Month: September 2018

October 3rd is Ask An Archivist Day!

1 Comment

#AskAnArchivist_Oct-3-2017.jpg

 

The members of SAA’s Committee on Public Awareness (COPA) get excited when #AskAnArchivist Day comes around. This year’s #AskAnArchivist Day will be Weds, Oct 3. On that day, archivists around the country will take to Twitter to respond to questions tweeted with the hashtag #AskAnArchivist, letting us engage directly with the public about what we do, why it’s important, and of course, to share our “most interesting/bizarre/touching etc., records” stories.

Between now and October 3, we encourage you to promote #AskAnArchivist Day among your users and constituents via your institution’s website, Twitter account, blog, newsletter, and any other mediums available to you. View SAA’s public #AskAnArchivist Day announcement  and feel free to pick up language from it for your own promotions.

COPA’s members have found memes to be a great way to drum up excitement. They’re fun and are easily created through an online meme generator. This is a meme from COPA’s own vault that’s been “repurposed” for this year.

kittymeme

Starting October 1, follow the official hashtag #AskAnArchivist, on Twitter–we’ll keep sharing our memes up until the big day. We hope to see yours as well.

COPA members are also thinking of questions we can ask throughout the big day, so that we can join the conversation and hear your archival stories.

  • Who’s the most interesting or famous person who’s entered your archives?
  • What was the most difficult item to preserve in your Archives and why?

…so get your answers ready, and be prepared for more questions coming from COPA! We’ll be using an added hashtag, #ArchivesAWARE, to make it easy to follow our questions.

If you plan to participate, please email SAA Editorial and Production Coordinator Abigail Christian with your Twitter handle so we can add you to the 2018 list of participants.

Federal Funding Impact Story #10

Leave a comment

dennis meissner on NHPRC’s Archival research fellowships program and “more product, less process”

Dennis Meissner

Dennis Meissner is the retired Deputy Director for Programs at the Minnesota Historical Society, a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists, and a past president of SAA. Most of his career has focused on the arrangement, description, and use of archival materials, and he has participated in a number of national and international efforts to develop standards and practices in those areas.  In 2003-2004 he collaborated with Mark Greene on the NHPRC-funded More Product, Less Process research project, which has seen broad adoption within American archives and special collections.

In this special contribution to our Federal Funding Impact Stories series, Mr. Meissner reflects on the importance of federal funding in facilitating the research project that resulted in the seminal article “More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing” in the fall/winter 2005 issue of The American Archivist.

Granting Agency: National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
Grant Program: Archival Research Fellowships Program
Program Fellows: Mark Greene, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming; Dennis Meissner, Minnesota Historical Society
Project Title: More Product, Less Process
Grant Period: 2003-2004
Award Amount: $10,000

Project Description
There is no shortage of archivists and repositories that have benefitted materially and professionally from the largesse and strategic investments made by the NHPRC over the past half century.  My own institution, the Minnesota Historical Society, received microfilming grants beginning in the 1960s and continued to benefit from Commission funding up through the past decade with generous backlog reduction and digitization grants. These are the sort of benefits with which archivists are most familiar.  Although the NHPRC budget has usually been modest, its grants have greatly assisted countless repositories in their efforts to achieve programmatic sustainability, records preservation, and service innovation.

But NHPRC has invested in a variety of other projects over the years, less well known but equally helpful to archivists and their profession.  One of those projects, near and dear to my heart, was the Archival Research Fellowships Program that was active from 2002 through 2005.  The Research Fellowships were set up as a three-year program established with an award of $143,000 to manage a new, non-residential archival research fellowship program. The program was administered by representatives from the Massachusetts Historical Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute, and WGBH Educational Foundation.

Members of the three annual cohorts of Fellows (4-6 per year) were each required to conduct research and write about a topic of importance to the archival profession, with proposals concerning electronic records given a somewhat higher priority.  The program resulted in a number of fine projects that advanced archival thinking and produced important publications, perhaps the most widely beneficial of them being Richard Pearce-Moses’s A Glossary of Archival & Records Terminology (SAA, 2005).

The program also funded the year of research that led to the publication of the “More Product, Less Process” article.  So, it is with great fondness and deep gratitude that I think back on the crucial role that NHPRC funding played in making that project a reality for Mark Greene and me.  In short, we would probably not have attempted that significant work without the financial support provided by the Fellows Program and (equally important) without its absolute deadline and firm expectation that we would report out something of merit at the end of a year.  The stipend itself funded an important research trip to D.C. to research historical grant files, my travel to Wyoming so that we could work shoulder to shoulder in early project scoping and writing sessions, and to hire student help in capturing and analyzing a large body of survey data.  The expectation to produce results focused our thinking and forced us to work quickly and energetically toward our goal.  That compressed work and energy could not have happened without our Commission support.

MPLP was made possible by generous NHPRC support through the funding vehicle provided by its Archival Research Fellowships Program, a gift that supported important work by a number of archivists over its brief duration.  This type of strategic investment in archivists and the archival profession is carried on today though the Commission’s support of the Archives Leadership Institute, which is helping a large number of mid-level professionals prepare themselves to become senior leaders in their repositories and in their profession.  I am continually impressed with NHPRC’s ability to strategically plant modest seeds that grow innovation and resilience throughout the U.S. archives community.

