Yesterday I had an appointment at a cultural institution in one of the five boroughs of the city. This is an organization that goes back to the nineteenth century and maintains a strong sense of institutional memory. The purpose of my visit was to seek permission to research said institution’s archives this fall. It is hard to believe Labor Day is just five weeks away. My host was very gracious and knowledgeable, and showed me not only items that may be of interest on my subject but also gave me a quick look at some of the artwork and Americana on display. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. Officials will not be making any decisions until they meet in mid-August. It would be a privilege to research at this organization, and I am really hoping it goes through.

Earlier in the week I emailed the coordinator at a particular National Park Service site to see about volunteering there when the season ends at Governors Island. At the risk of getting ahead of myself, the idea would be to work at Governors Island during the season (May-September) and the other place the other months of the year. The duality would work seamlessly, with a great deal of interpretive overlap between the two sites. If the transfer goes through it would also tie in to the project I am currently working on.

I am off on Fridays in the summer, and instead of going to the Met Museum as I intended I spent the day cleaning out my email in-boxes. I have a tendency to send pertinent, or possibly pertinent, notes to myself at my different email accounts. The idea is to rebuild redundancy into the process, though more often I confuse myself by forgetting where I sent what. This is my self-intervention. From now on specific files go to specific accounts. I even trimmed down my seldom used Evernote account, which I am going to try to use more systematically as I begin these new things. I remember opening my Evernote account way back when, thinking it would change life as I knew it. It didn’t, but maybe that was my fault. The idea is to simplify and make the other stuff easier.

We shall see what happens.