Archival Science Commons^™

The Veins That Lighten Dearth: Documenting Hidden Collections In Rural California, Jillian M. Ewalt

Marian Library Faculty Publications

This case study discusses an archival consulting project to document and preserve hidden collections in rural northern California. The paper provides an overview of the collecting institution (the Mother Lode Land Trust), the collections and their historical context, and the consulting process. The author highlights processing strategies to improve preservation and description while developing a post-custodial approach to managing collections in a rural, community-based archives setting.

The Archives At The Tip Of Their Fingers: Exploring User Reactions To Large-Scale Digitization, Emily Lapworth, Su Kim Chung

Library Faculty Research

Advances in digital image capture technology and the adoption of More Product, Less Process methods have resulted in special collections and archives large- scale digitization that creates a new kind of digital surrogate. Mirroring and reusing aggregate archival arrangement and description, these digital surrogates represent multiple items and are minimally described as a whole. The authors conducted interviews to explore user reactions to this digitization method at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This study found that large-scale digitization does have a positive impact for users, although additional strategies may be required to maximize the usefulness of the resulting digital …

Instant Archives: For Researchers On The Go, Laurinda Weisse

Publications: CTR Library

The recipe frames primary source instruction around a theme that interests students because it relates to one of their classes. Through small-group work, students gain hands-on experience working with sources, examine how sources fit into a historical narrative, and draw comparisons with current topics in which they already have experience. The second objective of the recipe is to demonstrate how basic ingredients can easily be remixed into a variety of dishes.

The Game’S Afoot: Introducing Students To Archival Resources, Amy Rohmiller

Roesch Library Staff Presentations

University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) at the University of Dayton began exploring gamifying some of the programs offered to students that introduced them to UASC and its collections. This poster introduces the tools used to create the games; highlights some of the impacts the new, gamified programs had on UASC; and talks about some lessons learned. Attendees will learn about resources they can use to implement these ideas at their own institutions.

Digital Exhibition: Romaniote Memories, A Jewish Journey From Ioannina, Greece To Manhattan, Annie E. Tummino, Nicholas Alexiou

Publications and Research

This article discusses creation of the digital exhibition, Romaniote Memories, a Jewish Journey from Ioannina, Greece to Manhattan: Photographs by Vincent Giordano at Queens College, City University of New York.

Disruption, Transition, Adaptation: Archivists Working Under Covid-19, Annie E. Tummino, Tomasz Gubernat, Jeanie Pai, Victoria Fernandez, Kuba Pieczarski, Patricia Reguyal, Caitlin Colban-Waldron

Publications and Research

In this lightning round session, panelists discuss how a small but spirited archive is adapting to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Queens College Special Collections and Archives is largely staffed by current and recent graduates of the college's graduate program in Library and Information Studies, this is a special opportunity to hear from a diverse group of emerging professionals during a challenging and rapidly changing time in the field.

Aim High: Pushing Collaboration And Outreach Limits For The 50th Anniversary Of Apollo 11, Molly Stothert-Maurer, Julie Swarstad Johnson

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Exhibits in archives and special collections function as an important outreach tool for these specialized, sometimes formidable repositories. Exhibits increase public knowledge of available collections, promote engagement with those collections, reach new audiences, and provide opportunities to build bridges across campus units. This case study looks at a rotating exhibition titled Moon at the University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections created to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing on July 20, 2019. This article covers exhibit design, programming and events that accompanied the exhibit, and coordinated efforts across the University of Arizona campus to celebrate this …

Community History In Minnesota During A Pandemic: What Comes Next?, Adam Stephen Guy Smith, Daardi Sizemore Mixon

Library Services Publications

Three Minnesota cultural heritage organizations developed distinctly different community history projects to document the COVID-19 Pandemic. Anoka County Historical Society distributed monthly surveys asking questions relevant to the community at the time while encouraging the public to submit documentation for the archives. Hennepin County Library rapidly expanded its nascent web archiving program to capture websites of Minneapolis and suburban community organizations affected by and responding to the pandemic. Minnesota State University, Mankato developed a community history project that incorporated the international student experience to explore how our students and their families responded to the pandemic throughout the summer.

This presentation …

Amplifying Collections With Oral Histories In A Virtual World: The Student Help Lived Experience Project At Queens College Cuny, Annie E. Tummino, Victoria Fernandez

Publications and Research

In response to the challenges brought on by the onset of the pandemic, the Queens College Special Collection and Archives (SCA) created the “Student Help: Lived Experience” student fellowship, designed to be completely remote. The project is an initiative to further document the activities of Queens College students who participated in both the Virginia and South Jamaica Student Help Projects in the early to mid-1960s. The Virginia Student Help Project was an intensive education effort during the summer of 1963 in Prince Edward County, Virginia where public schools were closed for five years in massive resistance to integration. The Jamaica …

Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed A Digital Humanities Project, Elise Tanner, Geoffrey Joseph

Digital Initiatives Symposium

Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. An unplanned interdisciplinary collaboration with the UA Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI) has proven to be an invaluable partnership. One team member from each department will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss how the collaborative process has changed and shaped …

