All these conferences have sessions related to human rights and archives, and the HRA Blog needs YOU to write posts summarizing them. It's not as hard as it sounds, and it's a great way to ad a publication to your resume. Here are two examples of sessions covered at SAA 2017.
If you're interested in covering a session at these or other conferences, or if you have any questions, email hilary.h.barlow@gmail.com
Archival silences distort the past, shaping our current and future self-understanding, so preserving Princeton’s history sometimes means attempting to correct the work of our predecessors. My struggle to bring 19th and early 20th-century African American graduate alumni to light illustrates one way white supremacy of that era continues to influence us today. It also supports the argument that archives are not neutral, so researchers and archival staff must pay close attention to the ways...
We are looking for folks who would like to share their stories and experiences of working on the front lines of reference, access, and outreach to contribute to the RAO News blog. (See what we're about at https://raoarchivists.wordpress.com/.) Share your successes, your failures, your inspirations, your innovations. We are especially interested in "intersections"--both in areas of overlap and cooperation, or potential for cooperation, with our other SAA sections, and in ways we can aid and...
On February 22, 2018 we held our second Google Hangout. The topic was "silo-ing" or the creation of different sets of metadata for the same items. The session was attended by 14 people. The transcript of the session is attached as a PDF.
The Steering Committee of the SAA Web Archiving Section proposes to change the Section's governing “Standing Rules,” that dictate its composition and portfolio of responsibilities in advance of its next call for leadership nominations, anticipated in May 2018. We welcome you to review the attached PDF, which tracks changes to the Section’s Standing Rules as last updated and approved in 2017. In brief however, the Steering Committee propose to do the following:
Eliminate the positions of...
I hope everyone’s New Year is off to a great start! A big thanks to the Steering Committee for the dedication and passion that they are bringing to the work of the section so far. Since the annual meeting, we submitted our annual report that outlines our projects and goals for the next year https://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/1117-VI-P-SectAnnReports.pdf (pg. 51). Streamlining communication between the Steering Committee and membership is a core focus. Also, while revisiting the...
Preserving Stories from the Greatest Generation
Gavin Do, Archivist, Go For Broke National Education Center
Boiled down, oral histories are inherently about allowing individuals to tell their stories while ensuring these stories stand the test of time. For the past twenty years, Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC) has focused on preserving stories from a special group of individuals.
Seventy-five years ago, the world was embroiled in war. The United States had entered World War II...
Digital Archives Seeks to "Unhide" Stories of Japanese American World War II Veterans
Gavin Do, Archivist, Go For Broke National Education Center
The Japanese American Military History Collective (JAMHC) is a digital cooperative based on a partnership between the Japanese American Service Committee, Military Intelligence Service Veterans Club of Hawaii, Nisei Veterans Memorial Center, Go For Broke National Education Center and other partners. The goal of JAMHC is to increase access and...
Page 1- Letter from the Chair, Janet Hauck, University Archivist, Whitworth UniversityPages 2-3- $385,205 Awarded to Philadelphia’s Historic Congregations from Carol Smith, Archivist, Christ Church Preservation TrustPage 4- “Archiving Antigua” Project at the Moravian Archives from Paul M. Peucker, Archivist and Director, Moravian Archives, Bethlehem- Last Call for Nominations for the Sister M. Claude Lane, O.P., Memorial Award from Jillian Ewalt, Metadata Archivist, California State University...
Volunteer One Hour to Help Us Transform the Understanding of Metadata Practices for Oral History
Jaycie Vos, Oral History Association Metadata Task Force
The Oral History Association Metadata Task Force (MTF) is charged with improving access and discovery for oral history interviews by helping their creators and caretakers improve the capture and preservation of the interviews’ metadata.
The MTF saw the need for more structured information to offer a base understanding of metadata: what it is...
Texas After Violence Project Oral Histories
Jane Field, Project Coordinator and Digital Archivist, Texas After Violence Project
Ten years ago, the Texas After Violence Project (TAVP) conducted its first official interview with Ireland Beazley, whose son, Napoleon, was executed by the State of Texas for a crime he committed as a minor. Like our interview with Ireland, many of our early oral histories focused nearly exclusively on those who were affected by capital punishment, but we have since...
National Education Association Oral Histories at George Washington University Libraries
Vakil Smallen, National Education Association Project Archivist, George Washington University Libraries
The National Education Association (NEA) and the libraries of the George Washington University (GWU) formed a partnership in 2008 to process and house the Association’s archives and library at the Gelman Library within the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC). Following the official opening of the...
