User talk:Jpiegols14/sandbox

Article Evaluation
For notes on an article Jpiegols14 (talk) 17:14, 23 March 2018 (UTC)Jen

Overall, the article on Margaret Cross Norton has good foundations, but the language, grammar and content should be upgraded. It can be repetitive and vague, which is very distracting to the reader, and makes it hard to comprehend. The article seems to be neutral, yet makes a few assertions about the significance of her role in the archival world (without really saying how). I think the section headings could be improved and a better summary of her importance to the field highlighted. There also may be forms of plagiarism. One sentence in "Early Life" already deleted. From source http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/nortonbio.html. There aren't any talk page conversations happening and is part of multiple Wikiprojects. The information seems very basic and more biographical then focused on her accomplishments as an archivist.

Possible resource: Cook, Terry. "What is past is prologue: a history of archival ideas since 1898, and the future paradigm shift." Archivaria 42 (1997).

Early Life Additions
Margaret Cross Norton was born on July 7, 1891 to Samuel and Jennie Norton in Rockford, Illinois. Samuel worked as the deputy county clerk and Jennie was Winnebago County's deputy county treasurer. As the daughter of civil servants, Norton's childhood was spent listening to her parents discuss her father's work and her mother's bookkeeping suggestions. Norton later claimed that her archival philosophy was heavily influenced by her parent's work and household discussions.

Plan
-Check for other places of plagarism -insert a timeline of accomplishments -add to the side box -focus more on her influences in the archival field -add more information about her lasting legacy ie: Awards, the building dedication some of the wikilinks are non-existentJpiegols14 (talk) 16:08, 5 April 2018 (UTC)Jen

Early life
Margaret Cross Norton was born on July 7, 1891 to Samuel and Jennie Norton in Rockford, Illinois. Samuel worked as the deputy county clerk, and Jennie was Winnebago County's deputy county treasurer. As the daughter of civil servants, Norton was accustom to discussions between her parents on how best to execute their record keeping responsibilities. Her mother's bookkeeping skills and her father's references to the Illinois Revised Statuses helped Norton recognize the "practical and legal values of local government records. Norton later claimed that her archival philosophy was heavily influenced by her parent's work and household discussions.

Norton obtained her bachelor's and master's degree in History from the University of Chicago in 1913 and 1914, respectively. She then continued her education at the New York Library School in Albany, New York. After graduating with a Bachelor of Library Science in 1915, she worked as a cataloger for Vassar College Library in Poughkeepsie, New York. During this time, Norton attended an American Historical Association lecture by Waldo Gifford Leland, who emphasized the need for a national archives. While this lecture inspired Norton to pursue an archival career, she soon left her position at Vassar College to became a manuscripts assistant at the Indiana State Library in 1918. After working there a year, she returned to the University of Chicago to complete a fellowship, then again moved on to become a cataloger at the Missouri State Historical Society from 1920-1921. While working at the Missouri State Historical Society, Norton was offered the position of Illinois State Archivist. At the time she was just 30 years old.



Norton deterred her employment for four months to travel to the few archives that existed in the United States at the time. During her trip, she learned about the passive nature of the current American archives, and their practice to accept any records that were offered to their repository. In April 1922, she began her 35 year career as Illinois State Archivist. Within months of her starting at the State Archives, Norton traveled to the Mississippi Valley Historical Association's meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. While there, Norton visited Cassius Stiles, the agency head of the State Archives. Previously an administrative clerk, Stiles presented a new organization of record keeping. He arranged his collections by provenance and prepared administrative histories of each Iowa state department to aid in his work. A combination of this work style and Norton's early experience with public records aided in developing "her regard for the legal and administrative values of the records of government and the importance of their arrangement by source." The availability of Hilary Jenkinson's Manual of Archive Administration "also confirmed Norton's theories on the "utility of governmental records and the importance of provenance."