Announcements

Does your institution have an exciting new exhibit coming up?  Have you won an award or honor and wish to share the news?  Please send any updates to the Webmaster and it will be added here for sharing with the AAC community.

 

Kapena Shim receives the 2012 Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award 

2012 Pinkett Award winner Kapena Shim with Archivists and Archives co-chairs Steven Booth and Courtney Chartier.

Kapena Shim is the recipient of the 2012 Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award. Kapena is currently a student in the Library and Information Science Department of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and already an outstanding leader in the field. As a student he mobilized a group of 10 members of the UH SAA Student Chapter to raise funds to attend the annual conference of the Association of Hawaiian Archivists. He also hosted a conversation with LIS students, faculty, and community stakeholders to explore ways his LIS department can strengthen its emphasis on Hawaii and the Pacific in their new LIS 2011–2016 strategic plan. Kapena has also presented posters and on panels at multiple conferences, volunteers in his community and belongs to many professional groups. 

Most importantly, Kapena is someone who has been deeply affected by archives and shows a true commitment to the profession. As a native Hawaiian, he says, archives “[provided him] the space to re-connect to [his] ancestors, to their stories and their wisdom.” He was inspired to become an archivist to “help other Hawaiians…re-connect with their cultural legacy.”

The Award will pay Kapena’s registration and travel for the 2012 SAA Annual Meeting. This year’s pool for the Pinkett Award was extremely large (23 applicants!) and of excellent quality. Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a worthy student.

Photo: Kapena Shim (center) with Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable co-chairs Steven Booth and Courtney Chartier. Photo courtesy of Helen Kim.

 


 

Aditi Worcester receives 2012 Mosaic Scholarship

ADITI SHARMA WORCESTER is the recipient of the 2012 Mosaic Scholarship. The scholarship provides $5,000 to students who demonstrate potential for scholastic and personal achievement and who manifest a commitment both to the archival profession and to advancing diversity concerns within it. 

Aditi Worcester, 2012 Mosaic Scholarship Recipient

Worcester is enrolled in the Master of Science in Information Studies program at University of Texas, specializing in Archives and Preservation, and works as a Library Assistant for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Drawing from her previous career in print and broadcast media, Worcester started Save Your Story (Austin), providing workshops to minority communities on using video biographies to preserve family and community history. Her long-term goal is to create an audiovisual archive documenting the contributions and contributions of members of the South Asian American community.

First awarded in 2009, the Mosaic Scholarship also provides recipients with a one-year membership in the Society of American Archivists and a complimentary registration to the 2012 SAA Annual Meeting. Chaired by Harrison W. Inefuku, the Mosaic Scholarship Subcommittee is composed of Krystal Appiah, Cheryl Beredo, LaNesha DeBardelaben, Jennifer Marshall and Mona Vance.

 

 


2013 Officer Candidate Bios and Statements

 

Co-Chair Candidate: Derek T. Mosley

Derek Mosley, is the Archivist and Assistant Director of the Ernest J. Gaines Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Derek Mosley is native of La Marque, TX. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, and graduated with honors in May 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a minor in African American Studies. In October 2009 he became an Association of Research Libraries Diversity Scholar.

Choosing to continue his education, Derek attended Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Boston, and earned a Master of Science degree in May 2011 with a concentration in archives management. While at Simmons he interned at Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives and the Harvard University Arnold Arboretum. He also worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum.

"If elected to Co-chair, I envision a mentor program for young professionals.  The AAC is filled with seasoned professionals that can help bridge the gap for new professionals.  After the annual meetings, I would implement an annual meet and greet so the roundtable can become more open to new professionals.  I would also like to target and encourage young professionals to join the organization and promote the roundtable online."

 

Newsletter Editor Candidate:  Berlin Loa

Berlin Loa is a graduate of the Knowledge River Program at the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science. Her professional background is in non-profit management, fundraising and program development. Her undergraduate degree is in English Literature with a thematic minor in anthropology, folklore and Africana studies. Berlin is currently participating in an internship as a Museum/Archives Technician and looks forward to developing a career in collections that represent Latino, Native American or Africana cultures.