Billy Graham Center Archives Oral History Interviews Online
Bob Shuster, Archivist, Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College
In 2017, the staff of the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois transcribed over 38 hours of oral history interviews, filling 646 pages. Most of these transcripts have been put online and can be found, along with the audio file, at: http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/newtran.html They are also all available for viewing in the BGC...
by Dave J. Moore, Brand Archivist and Historian
Three dollars could buy you a good sized order of overalls at the turn of the 20th century. This check was submitted to Hamilton Carhartt & Co., based in Detroit, from D.L. Powers of Jonesville, Michigan in 1898.
120 years later, Powers Clothing is still going strong… and still selling Carhartt. When you have retail partners that old, you know you must be doing something right. Financial records like this are just one example of the materials...
A press release announcing the approval of the Standardized Statistical Measures and Metrics for Public Services in Archival Repositories and Special Collections Libraries was jointly issued by ACRL and SAA on January 25, 2018.
The new document was approved by the ACRL Board of Directors in October 2017 and by the SAA Council in January 2018. Standardized Statistical Measures and Metrics for Public Services in Archival Repositories and Special Collections Libraries is available on the ACRL...
Happy 2018! For the new year, the incoming PLASC Steering Committee will be focusing on the following projects:
Conducting a survey to determine how PLASC can better serve its members
Determining the best modes of communication for members to share news, research, and other resources
Identifying possible collaborations with ALA, PLA, and other organizations
Streamlining internal documents and processes for the Steering Committee
Planning the 2018 annual section meeting
Please note that moving...
The inaugural issue of Archival History News, the official newsletter of the Archival History Section, was released in October 2017, just in time for Archives Month. Brighten up your winter months by enjoying the Winter 2018 issue!
Featuring excellent writing and the most up-to-date information, Archival History Newscommunicates the value of archival history to a broad public, through the publication of ongoing research, biographical notes, book reviews, and announcements.
In this issue, read...
Detail illustration from the 200 East 42nd Street marketing brochure, 1958. Illustration features the front entrance of the building, located on 42nd Street and Third Avenue. Durst Archives.
By Ryan Donaldson, Senior Manager of Heritage and Information Services
Founded in 1915, The Durst Organization (“Durst”) is a family-run business dedicated to the principles of innovation, integrity, community, and sustainability. Durst develops, builds, owns, and manages premier office towers and...
Something important to you missing from this newsletter? Send a submission my way and let me know what you would like to see.
Please submit newsletter items about archives and human rights (writ broadly) to hilary.h.barlow@gmail.com. These can be recent publications, upcoming events or exhibitions, opportunities and scholarships, or something else entirely as long as it connects to archives and human rights. For the December newsletter, please send you submission by December 18, 2017.
Admitting and identifying personal biases can be difficult. Nearly two decades of scientific research has persuasively demonstrated that each of us harbor implicit bias even if we seem to hold no explicit prejudice. Society is saturated with attitudes and stereotypes about social groups and people encompassing a range of intersectional identities and over time these feelings and beliefs can become more ingrained.
The Open Your Mind learning lab is designed to assist the public in...
Five historical volumes covering the period 1863-1975 are available online in PDF format. They provide an overview of the ICRC operational and legal activities and therefore provide an ideal springboard for more in-depth research in the ICRC archives.
Read more here.
This report presents major points of discussion and analysis from the first global student conference on open source human rights investigations, hosted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and Amnesty International, 26-29 June 2017, at UC Berkeley. More than 50 people participated, including students from human rights centers at the University of Pretoria, University of Essex, University of Toronto, and UC Berkeley who are part of Amnesty International’s Digital...
[T]he presentations I attended during the Oral History Association’s 2017 annual meeting delivered critical historical narratives and resources that can help us to further challenge some of the nationalist myths that obscure the experiences and perspectives of various marginalized communities in American history. These presentations helped to illuminate important lessons we can learn from an engagement with the histories and contemporary concerns of marginalized peoples in the US. In honor of...
Is there an issue that really irks you and you have something to say? Is there something in the news that can benefit from an archival perspective? Did you work on an incredible project related to archives and human rights and you want to share you insights? See a conference session or other event related to archives and human rights that you'd like to cover?Send blog post pitches to hilary.h.barlow@gmail.com. Include a short summary of your idea and why you're the best person to write it....
How are collections processed and presented regarding race and ethnicity? What is not collected and why? Who gets to say what is worth collecting? Operating from three distinct but interlocking perspectives, the authors will discuss their experiences navigating collection development and collection development policies as a Black woman archivist, a White woman anti-racist public librarian, and a Black woman academic librarian. The authors will look at the ways in which Black women as...
