Recent posts from groups

Come join LAS for a Community Exchange open discussion about the LAS oral history series and the topic of Financial Records. Oral History There has been such a large show of interest in the LAS oral history series that we would like to give people a chance to discuss! Financial Records A recent LAS listserv discussion inspired the idea for this event. Should financial records be redacted? Should they even be included in the archive? Which records are benign and which are more sensitive?...
May 3, 2023   Solo Archivists Section
Do you have an interest in developing the solo archivist community, or know someone who would be an excellent leader? The Lone Arrangers Section calls on our membership for candidates to join our 2023–2025 leadership team! Email the LAS Chair and Vice-Chair to nominate yourself, a friend, or a colleague. The deadline for nominations in the 2023 election is 11:59 PM PST on Friday, May 26th.  We are looking for candidate nominations for the following positions:  The Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect (2-...
May 2, 2023   Solo Archivists Section
Did you miss the LAS "UnBOXed" events on April 20 or April 27?  Recordings are available below! These include section updates as well as presentations from Kristin Morris (Computer History Museum) and Cali Vance (The Bush School) on aspects of managing Oral History work. Part 1 UnBOXed: Oral History Projects for Solo Archivists Kristin Morris, SAA Oral History Section Steering Committee Member and Cisco Archivist at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, has spent 20 years as a...
May 2, 2023   Solo Archivists Section
Are you passionate about preservation and excited to share skills and knowledge with your colleagues? Would you like to get more involved with SAA and expand your leadership experience? Maybe it's time to help lead the Preservation Section!  We are seeking candidates for two positions:  Vice-Chair/Chair Elect  Member-At-Large  If you are interested in nominating yourself, or would like to nominate someone else, please send the name and a 4 or 5 sentence statement of interest/professional...
May 2, 2023   Preservation Section
The Military Archives Section WANTS YOU to join the Steering Committee (apologies to Uncle Sam)!  With a minimal monthly time commitment, you can develop your leadership skills and enhance your professional network of fellow archivists. The only requirement is that you are a member of SAA.    Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague for one of these positions: Vice-Chair/Chair Elect (2 year commitment, as Vice-Chair and Chair): Serves as acting chair in the absence of the chair...
May 1, 2023   Military Archives Section
You can make an impact by joining SAA's Accessioning, Acquisitions, and Appraisal (AA&A) Section by nominating yourself or recommending others for a leadership position on the AA&A Section Steering Committee. We are seeking individuals for the following three positions: (1) Vice Chair/Chair Elect (3-year commitment as Vice Chair, Chair, and Immediate Past Chair) (2) At-Large Members (2-year commitment) Steering committee members spend an average of a few hours per month working on...
SAA’s Description Section and the Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards recently completed a three-part webinar series on controlled vocabularies. The series' presentations focused on the purpose of data value standards, how to approach their usage, and the current encoding options in Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and Encoded Archival Context (EAC-CPF). Along with other technical aspects of their implementation, the sessions provided examples of the practical application of...
The Encoded Archival Standards (EAS) Section is seeking candidates for three positions: One co-chair for a two-year term (2023-2025) -- first year as junior co-chair and second year as senior co-chair Two Steering Committee members for a two-year term (2023-2025) We welcome early career candidates, as well as more seasoned archivists, including those who have held EAS Section leadership positions in the past. The time commitment for Steering Committee members is roughly 2-5 hours per month,...
  The Collection Management Section spring webinar on "Digital Records and Collection Management" was held on April 10th, 2023. If you missed the live presentation and would like to watch, you may request streaming access to the recording by emailing the section chair (2022-23) Rita Johnston, at ritajohnston@miami.edu.  Lara Friedman-Shedlov is the Digital Records Archivist for the Archives and Special Collections Department of the University of Minnesota Libraries. They will describe how they...
The final session of the SAA’s Description Section and the Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards webinar series on controlled vocabularies is today, April 12th, for North American audiences at 12 PM ET. This final session will present use cases for the application of controlled vocabularies in practice, for example with reparative description projects. It will also focus on options for selecting and revising controlled vocabulary terms in archival descriptions.  Speakers for...
  The CDTRWG welcomed Nicola Laurent (she/her) and Kirsten Wright (she/her) from the University of Melbourne to present "Understanding the Need for Trauma-Informed Practice in Archives" on Wednesday, June 28 at 11 a.m. Central Trime. This talk considered what trauma-informed archival practice is and why we need to implement the practice in archives. Nicola and Kirsten provided an overview of the 2022 survey Understanding the International Landscape of Trauma and Archives, which sought to obtain...
This spring the Lone Arranger Section is excited to host a two-part series on oral history for solo archivists! Be sure to register for both presentations!    Part 1  UnBOXed: Oral History Projects for Solo Archivists Kristin Morris, SAA Oral History Section Steering Committee Member and Cisco Archivist at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, has spent 20 years as a curator and collections manager in local history museums. Kristin will present on her experience getting oral history...
