Summer 2017 Note from the Chair

Note from the Chair

Greetings, everyone!

This year’s annual meeting in Portland is shaping up to be exciting, with wonderful speakers, sessions, and a range of other opportunities made possible largely by its location. I wanted to take a few moments to highlight some of the upcoming events that might be of interest to members of this section, starting with our own business meeting. While our incoming chair Amanda Pellerin has provided details on our speakers elsewhere in this newsletter, please note that the time and day of the session have changed from our customary Thursday spot. We will now be meeting on Wednesday, July 26, from 4:00-5:15 pm, so don’t miss us!

There are two other sessions at the conference that focus entirely on oral history -- #208, “New Approaches to Oral History in the Archive: Bridging Communities and Collections” (July 27, 10:45 am) and #303, “Between You and Me: Policy and Procedure in Navigating Sensitive Information in Oral Histories” (July 28, 8:30 am). Additionally, session #401, “Building Better Bridges: Strategies and Best Practices for Engaging Archival Communities” (July 28, 10:00 am), consists of a series of lightning talks, one of which addresses oral history, and the professional and graduate student poster displays contain oral history-related presentations, as well. I hope you will consider attending those sessions in support of your colleagues.

Finally, this year’s “One Book, One Profession” selection is something that resonates with concerns common to oral historians. Through the Archival Looking Glass, edited by Mary Caldera and Kathryn Neal, is filled with essays on diversity and inclusion in archival practice, and Camila Tessler will be leading a brown-bag discussion of the book on July 28 at 12:45 pm. If you’re interested in attending, please rsvp in advance by emailing Abigail Christian at achristian@archivists.org.

I look forward to seeing everyone in Portland, and I wish you all safe travels!

Best,

Mary Larson