Archives Found

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.

More information at the website.

Information from the ICA- first and second update on Haiti; list/statement of needs (download pdf at this link)

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.

A few sources of information:

dLoc (Digital Library of the Caribbean)

IFLA- Haiti update

Cultural riches turn to rubble in Haiti quake- New York Times

A quick roundup of things that have recently caught my attention:

Are archivists today’s real peacemakers?

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.

Torn Lincoln paper digitally reunited with other half:

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?

ALA-ALCTS is launching a national Preservation Week May 9-15, 2010 and there’s a call for two-minute advocacy speeches.

From the announcement:

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.

PAHR site: http://www.archivists.org/pahr/index.asp

GovTrack: H.R.2256

Library of Congress summary: H.R.2256

Some links that might be of interest:

SAA 2009 session #210: Money, Money, Money: Lessons from Successful Advocates for Archives Funding: http://saa.archivists.org/Scripts/4Disapi.dll/4DCGI/events/eventdetail.html?Action=Events_Detail&InvID_W=1254

Recent developments noted on ArchivesNext by Kathleen Roe (but not yet added to PAHR site): Truly fantastic news about PAHR

PAHR Facebook group

The State Library of Massachusetts, for now– but for how long? Governor Deval Patrick (for whom I voted in 2006) is now threatening to close the library because of state budget issues. If you disagree with this, sign the petition here and let the governor’s office know that this is a bad idea. You can read the Boston Globe article about the $600 million budget gap and impending layoffs here.

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.

What are your plans for Saturday, October 17th?

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 local Home 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.

Related links:

August 2003 NPR story on Home Movie Day- Lost and Found Sound: Exploring Home Movies and Ephemeral Films

Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) and Film Forever (the AMIA Home Film Preservation Guide)

The Orphan Film Symposium

Living Room Cinema: Films from Home Movie Day

National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF)

We found out in mid-June that we were selected as a recipient of the IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf in the final round of awards. Since then, I’ve been itching to receive the materials from the American Association of State & Local History (AASLH) so that I could review them and put together a short presentation for the department.

The intent of the Bookshelf, as stated (in part) by the press release:

To help raise the conservation IQ of museums, libraries, and archives, IMLS, in cooperation with the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH), is offering 2000 free copies of the Connecting to Collections Bookshelf, a core set of books, DVDs, online resources, and an annotated bibliography that are essential for the care of collections.

Over at Spellbound Blog, Jeanne provides a great overview of the contents of the Bookshelf here, and points out that some of these resources are freely available online. For example, the Guide to Online Resources is divided into six sections, such as Preparing and Responding to Emergencies, and then further broken down into the categories of Prepare and Respond. Having dealt with a collection-related environmental disaster and written a disaster plan over the past year, I think that being able to find all of this information in one easy place is a boon to any archivist, librarian, curator, or director. While having a plan in place prior to disaster is important, no plan will cover every contingency– and having these resources at your fingertips could be very useful. A group of resources for discovering funding, the Increase Support for Collections section breaks down into three parts: Funding, Promoting, and Informing the Public.  Think there’s something missing? You can email the IMLS to suggest other resources for inclusion on the site.

The intent of the Bookshelf is to help smaller institutions establish better preservation/conservation practices. While we’re a larger state institution (and a regional repository), I do spend a lot of my of time working with individuals and local programs that really need a helping hand when it comes to basic preservation practices. Because this is the largest city (and largest archive/library) within a six hour drive, we’re a resource for many small historical societies, town archives, and local genealogical researchers. My hope is that the Bookshelf can be utilized in this area as a source of preservation knowledge and as a starting point for some small local workshops and outreach programs.

Look for more on the books and other materials once they appear on my doorstep.

 Update: According to the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio lawmakers have passed an interim budget that will last through July 7. This means that you have more time to make calls, send emails, and rally supporters for this cause. Get to work!

The Ohio Historical Society (a nonprofit org that serves as the state archives of Ohio) is now facing a massive potential cut in state funding to the tune of 45%– from $13.5 million to $7.5 million over the next two years. This will reduce the OHS to the level of state funding that they held in 1986.

