Academics continuously loosen the concept of the archives in vigorous debate and flowery speech, while hundreds of linear feet of Black history are stacked in secure shelving, unbeknownst and inaccessible to implicated communities. “Why do we even have this?” is a recurring question whispered across institutions as complex histories of provenance and acquisitions lead to single box collections with titles like “Miscellaneous Slavery Documents,” a collection of Freedman’s Bureau papers and Bills...
On May 27th, 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced the discovery of an unmarked burial site of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The Archives Association of Ontario (AAO) wishes to express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the survivors, and all Indigenous peoples impacted by the discovery. We recognize that the findings serve as yet another example of the atrocities committed and enabled by white settlers, their churches and...
The agency added available historical records will be surveyed from federal repositories like the National Archives, the American Indian records repository and non-governmental organizations that operated Indian residential boarding schools.A final written report will be submitted to Haaland by April 1, 2022, and will be supervised by the office of the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs.“We must shed light on what happened at federal boarding schools,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary...
WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.
"The [Sisters of St. Anne's] remain unwilling to authorize disclosure of [its] records currently in the possession of the government of Canada," said Scott, in a statement to CBC News.
Several Catholic entities never turned over any records to the TRC. According to an internal TRC document obtained by CBC News, 17 Catholic entities failed to hand over any archival material to the commission.
"There are a lot of records in...
Since the year 1999, I’ve been on a journey to discover a call that transcends political necessity and, instead, calls on our inner humanity. In my oral history of the Ambedkarite community, I have been able to explore the significance of one such clarion call, expressed by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at the All India Depressed Classes conference in July 1942 in Nagpur, India. His call to his followers was: Educate, Agitate, Organize.Dr. Ambedkar believed that caste-based marginalization had led millions...
“The pandemic has been a horror,” says Rachel Mattson, Curator of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies. One of the projects that has kept the Tretter staff connected, supported, engaged — and able to support a wide range of research inquiries — throughout the pandemic is a project organized around a Twin Cities public access television show, GAZE-TV.GAZE-TV ran from 1986 until Pride season 1992, and then as Green And Yellow (GAY) TV until Pride...
The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Jakes Gerwel Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding whereby the Foundation’s Centre of Memory will become the custodian of the Jakes Gerwel Archive. Prof Gerwel had a long association with Nelson Mandela and the Foundation.
He served as Director-General in the office of President Nelson Mandela, and as Mandela's Cabinet Secretary. When Madiba retired in 1999 and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation as his post-presidential office, Prof...
In Professor Sheer Ganor’s course “History of the Holocaust,” students’ final projects were designed with three core goals: to highlight the spatial dimension of the Holocaust, to give students an opportunity to intimately learn individuals’ life stories, and to analyze primary sources and scholarly studies that shed further light on survivors’ stories.The students used StoryMaps, a digital platform intended for telling spatial stories. “[Story maps generally] use geography as a means of...
As part of the Cura Continua: Art, Curating, and Practices of Radical Care series hosted by the Art and Archaeology Department at Princeton, keynote speakers Mari Carmen Ramírez and Yasmin Ramírez were invited to speak on the transformative role of archives in the belligerent safeguarding of Latinx art, culture, and authenticity in America.Both Y. Ramírez and M.C. Ramírez spoke about their professional work in archival preservation. At the forefront of their discussion was the argument that the...
The bones of Black children who died in 1985 after their home was bombed by Philadelphia police in a confrontation with the Black liberation group which was raising them are being used as a “case study” in an online forensic anthropology course presented by an Ivy League professor.It has emerged that the physical remains of one, or possibly two, of the children who were killed in the aerial bombing of the Move organization in May 1985 have been guarded over the past 36 years in the...
To mark the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the Syrian conflict, the ICRC Library is publishing a special issue of the IHL bibliography covering 10 years of international humanitarian law scholarship on the conflict. Unsurprisingly, the issue of accountability for violations of IHL features heavily in these publications. The diversity of issues covered, from foreign fighters to chemical weapons and cultural heritage, gives us a somewhat clinical picture of the Syrian tragedy.Read more ...
This podcast aims to bring the latest academic research on the Holocaust into the classroom. ‘Survivors’ is a conversation between Dr Rebecca Clifford of Swansea University and the Centre for Holocaust Education about her recent ground-breaking book ‘Survivors: Children’s Lives After the Holocaust.’Aimed at educators who are teaching about the Holocaust, it’s also fascinating for anyone just curious about the past and the intriguing stories of child survivors of the Holocaust. It explores...
