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28 October 2016
Attending: Alison, Anke, Ashley, Jillian, Lori, Jillian
Absent: Elisa, Rory, Sean
*Feedback about the section meeting. People enjoyed the discussion of the book, liked the interactive aspect. They felt they learned things from the discussion as well as the panelists.
*Microsite housekeeping. Jackie will do an initial clean-up of the site and ask Matt Black if there are analytics for the microsites. Anke will upload the annual reports that she has in her possession, she’ll revise the Section’s bylaws, and upload a printer friendly version of the bylaws. Alison will monitor the site.
*Changes to affinity groups. When will we expect increased membership? Can we find a set date for the opening of affinity groups? We’d like to do a survey then. Jackie will investigate emails and/or check in with Michelle.
*Tool for deciphering handwriting. Various issues were discussed including how it could be difficult to compile lots of examples of handwriting in one place; if it would be better to have a print or electronic resource; the fact that deciphering handwriting takes time even for those who have experience with it; and deciphering handwriting is part of the research process in general.
We concluded that the problem is is not that K-12 and undergrad students (and others) can’t decipher handwriting, but that it is intimidating at first. The Rubenstein Library’s “How to Be a Super Archival Researcher” solves a similar problem—making archival research less intimidating. http://rubensteinlibrary.tumblr.com/post/142804696445/want-to-be-a-super-archival-researcher-check-out
This is a good model for us. We propose making a cheat sheet for handwriting: something that we could put together and have available to print out. Our goal would be to have it be easy-to-digest (many of the existing resources we looked at were not very user friendly) and researchers could print it and keep it with them as they worked with manuscripts.
The tool could become part of the currently in-progress TPS resource bank. We could begin to think about what kinds of things we want to convey in the tool. We may want to have an online component with practice tests—a script could be presented with the opportunity to translate it. We also want to think about gearing this tool to all kinds of researchers, not just students, since many grapple with reading handwriting in their archival research endeavors.
We’d like to collaborate with other sections and groups as appropriate on this project. To that end, we’ll draft an email to send to our section membership and leaders of the following groups:
Our goal here is to see if anyone else is developing tools for handwriting, gauge interest in the project, and see who might like to partner with us. We’ll draft the email collaboratively and aim to have it ready to send by November 7th. We’ll keep a list of our contacts and follow-up if need be.
*Looking ahead. Our next call is scheduled for December 9th.
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Society of American Archivists
Manuscript Repositories Section
Created | 29 June 2004
Last updated | 28 September 2018
