Special Collections Internship at the University of Central Florida
Week 8 Putting Together All Gathered Information
Connecting the Dots!
Today is a successful day. I finished looking and organizing the 12 boxes of this collection. I have learned a lot in understanding the process of archiving new materials. I learned that it is tedious work in the archiving business, especially when I dealt with another language and I was the only one who could understand it. It helps when you are stuck and can ask someone for reference or to double check your findings, but in this case, I was on my own for the most part when it came to understanding the Spanish language. I did have my family that I asked for help in deciphering what the cursive word was in the primary source, for instance; however, it was up to me to do the task well and make sure I translate what the boxes contained so when other reviewers review them again they will know what each box contains.
I am now working on Jose Guerra Alemán's biography. I am taking the primary sources I have found and the biographies found in his published texts to create a few pages long of who he is, what he has done, and where he is from. As I am writing his biography, I was trying to find his death certificate so I can get an exact date. Earlier, I found on Facebook his son, Carlos Guerra, where he made a comment on his father's death. The post was dated February 27, 2013, so on Ancestry.com, I found a U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 under his name that dated February 22, 2013. This has a higher possibility of his death date because it was close to when his son posted it on Facebook. It is amazing how social media can help with one's research.
My next step is getting an interview with Carlos, his son. I formulated some questions I would like that he would answer. I want him to expand on his father's involvement in the company called CINEPERIODICO and his involvement as Senior Vice President in Guastella Film Producers INC. I would like him to share what he knows about his father's experience at the mountain tops of the Sierra Maestra where he was face to face with the leaders named Castro and Che. I want to know his personal thoughts of his father and what he knew of his great-grandfather, Jose Braulio Alemán, especially his story of the different women in his life and Carlos' feelings of such a big family. I want to finally confirm Jose Guerra Alemán's death date.
I almost forgot another question I want to ask him. I would like to know Jose Guerra Alemán's experience in the army. As the description from the photo of Pepín seen from below (Fig. 1), he still was in the military at Fort Dix, Burlington County, New Jersey in the Delaware region on October of 1946. Here in the photo shows when he finished his training. He was a part of the 8th Army (Octavo Ejército) of EE.UU. He covered the campaign of the Pacific as the 35th Division of Infantry (35 División de Infantería) called División Relámpago (Thunderstorm Division).
Connecting the Dots!
Today is a successful day. I finished looking and organizing the 12 boxes of this collection. I have learned a lot in understanding the process of archiving new materials. I learned that it is tedious work in the archiving business, especially when I dealt with another language and I was the only one who could understand it. It helps when you are stuck and can ask someone for reference or to double check your findings, but in this case, I was on my own for the most part when it came to understanding the Spanish language. I did have my family that I asked for help in deciphering what the cursive word was in the primary source, for instance; however, it was up to me to do the task well and make sure I translate what the boxes contained so when other reviewers review them again they will know what each box contains.
I am now working on Jose Guerra Alemán's biography. I am taking the primary sources I have found and the biographies found in his published texts to create a few pages long of who he is, what he has done, and where he is from. As I am writing his biography, I was trying to find his death certificate so I can get an exact date. Earlier, I found on Facebook his son, Carlos Guerra, where he made a comment on his father's death. The post was dated February 27, 2013, so on Ancestry.com, I found a U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 under his name that dated February 22, 2013. This has a higher possibility of his death date because it was close to when his son posted it on Facebook. It is amazing how social media can help with one's research.
My next step is getting an interview with Carlos, his son. I formulated some questions I would like that he would answer. I want him to expand on his father's involvement in the company called CINEPERIODICO and his involvement as Senior Vice President in Guastella Film Producers INC. I would like him to share what he knows about his father's experience at the mountain tops of the Sierra Maestra where he was face to face with the leaders named Castro and Che. I want to know his personal thoughts of his father and what he knew of his great-grandfather, Jose Braulio Alemán, especially his story of the different women in his life and Carlos' feelings of such a big family. I want to finally confirm Jose Guerra Alemán's death date.
I almost forgot another question I want to ask him. I would like to know Jose Guerra Alemán's experience in the army. As the description from the photo of Pepín seen from below (Fig. 1), he still was in the military at Fort Dix, Burlington County, New Jersey in the Delaware region on October of 1946. Here in the photo shows when he finished his training. He was a part of the 8th Army (Octavo Ejército) of EE.UU. He covered the campaign of the Pacific as the 35th Division of Infantry (35 División de Infantería) called División Relámpago (Thunderstorm Division).
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| Fig. 1. Jose Guerra Alemán as WWII soldier. (Courtesy of Central Florida Special Collections and Jose Guerra Alemán's son.) |
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