One of the highlights of the Society of Florida Archivists annual conference this year was Gail Donovan’s presentation about the New College of Florida Archives.
Gail is a reference librarian at NCF’s Jane Bancroft Cook Library (I remember when that was the new building on campus! *cringes*) and is also the NCF archivist. This is a relatively new job at the library; as most alumni know, the “archives” at NCF was usually a spare room crammed with boxes. Sometimes people thought the Thesis Room was “the archives” (not really). Gail, who has worked part time at NCF for years, is now full time and working like a mad thing on getting our history archived properly.
If you can’t tell from my exuberance, I am a NCF alum myself (Class of ’88, which in NCF parlance is the year I started…our graduation rate is that low, and our attrition rate that high). To be fair, I have a love/hate relationship with the place, but on the whole I truly admire the institution, what it stands for, and the caliber of students who go there. It is, after all, the #1 Nerdiest college in America! If that’s not bragging rights, I don’t know what is!
While I am displeased with the news that the college is considering raising the student population total again (it was limited to 500 when I went, is I think 800 today…where will the madness end? 1000 students? *shudders*) I was very impressed with what Gail is accomplishing. She’s got 50+ years of chaos to herd into a finding aid.
Yes, we have Dr. Peggy Bates’ papers, and will probably be getting Mac Miller’s papers down the road (of course I asked) as well as other long term (which at New College means, “life sentence”!) professors. There are decades of student publications to sort and organize and make available, as well.
But what Gail is specifically looking for right now are publications by/featuring work by New College alums, such as academic papers or even books, and items pertaining to NCF’s history that might have fallen through the cracks. If you have something you want to contribute, give Gail a shout (941-487-4405 or email) and let her know. Also think about how we, as alums, can help financially support her work.
I’m pretty much a total geek when it comes to archives, so I think this is pretty exciting; but Gail’s not going to be able to do all that needs to be done without us. New College alums, PRESENT! đŸ˜‰
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