Melisa Martinez July 6th, 2013 Case Study Exercise #1 (75 pts.

1. Please see the draft finding aid for The Mason Collection. Assume that this is a collection that was donated to the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library in Topeka, KS by descendants of Mr. Mason in 1961. 2. Part 1: Redo this finding aid using DACS. Part 2: In no more than two paragraphs, explain the changes that you made. Eventually, this finding aid should include subject headings. You will not be graded for this part of the assignment since we have not gone over this section in class yet, but go ahead and try to provide subject headings. Part 3: Provide no more than six subject headings for this finding aid, using the following website: http://authorities.loc.gov/cgibin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First Reference Code: Record group M333rd Name and Location of the Repository: Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. Topeka, KS. Title: James Robert Mason papers Date: 1908-1925 Extent: approximately 2 linear feet (one bond volume of Bibles, study notes, and two photographs) Creator(s): Mason, James Robert, 1890-1970 Iden, Thomas Medary Administrative/Biographical History: James Robert Mason was born on February 6, 1890, to Frank Dyne Mason and Mary Jane Sparks Mason near Fort Scott, Kansas. He attended Washburn University in Topeka, KS, where he completed his secondary education from 1908 to 1913, then began his college studies from 1913 to 1915. While a student at Washburn, Mason met Nelle Marie Norlin, who also completed her secondary education there from 1909 to 1913, and completed her life teaching certificate in 1915. Mason and Norlin married on May 28, 1915, at the Methodist Parsonage in Manhattan, Kansas, and eventually had five children: Dorothea Mae Mason Holt, Violet Jane Mason Reidle, Helen L. Mason Hardie, John Norlin Mason, and Edith Mason Dye. Mason eventually completed his life teaching certificate at Washburn University in 1922. Besides his studies at Washburn University, Mason also earned the Bachelor of Science in Education degree at Northwestern Missouri State Teachers College in Maryville in 1931, and did graduate studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. From 1924 to 1930 he was County Superintendent of

Schools in Taylor County, Iowa, and taught high school English and literature in rural schools for over thirty years. Mason was also active in Farm Bureau work in Bedford, Iowa. The Mason family joined the First Baptist Church in Bedford in 1928. James Robert Mason died on July 19, 1970. Information on the Upper Room Thomas Medary Iden, the head of the Department of Physics and Chemistry at the Kansas State Normal School in Emporia, Kansas, established a Bible study class as a private hobby that he offered to any young men of the college or the town. Iden had previously led an informal student group for Bible study while he was a professor at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 1887 to 1897, and that class provided some of the basis for the class in Emporia. Idens Bible class, which was established in Emporia on November 19, 1898, eventually became known as the Upper Room Bible Class, or simply the Upper Room, taking its name from the Biblical account of the location of the Last Supper. Coincidentally, the class actually held its meetings in rooms on upper floors of several different buildings over the years. Students of the class affectionately called their leader Father Iden, and the popularity of the class was such that the vast majority of men from the college (and many other young men in Emporia) attended the weekly classes held on Saturday nights during the academic year. During this time Iden produced weekly mimeographs of handwritten leaflets outlining the topics for the lectures and providing a schedule of Bible readings to study during the week. The leaflets also contained other notes or poetry and literary quotations relating to religious themes. Besides distributing the leaflets at the Saturday evening classes, Iden also regularly mailed leaflets to former students or those who could not attend the classes. Many students would save their weekly leaflets and have them bound at the conclusion of the academic year. Iden also wrote a special annual Christmas and New Year letter to all of his current and former students, and insisted on personally addressing by hand the hundreds of envelopes needed for mailing the letters. He often prepared the envelopes during the summer months when he was not busy with his regular academic job. The contents of the annual letters were prepared over many months of the year, although the completion and actual mailing of the letters would be done in late December. Idens work on the Upper Room Bible Class was supported by William Allen White, the famous editor of the Emporia Gazette. The class met in a room on the upper floor of the Emporia Gazette building for several years, and White made substantial contributions to a fundraising campaign with the purpose of building a permanent home for the class. The meetings of the Upper Room Bible Class in Emporia ceased in 1913 when Iden left to accept the position of Ann Arbor Bible Chair, a full-time religious instruction ministry serving the students of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Iden also established an Upper Room Bible Class in Ann Arbor.

Scope and Content: The collection contains one bound volume of Upper Room Bible Class weekly leaflets dated 1912-1913. The cover is marked Upper Room Letters, 1912-1913, James Robert Mason. The first five originally blank pages have a handwritten list of the topics of each leaflet, with a note reading Please read the last lesson in this book, and signed J. R. M. Before the leaflets there is a personal handwritten letter from Iden to Mason dated February 27, 1908. There is also a small photographic portrait of Mason with his handwritten notes on the back dating it in 1908 and explaining the context of the picture. There is a photograph of Mason with his wife and five children. Masons handwritten notes on the back date the picture to 1925, and identify and describe each person in the picture. Descriptive information in the notes indicates that they were written after 1965. The notes mention the childrens occupations, their marriages, and the number of their children. Conditions of Governing Access: There are no restrictions to this collection. Languages and scripts of the Material: Materials entirely in English. Custodial History: Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library acquired the material from descendants of Mr. Mason. Immediate Source of Acquisition: The collection was was donated to the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library in Topeka, KS by descendants of Mr. Mason in 1961. Subject Headings: Education Teaching Religion Bible University of Kansas Christian literature

Some of the changes made to the finding aid were a relocation of information from the draft finding aid such as abstract, scope and content, and notes. Some additional information was inserted such as custodial history, repository and location, and LC authorities subject headings. The changes made were solely to areas that I, the creator of the finding aid, had information to. Additional elements as directed by DACS that I did not have information were not added such as arrangement and the container list. For this collection, I followed the requirements that DACS provides for single level description. The only information that I created on my own based on the estimation of material available was in the extent element. As for the biographical history and scope and content elements, the information was copied and pasted from the draft finding aid. The information was not edited because it provides context for the material in the collection. For example, the Thomas Medary Iden biography at the biographical history provides some context for the bound volume Bible in the collection. The scope and content information was also copied and pasted from the draft finding aid. The immediate source of acquisition element was added information that provides added value to the finding aid. 3. After going through EAD training and reviewing the EAD elements on the Library of Congress website, Part 4: At this time, just list the tag elements that you will use to encode this finding aid. Three categories for the information to encode: <eadheader> (EAD Header - required) <frontmatter> (Front Matter, optional) <archdesc> (Archival Description - required)

<ead> <eadheader> </eadheader> Within <archdesc><did>: <unitid> <repository encodinganalog label= Repository:></repository> <unittitle> <unitdate> <physdesc><extent></extent></physdesc> <orgination><persname></persname></orgination> <acessrestrict> <langmaterial> <archdesc> <bioghistory> <scopecontent> <controlaccess><persname/><subject></controlaccess>