BYU’s Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) hosted its second annual “Ghosts in the Archive” event to wrap up spooky season on Monday, Oct. 27.
The HBLL has hosted various events to publicly showcase its contents for BYU students, helping them broaden their research horizons.
Archives specialist Paulee Shakespear and Latter-day Saint collection assistant Bethany Budge teamed up to spotlight the haunting stories tucked away in Special Collections.
“It’s just a really fun way to engage with the campus community. Plus, October is Archives Month,” Shakespear said.
American Archives Month is regarded by the Society of American Archivists as well as the National Archives as a period to raise awareness about archival work.
“Since Halloween is during Archives Month, we thought we could create a spooky and ghostly atmosphere to introduce library goers to the Special Collections,” Budge said.
The inspiration for the “Ghosts in the Archive” event was the "Bakemono no e scroll" from 17th century Japan. "Bakemono no e," or "Illustrations of Supernatural Creatures," showcases a series of hand painted creatures from Japanese folklore and was acquired by the HBLL in 1952.
“This is an authentic scroll, our best guess is that it was from the 1600s, and it does look like it’s a patchwork. So it’s multiple scrolls put together,” Shakespear said.
Crowds piled around the scroll to catch glimpses of up to five supernatural creatures at a time. Shakespear masterfully rolled and unrolled its contents throughout the evening so that visitors could see as many of its creatures as possible.
Though the visitors were excited to interact with the scroll and other selected historic documents, each individual had to sanitize their hands upon entry. To ensure each document’s longevity, alcoholic wipes were administered to everyone to avoid natural oils damaging the materials.
“Visitors and students can see what resources they have available, that they can touch and hold and actually interact with,” Budge said.
Though the "Bakemono no e' scroll" was the centerpiece of the event, Shakespear and Budge made sure to pull out a wide selection of ghost stories. Visitors investigated and read out of books and files spanning from the Victorian era through to the early 21st century.
Since “Ghosts in the Archives” only took place on Monday evening, Shakespear and Budge provided programs and QR codes for visitors to get a basic overview of the selected stories.
“We just really want people to use this stuff and to understand that we want to support them in their research,” Budge said.
Shakespear and Budge also took on BYU sophomore and library employee, Abby Bates, to incorporate personal accounts from Special Collections.
Bates’ side of the room was filled with boxed files of oral accounts with the "other side." She classified her selected stories as folklore.
“I didn’t know much about folklore when I first came to BYU, but the more I learn about it, the more I incorporate it into my daily life. It’s all stories that are shared from person to person, not from books, but from word of mouth,” Bates said.
To keep in tradition with folkloric storytelling, Bates narrated some of her favorite stories by memory for each curious group that came by. Since the stories she selected were personal narratives, each group walked away with wide eyes and excited whispers.
“We specifically selected these stories for tonight because we actually have hundreds of documented folklore accounts at the library. So I worked with Paulee to pull out the stories that were specifically haunting,” Bates said.
The majority of the stories Bates and Shakespear selected were actually accounts from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of them were stories that had been passed down from generation to generation as well as firsthand accounts.
“I have been super interested in people’s spiritual experiences when they’re visited by spirits. I’ve also been interested in casting out demons, especially when sister missionaries do it. I was really into those stories,” Shakespear said.
Shakespear, Budge and Bates each put excitement and passion into “Ghosts in the Archive,” so visitors came and went with curiosity and smiles on their faces.
“I’m so excited that I get to share all these collections with the public. They don’t have to feel like these documents aren’t too precious to be touched. It’s really cool to see people interact with history and with ghosts,” Shakespear said.
Though “Ghosts in the Archive” and Archives Month has come and gone, everything featured is still available to view in the HBLL’s Special Collections.
