Adventures in the Indiana Room

Today was my third shift so far working in the Indiana Room. And let me tell you, it is a very different world than the main reference desk.  It is such a specialized collection that has been shifted and morphed into (almost) exactly what they want it to be. They have sectioned out genealogy, grants, county histories, family histories, yearbooks, city directories, small business information, and zoning information; while still maintaining a general collection.  There are so many areas to look that it is a little overwhelming!

Today was an interesting day. It was very slow at the desk, so my boss, Christine, had me looking for the original document from 1883 on microfilm that had the newspaper list of deceased from those who were from Monroe County and were in the Civil War. The 1971 newspaper ran a reprint of the list, and that is the one that was being used to create a comprehensive list. Christine mainly wanted me to find the original document for me to get more practice with the microfilm machine, and to have that original copy for posterity's sake.  We were extremely glad that I looked for this original list.  Not only was there an accompanying article and speech, there was also a continuation of the list on a separate page that was not included in 1971. Huge oversight on the 1971 paper! The article was on the front page and stated that it continued on page two, but on the microfilm reel that I was using it actually was on page four (the pages were not numbered). Our guess is that the person who copied this list looked on the page after the front page and after not immediately seeing the continuation, they gave up. In actuality, the rest of the list was fairly easy to see, it just was slightly farther down on the reel. It's sad that the list was not reprinted in its entirety, especially considering that it was the same newspaper that printed the list both times. I have a feeling that this kind of thing is part and parcel with such a special collection, especially dealing with old newspapers.