Apr 6, 2023   Solo Archivists Section
International Archival Affairs Section (IAAS) of the Society of American Archivists presents our April Archival Landscapes Seminar Kenya – Presented by Dr. Cleophas Ambira, ICA Africa Programme Thursday 13 April 2023, 9am Eastern  Register in advance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsf-GupjkjGtHTfnY1yb4eXSPcSLhqBfFi Dr. Ambira is the current Coordinator for the ICA Africa Programme and the chairman of Kenya Association of Records Managers and Archivists (KARMA). Dr. Ambira is a...
Catch up with this brief recap of our March 8th coffee chat with Julien Masanès, posted to the WAS Blog: Coffee Chat Recap with Julien Masanès – the Rise of Digital Collaboration Spaces and the Challenges for Archivists – Web Archiving Section (wordpress.com) A link to the recorded session is available via the blog post and will be live for 30 days.
Mar 13, 2023   Web Archiving Section
The first session of the SAA’s Description Section and the Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards webinar series on controlled vocabularies is this week, on Wednesday, March 15 at 9 AM CET. This initial session will give an overview of how controlled terms are used in archival description and will provide recommendations and case studies on selecting vocabularies.    Speakers for this week's session include:    ·       Kerstin Arnold (Archives Portal Europe) ·      ...
The Spring 2023 issue of SOLO, the newsletter of the Lone Arrangers Section, is now available. This issue includes updates and reflections from LAS members as well as the results of the 2022–2023 member survey. Read all past issues of SOLO on our Newsletter page. Have an experience or idea you would like to share with your fellow solo archivists? Send submissions for the next issue of SOLO to lonearrangersectionsaa@gmail.com.
Mar 2, 2023   Solo Archivists Section
In this talk Kostas Arvanitis, Anne Eyre and Jen Kavanagh talk about a guide for archiving disaster support group records, which is designed for professionals and support groups. The guide is the outcome of a relevant project, which was funded by the University of Manchester, UK. From January to August 2022, a team of collective trauma and heritage consultants and academic researchers worked with members of the September 11 UK Families Support Group (S11UKFSG) in understanding and articulating...
  SAA’s Description Section and the Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards invite you to a three-part webinar series on controlled vocabularies. This series will review the purpose of data value standards, how to approach their usage, and the current encoding options in Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and Encoded Archival Context (EAC-CPF). Along with other technical aspects of their implementation, the sessions will provide examples of the practical application of controlled...
The Oral History Practitioner Worker-led Survey & Solidarity Project has launched its Oral History Worker Survey, which is collecting responses from all cultural workers who have been engaged in some form of oral history work anytime within the last five years. Oral history work can include interviewing, transcribing, using oral histories for research or teaching, or developing programs or artwork that engage with oral histories. The survey is collecting data in order to support oral...
Feb 15, 2023   Oral History Section
The Winter 2022 Newsletter includes: A letter from the current MAS Chair and other MAS news, including a feature for the new book Museum Archives! Internship Profile featuring Gillian Ferguson at the Cleveland Museum of Art News from the Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit by Amy M. Johnson A report from the MoMA Archives backlog project about processing the MoMA Retail Catalogues by Rachel Garbade A report on processing the Lear Papers  at the Museum of Flight by Jenn Parent
Feb 13, 2023   Museum Archives Section
Please join us on Feb. 1, 11:00 am CT (US and Canada) for a discussion with Riley Linebaugh and James Lowry on “Archival History and Colonial Afterlives.”   Linebaugh and Lowry will build on their award-winning article “The Archival Colour Line: Race, Records and Post-Colonial Custody” to share their progress along two related but distinct lines of enquiry related to Jenkinson, British archival thought and its participation in global colonialism. Linebaugh will historicize Jenkinson's biography...
Jan 25, 2023   Archival History Section
Please mark your calendars! Our 2022 Annual Meeting, organized jointly with the Web Archiving Section, will take place online on August 11, 2:00 pm ET/1:00 pm CT/11:00 PT. Registration is now open. There is a lineup of three presentations that connect the sections’ activities: 1) Contemporary Composers Web Archive: Kathleen DeLaurenti, Director, Peabody Institute Arthur Friedheim Library; Miranda Siler, Web Collection Librarian, Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation 2) 10 Hairy Legs Dance Company...
Jan 23, 2023   Performing Arts Section
Guest blogger Daniela Major discusses collaboration and fostering connecting in this week's post, "It Takes a Village to Raise and Archive: How the Use of Web Sources Fosters Collaboration."  Daniela Major is an Early Stage Researcher in Digital Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, where she is working on a PhD project on the Media coverage of the European Union. Previously, she studied history and worked as a researcher at Arquivo.pt, the Portuguese Web Archive. She is very interested...
Jan 18, 2023   Web Archiving Section
A recap of our facinating December Coffee Chat with Dr. Ian Milligan is now live on our blog. Read more about Dr. Milligan's efforts to make web archives easier for historians and researchers to use.
Jan 11, 2023   Web Archiving Section
The Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards (TS-EAS), in collaboration with the Encoded Archival Standards Section Steering Committee, is excited to share the recordings of two webinars held in November 2022 that introduce the new version of the EAC-CPF standard.   Encoded Archival Context - Corporate bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF) is an international standard maintained by SAA for encoding contextual information about persons, corporate bodies, and families related to...