As a child, Melissa Mannon loved the smell of old books, organizing clipped magazine articles about her favorite stars, and hearing family stories from her mom while the two looked through family memorabilia. Today, Melissa Mannon has turned her passion for historical items and organization into a business that assists others who want to preserve and sort their cherished family materials.
"I feel a deep connection to the past and want to help others save and appreciate their family heritage and deepen their sense of community," she says.
Melissa Mannon is a seasoned information professional with over fifteen years of experience in the archives, library and museum fields, promoting collaboration among repositories and the proper management of information resources. She began her consulting business, Archives and Information Management Services, in 2000 to assist people with the care of their archives, personal papers, active records and memorabilia. She helps both organizations and individuals by inventorying, preserving, organizing, and describing their materials.
She passionately describes her interests. "Most of us have items in our home that are not only personal historical treasures, but are also valuable to local history. I have worked with many cultural heritage organizations, such as libraries, museums and archives that have personal papers that came from local families. Materials such as diaries, family photos, and correspondence shed light on what it was like to live in a community at a particular time. Everyone has played a part in history and it is fun to think about where our family fits in the bigger picture."
Melissa Mannon holds a Master of Science degree in Library Science with honors with a specialization in Archives Management from Simmons College and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History, magna cum laude, from the University of New Hampshire. Her training and experience have involved working with broad ranges of historical items from gravestones to personal papers, to works of fine art.
Melissa first thought she would become a curator or museum educator and was the first student to curate a show at the UNH Art Gallery. She recalls, "My museum studies mentor realized that I had more fun doing research in the University Archives than working with the fine art. She was the one who suggested that I pursue a career in archives." Melissa fondly remembers her days in Durham and laughs about her studies. "As a junior or senior, I received a stipend from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities program to study the imagery on gravestones. My then boyfriend (who was a business major and is now my husband) traveled by train with me up and down the coast of Massachusetts and New Hampshire to visit graveyards in our spare time. I'm sure some would find this quite strange, but one can learn a lot about history from a gravestone."
Melissa has helped many people preserve the items in their care to ensure that they are available to future generations. She greatly enjoys the process of organizing and loves the sense of discovery she can share with her clients. She explains, "Part of the work of an archivist involves what we call 'processing' a collection. This entails sifting through papers to see if there is any organization to them and noting any damage to materials. An archivist will than arrange, describe and preserve a collection. During processing, we gain a good historical sense of a person, family, or locality from the information in the records. It is a bit like a puzzle and sometimes I bring information to a person about which he was unaware."
As a case in point, she describes a collection on which she worked in her first full-time job as the archivist at the Waltham Public Library in Massachusetts. "An elderly gentleman brought in a box of papers. He told me that his father had been town historian and perhaps I'd want some of the records that had been sitting in his attic. While processing the box, I found a letter written by Thomas Jefferson. He wrote about ordering wood for building what I presumed after a little research to be for his original Monticello home. The donor had no idea he owned this piece of history, but said one of his ancestors worked for the federal government way back when and maybe this is how the item got there."
Melissa wants to encourage everyone to get materials out of old shoeboxes and properly store them with archival materials purchased from a reputable supplier. She says, "You should take care of your history and who knows? You never know what gem you may have in your personal collection that is buried in your piles. At the very least, you'll feel like you have a better understanding of your items, maybe even a better understanding of your family, and certainly better control of your clutter."
Melissa has worked as a staff member in record centers, libraries, archives, and museums. She enjoys working with records of all sorts, including those without historical import. "I have organized digital files, made indices for law records in a firm in downtown Boston, and surveyed government records for local towns and cities. I have straightened people's messy closets and desks." She laughs, "I guess I don't mind doing the paper sorting that so many others hate to do. I find it kind of relaxing. I've been known to get so completely absorbed in a pile of messy papers that I sometimes don't hear when people are trying to talk to me. In my early career, my internship director at the Museum of Fine Arts would laugh at me because I'd never respond to her when I was deeply involved with my work."
Along with her consulting, Melissa Mannon is a published book author, an enthusiastic speaker, and educator. She writes and presents on a broad range of topics related to securing our cultural heritage, archives and records management. Her web site provides more details about her services and experience at www.archivesinfo.com.