This year,as summer has turned to fall and the anniversary of 9/11 approached,I have found myself thinking about several ways in which the public memory of these events has unfolded and evolved over the past decade. How have we come to understand what happened on that sunny morning in September? How have we reconciled our personal recollections and experiences with those that we learned about from television,friends,or other media? As archivists,how do we understand the threads,and provide context for documentation of events such as this one? How do we approach our own understanding and experiences,and can (or should) we separate those from what we collect?
Like thousands of others,I lost a friend on that terrible day. She was two years older than me,with a quiet smile and a wry sense of humor. Christina taught me how to hold a mellophone on my very first day of marching band,and made me feel as welcome as a tiny,wide-eyed new freshman could have been. We were in the same squad (of four) through countless hours of rehearsals,games,and post-game hilarity. After high school,I lost track of her,though I’d occasionally hear various updates through other band friends. While I’m not sure that I could (or would) have articulated it as a teenager,Christina was someone that I looked up to,someone that was humble and strong and kind,all at the same time. The world has been more gloomy these past ten years without her smile and strength.
As I watched the Facebook updates of my schoolmates scroll by this week with links to the article in the Plain Dealer and the seemingly annual Cleveland NewsNet5 story,I am reminded that we were all touched on that day in 2001. We all remember and commemorate and grieve in different ways. Christina’s parents and friends have set up a memorial foundation and scholarship fund,and have discussed their memories in many places,including her undergraduate student newspaper,a dedication to the children’s room at the local public library,a Congressional memoriam,and a StoryCorps interview. While I’m not sure that quiet Christina would have liked all of this attention,as another schoolmate posted back in 2005,I now think of this as Happy Christina Day. Make this a day to hold close your loved ones,and to tell them how much they mean to you. Especially the quiet ones,the strong ones,the humble ones. Do it now,and as often as you can.
Ten years after 9/11,we have a different,broader understanding of what happened than we did on that sunny Tuesday morning. Don’t we? As we move further from the events,do we gain a greater understanding,or just a different one? There are lots of conversations out there today about the nature of collecting public memory. Today I urge you to put on your archivist thinking cap,and consider the ways in which public and personal narratives collide to shape the story of a contemporary event. Evaluate some of the collecting initiatives that came out of 9/11,and think critically about how they serve their intended purpose. Think about 9/11 or another tragedy,or even some other event for which you have a collection in your archives. Think about future events which you will collect:what is your appraisal strategy? What is your process for building understanding and documentation? Use this day,this week,to revisit how you collect and maintain a body of documentation that has many layers and streams of content,emotion,understanding,and representation. Think about how we can do this better. Make that your contribution.
Mark your calendars,folks! Home Movie Day 2010 is October 16th. If there’s no HMD scheduled in your area,think about setting one up yourself–for this year,or getting started for next year. This could be an interesting activity for American Archives Month,or just a great way to reach out to your community.
There’s an article in today’s New York Times about David Ferriero,the archivist of the US. While the subtitle (“Collector in Chief Hoards Nation’s Irreplaceable Stuff”) betrays stereotypes about the ways that the work of archivists and the contents of archives are viewed,the article has some interesting tidbits for us to examine.
Several that jumped out at me:
Digital record keeping has created new challenges:each agency has its own standards;since it consumes less space,the temptation is to avoid discretionary decisions and save more than is needed;electronic records are more subject to tampering;and emerging technology requires curatorial nimbleness. (The White House is hiring a social media archivist.)
The first part is something that has been discussed ad infinitum by NARA and others. Born-digital records come with built-in problems when we consider them using appraisal practices that are suited for a paper-based practice. That part isn’t news,and neither is the discussion of authenticity and migration,but I’m glad to see that it made the paper,anyway. The part that I found to be very interesting:the White House is hiring a social media archivist? I’m really curious to hear more about that.
How many digitized records should be available online? “If I had my way,” he replied,“everything.”
OK,I like the idea of every digitized record being available online,in theory. What is the reality? In practice,NARA’s website (websites,if you include the presidential libraries,which also use the creaky ARC database) is woefully difficult to navigate,and even if much more content were made available,the infrastructure needs a significant boost. NARA holds some rich and magnificent resources,and like every repository out there,time,money,and backlog will always be issues. Ferreiro sidesteps the issue here (and for a general audience,perhaps he made the right choice),but I’d like to hear about the appraisal process for digitization at NARA and what the benchmarks and goals look like for improved research access to collection materials.
The Obama administration has also given the National Archives responsibility for reviewing the declassification of 400 million pages of secret documents by the end of 2013. Mr. Ferriero’s goal,he said,is “to ensure that we have the user at the center of our thinking — historians,genealogists,open government folks. What can we do to make their lives easier?”
