Progress

I have settled into a nice routine at the National Library, and I am enjoying the stability and comfort that comes with a regular schedule. I am starting to feel more settled in Santiago, and have even reverted to some of my old New York ways -- especially when navigating sidewalks and crossing streets in this rather crazy city. After over three years in California, it feels very strange to see this side of my personality come out again.

I have found some interesting documents over the last few days. Mostly I have been going through the official Boletín of the 1875 Exposition. This book is over 1000 pages long, and since only about 10-15% of it is related to my project, I have mostly been scanning it’s pages for relevant information. The Boletín contains all meeting notes and some correspondence of the exposition’s head administrators, from 1873 through 1875. However, aside from following a loose chronological order, it is not really organized in any identifiable way; so, information about music (and the women’s commission) is sandwiched between lots of discussions of mineral and machinery exhibits, among other stuff. I’ve gotten through almost all of the book, and will hopefully finish up with it tomorrow. It’s provided me with several leads that I am hoping to chase down in other sources.

I have also looked at and photographed several visitors’ accounts of the exposition, which were published and should hopefully prove useful later on.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get started in the historical newspaper collection, a project which should last several days. I also need to spend at least a few days in the National Archives, where there are more official records, advertisements, and other documents for me to look at.

I am feeling less lonely and disconnected today, probably because I made a friend at the library yesterday! Struggling yet again to communicate with the librarian, I finally sucked up my pride and asked the woman next to me if she spoke English. She did, and she translated what he was telling me.

It turns out that she is a graduate student in history from Germany and she is working on her dissertation too! Our research interests are similar, so we had lots to chat about over coffee this afternoon. It is nice to have a friend.

I also had a much easier time with communication at the library today. There is an older woman who works in the Sala de Investigadores and today most of my interactions were with her. Thankfully, I find her much easier to understand than the other librarian. My friend also told me that the other librarian does indeed have a very thick Chilean accent, which is likely the reason that I can’t understand a word he says to me.

On Friday I am meeting with a Professor of Musicology at the Universidad Católica, which should be interesting. He works (more or less) on the same time period as me. Finally, next week I am hoping to visit the Archive of Chilean Popular Music. There is a lot to do in the next two weeks!

One final note: I really miss my California cuisine. Could someone please send me 1) some tofu 2) my pressure cooker 3) real coffee 4) soymilk 5) fruit or vegetable juice without sweeteners?
 

El Mercado Central

@ Mercado Central -- Notice my unfortunate sunburn

Chilean Sea Bass -- my lunch on Sunday