Golden Griffin’s Weblog

Sonya Lovine, graduate student intern

Hello!  My name is Sonya Lovine. I started my internship with the CSUS Special Collections department at the beginning of this spring semester. I’ll be doing a research project on digitization for preservation and access grants, learning what grants are out there and what digital projects have been funded, studying the Basil J. Vlavianos collection, and finally, making recommendations of grant possibilities for this collection with intentions of helping the department submit future grant proposals. In addition, I’ll also be learning the basics of using digital technologies to preserve and provide better access to digital collections. I’ll have my work cut out for me!

A little bit about me ~ I’m a part-time grad student at Sacramento State University in the Public History program. This is my third semester in grad school. I also work as a Sponsored Research Officer in the Research Administration office here at Sacramento State and have worked for the University now for just over 20 years.

archival intern, Michelle Wallen with correspondence sorting project

My name is Michelle Wallen and I started working on the Basil J. Vlavianos Project about 3 weeks ago. I am a graduate student in my second semester in the California State University, Sacramento Public History program. I am studying to become an archivist in the future.

My work on the Vlavianos collection involves arranging the correspondence series. The correspondence spans his entire life and covers many different topics. Some of it is personal, between Vlavianos and his family members or close friends. Some of it is business related. Much of it is both. Vlavianos had many friends and often his incoming and outgoing letters include both business talk and personal information.

One of the most prominent figures to send Vlavianos a letter was FDR. Roosevelt wrote to him during his presidency to let Vlavianos know how much the American people cared for Greece, the birthplace of democracy.

However, I find the personal correspondence between close friends and family members to be the most interesting. Drawings from his grandchild or a letter from a destitute woman living in Greece begging for monetary assistance for her starving family can be quite touching.

The correspondence was arranged by Vlavianos into decades, years, alphabetical by sender (or recipient), subject, and even months within years. Although much of this has been straightforward and easy to categorize, but there are also several folders of completely miscellaneous correspondence. That will be more of a challenge!

My name is Despina M. Kreatsoulas and I am a graduate student in the California State University, Sacramento Public History program. I am also a first generation Greek-American, my father was born and raised in Chios, Greece. I received my bachelor’s degree this past spring (2008) in Hellenic Studies. My main areas of interest and focus are World War II and Civil War era in Greece, as well as the history and folklore of the island of Chios.

I am very excited to be working on the Basil J. Vlavianos Project this semester and am looking forward to learning more about Basil J. Vlavianos. Though I am particularly excited to see the boxes regarding the Greek American War Relief Association, I must say that each box I have worked with so far in the academic and legal series, have been a treasure trove. Correspondence from prominent Americans and Europeans, bits of paper with reflections or poetry, academia and law code. It gives just a bit more of an insight into the life of this incredibly intellectual, diverse, and influential man.

Golden Griffin logo. Designed by Czech graphic designer, Ladislav Sutnar

My name is David Lushbaugh and I am an archival intern working as part of the Basil J. Vlavianos Papers processing team. Currently I am surveying and analyzing the Business Series (approximately 25 linear feet) with an eye toward an arrangement scheme involving 5 to 6 subseries detailing the various companies with whom Vlavianos was affiliated. Although the bulk of the series deals, in one form or another, with international trade (air and sea freight, exporting and importing), a large portion of it reflects Vlavianos’s interest in and involvement with real estate, banking and the film industry. Despite its rather unromantic sounding title, the Business Series provides valuable insight into the early expansion of international industrial trade, and the subsequent economic boom of Europe and the United States post WWII. With each dusty box lid removed something unexpected and exciting is revealed, so stay tuned.

Sheila O' Neill

Hi, I’m Sheila O’Neill and I’m Head of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at the University Library, California State University Sacramento.  Over the past year and a half, I have had the great pleasure of working with a wonderful team of students who have been processing the Basil Vlavianos papers at California State University, Sacramento.  The processing project began in 2007 when a then shy and extremely reclusive graduate student in the Public History Program requested work as an intern in the department.   I thought to myself, this young man needs some excitement in his life and nothing would be finer than to send this shy lad on a trip across time and space, into the world of mid-20th century Europe hurling at a break neck speed toward World War II.   To become engulfed in the chaos of the past and yet to push beyond the darkness and into the light – one series at a time – that is the stuff of archival joy.  Bravo AR!