This is a blog post by the Society of American Archivists that could be helpful to genealogists with Scottish roots:
In celebration of our 50th anniversary year, the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library is pleased to announce the launch of the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives’ first publicly available archives catalog. The Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives is one of the premier repositories in the United States for the study of American Freemasonry and fraternalism.
Although the Library has had an online catalog since 2001, the Archives only had an internal database which required users to contact the archivist to discover relevant archival material. For the past two years, our team, including Sarah H. Shepherd, Archivist; Linda Woodland, Assistant Archivist; and Jeff Croteau, Director of Library & Archives, has been hard at work merging two internal legacy databases. Utilizing ArchivesSpace, hosted by LibraryHost, the Archives’ new online catalog will increase both the accessibility and discoverability of our collections. The catalog currently contains records for approximately one-third of our collection, with new records being added daily.
We encourage potential researchers to search our catalogs, read more about the Library & Archives collections, or contact Library & Archives staff to see whether we have material relevant to their research. Library & Archives staff can suggest approaches, sources, and can often answer basic reference questions. In-depth questions often require an on-site visit.
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Sarah Shepherd
Archivist
Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library
Arlington MA
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