Frank Lucero, I forgive you!
Archivist Gwen give us a peek at the inner workings of an Archivist at the National Archives: I run across a lot of sticky and sharp things in the records as I’m working on them. That is not new. But, this summer, while working on Navajo records, I ran across an excess of nail-sized pins in the records - starting in about 1931.
While we don’t remove all fasteners from records we are describing, these necessitated removal due to their medieval size and veracity! They were huge (as straight pins go) and there was an excessive amount of them. Someone clearly liked these pins. It isn’t unusual for processing archivists to shake their fists at past record-keepers, we do it all the time, but this time...I was able to put a name to the culprit!
I found a circular letter from the Office of Indian Affairs that listed the “Organization of Clerical Personnel.” According to it, the Junior Clerk at the agency was responsible for files! The Junior Clerk was responsible for these swords disguised as paper fasteners! And, indeed, in the personnel records for the agency, was the record for the Junior Clerk of the Eastern Navajo Agency, Mr. Frank Lucero! And in this record, he admitted to assisting with “property and files - ADMITTED IT!
It is rare to be able to discover the identities of civil servants who have committed archival crimes against the records we process every day. This time I did. However, since the offenses were committed prior to the establishment of the National Archives in 1934, and Frank likely never received any information in his career about why he should not stab his records, I must forgive. I forgive you, Frank Lucero!
Series: Central Classified Files, 1908-1944. Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1989. (National Archives Identifier 295072)
