First Days

So, after an extended weekend of jetlag, errands, seeing friends, and getting the apartment (sort of) set up, and after a reinforcing morning cup of coffee, I made it back into the archives yesterday.

Now, don’t think that I just dove straight into the documents when I got there. I did not. Of course, the plan had been for last summer to be my suss-out-the-projects, locate what I needed, so I could jump right in. But what I discovered on that trip was that the project I was really excited about was going to take to long to be book #2, and the alternative was something I was unenthusiastic about. So that trip ended up being about gathering info for a project that is on the back burner – definitely simmering, but not going to be the first thing out the door.

So these first few days – this first week, in fact – is all about recon on the project idea that I finally decided on about two weeks before I left. And as far as reconaissance goes, it’s been pretty successful. I’ve been digging around in catalogues in two archives, and finding references to documents that I had missed the last time around.**

And there’s something good about recon, if you have the time: it’s a nice way to ease yourself into a work rhythm. I feel like this will be a successful trip.

**I even found document references to something that I’ve labled “Project Impossible”, because it’s a great idea, but there seem to be only a very few references. This is not even back-burner; it’s just a glimmer.