Some of the consequences of this year’s OHS budget cuts include:

• Eliminate teacher training and educational programs that leverage federal funding
• Eliminate National History Day in Ohio, a national program which originated in Ohio
• Eliminate the Local History Office that serves 800 local history organizations
• Eliminate the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011-2015) initiative
• Eliminate the Ohio Historical Markers program
• Severely restrict OHS services throughout the state
• Reduce our ability to generate nonstate revenues (i.e., federal grants, private revenue)
• Reduce access to historic sites and museums
• Reduce our ability to recruit local organizations to manage sites
• Reduce assistance and resources to sites management organizations

The Ohio Historical Society has been struggling with funding issues for a long time– you may recall that I talked about this back in February; matters have not improved. Since then, they have tried mandatory furloughs for employees, local fundraising, and sustained, tireless efforts at raising the awareness of legislators and Ohioans. Want to know what I think? All Ohioans– past, present, and future have a stake; and thus, a responsibility to get involved. How to get involved, you ask?

• Talk to your colleagues, your students, your patrons, your friends and family. Relate your personal and professional stories about Ohio history and genealogy. Have you used the Ohio Death Certificate Index or Ohio military rosters in your research? Have you used resources from the Ohio Memory project in your classroom?
• Have you been to the Serpent Mound? Watched a vintage “base ball” game in Ohio Village? Visited the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum, the Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fort Meigs, or the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center? Share your experiences, and urge others to do the same.
• Contact the governor and your legislators. Tell them that cutting funding for Ohio cultural heritage should not be an option. In fact, do it even if you don’t live in Ohio. Let ‘em know that preserving history is important.
• Spread the word via social network– send a letter to the editor, post it on your Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else. In fact, go to Governor Strickland’s Facebook page and post, too. Spread awareness in a firm, factual way, and try to do it before the budget vote tomorrow in Columbus- Tuesday, June 30.

On a personal note- I have already sent my emails and made my calls. Though I no longer live in Ohio, I proudly hold a bachelor’s degree from the history department at The Ohio State University. I have visited many of the historical sites in Ohio, and believe that preserving Ohio history is important not only to Ohioans, but to the nation and to the world. Even if you do not have a personal connection to this situation, I hope that we can agree that preserving, protecting, and providing access to state historical records is of vital importance. Please join me in contacting Ohio legislators and asking them to reconsider these drastic cuts..

Additional links:

Save Ohio Libraries

Save Ohio History

Ohio Library Council

More recent articles about the effects of state budgets on archives and preservation.

An update to the Oregon Historical Society’s situation:

Oregon Historical Society funded to keep research library open through May- Oregon Public Broadcasting

Historical Society spokeswoman Rachel Schoening says it’s important to maintain the library and to allow researchers to use it.

Rachel Schoening: “It’s extremely important and if you’re trying to write anything that is historically significant and accurate regarding the state, you have to have access to something in our library.”

Schoening says the two new hires may not restore the hours the library had before.  But she says a schedule should take shape by the end of the month.

Downturn forces Oregon Historical Society to slash funding -The Oregonian:

The Oregon Historical Society announced Wednesday evening that it slashed 15 of 45 full-time staff equivalents because of a combination of decreased state funding, a shrinking endowment and a hostile foundation and individual giving environment.

The staff cut lowers the historical society’s $4 million budget by $1 million, says executive director George Vogt.

The cutbacks, however, may be just the beginning: Vogt anticipates further cuts if the state slashes funds next year, all of which may affect the outcome of numerous foundation grant applications the historical society has pending.

“Lovers of history need to call legislators and be very vocal about this,” Vogt says. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

The cuts approved by the historical society’s board were made across the institution, including the museum and development staff. Salaries for management-level employees also were reduced by 10 percent.

The majority of the cuts affected the society’s most vital connection to the community, its research library. The research library, visited by historians, archivists, history buffs, photographers and the plainly curious, contains a encyclopedic collection of documents on Oregon history as well as a comprehensive photography collection numbering more than 2 million prints. There are also countless books and other materials in the library archives.

