The last several Friday mornings, archivists from the San Francisco History Center have been getting our hands dirty in a Civic Center basement, sorting through proverbial dusty ledgers that are no longer needed by the City Treasurer's Office. As the official City Archives, the San Francisco History Center is the last stop for City records. Our job is to identify and transfer records that are no longer of day-to-day use to city departments but that might be of historical interest to researchers. Our trips to pick up records mark the beginning of a sometimes grimy process in which "records" become "archives," sort of (but not really) like the way a Schoolhouse Rock Bill becomes a Law, or a stuffed Velveteen Rabbit becomes Real: the records that the archives retain become fodder for making history.
With some consultation from Deputy City Treasurer Pauline Marx, City Archivist Susan Goldstein and some of her staff hauled, peered, analyzed, inferred, sorted, and sneezed our way through the pallets and piles. Here are a few snapshots of us working "in the field." The next time you see us at the Reference Desk looking well-scrubbed, remember the other, pre-burnished side of our professional coin.
Digital photos really don't convey the amount of grime, confusion, or red rot (the leather that deteriorates into your hands)--that is, they don't convey the True Texture--of the setting. But, at the end of the day, this is part of what makes the job so much fun. So, next time you call us to come look at a collection, but you're embarrassed because it's kind of messy, remember that WE'VE SEEN IT ALL.
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