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Volunteer Profile
VOLUNTEER PROFILE: Archiving Project
Behind the scenes, for months, Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) Board Member Janet Coupland has been reading practically every document and looking at just about every photograph that someone, sometime, in Cape May MAC’s 50-year history, thought might be important to save.
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She’s looked in file boxes, on shelves, under desks, in paper piles and manila files, in basements and barns, in scrapbooks and slide sleeves. In spring of 2020, she began the monumental task of whittling down thousands of pieces of information about Cape May MAC into a useful archive that will function as a resource for leaders of the organization now and for years to come.
The Cape May MAC Archiving Project grew out of another project that started several years prior. Coupland served as curator for the “50 Years of MAC” exhibit that opened in 2020 and continues this year in the Carroll Gallery. It is a comprehensive retrospective of the organization.
“We pieced together the history of MAC for the exhibit, but it was a painful and long process,” she said. “Putting the timeline together and finding photographs was very, very difficult because they were hither and yon.”
She soon realized the need for a professional archive. After completing work on the exhibit, Coupland put together a proposal in early spring of 2020 and offered to volunteer to lead the largest archiving project in the organization’s history. The project began in 2020 and aims to professionally archive 50 years of Cape May MAC documents and artifacts. It is such a monumental amount of work that it is proceeding in phases. Coupland felt she needed to get some advice and expertise to start.
She reached out to the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office and discovered an organization called Caucus Archival Projects Evaluation Service (CAPE).
“I called the director there and he was great. He said they provide grants to several organizations a year to pay an archivist who is on their staff, as a consultant. So, we put in the application, and we received it.”
Soon Coupland was attached to an extraordinarily-credentialed archivist who is nationally known for her work. Because of the pandemic, they’ve never met in person, but that didn’t seem to matter.
“The kinds of things she’s been able to help us with via Zoom and on the phone were just fine.”
The archivist advised to first establish criteria for archiving, to guide the work.
“I met with (Director and CEO) Jody (Alessandrine) and (COO) Melissa (Payne) and after advice from our consultant, I took a stab at putting together an archival criteria and it has worked,” she said. “What we are looking for is anything that reinforces our understanding of MAC history and legacy.”
For example, in sorting through the thousands of photos, she said the only ones to be kept are those in which it’s clear what it is, who the people are, what it references and when it happened. The criteria also point in the direction of records of enduring value, like board minutes, along with documentation of key decisions. Also to be archived are rare or authentic materials, such as the original demolition permit for the Physick Estate, or the lease for the Cape May Lighthouse.
“Something that really reinforces who we are, and our mission,” she said.
The work cannot be completed without a team, and Coupland has recruited help as they work on the third floor of the Physick House Museum. Coupland, Volunteer Sue Carroll and Cape May MAC’s Volunteer & Membership Engagement Manager Kelly Reddington have put in hundreds of hours so far.
“Sue and Kelly have made an amazing team that has accomplished so much in such a short time. I am so very grateful to them for that.”
Phase I is now complete and the team is underway with Phase II. Phase II includes diving into over 200 boxes in the Physick House basement using the archival criteria, reviewing thousands of slides, negatives and photos to select key material for archival storage, creating a Cape May MAC historic news archive, and establishing referenceable and industry standard archival storage for photos, slides and negatives. Phase III involves creating an ongoing plan for 2021 and beyond.
During Phase I, the team sorted through 200 legacy boxes of materials from Director Emeritus Michael Zuckerman, spanning 1970-2020, as well as all the organization’s historic blueprints. The team has created a referenceable archival storage process
Photo by Susan Krysiak