There’s an Archivist for That! Interview with Meredith Torre, Archivist, Atlanta Housing

1 Comment

This is the seventh post in our There’s an Archivist for That! series, which will feature examples of archivists working in places you might not expect.  To continue this new series, COPA member Rachel Seale, Outreach Archivist at Iowa State University, brings you an interview with Meredith Torre, Archivist for Atlanta Housing Archives (AH).

Writing

Photograph of Meredith Torre. Courtesy of Meredith Torre.

Meredith Torre is the Archivist for Atlanta Housing Archives. Torre earned her MLS with specializations in archives, rare books, and conservation at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has been a member of both the Society of American Archivists, Society of Georgia Archivists, and also the Heritage Emergency Response Alliance.  In August 2017, Torre received the Employee of the Month from Atlanta Housing Authority and has also won the CEO Award for Preserving Our Past from the Atlanta Housing Authority in 2015.

Be sure to also check out the profile of the Atlanta Housing Archives Torre wrote for the SAA Business Archives Section.

RS: How did you get your gig?

MT: In 2014, I saw that Atlanta Housing was hiring an archivist. Then Director of Records and Information Management, David Carmichael, had been Director of the Georgia Archives where I first worked as an archives intern. I did a little bit of investigating into the position and learned that the hiring would be Atlanta Housing’s first archivist, which intrigued me. I also liked that the lone ranger position would provide the opportunity to engage in all aspects of archival work. The archivist position started out as a temporary one. However, the agency began to see the archives as a valuable program within Records and Information Management and in 2015 invested in making the position a permanent one.

Girl scouts

“Girl Scouts.” AHA 2013.00258, 1950. Courtesy of the Atlanta Housing Archives.

RS: Tell us about your organization.

MT: For eight decades, Atlanta Housing (AH) has been at the forefront of providing affordable housing for many low-income families. The Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta formed May 18, 1938. AH’s founding Chairman Charles Forrest Palmer with Dr. John Hope, first black president of Morehouse College envisioned public housing that would eliminate Atlanta of its festering slums and provide decent, safe and sanitary housing at rent affordable to low income families. Under President Roosevelt’s New Deal these men formed an alliance to create the first federally subsidized public housing in the United States: Techwood and University Homes, serving as a national model for public housing. During the war AH again became a national model when President Roosevelt appointed AH’s founder as the Defense Housing Coordinator and AH lead national efforts for the construction of defense housing and housing for migrant war-workers and their families. Public housing nationally in the United States is still relatively young. AH recently reached its 80th anniversary (May 2018). During these years, public housing has undergone many changes and implemented new programs with Atlanta Housing continuing to play a key role in public housing policy. It’s a very exciting time to be an archivist for this type of organization!

MLK

Martin Luther King, Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church signing an agreement with Edwin L. Sterne, AHA board chairman to develop a low and moderate income housing complex in the Rawson-Washington Urban Renewal Area. AHA 2013.01115, 1967. Courtesy of the Atlanta Housing Archives.

RS: Describe your collections.

SH: Atlanta Housing (“AH”) collects and preserves records of permanent and historical value dating back to the 1930’s. These records document the history of AH’s work and support its mission. Materials preserved in AH’s Archives have significant relevance to AH and document the evolution and history of AH, its achievements, administrative policy, programs, and projects. Records of enduring research value document the early history of public housing in Atlanta or in which AH played a pivotal and innovative role in shaping public housing policy and/or history. In particular, collecting areas include:

  • The United States first federally funded housing developments Techwood and University Homes.
  • AH during the period of war housing.
  • Housing project and real estate development/redevelopment records.
  • Urban Renewal records.
  • Official policies, reports, and agreements.
  • Programmatic records.
  • Papers and correspondence of executive directors, deputy executive directors, senior vice-presidents, and the President/CEO.
  • Photographs, audiovisual materials, and artifacts.
  • Oral histories.
  • Community life.
  • Marketing, media, and publications created by AH.
  • Materials published outside AH that describe AH, its programs, projects, and history (such as newspaper and magazine articles).
Tenant planning

“Tenant Planning” AHA 2013.00252, 1955. Courtesy of the Atlanta Housing Archives.

RS: What are some challenges unique to your collections?

MT: Up until 2014, AH’s records were poorly housed in cardboard boxes, exposed to pests and profusely lined the floors and racks of the agency’s headquarters attic and basement prone to floods. A historian compiling a history for AH rearranged all records according to subjects in her book. Loss of original order, poor labeling, no indexing, duplications, separation of signatures from original agreements to create “a signature file of important persons”, and poor storage lead to issues in record retrieval, authenticity, loss of information, and damage to valuable historical records.

