A few weeks ago I was working on KCB’s letters and notecards when I discovered that a letter in the binder wasn’t on the pink sheet inventory.

The pink inventory list has been my master list of letters from the LOC. I think I created it back in 2002 after a trip to Washington. Probably after I discovered I could photocopy the letters. I needed to know what I had and also know what I still needed to get on future trips. For my next trip, I printed it out on pink paper.

So right after Thanksgiving, I started the inventory. I worked between the photocopies in the binders, the transcribed copies in the container files, and the limited list in the finding aid. I finished just the other day. I worked on my inventory during my lunch break at work. I worked on it in the morning before work and at night after work. I worked on it on the weekend. I took the project to Vicksburg and Chattanooga. I was obsessed. But it’s done!

587 letters from 12 different LOC containers. 215 photocopied. 203 transcribed. 113 transcribed and photocopied. 169 noted but not photocopied or transcribed.