

    Date: 6 May 94
    Sender: Archives & Archivists <ARCHIVES [at] MIAMIU__ACS__MUOHIO__EDU>
    From: Karen Madej <karenm [at] queens__lib__ny__us>
    Subject: Civil War records and preservation

    While we are thinking about all the personal items that archives
    cannot keep up with, for obvious and defendable reasons, let us not
    forget the materials put out by our government that are rotting even
    though the Federal Depository Library Manual stresses the need for
    preservation.

    Our depository at here has complete set of the Army and Navy troop
    movements, put out by the War Department. Both sets were beautifully
    bound, but time has taken its toll. The Naval records were rebound
    by the Works Progress Administration, but the Army records never got
    help because WWII came about.

    It horrifies me to see the books deteriorating, but there is only so
    much I can do. Items in Federal Depositories are meant to be
    preserved by the holding library, but in today's era of library
    budget cuts, preservation does not receive highest rank. A colleague
    and I would like to get some sort of grant to rebind the records,
    but we have many hurdles to scale before our dreams are reality.
    (any advice is appreciated)

    I don't see any easy answer to the problem when so many people do
    not see history and preserving the written record of it as being
    important. We, in fields where there is an interest need to continue
    our work to the best of our abilities and make use of any
    opportunity to educate others about the needs and costs, both
    monetary and social/educational.

    These opinions are my own and are not necessarily endorsed by my
    employer.

    Karen Madej
    Magazines and Documents
    Queens Borough Public Library

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:80
                    Distributed: Monday, May 9, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-7-80-011
                                  ***