Part of the unique challenge I faced when first coming to AH was to build an archives from the ground up. I was tasked with creating an archival environment for the records and to restore original order to the records. Because the loss of original order and the necessity of its restoration, the processing of record collections is ongoing. Records are now arranged and described following best practices and standards including MPLP, DACs, and assigning Library of Congress and the ATT authorized subject and name authorities. Preliminary finding aids for AH’s collections are now available. Processed records are reboxed using archival materials and in 2016, the archives moved to a secure, climate-monitored space.

Techwood Clark

Techwood-Clark Howell Homes Carnival, community life. AHA 2013.00298, circa 1940-1949. Courtesy of the Atlanta Housing Archives.

RS: What is the favorite part of your job?

MT: I have worked in many different types of archival environments (government, academic, theological) and one of the most favorite aspects of my job for me is working within its unique environment. Atlanta Housing is a quasi-governmental entity. It functions as a business. It’s also a service oriented nonprofit institution. The business environment at AH requires flexibility in setting processing priorities and providing quick turnaround while realistically managing expectations. This environment offers its challenges. It also offers me the opportunity to tell people what it is archivists do frequently and to experience that moment of discovery from different people throughout the agency when they realize archives can work for them, has meaning, and is practically useful and magical. I also really enjoy working with our researchers. AH has hosted researchers and students locally and from all over the country interested in public housing history.

Stay tuned for future posts in the “There’s an Archivist for That!” series, featuring stories on archivists working in places you might not expect. If you know of an archivist who fits this description or are yourself an archivist who fits this description, the editors would love to hear from you—share in the comments below or contact archivesaware@archivists.org to be interviewed for ArchivesAWARE!

Recap of “Carpe Media! Communications and Media Training for Archivists” Workshop at ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2018

1 Comment

In this post, authors Vince Lee and Rachel Seale, members of SAA’s Committee on Public Awareness (COPA), share their impressions from attending the COPA-sponsored “Carpe Media! Communications and Media Training for Archivists” workshop at ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2018.

Workshop facilitator Jason Steinhauer role-playing with an attendee. Photo courtesy of Vince Lee.

“Carpe Media! Communications and Media Training for Archivists” was a day long workshop put together by SAA’s Committee on Public Awareness (COPA) and facilitated by Jason Steinhauer at Archives*Records 2018. This workshop offered archivists the necessary tools and confidence to be better communicators on their profession and organization to a wide variety of audiences. Many of us were forced out of our comfort zones to participate in activities that helped focus our message about archives, in general, and specific messages to our respective stakeholders and users, in particular.

COPA worked with SAA Executive Director, Nancy Beaumont, and Director of Publishing, Teresa Brinati, to bring this professional development opportunity to SAA members. Communicating effectively to the media or on social media is something most archivists have learned on the job and many of us would still like to develop these skills.  Reasons for attending the training and what they hoped to get out of it were articulated at the beginning of the session during introductions between Jason and the attendees:

  • Tools to raise awareness of what they do and the collections they have to the general public
  • Make communications more interesting and impactful to targeted audience
  • Communicate more strategically
  • Awareness and advocacy targeted to grass roots audience on why archivists and their organizations need additional resources/facilities to house and process their collections
  • Donor communications and bridging perceptions on archivists and our roles
  • Awareness and community outreach to potential donors
  • Get “buy-in” from organizational leadership for additional resources
  • Communicating history and heritage to internal stakeholders

    Leadership slide from workshop. Photo courtesy of Teresa Brinati.

Takeaways

  • Be concise and consistent.

  • Social media slide from workshop. Photo courtesy of Vince Lee.

    Be repetitive, don’t assume people are going to see your one Tweet amidst the 500 million other Tweets that day.

  • You have customers and users. Tailor your message to each group.
  • Your brand is a promise to deliver something to your customers and also how you are perceived.
  • Resist the temptation to be clever.
  • Stick to the message, don’t be cute or snarky or that’s what the journalist may cut out of context and use in their piece.
  • Choose the platform/s that is most used by your customers and users. Don’t know which platform? Survey!
  • Always be connected (ABC)-think about who you are connecting to and with and what message your audience wants/expects to receive.

List of “our words” that we can use to communicate what an archives is to an external audience. Photo courtesy of Vince Lee.

Jason pointing to our “words” to describe what an Archives means to each of us. Photo courtesy of Vince Lee.

Attendees from the workshop came away with a newfound appreciation that words matter and time is short. The words we use to tell our stories about ourselves, our profession, and the organizations we work for must come from us in order to be authentic and resonate to those we are trying to communicate to. We all have a limited amount of time and space to get our point across. We need to think of the essence of the thing without the whole thing. What is the essence of archives? It’s important to strip and distill what an archives is down for our audience in digestible chunks. The essence of archives is about the words we choose to describe ourselves and our profession. It’s important that we incorporate and use our words in conversations with donors, media, and our customers on a consistent basis.

At the end attendees had the opportunity to practice what they have learned in a one-on-one role-play exercise with Jason on various scenarios and situations they may find themselves in- whether it is interviewing in front of a camera, requesting more funding from an administrator or donor, or requesting additional resources in support of a project. Attendees would then receive feedback on their performance from both Jason and their peers.

Group photo of attendees. Photo courtesy of Teresa Brinati.