And I can't really think of much that would change it.

Emma showed her face for the first time in 4 or 5 days. I had just started to head out when I spotted her. So I stopped the car, shut it down, then walked over to pet her and grab a bag of kitty bitties to remind her that this was food central.

Evidently she has found other sources. This could be anywhere a sweet face and a plaintive mew get some treats, to actually foraging for herself and perhaps dining on young mouse. (Better that than leaving it in pieces under the piano.)

She showed up again this evening when I was feeding the rest of the pride. I really need to put a flea collar on her with my phone number on it in magic marker. (And on the collars of the other cats that go outside.)

I'm starting to untangle the life of the person whose records I'm working on. I've got a file folder that is rapidly getting covered by small sticky notes with various "clues" regarding her marital/boyfriend status.

The last phase of processing a collection is to make an inventory list of the contents AND give a brief description. It's fine to get wordy, because the more relevant terms that are in the descriptions the more useful it is to a researcher.

A while back a woman was looking into the history of a local architect. In her search she ran across the last name. This was a relative of the first big individual collection that I processed.

She came to Newcomb and went through the file and was able to figure out a possible relationship. She left happy.

Therefore, I try to put as much information as possible into the description that goes into the computer.

How did we function before computers? And a generation from now, will people be asking the same question about their latest information storage and how their ancestors (us) ever managed? (In my college EE course we learned all about vacuum tubes. The transistor had been invented less than six years earlier.) Read speculative fiction, aka science fiction, for possibilities. And if past spec fiction and today's reality are massively different, just think how far off we probably are in our guesstimates of tomorrow.

Maybe tomorrow I'll figure out just when she divorced #1 husband, and when she met and married #2. And maybe I'll find out when #2 child was born--and who her father was. A few more significant dates to run across and I'll be able to guess pretty accurately whether it was same the as the first child.

Maybe tomorrow I'll find an answer.