Archives building: dedicated in January, closed in March- Arizona Capitol Times

The archives closure was perhaps the most notable cost-cutting move by the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records department. Other divisions are operating on reduced hours, said GladysAnn Wells, the agency’s director.

Until the cuts, the library department had $2 million in operating funds, expected to carry it until June 30, the fiscal year’s end. In January, however, the Legislature reduced that by nearly $1.5 million, she said.

There was one place to cut, Wells said.

“All we had left, really, was salaries,” she said.

Making the cuts meant layoffs, furloughs and reducing employee hours to half-time or quarter-time.

The agency had about 115 full-time employees, she said. She didn’t have a figure on the number of people laid off.

“We’re still doing it, so I don’t have a final count,” she said. “Dozens.”

The budget for the next fiscal year will likely lead to even bigger cuts.

 State sells Confederate-era cash to raise money- Charleston Regional Business Journal

The surplus property division of the S.C. Budget and Control Board has listed the Civil War-era money for sale on eBay. For instance, the starting bid for a canceled $4 bank note — issued from the Bank of the State of South Carolina, which collapsed during the Civil War — starts at $150.

The Bank of the State of South Carolina was one of the few banks of the era operated by a state; it was founded in 1812.

“With the state budget cuts, we’ve lost about one-third of our budget in recent years,” said Charles Lesser, senior archivist for the department. “We’re in very dire budgetary times. This is one way, an imaginative way, of keeping our heads above water. And we’re making space (in the vault). Every little bit helps.”

Should any history buffs be offended by the sale, Lesser was quick to reassure that the state is not selling off any original, precious or last-remaining items from the department’s vault.

He estimated that, at one point, the department had some 1 million sheets of canceled banknotes, if not more.

“We would not sell unique documents,” he said. “What we’re doing in this process, we’re keeping two perfect sets of everything for ourselves and giving one set to the state museum.”

Have you talked to your representatives and your state archivist about how you can help support PAHR?

I fully support equal civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Americans. Period.

For those of you who haven’t been involved in the various discussions on the Archives & Archivists listserv or on other blogs, this might be a bit of a departure from my usual posts. I’ve been tossing this post around in my head for a few days with no definite idea of what exactly I wanted to say– and I think that much of it has already been said more eloquently by colleagues and friends. Instead of belaboring the point, I’d like to encourage you to visit the links below.

My goal here is to simply add my support for my colleagues and others, and to stand up for what I believe is a fundamental issue of civil rights.

For more on the discussion of SAA and Prop 8, take a look here:

Archives & Archivists forum- first related thread

Beaver Archivist- I <3 equality!

ArchivesNext- Advocating for the rights of gay and lesbian archivists

@rchivista- Sobre archiveros, derechos civiles y el papel de las asociaciones (”About archivists, civil rights, and the role of associations”)

By no means an exhaustive list, but a few links on advocacy:

Human Rights Coalition

Mass Equality

List of rights denied to GLBT populations (compiled by the Kentucky Equality Federation)

 1138 reasons equality matters

Memphis TV station WHBQ put together a website containing historical video footage from the Memphis sanitation workers strike that brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to their city during a period of demonstrations and unrest. Take a look here: A View From the Mountaintop

I think this is an interesting example of a group of non-archivists/historians/librarians/professional records people taking charge and creating a way to share and preserve the materials that they have.

News article about this project: Memphis TV Station Uses Archives As Online Resource

Over the years, different portions of the voluminous “King papers” (if they can even be distilled into something like one group) have been in and out of the media. Currently, many institutions hold materials relating to Dr. King, and there has been no small amount of fighting over where the various papers should be kept and accessed. I’m glad to see that this TV station, not in the business of historical memory, has decided to share their materials with everyone.

Some of the places that Dr. Martin Luther King’s papers can be found:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Archive at Boston University

The King Papers Project at Stanford University

Morehouse College Collection at Atlanta University Center