by

MONIQUE BOURQUE

and

R. JOSEPH ANDERSON

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This guide owes its existence to staff, trustees, volunteers, students, community members, and researchers who have worked together over the past twenty-one years to collect and preserve a remarkable variety of manuscript and microfilm collections. We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed to developing the resources that are described here. We also wish to recognize and thank the William Penn Foundation, which supported the publication of the guide.

All of the members of the library staff have contributed their skills and hard work to the guide. Head cataloger Sheila Walker has been a knowledgeable guide to bibliographic standards and language, as well as the most indefatigable of all of the proofreaders. Reference Librarian Patricia Proscino Lusk selected and prepared most of the photographs in the guide and has performed many other tasks .as well. Temple University student Ken Giese, who has worked in the archives for the past two years, prepared the descriptions for photograph collections. Cataloging assistant Grazyna Tomera and her successor, Ewa Dzurak have been our authorities for Polish and other Slavic languages, as well as painstaking proof readers. Field archivists Margo Szabunia and Sandy Van Doren have been responsible for acquiring a significant number of the collections described here, and they have also helped with collection descriptions and other work. Secretaries Charmaine Willis and Terri Snavely have entered and re-entered data as we have made the sometimes unsteady transition from the library's IBM system to the printer's Macintosh.

In addition to current staff, the individuals who have worked in the Balch Library over the last two decades are also responsible for the collections that are described here. We are grateful to all of them, and we especially want to thank former library directors Phillip Mooney and Roy H. Tryon, Jr., and former archives staff Robyn Stone, Shawn Weldon, Judith Felsten, Susan McKinney, David Sutton, and Carla Zimmerman.

Many other people have also contributed to this publication. Donna Giannola has produced an attractive graphic design that enhances the text, and she has been a friendly and reliable resource in turning rough text into a published volume. Museum designer Steven Tucker has given us ongoing advice and support as we have encountered successive computer problems; museum director Gail Stern has shared her knowledge and experience with similar publications; and Rebecca J. Siders at the Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering, University of Delaware, has provided moral support and technical advice. We also wish to thank M. Mark Stolarik, who was president of the Balch Institute when the guide was begun, and the current president, John Tenhula, for their support and encouragement.

R. Joseph Anderson, Library Director

Monique Bourque, Archivist

© 1992 The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies
All Rights Reserved