American Archivist Reviews
From the Reviews Editor
Thank you for visiting the home of American Archivist Reviews! You will find that this website changes frequently, hosting new content in Archival Technologies and Resources and in Reviews. We use this portal to provide reviews—written by you or by the Portal Coordinator—that highlight some of the characteristics of websites, digital collections, or technologies that have an impact on our profession. We also use this portal to provide more immediate access to reviews that will appear in American Archivist. Finally, we want to be aware of publications from our membership, and invite you to contact us to add your publication to our list.
We invite you to contribute to the following areas:
- If you’re interested in writing a book review for American Archivist or have comments about this site, contact Reviews Editors Rose Buchanan and Stephanie Luke at reviewseditor@archivists.org.
- If you’re interested in writing a review of digital collections, websites, or other technology and resources, contact Reviews Editors Rose Buchanan and Stephanie Luke at reviewseditor@archivists.org.
- Finally, if you want to contribute information about a publication, please submit this form.
We look forward to working with you on your contributions to this site!
Stephanie Luke and Rose Buchanan, Reviews Editors
Archival Technologies and Resources: Find a list of websites useful for archivists working with digital archival materials.
Reviews: Find full reviews written specifically for the web-presence of The American Archivist Reviews.
Reviewed in American Archivist: This online presence provides access to forthcoming reviews prior to their publication in the biannual journal.
Written by Our Members: We are returning to a former tradition in American Archivist by allowing you to browse a list of books published by members. To this, we'll add the opportunity to explore exhibits mounted by colleagues, consider the value of software in use, and evaluate journals that may be of use.
Reviews
These Reviews complement the textual reviews found in The American Archivist. Specifically, the Reviews Portal is envisioned as an extension of the reviews section found in the journal, but with a more specific focus: digital (and digitized) archival content, technologies, and related resources.
The content found here primarily consists of shorter reviews (500 to 750 words) than those found in the journal, and focuses on digital and digitized archival content and the technologies used in that capacity. For a specific set of guidelines on how to write a review, please see How to Write a Web Review.
If you are interested in writing a review for the Reviews Portal, please contact the Reviews Editors Rose Buchanan and Stephanie Luke. Also, see Archival Technologies and Resources for a list of technologies, resources, and digital archives and project to review.
Our latest review explores AVCC, an open-source, web-based tool from AVPreserve that is designed to help archivists begin cataloging and assessing their audiovisual collections.
Reviewed by Allyson Smally
Other Reviews:
Reviewed by Emily Vinson
Oral History Metadata Synchronizer
Reviewed by Erin Lawrimore
Reviewed by Alexis A. Antracoli
Histories of the National Mall
Reviewed by Michael Karabinos
Reviewed by April P. Akins
Reviewed by Sean McConnell
Reviewed by Chad Conrady
Reviewed by Rosemary K. J. Davis
Reviewed by Eira Tansey
Reviewed by Brad Houston
Reviewed by Ellen Eckert
Reviewed by Samantha Cross
The Internet Archive Companion
Reviewed by Leslie Wagner
Reviewed by Jillian M. Slater
Reviewed by Abigail Nye
North Carolina Civil War Soldiers Timeline
Reviewed by Rebecca Russell
Reviewed by Mary N.S. Richardson
Reviewed by Natalie Morath
Reviewed by Jay Gaidmore
Reviewed by Lauren Goodley
Reviewed by Abigail Nye
Reviewed by Dillon M. Wackerman
Reviewed by Erin Lawrimore
Reviewed by Maristella Feustle
Provenance Special Issue on Advocacy
Reviewed by Kathy Marquis
Reviewed by Ashley Taylor
Reviewed by Suzanne Maggard
Gallica: Digital Library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Reviewed by Timothy R. Borbely
Hurricane Sandy: Record, Remember, Rebuild
Reviewed by Alexandra Orchard
Reviewed by Elizabeth Pepper
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
Reviewed by David M. Brown
Reviewed by Amy Nicole Roberson
Reviewed by Elizabeth Pepper
Reviewed by Lori Birrell
Reviewed by Eric Wiley
Content, Context, and Capacity
Reviewed by Alexandra Orchard
Mapping Our Anzacs
Reviewed by Alexandra Orchard
dPlan™: The Online Disaster Planning Tool
Reviewed by Gregor Trinkaus-Randall
Organizing and Preserving Family and Religious Records: A Step-by-Step Guide
Reviewed by Mary Beth Corrigan
Cataloguing Outside the Box: A Practical Guide to Cataloguing Special Collections Materials
Reviewed by Susan Hamburger
Rapid Capture: Faster Throughput in Digitization of Special Collections
Reviewed by Ricky Erway
Archives, Metadata and Gaming: An Interesting Combination
Reviewed by Danna Bell-Russel
Reviewed in The American Archivist
Reviewed in The American Archivist
Vol. 78, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2015)
Vol. 78, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2015)
Vol. 77, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2014)
Vol. 77, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2014)
Vol. 76, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2013)
Vol. 76, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2013)
Vol. 75, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2012)
Vol. 75, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2012)
Vol. 74, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2011)
Vol. 74, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2011)
Vol. 73, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2010)
Briefly Noted
Briefly Noted
Here, you'll find shorter reviews for quick updates on resources that might be useful to you.