Obviously the newly established NARA declass center (NDC) will have something to do with this,but the last part of the paragraph was interesting to me. What is NARA doing to make research easier for users? I’m really looking forward to hearing more about this.
Have you been reading the updates on the Haiti earthquake and wishing that you could help? Are you an archivist,conservator,preservation professional? Read on.
There has been a call for volunteers through the Blue Shield network,and according to the International Council of Archives,as of February 11,2010,there have been over 500 volunteers.
From the Blue Shield press release:
The Blue Shield is the protective emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention which is the basic international treaty formulating rules to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts. The Blue Shield network consists of organisations dealing with museums,archives,audiovisual supports,libraries,monuments and sites. The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS),founded in 1996,comprises representatives of the five Non‐Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in this field: - The International Council on Archives (www.ica.org), - The International Council of Museums (www.icom.museum), - The International Council on Monuments and Sites (www.icomos.org),and - The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (www.ifla.org) - The Co‐ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (www.ccaaa.org) National Blue Shield Committees have been founded in a number of countries (18 established and 18 under construction). The Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS),founded in December 2008,will coordinate and strengthen international efforts to protect cultural property at risk of destruction in armed conflicts or natural disasters. The ANCBS has its headquarters in The Hague.
The Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS) wants to help the people of Haiti
The earthquake in Haiti of 12th January has caused an enormous devastation. The amount of people that lost their lives is beyond imagination. At the moment basic humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of a functioning infrastructure is crucial.
However,as soon as the situation in Haiti has become more stable,Blue Shield wants to help to enable experts from all over the world to support their Haitian colleagues in assessing the damage to the cultural heritage and therefore to the identity of their country. Subsequently,Blue Shield wants to support recovery,restoration and repair measures necessary to rebuild libraries,archives,museums,monuments and sites.
An important task of ANCBS is to coordinate information. ANCBS needs to know who and where the experts are. ANCBS therefore calls upon archivists,restorers,curators,librarians,architects and other experts to register online as a volunteer.
ANCBS wants to be able to bring experts in contact with those organizations that will send missions to Haiti,and make sure that volunteers will be informed about the situation in Haiti.
Please join Blue Shield to help your Haitian colleagues.
The International Council on Archives wants to publicize throughout the international community the efforts of our Haitian colleagues,who have formed a crisis cell “Heritage in danger”,on the fringes of the official commission for the evaluation of buildings and reconstruction. An initial statement of requirements has been issued and you will find a copy of it attached. The Secretariat has very recently been in touch with Jean-Wilfrid Bertrand,the National Archivist of Haiti,and Jérémy Lachal,Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders,currently on mission in Port-au-Prince. Jean-Wilfrid and others have confirmed that the items on the requirements list are really needed,and that,if anything,it is an under-statement. Jean-Wilfrid has in particular emphasized the urgent requirement for tarpaulins. These are needed to protect records that are at present lying on the ground,because the buildings that previously housed them have been destroyed. If nothing is done now,they will be completely exposed during the forthcoming rainy season. ICA is now working as a matter of urgency on ways of getting these and other materials to him at Port-au-Prince as quickly as possible.
…from the “equipment”section of the list:
2.2. Equipment 2.2.1. 60,000 acid-free archive storage boxes (350 x 350 x 350 mm) 2.2.2. 150,000 plastic gloves 2.2.3. 150,000 protective masks 2.2.4. 30,000 rolls of adhesive tape (neutral glue) 2.2.5. Pencils,felt-tips,labels,acid-free wrapping paper,glue, string,zinc-coated paper clips,staplers,needles,8½ x 11, 8 ½ x 14 size paper 2.2.6. 50 laptop computers 2.2.7. Three computer servers 2.2.8. 100 tents to act as temporary shelters for records and salvage personnel 2.2.9. 20 two-way handheld radio transceivers 2.2.10. 20 mobile phones 2.2.11. 15 digital cameras of semi-professional specification 2.2.12. 8 GPS (global positioning system) devices 2.2.13. 200 safety helmets with lamps (miner’s helmet-style) 2.2.14. 30 heavy duty flashlights 2.2.15. 10 pick-up trucks 2.2.16. 5 lorries 2.2.17. Temporary storage facility measuring 10,000 square meters. The managers of the Canne-à-Sucre historical park have offered a storage facility,which is far too small 2.2.18. 2000 struts or props with hydraulic jacks 2.2.19. 2000 tubular scaffoldings with gaskets 2.2.20. 30 20 x 40 feet containers 2.2.21. 100 metal trunks (or durable plastic) 2.3. Financial Resources We need money to: 2.3.1. Provide logistical support (fuel,food,transportation, communication expenses,etc. 2.3.2. Rent storage facilities 2.3.3. Rent or buy second hand containers 2.3.4. Offer incentive pay for non volunteer workers 2.3.5. Purchase records,photographs,audio and video material created prior to the earthquake 2.3.6. Write a damage report with photographic evidence 2.3.7. Purchase inventory software and set up a database
Full list of needs,requirements available in PDF at the bottom of this ICA announcement.
