(no subject)

[stormdog]

With my work for the day done at the archives, I have time to look for the first time at a collection I asked to be transferred here from Madison. A few moments ago, I was holding in my hands the notebooks that Joshua Hathaway used when he made the initial government survey of Wisconsin Territory in 1835. I've looked at photocopies of his notes and maps, seen a picture of his face, and gotten a sense of the information here. Yet, and perhaps because of that existing time I spent learning about this person and his work, I feel a much stronger establishment of an emotional connection than I expected as I open and page through these little books of field notes. It's irrational, but I feel more connected to him as a person for having seen these notes, even if some of them, as noted on the covers, are later (though still hand-written) copies.

How strange and wonderful, the meanings and connections that can come to be embodied in such utilitarian things.