Day 5

Day 5
Thelma L. Meyer Petty Papers
Went over my work on this collection with my supervisor. I alerted her to the issues regarding the miss-spelled name on the label, the mysterious telegram, and the lack of corroboration on the date of death and her married name.

"What," she smiled, "you don't think a sticky note is a reliable source of information?"

I told her my idea of an avenue of research. This collection did have one potential source of information not normally available, a Social Security number. Just that in this day and age of identity theft, I was not sure how readily available or accessible that information would be. She gave me the go ahead to see what I could find using that.

It turns out, there is the Social Security Death Index. Strangely, it is more readily available through genealogical websites than the .gov one. As I did not want to create an account for the genealogical websites, the information returned was basic but it did confirm the date of death, the place of death, and her married name of Petty. Unfortunately, the information did not help in finding a copy of her actual obituary, full name of her husband, or post-WWII life.

Afterwards, I was tasked with typing up my collection and biographical notes in a more formal format, using a guide in the archives handbook. We took the WAAC poster in her collection to the digital lab to be scanned and then stored it in an oversize box. I was shown where it and the artifacts such as the badges and medal would be stored. I was struck then that when it comes to the archives, the difference between libraries and museums are blurred. The difference appears to be one mainly of general and primary emphasis of the institution.