Associate University Archivist Message

Park College (1875-2000) and Park University (2000present) has a rich history that encompasses the globe I have the honor to preserve the collections, promote the University's Frances Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, and provide information and services as did my former colleagues and Park graduates Frances Fishburn, 1921, Dr Harold Smith, '44 and Carolyn McHenry Elwess, '71 did In addition to preserving, promoting, and providing, I have the task of implementing professional archival and museum procedures and standards

As an introduction, I grew up in northwest Iowa in the small towns of Early, Rembrandt, and Nemaha Following high school, I attended Rochester (Minn ) Community College and Northwestern College (Orange City, Iowa), but college wasn't doing anything for me. Eventually, small town life was boring, so I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served eight years. During my military service, I attended Avila University (Kansas City, Mo.), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and secondary education. Upon graduating, I left military service and started my teaching career at Rockhurst High School (Kansas City, Mo.) and worked to complete my Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Missouri-Kansas City After approximately a decade at Rockhurst, I taught full-time at Baker University (Baldwin City, Kan ) before joining Park College in 1999 as director of the Weekend/Evening College on the flagship Parkville (Mo ) Campus I completed my doctoral work through the Union Institute and University Cincinnati My doctoral areas of emphasis were in U S history and archival/museum studies

Recently, while researching the enclosed article on Dr Eleanor Chesnut, 1888 Park graduate, I found mention that in 1908 "Park College museum has at last found a house for itself. . . (a) room in Mackay (Hall). The room has a double floor. The lower floor contains curious and interesting things of many kinds. The upper floor is the natural history section." (Park College Record, November 1908). Park has committed for 115 years to preserve its history and I am proud to carry on my predecessors' commitments and continue that legacy.

The four "P's":

Preserve--A review is underway to identify collections, due to their preservation integrity or past use, for digitization

Promote--A Facebook page (search for "Frances Fishburn Archives and Special Collections") has been created which provides "Postings of the Past" related to stories from the Park College Record, and monthly posts related to "Building Spotlight," "Military Monday's," "Faith and Labor," "Document Dive," and "Faculty Focus " Provide--Informational and research services continue as in the past Future digitization projects and finding aids will be posted on the University's library website (https://library park edu/) for general public access

Professional Standards--Implementation of the Park University Records Retention Guidelines and Frances Fishburn Archives and Special Collections Records Management and Archives Policy has been completed A re-organization of all areas of the archives has been completed to meet professional procedures and standards Interns are uploading collection data in professional collection management software for research, digitization, and preservation measures

Should you have any questions about Park University's Frances Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at archives@park edu