Blog Post 4
Jonathan Nicholls
In the 80 hours that I have spent working at the South Australian Museum Archives I have entered a total of 996 35mm colour slides from the Tindale collection into the museum’s database. The slides came from four different albums.The following albums have now been entered into the database:
- Series AA338/43 – Australian Anthropology – Slides Volume 16
- Series AA338/44 – Australian Anthropology – Slides Volume 17
- Series AA338/45 – Australian Anthropology – Slides Volume 18
In addition to this 75 slides from Series AA338/46 Australian Anthropology – Slides Volume 18 have been entered into the database.
Series AA338/43 and Series AA338/44 have been uploaded to the South Australian Museum’s official website, and can be viewed by clicking on the following links:
http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/aa338/AA338-43.htm
http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/aa338/AA338-44.htm
During the practicum I gained an idea of what is and what is not of a sensitive nature to Aboriginal peoples. Things such as ceremonies, certain items used in ceremonies, arranged stones, paintings, and human remains can all be of a sensitive nature, and therefore required restricted access or viewing. Certain items, such as bull-roarers, seem to only be of a sensitive nature if they are being used in a ceremony. Another example is that of a stone knife used in circumcisions – this did not need to be restricted as it had not been used.
The practicum also reinforced the importance of keeping accurate and detailed records throughout the project. By keeping a logbook, which was not dissimilar to an archaeological field book, I was able to double check slides which caused issues when they were being entered into the museum’s database. One of the most common issues I encountered was where part of the writing on the slides was illegible, which I had to double check later on.
