How Artist Collaborations Can Help Archives Bridge the Gaps at SAA/CoSA 2020

by Arabeth Balasko SAA 2020: Creating Our Future offered a wide array of sessions and stories featuring archivists from all walks of life sharing their talents, collective experiences, and applicable steps they have undertaken to foster an inclusive and diversified archival future.  A future that advocates and represents all voices, a future which encourages archivists …

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Foregrounding Underrepresented Communities at SAA/CoSA 2020

by Victoria Eastes The session “From the Margins to the Center: Foregrounding Underrepresented Communities and Revitalizing Mainstream Collections,” at the 2020 SAA/CoSA annual conference tackled the different ways archivists may work with donors and collections to ensure issues of diversity, inclusion, and openness of ideas remain at the forefront. Topics discussed ranged from how to …

Call for Nominations! Due June 1

The Human Rights Archives section is seeking candidates to run for the following positions to serve as part of the steering committee starting in August 2020.  Over the years the HRA has developed and matured. If elected to serve, your participation will be crucial to setting the goals and mission of the section. The estimated time commitment for …

Solidarity Across the Sector: StoryCorps Joins the Growing Number of Cultural Heritage Organizations to Unionize

StoryCorps is an American nonprofit founded in 2003 by David Isay with a mission to preserve and share the stories of people from all backgrounds. Modeled after the oral history projects conducted by the WPA in the 1930's, the organization places recording booths and facilitators in accessible spaces inviting individuals to engage in a recorded …

Bringing Archives to the Communities They Serve: Three Takes from the Association of Canadian Archivists conference

By Hilary Barlow At the Association of Canadian Archivists annual conference this past summer, three information professionals came together to present on the topic of culturally competent outreach and processing. The session, "Archives of the Marginalized: Working with Communities of Origin to Develop Appropriate Descriptive Records," covered vastly different collections, but the initiatives had more …

Inclusive Processing of Indigenous Collections at SAA/COSA 2019

By Carli Lowe When it comes to processing collections representing marginalized peoples, archivists must cultivate an understanding of the power of their role without letting that awareness immobilize their work. The session “Beyond Familiar Terms – Repairing Indigenous Collections through Inclusive Processing” at the Society of American Archivists annual conference sought to address this struggle. …

Human Rights Archives section 2019 election candidates

The 2019 election for the Human Rights Archives section of the Society of American Archivists has the following candidates running for these positions: 1 incoming co-chair position serving 2 years  4 steering committee member positions ech serving a 1 year term Ballots will be managed by SAA and distributed in mid-June to all SAA registered members. …

Today’s Political Challenges in Historical Context at the Organization of American Historians Conference

By Eira Tansey The Organization of American Historians (OAH) recently held its annual meeting in Philadelphia. I attended for the first time, since I was part of a panel on librarians, archivists, and historians speaking about “historical surprise” and the invisible labor of archivists and librarians in facilitating the work of historians. This was only …

Asylum Records Go Digital at the Society of North Carolina Archivists Conference

By Anna Smith “The Asylum, Actualized: Utilizing Public Records and Digital Humanities Tools to Illuminate the History of Mental Health Treatment in America,” presented at the Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA) 2019 Conference, described a current project of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Community Histories Workshop (CHW). The speakers walked the audience through the development of the …

Dispatch from the 2018 Community Informatics Research Network conference

By Itza A. Carbajal The ever changing nature of today’s information age presents both new and continued challenges for many of society’s most pressing issues. These issues—intertwined with the various technological innovations and proliferation of unified communication systems— obscure questions of identity, memory, accountability, and justice. The Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) conference held in …