Tag: #AskAnArchivistDay

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SAA Marketing and Communications Specialist, Julia Pillard, shares how we can all celebrate #AskAnArchivistDay on October 16th.

Coming as I do from an academic background, I have long appreciated the value of archives. I can recall touring the archives at Norlin Library at the University of Colorado in Boulder during my graduate degree and being so impressed by the extensive knowledge of the archivists giving us the tour. From my experience, I know exactly how amazing archives can be and what treasures they have to offer.

Last year, for the first time, SAA embarked upon a new endeavor to celebrate #AskAnArchivist Day. We put out a call for submissions from archives and repositories around the country, asking for them to share “a picture of the most interesting thing in your archives” to then be features on SAA’s Instagram page. We received dozens of responses and featured twenty-six pieces on our Instagram that day. Our most liked post was from the Gerber/Hart Library & Archives, who shared a massive tongue sculpture that hangs in their archives.

Gerber/Hart is one of the largest LGBTQ+ repositories in the world! There are a lot of interesting items in the collection, but this massive tongue often draws the most attention! Perched atop the poster collections is the enormous mouth that once hung in Carol’s Speakeasy, a Chicago disco and club institution from 1978-1992. Named for Mother Carol (Richard Carroll Farnham), the tongue symbolized ‘loud-mouth’ Mother Carol herself. The tongue has been featured in a few exhibits at Gerber/Hart and takes around four people to move. When the tongue was donated to Gerber/Hart, it was black from years of cigarette smoke and had to be cleaned before being transferred to the archive. Courtesy of the Gerber/Hart Library & Archives.

We had such fun with this experience that we’ve decided to do it again this year! If you want to share a high-resolution photo from your institution, archives, or repository, send it to jpillard@archivists.org along with a caption. And get inspired with some of favorite photos from last year:

A Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation archivist assesses the Gustav Klimt portfolio owned by Lloyd Wright. Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
The Indiana Archives shared a photo of a kitten sitting on a catfish from between 1930 and 1969. Courtesy of the Indiana Archives.
The updated Search Room at Maryland State Archives. The new tables were designed to offer three times as much space for visitors. Courtesy of the Maryland State Archives.