Halfway Point - Week 6 wrap-up

 It's hard to believe that I am halfway done with my practicum.  The weeks have flown by.  I find myself getting completely wrapped up in the research process.  I'll be working another week on researching women's names and then I'll be learning how to begin adding new name authority files and updating the catalog.  I think part of what I'll remember about this experience is the amazing stories I have come across in researching the pre-marriage names of the women in the carte de visite collection.

Elizabeth J. French,
from the Carte de Visite collection
at the Chicago History Museum
One in particular comes to mind, the story of Elizabeth J. French.  She was a spiritual medium and physician who utilized the healing powers of electricity.  Not only that, I was amazed to learn the she left her husband and took her children with her from Pittsburgh to New York City to start her own practice.  And this was in the mid 1800s!  It blew my mind that she was so independent at a time when society did not encourage this quality in women.  I'm including a photo of her carte de visite which is in the collection of the Chicago History Museum.  She was apparently fascinated with electricity after a tragic experience in her youth in which her family members were struck by lightning. 

You can read more about Elizabeth J. French here:  http://iapsop.com/spirithistory/elizabeth_frenchs_instant_images.html

And there are so many more stories I come across that stick with me.  It's strange to realize that although things were a lot different technologically in the 19th Century, the social struggles and ups and downs of life were so much the same.  

Another thing I keep thinking about is the women whose names I cannot find.  There are about 500 on my spreadsheet; so far I have researched 150 of them.  But of those 150 there are some names that I just can't seem to recover.  It can be really frustrating because often the husband is fairly well known, but there is either no mention of the wife at all or she is only cited as "Mrs".  It is bittersweet to see their faces frozen in time in the photograph and to never know their names or their stories. But I console myself that it is good to know at least some of there names will be recorded.  The presence of the women's names will help researchers in the future to be able to find them and possibly recover more of there stories and histories.  

On July 19th I'll begin the next phase of this project.  I look forward to sharing what I learn about name authority file creation and updating the catalog records.

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