This week started off with sorting
the Jack Friend collection of books, which is no small task. In fact it has
taken me all week and I will need another day to spend on it next week. So there
is really not much I can offer in the ways of an update. Book culling can be
very interesting, especially when looking through a collection of books as
varied as the one Jack Friend had. He had books from the dawn of man, all the way
up through present day. Due to the majority of his work being on the Battle of
Mobile Bay, he has an enormous amount of books on ships and the Civil War. It
is astounding to me the amount of research that went into this book. Binders
upon binders of research notes, books as broad as A Brief History on Sailing, to books as specific as Letters to Amanda.
My job is to sort the books into
three sections; rare, keep, and recommend for deaccession. What makes a rare
book? Anything written before 1900, first edition books, signed books, and
books that are just hard to come by. Books worth keeping? Anything that has to
do with Mobile, or really anything Alabama/Gulf Coast related. Book recommended
for deaccession are overly broad, not specific enough to this area, or is not
scholarly in its research and presentation. We try and keep all of the books
that people may need when doing research for any topic pertaining to Mobile. Museums
are kind of like professional hoarders, but we hoard all of the awesome stuff
like old books and military weapons.
Check out my own work desk! From
humble beginnings…
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