Blood At The Root, Jarrett Martin Drake

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

What is the sound of silence and what is the sight of absence? The following essay situates itself along those two questions by devoting close ethnographic attention to the lives and afterlives of seven people—Delia, Renty, Jem, Alfred, Fassena, Drana, and Jack—whose reflections resonate and resound throughout the world of archives. I argue that a theory of archival power must consider the role of process and place in the shaping of modern memory practices. The article begins by narrating the story of how these seven people came to occupy the center of the archival universe. Next, it traces a tale …

The Reading Room Goes Virtual: Retooling First Year Experience Class Encounters With Archives And Primary Sources In The Wake Of Covid-19, Deedee Baldwin, Jessica Perkins Smith, Melody Dale

The Primary Source

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Fall of 2020, Mississippi State University librarians who taught archives-based First Year Experience classes had to make significant changes to their syllabi. In addition to the classes no longer meeting in the library itself, activities like archival visits, interactions with the physical materials, scavenger hunts, group projects, and games had to be replaced with in-class assignments and projects based on items available in the digital collections. Ultimately, the semester, with all of the stress and unknowns that came with it, gave instructors an opportunity to try new strategies, to increase students’ …

The Archival Advocate (Spring 2021), David Owings

Archives and Special Collections Newsletter

In this issue:

• Grant Award
• Challenge Grant
• New Acquisitions
• Pleasant Phillips Diary
• Staff Highlights
• Found in the Archives
• Rare Book Corner

Archeota, Spring/Summer 2021, Kelli K. Roisman, Alyssa Key, Christine Mahoney, Alison Quirion, Sara Wang, Samantha Hamilton

Archeota

Archeota is a platform for SJSU iSchool students to contribute to the archival conversation. It is written BY students, FOR students. It provides substantive content on archival concerns and issues, and promotes professional development in the field of archival studies. Archeota upholds the core values of the archival profession.

“Documenting a Nation in Crisis: Rapid Response Collecting in the Wake of the Capitol Riot” by Kelli Roisman

“Review of Survival Mode:
 SJSU Responds to Historic Crises” by Sara Wang

“Reflections on the Roles of Archivists: Collectors, Storytellers, Gatekeepers, and Changemakers” by Alyssa Key

“What is an NFT 
and Why Should …

Introduction To Western Archivists Meeting Special Issue, J. Gordon Daines Iii

Journal of Western Archives

Introduction to the special issue related to the Western Archivists Meeting.

Community Of Practice At The California State University Special Collections And University Archives, Berlin Loa, Pamela Nett Kruger

Journal of Western Archives

The California State University Archives and Archivists’ Roundtable is a Community of Practice consisting of archivists that meet regularly online, and annually in person. Communities grow from shared interests, resources, concerns, or endeavors. Communities of practice can grow out of a need for connecting with other people who share the same issues, learning environment, or passions. In this article we describe how the CSUAAR group was founded, how it has evolved, and offers a potential model for other archivists to identify, create, and maintain a community of practice through common needs or interest.

Advocating For Social Justice And Diverse Voices In The Virtual World, Annie E. Tummino, Jo-Ann Wong

Publications and Research

Queens Memory is a local community archiving and oral history project, co-administered by Queens Public Library and Queens College, CUNY. Due to COVID-19 safety protocols, all projects and programs were required to move to a virtual setting. While under these restricted measures, members from both institutions found an opportunity to embark on a collaborative virtual event series for our respective library communities. The programs covered current events and their historical contexts, social justice, and creating positive social change. Key ingredients fueling the success of this initiative included building relationships with multiple co-sponsors; bringing together multigenerational, diverse panelists; and creative use …

Review Of Seeking A New Life For Indigenous Archives, Natalia Kovalyova

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Thirteen essays in Afterlives of Indigenous Archives, assembled and edited by Ivy Schweitzer and Gordon Henry Jr., collectively respond to the call to reconsider the archive and reinstate the principles and practices of indigenous archiving. The central element of such reconsiderations is the question of power sustained via the Western tradition of print culture and knowledge organization and, consequently, of conflicts and contradictions amassed in non-indigenous repositories that preserve Indigenous heritage. Exploring alternative ways of preserving indigenous materials, the volume takes the reader from institutional frameworks through an examination of specific cases toward projections of digital innovations in indigenous archives …

Shopping For An Ir: The Search, Adoption, And Implementation Of The University Of Louisiana At Lafayette’S Institutional Repository Platform, Zachary G. Stein

Faculty Scholarship

Institutions wishing to disseminate their scholarship on a wide scale have influenced the need for institutional repositories (IR). These repositories provide institutions the opportunity to display and preserve what they have to offer in an open access environment. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) had attempted to adopt an IR for years and finally achieved this goal. Many issues impacted the adoption, including funding, deciding on the appropriate platform solutions, and marketing the need for contributions from faculty and university administration. There is much optimism for the IR, as it is also included in the university’s Quality Enhancement …

The Invisible Histories Project: Documenting The Queer South, James L. Baggett, Joshua Burford, Maigen Sullivan, Catherine Oseas Champion

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

The Invisible Histories Project works with archives and Queer communities in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi to identify and collect material documenting the history of the Queer South.