Politicians,beauty queens,and rock stars all claim they want world peace. But could the unassuming archivist,more likely to be found buried in a stack of yellowing newspapers than at a global summit,be the true peacemaker of our time?
That was the prevailing theme at the Scone Foundation’s “Archivist of the Year”awards,held last week at the CUNY Graduate Center:archivists aren’t here merely to perform the dutiful-but-dull task of preservation,but to defend civil liberties,encourage transparency,and maybe–just maybe–facilitate historical reconciliation between former enemies. Underscoring the idea of archivist-as-peacemaker,this year’s award was shared by representatives of both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:Khader Salameh of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library in Jerusalem,and Yehoshua Freundlich of the Israel State Archives.
You can also listen to the fall 2009 podcast of Dr. Saad Eskander’s talk on Recovering Iraqi Records to the Simmons GSLIS community here. Eskander’s 2006-2007 blogs on the topic are available at the British Library.
Call it a scholar’s birthday present to Abraham Lincoln. David J. Gerleman,an adjunct history professor at George Mason University,has digitially stitched together a torn document whose pieces are held by two different archives.
The lower half of document bearing President Lincoln’s signature is held at St. Lawrence University,in Canton,N.Y.,while the upper half is at the Illinois State Archives,in Springfield. While the two pieces are still physically states apart,digital images of them have been pasted together to form an entire legal document with a coherent history.
Full article in Wired Campus. Digital image can be seen on this site (scroll to very bottom under “reunited documents”)
Now’s a good time to start thinking about MayDay 2010- what are you doing to promote disaster preparedness?
Contest —Making the Case for Preservation Action to Save Collections
We all know how hard it is to lift the sense of urgency and priority for preserving collections,especially in our economically tight and digitally oriented times. The American Library Association’s Association of Library Collections and Services (ALA-ALCTS) is sponsoring a competition for the best “2-minute speech” to convince 3 key audiences of the importance of action for preservation as a part of the first national collection Preservation Week (May 9-15,2010).
The target audiences are:
● Decision makers-directors,board members,elected and appointed officials,and other people who choose priorities for action and provide the resources; ● Friends,family,visitors and users,and others who work outside collecting institutions,and the cultural heritage,conservation,and preservation fields-public support is essential for preservation action; ● Library,archives,and museum staff outside the preservation or conservation fields –shelvers,check-out and ILL staff,building operations,and housekeeping personnel can have a significant impact on collections preservation.
Here’s how the contest will work: 1. Select one or more target audiences (i.e. decision makers;general audience;and/or library/archive/museum staff) to persuade with a 2-minute speech to support preservation and take preservation action.
2. Write a short,compelling,and easy-to-understand argument that will persuade your target audience. Send in one 2 minute speech per target audience.
3. Send your written submissions in one e-mail per target audience to Yvonne Carignan,Library Director and Head of Collections,Historical Society of Washington,DC,carignan@historydc.org.
4. Yvonne will distribute all submissions to a review panel representing preservation,conservation,and collecting institutions of a variety of types and sizes. The panel will select the top three entries in each category. The winning “speeches” will be highlighted on the Preservation Week Web site (www.ala.org./preservationweek) and the winners will also receive a surprise from ALCTS.
5. The deadline for submission is March 8,2010, so don’t delay.
Here are some hints to help: Send us the reasons for supporting preservation that have worked with people you know.
Audience: Key decision-maker –
If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s doubting Board Chair,Director,Major Funder,that collections preservation should become a strong priority,budget priority,high priority,core function of your institution,what would you say? what points would you make?
If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s doubting Director that collections preservation should become a core function of your institution,what would you say?
Audience: Friends,family,and neighbors outside the field If you had only 2 minutes to convince your —Great aunt,cable or satellite installer,or neighbor that preserving cultural heritage collections should become a well-funded activity,budget priority,high priority in your community,what would you say? what points would you make?
If you had only 2 minutes to convince your neighbor that preserving cultural heritage collections should become a high priority in your community,what points would you make?
Audience: Line staff in your institution outside preservation and conservation
If you had only 2 minutes to convince your colleagues that by making collections preservation a strong priority,high priority,core function,they could make a real difference to your users,what would you say? what points would you make?
If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s volunteers that by making preserving your collections a high priority,they could make a real difference to your users,what points would you make?
