Best Elevator Speech Contest Winner

Lisa H. Lewis took her boss’ advice and decided to enter the “Best Elevator Speech” contest conducted by SAA in celebration of American Archives Month 2007. Her 28-word entry took first place and won her a free year membership in SAA and a $50 coupon for books. The associate archivist for the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge says it was easy to compose her entry because she had already developed a simple explanation to help anyone who is unfamiliar with the profession understand what she does for a living.

The selection committee, a subgroup of the American Archives Month Task Force, also named an “honorable mention” in the contest: Jacquelyn Ferry, cataloguing archivist and EAD coordinator for the Wisconsin Historical Society. She won a $50 coupon for books. The winning entry: “Archivists bring the past to the present. They’re records collectors and protectors, keepers of memory. They organize unique, historical materials, making them available for current and future research.” Honorable mention: “Archivists acquire, manage, preserve, and help patrons identify and use historically significant collections of unique materials, such as government records, manuscripts, photographs, films, and sound recordings.”