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This page contains information about and, when available, materials from sessions endorsed by the Archivists and Archives Roundtable at SAA Annual Meetings
Jennifer Betts, Brown University; Amy Schindler, The College of William and Mary; Donnelly Watson, University of Alabama
During the last decade, several American universities have undertaken formal efforts to document and study their relationships with slavery and racial discrimination. Archival material, the work of archivists, and the creation of new material for university archives have played prominent roles in university projects, which include courses, increased community outreach, public apologies, publications, and research. These multifaceted projects continue to explore the historical and moral questions raised for the institutions.
Session Materials
Jennifer Betts, "Rhode Island Slavery and the University"
Slides
Amy Schindler, "From the Archives to the Community: William & Mary's Lemon Project"
Paper
Aaisha Haykal, Chicago State University; Eugenia Kim; Mark A. Puente, Association of Research Libraries
Each year, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) holds a Leadership Symposium for MLIS students to discuss the meaning of diversity in information environments. This special focus session reproduces that experience through small and large group discussions on such topics as redefining the meaning of "diversity" and student outreach through diversity initiatives. Participants expect to develop strategies for fostering diversity within archival environments, design mentorship models, and form a peer network for future collaborations.
Session Materials
Florante Peter Ibanez, Loyola Law School; Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada, Palos Verdes Library District; Ellen-Rae Cachola, University of California, Los Angeles; Elnora Kelly Tayag, California State University, Channel Islands; Anne J. Gilliland, University of California Los Angeles
This roundtable discussion introduces attendees to the emerging movement within the Asian and Pacific Islander communities to preserve our collective memory and decolonize our histories. Just as conventional archival practices have marginalized Asian/Pacific Islander American experiences as well as other histories of peoples of color, so internally have our own understandings of community history and culture been framed by what others have written and archived about us. How can we collectively re-affirm and preserve our own memories beyond traditional professional record practices to facilitate renewed understanding of our collective past, undistorted by others myopic visions? Join this lively discussion of collecting Asian Pacific Islander America beyond borders, in our own voices, and into the future.
Session Materials
Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada, "Hawaiians in Los Angeles"
Slides | Paper
Marisol Ramos, University of Connecticut; Amalia Skarlatou Levi, University of Maryland; Carolina A. Villarroel, University of Houston; Ann M. Massmann, University of New Mexico
Diasporic groups are leaving their marks in the United States through their community centers and archives or by joining the archives community as archivists. In the process, they are changing the practice of archives itself. The speakers address the impact of minority archivists and diasporac collections on our profession and challenge the concept of what Diasporas are in the archival context.
Kerrie Cotten Williams, Auburn Avenue Research Library; Wesley J. Chenault, Virginia Commenwealth University; Erika B. Castano, University of Arizona; Krystal Appiah; Steven D. Booth, National Archives and Records Administration
The panelists describe mentoring and internship programs at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History (Atlanta), Simmons College (Boston), and the Special Collections Department at the University of Arizona. This group of professional archivists and a graduate student intern discuss how these internship programs intersect with the Society of American Archivists' Strategic Priorities, which include promoting and fostering diversity within the profession.
Walter B. Hill, Jr., National Archives and Records Administration; Lisha Penn, National Archives and Records Administration; Cynara Robinson, National Archives and Records Administration; Trichita Chestnut, National Archives and Records Administration
What role did the federal government play in the civil rights movement? This session focuses on federal records relating to the major court cases that led to the Brown vs Board of Education decision, investigations into voting rights abuses, the outbreak of race riots from 1964 to 1974, and the FBI and Justice Department investigations into the murders of Emmitt Till and James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.
James F. Cartwright, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Helen Wong Smith, University of Hawaii at Hilo; Alex Lorch, Virginia Commonwealth University; Kären M. Mason, University of Iowa; C. Raymond LeFever, New York State Archives
The speakers describe three current outreach programs directed to underserved communities: One that teaches basic care of treasured family, personal, and cultural records to people who have had no training but are caring for records; a second that documents efforts to preserve and make accessible the records of the Queer community of Richmond and central Virginia; and a third that addresses the Mujeres Latinas Project at the University of Iowa.