J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award: The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva)

The Kitchen Sisters, comprised of Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, are the 2019 recipients of the J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The award will be presented at a ceremony during the Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists and SAA in Austin, TX, July 31—August 6. The award honors an individual, institution, or organization that promotes greater public awareness, appreciation, or support of archival activities or programs.

In 2018, the Kitchen Sisters launched the podcast, The Keepers, and a companion blog, Keeper of the Day, which spotlight “activist archivists, rogue librarians, curators, collectors and historians—keepers of the culture, and the cultures and collections they keep.” From highlighting various collections and their “Keepers”, such as the recently acquired Hunter S. Thompson collection at the University of California – Santa Cruz and the Forbes Pigment Collection at The Harvard Art Museum, the Kitchen Sisters illuminate the breadth and diversity that archives have to offer. The podcast which regularly plays on NPR’s Morning Edition, and was featured in Rolling Stone magazine, exposes archives and the work of archivists to an audience on the national level and beyond.

One of their supporters noted: “The Kitchen Sisters succinctly convey the importance of archives, the diversity of institutions and individuals embarking on this work, and the many treasures preserved within these collections.”

Learn more about The Kitchen Sisters in Nelson’s three-part interview with ArchivesAWARE!, the blog of SAA’s Committee on Public Awareness, at https://archivesaware.archivists.org/2019/02/21/weve-always-relied-on-th....