Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Marcella Armstrong's Journal


Marcella Armstrong left a journal, filled with detailed genealogical and autobiographical information. This is a tremendous resource. She started writing in it in 1976. If you find this site looking for genealogical information, however, I must caution you that Marcella's journals should probably not be used as a primary source and could contain errors. Also, she often uses nicknames and when she does give surnames, it is not always clear whether she is giving maiden names or married names.

The journal pages are in reasonably good condition, although the cover is worn and the paper is acidic. Just handling it for transcription has resulted in the binding coming apart. More elaborate strategies such as deacidification and re-binding in a new cover are possible, but I don't have money on hand for a task like that. For now my preservation strategy will just be to transcribe it, perhaps scanning some of it, and then put it into an archival-quality box. I'm contemplating repairing the cover a bit with some acid-free linen tape and interleaving some protective paper with the glued-in photo.

There were some loose papers inside the cover, but they are keepsake articles and things that are not specifically tied to the journal, so they will be organized with the other clippings.

There is one loose leaf inserted, which will stay in the journal itself because it is dated and written in sequence with the rest. There is a photograph glued in which I will not attempt to remove.

Here is the title page:


Here is the beginning of the first entry:



Here is the glued-in photograph:

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