SAA offers a host of resources related to racial healing in archives for the National Day of Racial Healing in January. Find practical examples and recommendations in podcast interviews, magazine and journal articles, leadership reports, and continuing education opportunities. If relevant, share these resources with your colleagues, on your websites, and in your email newsletters. We hope this list, in addition to resources for a Healing Hour, sparks your thinking and community discussion and we encourage you to expand upon it. Be sure to promote your efforts on social media, using the hashtags #LibrariesAndArchivesForRacialHealing and #HowWeHeal.
Continuing Education
Leadership Resources
Archives in Context Podcast
(also available on Spotify and Apple podcasts)
- Dr. Jesse R. Erickson, author of “The Gentleman’s Ghost: Patriarchal Eurocentric Legacies in Special Collections,” published in Archives and Special Collections as Sites of Contestation (2020) on thinking critically and imaginatively about inclusive reading rooms.
- Petrina Jackson, director of the Special Collections Research Center, Bird Library, Syracuse University; and Verónica Reyes-Escudero, Katheryne B. Willock head of special collections, University of Arizona Libraries, on their open letter to ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscript Section on taking action toward racial justice.
- Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia’s Anti-Racist Description Working Group.
- Dorothy Berry, digital collections program manager at Harvard University’s Houghton Library, on self-care for archivists.
- Dr. Ashley Farmer, author of “Archiving While Black” on the role of scholars of color in stewarding historical resources.
- Danna Bell, educational resource specialist, and Guha Shankar, folklife specialist, on archives, community, education, and a renewed focus on social justice at the Library of Congress.
Archival Outlook
- "Who's Not Here?: An Exhibit on the Role of Archives and Institutions in Collection Development" by Katie Sutrina-Haney (January/February 2022)
- “Reparative and Inclusive Metadata: UTA Libraries Reevaluates Its Practices” by Stephanie Luke and Kathryn Slover (March/April 2021).
- “Toward Inclusive Reading Rooms: Recommendations for Decolonizing Practices and Welcoming Indigenous Researchers” by SAA Native American Archives Section and Human Rights Archives Section (Jan/Feb 2021).
- “Finding the Stories of the Diverse People Who Built Harley Davidson’s Brand” by Bill Jackson (November/December 2021).
- "'The Bridges That Carried Us Over': Documenting Black History in California's Inland Empire" by Eric Milenkiewicz (July/August 2022)
- “The Role of Archives in Transformation, Community, and Healing during a Pandemic” by Zakiya Collier, LeeAnn Joseph, Julia Keiser, and Obden Mondesir (September/October 2020).
- “Language Matters: Writing Inclusive Finding Aids and Description” by Armando Suárez (July/August 2020).
- “Providing Culturally Responsive and Ethical Access to Indigenous Collections” by Brian Carpenter, Caitlin Haynes, Diana Marsh, Lisa Pozas, Ricky Punzalan, Gina Rappaport, and Melissa Stoner (May/June 2019).
- “Advocacy in Action: Archivist Augments Task Force’s Renaming Efforts” by Brigette C. Kamsler (July/August 2021).
American Archivist
- "Reciprocity: Building a Discourse in Archives" by Ricardo L. Punzalan and Diana E. Marsh (2022, 85.1: 30–59)
- “Truth and Reconciliation: Archivists as Reparations Activists” by Anna Robinson-Sweet (2018, 81.1: 23–37).
- "It's a Trap": Complicating Representation in Community-Based Archives" by Joyce Gabiola, Gracen Brilmyer, Michelle Caswell, and Jimmy Zavala (2022, 85.1: 60–87)
- “From Datum to Databases: Digital Humanities, Slavery, and Archival Reparations” by Robert Nowatzki (2021, 83.2: 429–448).
- “Cultural Competency: A Framework for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Archival Profession in the United States” by Ellen Engseth (2018, 81.2: 460–482).
- "Radical Welcome in the Archives: What Does It Really Mean to Say 'You're Welcome Here'" by Rachel Vagts (2022, 85.1: 60–87)
- “Getting Our House in Order: Moving from Diversity to Inclusion” by Chris Taylor (2017, 80.1: 19–29).
Component Group Resources
Does your component group have a resource not listed here! Let us know! Reach out to jpillard@archivists.org to be included.
