Beginning work

I decided to merge my first two weeks together since there wasn't much to be done my first week. I began the semester by looking through the pictures of the archives catalog that had already been taken. I made my first attempt at actually reading the text through the pictures, but I found it surprisingly difficult due to the handwriting being in cursive and the pictures being seen off a bright computer screen. In person, the writing was much easier to decipher. I ended up discovering only three of the pictures that were in any real need of being redone. Two of these pictures were a bit blurry, which can be easily fixed, but one had very faint ink on the bottom half, which may be significantly more difficult to deal with, though I wouldn't know the exact process. What I did start to notice was that there seemed to be too few pictures for how large the catalog itself was. When I pointed this out, I was sent to search through the catalog itself for what pages were missing.

This big guy is the catalog for the archives. It did not take me long to realize that the only way to figure out which pages had their pictures finished and which didn't would mean going through this giant page by page and seeing which pictures were in the gallery I had and which weren't.



















The pages of the catalog were thick but pretty delicate. The cover itself was covered in red rot and falling apart, so I had to be careful to not damage it. The book itself is roughly 600 pages long, though much of it is empty; left so intentionally so that more could be added to it later. I put the gallery of pictures I already had on my computer into order and went page by page in order to see what was missing. The first couple of missing pictures I found were separated from by a few blank pages, which helped to explain why they had been missed. However, I found that many pages that were missing pictures were on the same opening as ones that had been photographed. I'm hoping this means that there are pictures that have somehow escaped, otherwise I'll have about 20 or so pages to photograph and rephotograph.

Also, I found these papers that were tucked away in the folds of the book. They're the pages from the old Jesuit catalog from way back. They hadn't been photographed like the others, but I think they should be added in. No one likes to feel left out.