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SPREAD SHEETS
Using MSExcel to Organize Resources

Gerry Stoner

Objective: Record the data of your collection electronically.

As discussed in Whelming Operations, there are 5 distinct categories of metadata that you should include:

1. A unique name for each item of your collection (I use a 6-digit number assigned sequentially to each item).
2. A digital picture of each item (a picture of a book is not essential for historiography, but is a great help in finding the volume on your shelves!).
3. Detailed information on where the item is to be stored.
4. Detailed information on where the item came from (establish provenance).
5. Detailed description of the item and relevant details of the time in which it was created.

The Excel printout of an entry for a class picture taken at Stamford's Rexmere Hotel is shown below. The metadata states that item number 10045 is a picture that was taken in 1935. It was scanned and the high resolution scan is located in the archives of the Gilboa Historical Society Newsletter, volume 09.3. The picture was a gratis loan from Shirley Krutzscher in 2007, who has the original.

The description of this picture as it appeared in the newsletter listed the various people. "Gilboa School Trip to Stamford’s Rexmere Hotel (now the Cyr Center): left to right, Mildred Case King, Inabelle Hubbard, Marjorie DeWitt, Esther Richtmyer Tompkins, Prof. Hagadorn, Evelyn Young Haskin, Pauline Faulkner, Maude Bailey Haskin, Hilda Osborn, Evelyn Hubbard Taylor, and (possibly) Otto Vroman. Photo courtesy of Shirley Kutzscher."

This article is one of several to help you document local history. Other articles will help you convert your interviews, documents, pictures, and artifacts into documentation of your local history that can be shared with your community.

Assignment: Most historical societies close down for the winter, and non-migratory neighbors tend to fight cabin fever by going to the Saturday or Sunday afternoon movies in Hunter, at the Power Authority, or another venue. While these may be fun, I hope you set up this alternative: host a series of workshops using this article as a focus and start to document your own local history.

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