Welcome to the inaugural Beyond the Elevator Cartoon!

Mandy Mastrovita and Jill Severn created the strip to express, through illustration, their heartfelt belief that the magic of archives can and should be worked into ANY conversation or situation. The prospect of this axiom has exhorted the two into paroxysms of giggles, chortles, and howls despite the sober and noble subject matter. Indeed, they have spent hours cooking up likely scenarios to bring to life in future cartoons, illustrating the varying places and situations in which archivists may find opportunities to explain their work to non-archivists. These little gems will appear monthly for the foreseeable future, but never ones to let greed guide them, Mandy and Jill would be delighted to have ideas for this comic from archivists and archivist enthusiasts everywhere. They welcome scenarios both real and imagined–based on actual interactions that archivists have had, or on dreams (nightmares?) haunted by the all-too-familiar “What is an archivist?”  question. To share your idea, please send a description of your concept, relevant details, and contact information (your name and your email address) to beyondtheelevator@gmail.com.