 

Newsletter Editor Candidate:  Stacie Williams

"I have been a member of SAA since 2010, co-chairing my student chapter and creating unique programming for the organization. I have also attended the two most recent conferences in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, presenting a poster and keeping current with national archival trends. I am currently an Access and Reference Librarian at the Harvard Medical Library in Boston, MA, and I also serve on the board of directors for SLA-New England as the archivist. In addition, I have 10 years of experience as a journalist--five of those as a copy editor--and I continue to mentor young journalists of color through initiatives and student projects with the National Association of Black Journalists. What I would bring to the position is a technical understanding of creating and editing publication, and also my passion for the archival profession. The newsletter is a great way to engage and encourage other archivists of color, and also emphasizing the importance of preserving our histories and it would be an honor to contribute in some way."

 

Webmaster Candidate:  Harrison Inefuku

Harrison W. Inefuku is the Digital Repository Coordinator for Iowa State University, where he is responsible for designing and implementing a campus-wide institutional repository. Harrison received his Master of Archival Studies and Master of Library and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia, and also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and a self-designed Bachelor of Arts in Visual Culture from the University of the Pacific. Harrison is also currently serving as chair of SAA's Mosaic Scholarship Selection Subcommittee.


New AACR Liaison to SAA’s Standards Committee

Jillian Cuellar is the Processing Archivist for the Communist Party, USA records at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. She holds a MSLIS with an Advanced Certificate in Archives from Pratt Institute. Prior to her current position, she worked as a project archivist at Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library and as an assistant project archivist at Parsons the New School for Design.


Election Announcement

At the annual business meeting, the AAC Roundtable elected Steven Booth as 2011-2012 Co-Chair. Steven is an archivist for the Presidential Materials Staff of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. He previously served as project archivist for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collaborative at Boston University while completing his graduate studies at Simmons College, where he earned a Master of Science in Archives Management. He is a member of the American Library Association's Spectrum Scholar Interest Group, the Spectrum Scholar Jury, and ALA's Discovering Librarianship Program. While a student at Morehouse College, he was selected for the Mellon Foundation’s Librarian Recruitment Program.


2011 Pinkett Winners: Melvin J. Collier and Kelly Lau

The recipients of the 2010 Harold T. Pinket Award are Melvin J. Collier and Kelly E. Lau. The award allowed Melvin and Kelly to travel to the SAA Annual Meeting in Chicago for the first time. Look for a description of their experiences in the next edition of the AACR newsletter!

Melvin J. Collier is currently a student in the Master of Archival Studies program at Clayton State University. He also holds a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering and a Master’s in African-American Studies. He works as a Library Assistant in the Archives Research Center of the Atlanta University Center Robert. W, Woodruff Library. An accomplished genealogist, Melvin has published a volume on African-American genealogy, From Mississippi to Africa, and appeared as an expert in the Spike Lee episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Melvin has also published a book about his grandfather, 150 Years Later.

Kelly E. Lau is currently a Dual Masters student of Archival Studies and Library and Information Studies at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia. She holds a Bachelor’s in English Literature and Women’s & Gender Studies. She currently works as a Records and Information intern at the City of Vancouver’s Records and Archives Division, and as a Graduate Research Assistant for TEAM Canada of InterPARES 3. Kelly is extremely involved in professional groups including the Chinese American Librarians Association, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, the Association of Canadian Archivists, as well as SAA, ALA, ARL and ARMA. Through her work with the Antigone Foundation and other organizations, Kelly strives to encourage other young women to get involved in leadership, activism, politics and feminism.


2011 Mosaic Scholarship Winners

Rose Chou (San Jose State University) and Helen Kim (University of Texas at Austin).