[sorry for the dreadful pun;I just couldn't restrain myself.]
This is an excerpt from a post that I’ve added to the (closed) course discussion board for LIS 2223:Archival Access,Advocacy,and Ethics. I’ve talked about PAHR before on the blog,but I think that it’s important to continue discussing and supporting this and other archival advocacy efforts.
PAHR is a bill,introduced in the House of Representatives,authorizing the Archivist of the United States to provide grant funding for preservation and records projects at the state level. Last summer at the SAA meeting in Austin,PAHR advocacy was a hot topic in many of the roundtables and several sessions.
While this site is somewhat outdated,you can read about the bill and funding allocation,as well as talking points,background information,and a list of sponsors by state.
Why is PAHR important? As discussed yesterday in class,funding is important to continuing the mission/vision of archives. Visibility and building a coalition of support may be even more important,and while the money that this bill provides will certainly be welcomed by the recipients;the lasting legacy of this particular could be laying the foundation for future support. I’d like to encourage you to read the bill on the PAHR site and then tell me if you agree or disagree,and explain your position.
I’m preparing to spend 1.5 days as a participant at THATCamp Columbus,and I’m really excited about the possibilities. Some of you may recall that I was also a participant in THATCamp Austin back in August,and I came away from that experience with some solid ideas and some good starting points for future exploration.
Looking back,I see that I never posted a review of my experiences at THATCamp Austin. Lo siento. While a full review may not be in the cards,I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest in the topic of crowdsourcing and archives/cultural heritage. As it turned out,Ben Brumfield and I ended up chatting with a decent-sized crowd in the large auditorium during the first session. Ben’s working on a neat volunteer transcription project called From the Page that he had previously demoed at THATCamp 2008. The Austin version of THATCamp was short,and Ben’s talked about some of the other challenges elsewhere. On the plus side,I found that this was a fantastic opportunity to meet/mingle with digital humanities folks that I’d wanted to meet for awhile,and while there were some familiar faces,I think this was a great way for a lot of newer,digitally minded archivists and programmers to share and receive ideas. There was a lot of positive energy generated even in that short evening,and because of the tie-in with the Society of American Archivists annual meeting,I had the chance to talk with some (though not all) of the THATCampers during the rest of the conference week. I’m hoping that something similar can be organized for the Washington DC meeting this summer.
I’ll be back to talk about THATCamp Columbus after it’s over! *fingers crossed*
A big thumbs up to Massachusetts Library Association members who rallied on Boston Common at the State House yesterday to support libraries. What are you doing to show your support for libraries and archives in your state? Have you contacted your legislator about PAHR (Preserving the American Historical Record) yet? Don’t just be a patron of your favorite institutions–be a supporter. Make sure that your voice has been heard by your legislators in support of libraries and archives.
Thanks to ArchivesNext for bringing this story to our attention.
On this gorgeous and unusually warm Friday,I’m looking out at the beautiful leaves on campus from the top floor of the library and thinking about some writing that I’d like to finish this weekend. I’ve been finding a lot of good projects and links lately,and thought I’d share a few with you here:
Call for Papers- DH2010 –Digital Humanities conference at Kings College,London- the theme is “cultural expression,old and new.”Deadline for paper abstracts is Nov 15;conference is in early July 2010.
THATCamp Columbus- regional Digital Humanities unconference based on the popular annual THATCamp at George Mason University. They’re taking proposals now for the January 2010 conference that will be held at Columbus State. I participated in THATCamp Austin this summer,and had so much fun that I’d like to go to Columbus,too–I found it to be a great place to generate discussion and ideas.
Digital Humanities Quarterly- lots of interesting articles in this open-access,peer-reviewed journal,and I’ve been catching up on my reading.
If your answer was anything other than “of course I’ll be celebrating Home Movie Day!”you have plenty of time to change your mind. Rake the leaves during the week,set up Tivo to capture the college football games,grab the popcorn and head over to your localHome Movie Day.
What is Home Movie Day? Started in 2002 by a film-loving bunch of archivists and moving image folks,HMD is a sort of ad-hoc amateur film fest,and a celebration of home movies at the local level. You can read more about it here.
Coincidentally,October is also Archives Month. Have you thought about hosting,or perhaps providing film-friendly expertise for your local Home Movie Day? This could be a great opportunity for outreach,and for connecting with your community. Do you have any home movies in your collection that would be of interest during HMD? (Incidentally,this could also serve as a yearly reminder to check the home movies and other films in your collection for any new deterioration or issues).
Anyway,you have almost three weeks until HMD. That could be enough time to secure a projector and a room,haul out the A-D strips,get the word out to the community,and start on the popcorn. Or you could start planning ahead for next year.
The 
