A Semester of Special Collections

My final semester working under The Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP has been a bittersweet one, and the time has flown by a lot faster than I would have liked.

A majority of my time was spent analyzing and evaluating collections of Western fiction paperback novels that had been donated by previous professors of the university. The biggest collection I worked with belonged to Dr. C.L. Sonnichsen, but the most engaging collection I worked with in this project were the many, many books that belonged to Dale L. Walker.

To begin the semester, I continued to sift through four boxes donated by Dr. Sonnichsen that were filled to the brim with Western fiction paperbacks, some of which were written by prolific writers such as Wayne D. Overholser and Will Henry. The process was a slow one as each box contained about 100 books packed neatly against one another in a way that could make Tetris players feel proud. Since the books had yet to be evaluated, I was tasked with creating an inventory sheet to list the name of each book, its author, publisher and publication year, and to mark whether we already had a copy of it in the library. Once I determined whether the library held a copy in our Western fiction collection, I would send it to the library's book sale. If we did not hold a copy of the book, then I would look it up in the WorldCat database to see how many libraries worldwide held a copy of the book. If a large number of libraries held copies of the book, then I would send it off to the book sale. If very few libraries claimed to have a copy, then I would take another look at the book to determine whether the book should be added to the Western fiction collection that is located in the second floor, or if it should be sent to our rare Western fiction collection.

The criteria for determining where to send the books was quite easy to evaluate as all I had to do was check if the author had signed the book or if there were notes left behind by Dr. Sonnichsen. If these existed, then the book would be considered "rare." If not, then the book would be sent to the library's second-floor collection where it would receive a special binding to increase the lifespan of the book. Another variable that factored into this decision was identifying the location in which the book’s plot took place, as we would enjoy keeping books that took place near the US-Mexico Borderlands. This often required me to read the books since some books would only name a town and leave out which state or part of the country the town was located. When determining the fate of books such as these, I liked to be as thorough as possible so that I didn't accidentally send a book to the book sale when it should have been sent to the rare collection, or vice versa.

A nice little change of pace occurred when we were warned about a reporter from the local NBC television affiliate, KTSM, was looking to broadcast a story covering the UTEP Dance Team and their history. Out of curiosity, I began to sift through our collection of UTEP’s Flowsheets, which was the name of the university’s yearbook, to identify the starting year for the group and find years of notable interest for the reporter. This curiosity ended up landing me the honor of being assigned the project to be interviewed by the reporter, and so I dug into the history of the UTEP Dance Team by using the Flowsheets, NOVA Quarterly—the former UTEP alumni magazine—the Oral History records, and even the UTEP campus's Heritage House to prepare for the interview. I am proud to announce that the interview went without a hitch and was broadcast on television a few weeks later.


Humanities Collaborative Master's Fellow Erick Balandran's interview with KTSM-9.

Following this project, I was assigned to evaluate journals belonging to Dale L. Walker that covered Jack London and his publications. These scholarly journals covered a range of topics from science fiction to sole dedication to the author Jack London, all of which contained an article written by Walker that were centered around Jack London. I do recall one particular book that stood out that was about a rooster named Brewster that took up residence in London’s home and had become a bit of a mascot for the establishment. For the most part, the journals, and the book about Brewster, were kept in the Walker papers collection since they were primarily publications of Walker.

In addition to books, Walker also kept VHS tapes and DVD copies of adaptations of several of London’s books. There were many different versions of Call of the Wild, so any scholar that wants to do research about the many adaptations would have no difficulty finding research materials here. In fact, any London scholar would have little difficulty in finding research materials because of how thorough Walker was in documenting his research. It was certainly a nice change of pace to fill out an inventory for movies instead of books.

As someone who enjoys attending conventions when he can, I was delighted to have been invited by Ms. Weiser and Mrs. Rivers of UTEP Special Collections to accompany and assist them at the annual Border Archives Bazaar hosted at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum. It was certainly a different experience being behind a booth rather than in front, but I still had time to visit the booths of other visiting archives to browse samples of their respective collections. In addition to the booths, the event also hosted panels in which speakers would present on varying topics ranging from the Chicano Movement in Southern Texas to the likes of Enrique Fernandez, who I learned is considered to be the Al Capone of Mexico.


Erick Balandran at the Border Archives Bazaar.

My favorite booth to visit during the event was actually the one belonging to the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum because they had a forge within the property. Though I unfortunately could not visit the forge, the booth held a transcript of an interview with the former blacksmith about the history of forging and his experiences at the museum. It was a fascinating read that I was unable to complete, but I take comfort that it is available in their oral history records. The sense of camaraderie between all the archivists was great, and it was equally gratifying to see patrons come to visit as they expanded their lists of potential resources to utilize in writing research papers. There were a couple of researchers that I recognized from my time in the UTEP Library's Special Collections and who visited frequently, so that was a pleasant surprise.


Erick Balandran discussing UTEP Special Collections at the Border Archives Bazaar.

In leaving the bazaar, I felt like a true convention-goer as my pockets and hands were filled with complimentary notebooks, lanyards, pens, brochures, and even a handkerchief. Everybody I met there, archivist and patron alike, were all so kind to one another and always listened attentively to anybody that spoke. As an intern archivist, they were all keen about my experiences and whether I had enjoyed my time spent in UTEP Special Collections, and all were delighted to hear that I felt lucky to work in such a wonderful part of the University. Many laughs were had as I told them that the biggest struggle I had faced was staying focused on creating inventories of collections because it was so easy to be distracted by books and correspondence found in donated material.

This is something that has halted my progress in inventorying collections more times than I care to admit, which has been particularly prevalent in my final project of going through the paper collection of late UTEP University President Dr. Diana Natalicio, which had been donated upon her death. I recall a very heated exchange of letters with the company of a brand of Waterpiks as the Natalicios had been experiencing problems with theirs . Sending it in for repairs had not been helpful because the device was still faulty in that it doused the entire bathroom whenever they tried to use it. Eventually, the Waterpik was repaired, but it took many exchanges through mail before the issue could be resolved. What surprised me the most from the entirety of the exchange was how much time passed between letters, and it made me realize how much easier we have it in the digital era. What took months to resolve could have taken a few weeks at most thanks to the speed of email, but there would still be delays in waiting for responses and delivery times for the damaged device.


One of the boxes containing the papers of former UTEP President Dr. Diana Natalicio.

I am sad to have to say my farewells to the UTEP Library Department of Special Collections after this semester, but I am grateful for the experience I have gained working under talented and passionate people. I was always reminded how important the work I was doing was, even if it seemed repetitive. I did not doubt the significance in making research materials easier to access for future researchers, but the sentiment and support was appreciated nonetheless. I never imagined that I would have grown so attached to my job and the collections I handled, but I take comfort in the fact that I am lucky to have worked somewhere that makes saying goodbye difficult.

Written by Erick Balandran, Master's Research Fellow
The University of Texas at El Paso, The Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP

Images courtesy Erick Balandran.