Preparing for my Yale research trip!

I'm going to Yale!  For the day!  To do research in their libraries.  Here is the behind-the-scenes account of my preparation.

Family member name: Morse family
Years of life:  1760s - 1880s

Places lived: New Haven, Connecticut

Tree branch: Titus
Relation: My 4x great-grandmother's cousins 

I think we have established that I love libraries.  Also I enjoy doing research.  Although most of the family history research I do is sitting at my little computer in the corner of my bedroom or on my iPad Mini lying down on the couch.  Both of those are great.  Also, I read a lot of history books that I check out from my awesome local library.  Shout out to real paper books!

But guess what? I'm going to go hold some original research material in my hot little hands.

Why Yale?

I have wanted to visit Yale for a long time.  I've heard that their art museum is fantastic.  But also I've wanted to walk around the town and campus because two or more of my relatives attended Yale University back in the day. 

* Jedidiah Morse, Jr. graduated from Yale in 1783.  He is my 5th great-granduncle.

* Samuel F. B. Morse (yes, of Morse code fame) graduated Yale in the Class of 1810.  He is my 1st cousin 6x removed.  Jedidiah's son.

For years, I've wanted to just stroll the grounds of their alma matter to walk in their footsteps.  

So why not combine the trip?  Stroll and research is a good combo.

The Legitimate Red Tape

I didn't really expect this part of the preparation to necessarily be easy, but I guess I expected something more straightforward. 

 

I’m hoping to consult five specific research items.  So here's what you have to do:

1. Create an account with Yale Libraries.  Check!

2. Search for your items.  Check!

3. Submit a request for the items to be available on your specified date.  Um, kind of check.

All of this is very reasonable since most manuscripts and archives just aren't out on shelves for the public to put their oily hands on.  They are in climate-controlled, acid-free storage units either behind locked doors or off-site.

I'm only hoping to consult five items.  All of my items were listed as available. The challenge hasn’t been access, but logistics. 

The Logistical Challenge

Yale has about 10 libraries.  So my logical question was, Can I read them all at the same library?

Answer: No.

* Two items will be at Sterling Memorial Library 

* One can be requested to Sterling even though it’s also associated with the Beinecke Library (request for Sterling in progress)

* One item is housed at the Divinity Library (which I hadn’t considered visiting). 

* The final item should also be available at Sterling — except the website keeps throwing an error when I try to submit

To keep all of this straight, I had to make a spreadsheet. But I’m not sad about that.

And More Challenges

But also, is it wrong to expect the website of one of the world's finest universities to actually work?  Since my day job involves software User Experience, I was quite disappointed.  My quality assurance tests did not pass.

Don't get me wrong, their website looks great. It just doesn't work for me.  I can't request that 5th item and now I can't even log in.  Didn't expect to spend my lunch hour on the phone with Eric, the Yale IT guy who tried to help but nothing worked.

All requests need to be submitted 48-hours ahead and we’re cutting it close. 

Will be such a shame if I can’t access one particular book just because of a computer glitch. Let’s hope a helpful librarian can come to the rescue.

Stay tuned!

Sources:

Yale Library

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library