Unpacking a Life: Dr Gertrude (Trudy) Spencer

Abstract

For many, there will be times of packing up one’s office and moving elsewhere—a process that will bring back memories of how and why certain books and materials were acquired, and involve decisions about whether to keep or discard them. A similar process can occur when materials are received by an organization from a deceased estate in addition to financial endowment. This essay explores such a process, its challenges and achievements, the significance of the collection, and its inevitable dispersal.

Keywords:

• biography
• archives
• collections
• memories

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Benjamin, Illuminations, 59.

2 Lewandowski, “Unpacking,” 152.

3 Benjamin, Illuminations, 59.

4 Purcell, Donors and Archives, 13–14.

5 Archive Principles and Practice for non-archivists 2.1.1., “An Overview,” 4.

6 Society of American Archivists, “Dictionary of Archives Terminology.”

7 Lewandowski, “Unpacking,” 152.

8 Belk, “Possessions,” 139, 160.

9 Curasi, “Intergenerational Possession Transfers,” 111; Price, Arnould, and Curasi, “Older Consumers’ Disposition,” 179–180.

10 Benjamin, Illuminations, 66.

11 Senior, “Literature Is Political.”

12 Baldwin and Thomas, “The Song of Songs.”

13 Benjamin, Illuminations, 67.