This quasi-systematic review uses a critical disability framework to assess definitions of disability, use of critical disability approaches, and hierarchies of credibility in LIS research between 1978 and 2018. We present quantitative and qualitative findings about trends and gaps in the research, and discuss the importance of critical and justice-based frameworks for continued development of a liberatory LIS theory and practice.Read more here.
The 5,500-page spending and relief bill that Congress passed Monday night includes the authorization of two Smithsonian museums — one focused on American Latinos, the other on American women — that pave the way for the world’s largest museum complex to become even more diverse.The omnibus bill calls on the Smithsonian to begin the lengthy process of creating the National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women’s History Museum by giving the quasi-federal institution permission to...
Among the most shocking images from the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill were pictures of a man wearing a sweatshirt that said “Camp Auschwitz” and “work brings freedom.” It’s an anti-Semitic reference to the Nazi concentration camp and extermination center where over 1 million Jewish people died or were murdered during the Holocaust.
The hoodie-wearer Robert Keith Packer was arrested in Virginia a week after the attack on Jan. 13. Two days later, at an emotional press conference, House...
Since 2018, the Archival History Section has given out each year its Archival History Article Award. 'This prize encourages and rewards an article, book chapter, or other short piece of superior excellence in the field of archival history, irrespective of subject, time period, or national focus' (https://www2.archivists.org/groups/archival-history-section/ahs-archival-history-article-award). Since 2020 the award has been split to honor contributions from SAA members as well as from non-...
Join the Science, Technology and Healthcare Section for our annual section meeting on Friday, July 30 at 1:00pm-2:30pm CST! Please register [zoom.us] to receive the Zoom information.
Following an update from SAA Council Liaison Petrina Jackson and the STHC business meeting, Steering Committee Members Nora Zaldivar and Peter Collopy will present and lead a discussion on ways STHC archives can develop collections, policies, and practices that reflect and accommodate the diversity of our...
Elisa Landaverde
Special Collections LGBTQ+ Librarian
Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections
Michigan State University Libraries
I am the Special Collections LGBTQ+ Librarian at Michigan State University Libraries. In my current position I am involved in almost every step of an archival collection’s lifecycle, this can include initial reach out to potential donors, negotiation, appraisal, processing, finding aid creation, reference, as well as promotion and outreach.
As a...
This Spring, in collaboration with the SAA Privacy and Confidentiality and Collection Management Sections, as well as the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation at Washington State University, NAAS organized a two-part Mukurtu Workshop and Panel Event exploring how to thoughtfully approach managing, restricting, and providing access to Indigenous archival materials in your collections.
Part 1 – Overview of Mukurtu featured Lotus Norton-Wisla (Digital and Community Outreach Archivist at...
Dear section members and everyone else interested in archival history,
Please join us this coming Monday, July 26, 12-1:30 PM (ET), at our annual section meeting. Information on our agenda, our speakers, and how to RSVP can be found here.
Sebastian Modrow, Chair
2021 Election: Candidate Statement
The steering committee would like to introduce the section to our candidate for the Co-Chair/Chair position. This position has a two year term where the candidate will serve the first year as Co-Chair and the second year as Chair of the section. To get to know more about the candidate please review the statement. Ballots will be managed by SAA staff, please keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballot opens!
Shelly BlackCyma Rubin Library Fellow, North...
I'm excited to write to you all with election results! Please join me in congratulating our new leaders!
Junior Co-Chair: Allison Olsen (2021-2023)
Steering Committee Member: Andi Altenbach (2021-2024)
Web Liaison: Paige Adair (2021-2023)
Member-at-Large: Helice Koffler (2021-2023)
We are so excited to have you as our new leaders and look forward to your contributions!
This year we have one nominee: John H. Slate for Vice Chair Chair-Elect. The remaining committee members will continue serving their 3 years terms. Please see John's information below!
You will be voting for:
One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (or Co-chair), for a two-year term
Ballots will be managed by SAA staff through Survey Monkey; keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballot opens!
Vice Chair/Chair-Elect Candidate
The following candidate is running for the Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (...
Listed below are the biographies and statements from candidates for this year's open ARCS offices: Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Member-at-Large. Candidate photographs can be viewed under Attachments.
Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2021 Archivists of Religious Collections Section election. Please take some time to review their candidate statements and get to know them so you can make an informed choice.
You will be voting for:
One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect
One...