Rapid Capture: Faster Throughput in Digitization of Special Collections by Ricky Erway
Archives, Metadata and Gaming: An Interesting Combination
Danna Bell-Russel
Written by Our Members
Have you authored a book, article, or review? Let us know! We are returning to a former tradition in The American Archivist by listing books, articles, or reviews authored by SAA members but published by other outlets. Here are some of the books recently written by SAA members.
Monographs
- Anderson, April Karlene. "Mobile Technologies and Archives: Using the New to Preserve the Old" in The Handheld Library: Mobile Technology and the Librarian. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
- Baumann, Roland. Constructing Black Education at Oberlin College: A Documentary History. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2010.
- Brylawski, Sam, Maya Lerman, Robin Pike, and Kathlin Smith (eds.). ARSC Guide to Audio Preservation. Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Council on Library and Information Resources, and Library of Congress, 2015.
- Daniel, Dominique and Amalia Levi (eds.). Identity Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the U.S. and Canada. Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books, 2014.
- Demb, Sarah R. and Charlotte Brunskill. Records Management for Museums & Galleries: An Introduction. Chandos Publishing, 2012.
- Goerler, Raimund E. The Ohio State University: An Illustrated History. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State Univesity Press, 2011.
- Jimerson, Randall C. Shattered Glass in Birmingham: My Family's Fight for Civil Rights, 1961-1964. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2014.
- Nelb, Tawny Ryan. Mission Accomplished: Robert and Metta Silliman's Missionary Work in the Philippines, 1924-1966. Midland, MI: Tawny Ryan Nelb and the Bertha E. R. Strosacker Memorial Presbyterian Church, 2012.
- Note, Margot. Managing Image Collections: A Practical Guide. Chandos Publishing, 2011.
- Purcell, Aaron D. Academic Archives: Managing the Next Generation of College and University Archives, Records, and Special Collections. Chicago: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2012.
- Stout, Lee. A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and a Few Good Women. University Park, PA: Penn State University Libraries, 2012.
Articles
- Carbone, Kathy. "Artists in the Archive: An Exploratory Study of the Artist-in-Residence Program at the City of Portland Archives & Records Center." Archivaria 79 (Spring 2015).
- Engseth, Ellen M. "Creating Videos for Reference and Instruction." Archival Practice 1, no. 2 (2014).
- Williams, Travis H. "What's So Special about that Special Collection?" AALL Spectrum (March 2015).
Purchase Reviewed Monographs
To complement the book reviews found on this website, we'll also provide information about purchasing monographs found in our reviews. This includes links to the SAA Bookstore, as well as links to outside publishers.
Learn more about purchasing reviewed books.
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- "Archival Ethics: New Views," special issue of Journal of Information Ethics
- Contesting Archives: Finding Women in the Sources
- The National Archives Building: Temple of American History
- Preserving Archives and Manuscripts, 2nd ed.
- The Story Behind the Book: Preserving Authors’ and Publishers’ Archives
- Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections
- An American Political Archives Reader
- Archival and Special Collections Facilities: Guidelines for Archivists, Librarians, Architects, and Engineers
- Archives and Archivists in Twentieth-Century England
- Beyond the Archives: Research as a Lived Process
- Brokers of Public Trust: Notaries in Early Modern Rome
- Community Archives: The Shaping of Memory
- Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives and Museums
- Culture Club: The Curious History of the Boston Athenaeum
- A Guide to Oral History and the Law
- The Intimate Archive: Journeys through Private Papers
- Personal Archives and a New Archival Calling: Readings, Reflections and Ruminations
- Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections