[DCRM-L] Main Entry Question

[Laurence Creider]

I'm not a manuscripts person, but it seems to me that Randy's comment 
makes sense.  IN any case, you have to make a decision as to whether you 
are cataloging the form or the information in the form.  Is the user 
likely to be interested in the form as an exemplar of US postal forms or 
in terms of what has been added in ms by the CSA institution?  For me 
there would also be the question of whether anything has been added to the 
form beyond the information on the confederate library.  Is there ledger 
information?  If so, then the ledger is clearly the product of that post 
office as reflecting the internal activities of the corporate bodies.

If there is information that the ledger was used after 1865, then other 
rules would be involved.

An added entry allows you to cover all bases and hedge your bets.  While 
not called for by the rules or even justified by them (you can go back and 
forth, I think), an added entry might help a user who does not understand 
the resource in the same way you do.


--
Laurence S. Creider
Interim Head,
Archives and Special Collections Dept.
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM  88003
Work: 575-646-4756
Fax: 575-646-7477
lcreider at lib.nmsu.edu

  On Wed, 24 Aug 2011, Randal Brandt wrote:

> At The Bancroft Library, we tend to catalog items like this as manuscripts.
> I forwarded this question to our manuscripts cataloger, who recently
> attended the Western Archives Institute (WAI), sponsored by the California
> State Archives. Here is the response:
>
>       So...based on my recent WAI experience where we had it drilled
>       into us that the paramount question to be asked about any "fond"
>       or item is always.... what is the intent of the creator?
>
>       And with that in mind I'd go with the CSA Post Office as the
>       main entry.
>
>       Acting in their official capacity the CSA used and altered a
>       USPO form for their own purposes. It might not be the exact same
>       thing but it's kind of like a check, that can be written on
>       anything (i.e. a hotel souvenir napkin)  is still legal and
>       payable by the creator of the check to the bearer if it is
>       signed by the creator. It's not the form of the check that
>       counts; it's the info on it that makes it legal. Or like using a
>       shipping label from a package from UPS with the address showing
>       but crossing out the UPS info in order to send it back using the
>       same label via FedEx.
>
>       But is the USPO an added author just because the creator used
>       that form? I'm not as sure about that. Because that's an option
>       the questioner doesn't list. CSA Post Office as the main entry
>       with added author for the USPO?
> 
> 
> Randal Brandt
> 
> 
> On 8/24/2011 2:46 PM, Deborah J. Leslie wrote:
>
>       I think you have a choice to catalog this as a printed item, in
>       which case the U.S. is the main entry, or a manuscript, in which
>       the CSA is. We would do the former, and add additional headings
>       and title entries designated with ‡5DFo
>
>        
>
>       Deborah J. Leslie, M.A., M.L.S. | Head of Cataloging, Folger
>       Shakespeare Library | 201 East Capitol St., S.E. | Washington,
>       D.C. 20003
>       djleslie at folger.edu | 202.675-0369 | http://www.folger.edu
>
>        
>
>       From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu
>       [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On Behalf Of Will Evans
>       Sent: Wednesday, 24 August, 2011 16:25
>       To: DCRM Revision Group List
>       Subject: [DCRM-L] Main Entry Question
> 
>  
> 
> I’m sure there is a rule regarding this dilemma, but I’m hard-pressed
> to find it.
> 
>  
> 
> Item in hand is a quarterly account ledger form for the U.S. Post
> Office with the following 245:
> 
>  
> 
> Post Office at [blank] County of [blank] State of [blank] in account
> current with the United States for the service of the Post Office
> Department from [blank] to [blank] 186[blank].
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> On the item in hand, however, the following manuscript annotations
> have been made:
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Post Office at [Sangerville] County of [Augusta] State of [Virginia]
> in account current with the United Confederate States of America for
> the service of the Post Office Department from [1st day of June 1861]
> to [30th day of June] 186[1].
> 
>  
> 
> (Text in bold are added ms. annotations made above the line of printed
> text)
> 
>  
> 
> Some Background information: We have a number of forms from the
> Confederacy that have been cataloged as published with extensive notes
> added about the manuscript additions. This is the first form we’ve
> encountered that has been so blatantly appropriated by a Confederate
> office. So, does one make the main entry the U.S. Post Office, with an
> added entry for the CSA Post Office? Or reverse the entries with CSA
> Post Office as the main entry and USPO as an added entry? Make USPO
> the main entry and leave it at that?
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
>  
> 
> Will
> 
>  
> 
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> 
> Will Evans
> 
> Chief Rare Materials Catalog Librarian
> 
> Library of the Boston Athenaeum
> 
> 10 1/2 Beacon Street
> 
> Boston, MA   02108
> 
>  
> 
> Tel:  617-227-0270 ext. 224
> 
> Fax: 617-227-5266 
> 
> www.bostonathenaeum.org
> 
>  
> 
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>  
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