The Bancroft Survey Project began in February 2008. Funded by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon and the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundations, the survey project is intended to be a simultaneously broad and in-depth survey of all manuscript holdings of the Bancroft Library, which has been collecting for over a century. Four archivists were hired to scour the collections for a three year term, during which they will review the vast myriad of manuscript materials and use a survey instrument designed to gather data on collection scope, subject categories, and physical condition. The survey archivists are Marjorie Bryer, Amy Croft, Dana Miller, and Elia Van Lith, and they are also the authors of this blog.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Motto: Be Merry

Surveying account books and ledgers is never very exciting. However today when I was surveying the Mokelumne Hill Canal and Mining Company account books I was surprised to come across some drawings!




I can only guess that these were done by a child of someone who worked at the mining company or who kept these books before they were acquired by the Bancroft.

Later on in the volume there are some rules and a list of officers for a club.




The rules read:
Come to every meeting you can.
Don't be silly.
Obey orders.
Keep the Promise.

Promise?

Motto: Be Merry

Now depending on what the promise is (they were smart enough not to write it down) this sounds like a fun club to be a part of!


Banc mss C-G 280, Mokelumne Hill Canal and Mining Company account books, 1854-1907

-A. Croft
Posted by TBL Survey at 4:41 PM
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)