Archival Evidence Of Exceptional Human Experiences, Blynne Olivieri

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

Archival collections hold tangible documentation of the range of human experience. Diaries, letters, photographs, audio recordings, reports, and other paper and film-based materials tell the stories of people’s lives. Using examples from the vast parapsychology archives and rare book collections at the University of West Georgia, this paper will share people’s first-hand accounts of extraordinary incidents or of their supernatural abilities, from the profound to the disappointing, and from the unexpected to the purposefully sought, including near-death experiences, extrasensory perception, and psychedelic drug use.

Archeota, Fall/Winter 2020, Kelli Roisman, Christine Mahoney, Alison Quirion, Alyssa Key, Monica Nolan

Archeota

Archeota is a platform for SJSU iSchool students to contribute to the archival conversation. It is written BY students, FOR students. It provides substantive content on archival concerns and issues, and promotes career development in the field of archival studies. Archeota upholds the core values of the archival profession. It is a semiannual publication of the Student Chapter of the Society of American Archivists at the San José State University School of Information.

Law Library Blog (January 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Against Whitewashing: The Recent History Of Anti-Racist Action In The British Archives Sector, Alicia Chilcott, Kirsty Fife, James Lowry, Jenny Moran, Arike Oke, Anna Sexton, Jass Thethi

Publications and Research

This article is an account of recent activity in the U.K. archives sector against white supremacy which is written by a number of people active in the work. Through our work, we are aware of previous initiatives in this area, but written sources about the history of this work are patchy at best. This account offers a description of recent activity so that it is "on record". We recognise that a historical account of previous efforts would be valuable, but that is not our objective here. This article offers a statement of the problem of white supremacy in the U.K.’s …

Impact Of Historical Review And Archival Accessibility In Combating Covid-19 Pandemic In Nigeria, Bakare D. Oluwabunmi Dr, Mary Funke Ajayi Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Archives and records management play a central role in understanding the past and aid effective decision-making on current situations. The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of historical review and archival accessibility in combating COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The study was based on a systematic review of existing literature on overview of pandemics in human history, history of pandemic in Nigeria, 1918-1919 influenza in Nigeria, COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, and archival accessibility and pandemics. The study was able to identify some major challenges of archival accessibility in Nigeria, which made it difficult to access documents of …

Retaining Opportunities, Completing Key Projects With Remote Student Employees During Covid-19, Henry M. Handley, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Publications

As the field of higher education began furloughs and layoffs to alleviate COVID-19 budget concerns, cultural heritage workers were directed to clearly demonstrate how their work contributes to institutions’ educational missions. Although physical library and archival collections were deemed inaccessible and less critical during the pandemic than ebooks, electronic journals, and digitized special collections, the two special collections projects considered in this case study demonstrate the value of continuing collections management work remotely and the relevance of student employees and other contingent workers in libraries and archives. The projects—one an inventory and bibliography of books acquired from a defunct religious …

Review Of Memory Lab Network Resources, Annie E. Tummino, Tomasz Gubernat, Jeanie Pai

Publications and Research

Review of Memory Lab Network resources for American Archivist Reviews, a portal which highlights websites, digital collections, and technologies that have an impact on the archives profession. The authors review the resources published by the Memory Lab Network and discuss their own work building a Memory Lab at the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library of Queens College, CUNY.

Commemorating A Legacy Of Dissent: Revisiting Campus Activism 1968-1970, Annie E. Tummino

Publications and Research

On the heels of the student revolt at Columbia in 1968, Queens College students launched their own militant actions and demands for change on campus. Using primary source materials from the Benjamin Rosenthal Library’s Special Collections and Archives, the presentation covers the New Left and Anti-War movements, as well as an uprising led by Black and Puerto Rican students influenced by the ideologies of Black Power and self-determination. The role of archives in preserving activist history and educating current and future generations is also touched on.

Review Of Do Archives Have Value?, Luciana Duranti

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

This book is about the value of archives in all of its connotations: value as evidence, memory, culture, source for a variety of practical purposes, and, most interestingly, value as means of financial gain for corporations. Each chapter emphasizes values in a variety of contexts: from Malawi, Australia, and the United Kingdom, to India, Hong Kong and Japan. In the process of discussing such values, several authors explain how archives came to be accumulated and preserved in their countries and how these processes have determined the value, as well as the worth, of their archives today. Though the chapters are …

Perspectives And Practices: Archival Processing Metrics Survey Findings, Cyndi Shein, Sarah R. Jones, Tammi Kim, Karla Irwin

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Professional literature and case studies demonstrate that processing metrics are valuable in advocating for resources, informing priorities, supporting grant proposals, and predicting costs for collection storage and care. This article analyzes responses to an archival processing metrics survey that gathered perspectives and practices from archivists working in a variety of repository types. The findings describe how archivists collect processing metrics in different ways, what data points they view as essential, and how they use certain data points to serve specific purposes. The findings indicate that although most respondents acknowledge the value of processing metrics, the majority of them still do …