2010 Pinkett Winners: Miranda N. Rivers and Vivian Wong

Rivers earned a bachelor's degree in History from Spelman College. She is currently pursuing an MA in History and MLS in Archive Management at Simmons College. She was also a Mellon Librarian Recruitment Fellow at the James B. Duke Memorial Library at Johnson C. Smith University in 2008, and received the Mellon Graduate Library School Scholarship in 2009. She is learning everything she can about the archive profession. She was an intern for Project SAVE: The Armenian Photo Archive Collection and has just received an internship at the Fredrick Law Olmsted Archives National Park in Boston.

Wong is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at UCLA in Information Studies. She earned her bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies at Bryn Mawr College and her MFA from UCLA. She is interested in documenting, collecting, preserving and disseminating historical and cultural records in Asian American communities and archives in the Asian Diaspora. She comes to the profession as a filmmaker who created a film in 2005 about her grandmother from Malaysia titled, "Homecoming." It spurred her interest in documenting underrepresented communities. She recently was the Project Director and Producer of Chinatown Library Digital Archives Project, and oral history project with the Friends of the Chinatown Library in Los Angeles.

Congratulations to Miranda and Vivian.


2010 Mosaic Scholarship Winners: LaNesha Gale DeBardelaben and Susan Gehr

Mosaic Scholarship Award Introduction
Greetings. I am Petrina Jackson, chair of the 2nd Annual Mosaic Scholarship Award. I would like to thank my colleagues Claudia Holguin, Harrison Inefuku, Louis Jones, and Jennifer Marshall for their hard work and contributions on the selection committee.

SAA is pleased to award Mosaic Scholarships to LaNesha Gale DeBardelaben and Susan Gehr. This annual award offers financial support to minority students who manifest a commitment both to the archives profession and to advancing diversity concerns within it. As recipients, DeBardelaben and Gehr each receive a $5,000 scholarship, a one-year membership in SAA, and complimentary registration to the Archives*Records/DC 2010 conference this August in Washington, D.C. The Mosaic Scholarship was awarded for the first time in 2009.

LaNesha Gale DeBardelaben has a Master of Arts degree in History from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is a student in the Master of Library Science program in the School of Information Science at Indiana University-Bloomington. In her past work with the Missouri Historical Society’s Through the Eyes of a Child project, she taught students and teachers how to incorporate the program’s curriculum unit within the classroom to develop oral history projects. As project manager of the Teaching American History Grant for Flint (Michigan) Community Schools, she organized history summer institutes and speaking engagements for and about diverse ethnic communities. She has also published in the African American National Biography (2008) and Chronicle Magazine (Historical Society of Michigan, 2008). LaNesha’s goal is to further the work of documenting, archiving, and digitizing the records of African American women’s history.

Susan Gehr has a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics from the University of Oregon and is earning a master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences at San Jose State University. As member of the Karuk Tribe (California), Susan acted as the tribal language program director. In that capacity, she co-published with linguist William Bright a dictionary of the Karuk language. After attending the Western Archives Institute, she prepared a preservation and use report for Humboldt State University’s Center for Indian Community Development as they planned their Native Languages Archive. Currently, she volunteers with Humboldt State’s Special Collections Unit, processing an anthropologist’s collection that includes field notes and recordings gathered in preparation for a book on Yurok Indian spirituality. Susan’s goal is to understand and address the comprehensive archival needs of tribes in the northwestern California region and to contribute to the field of archival studies for Native American/Alaska native people.

*For more information about the Mosaic Scholarship, click here.


Rose Roberto, AAC Roundtable webmaster, received a small grant from the Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections AMARC to provide travel assistance to Washington, DC in August, where she is presenting a pre-conference workshop entitled Producing It Online: Planning & Expanding Your Exhibitions at the Society of American Archivists annual meeting.


Danna Bell-Russel has been appointed as associate reviews editor, for American Archivist. She will work with editor Amy Cooper Cary to assemble reviews for the American Archivist volumes to be published in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Bell-Russel, a Fellow of SAA, served on its governing Council from 2001 to 2004 and as liaison with the AAC roundtable.