March/April 2019 Published by the Society of American Archivists
4 The Greatest 6 Managing Donor 7 Changes to the Music Theft in the Relations Modernization Act Archives
March/AprilMay/June 20182019
3 10 14
Who Was in the Room Turning Data into The “Big Paper” Where It Happened? People in Maryland’s Approach Answering a unique research request Slave Records An interactive lesson plan challenges students about an infamous subject led to to answer the questions, “What is an archives?” The Legacy of Slavery project seeks to unmasking the WWII radio messenger and “What does an archivist do?” behind “The World Wonders.” uncover stories of enslaved individuals and communities in the Maryland State Archives. Megan Atkinson Chris McDougal Chris Haley, Maya Davis, Ryan Cox, and Michael Kurtz
FEATURES AROUND SAA 16 A Transformative Experience! 4 The Greatest Theft in the Archives 16 2019 Conference Travel Awards Recalling the Book Bandit 30 Years Later 17 SAA Education Tim Pyatt 22 MayDay 2019 6 “It’s Not You, It’s Me” 25 2019 Research Forum Managing Donor Relations 26 Archives in Context Podcast Ray Barker and Calvin Rydbom COLUMNS 7 Copyright and the Music Modernization Act 2 President’s Message Eric Harbeson Personal Reflection on Memory Work 18 From the Archivist 8 Transparency in Appraisal of the United States and Retention Schedules 35 Days in the Life of the National Archives Cliff Hight, Nate Jones, and Meg Phillips 24 From the Executive Director The 2019 Joint Annual Meeting in Austin 12 Facing the Music How a Near Loss Reenergized Collections Policy DEPARTMENTS Kristina Wilson 19 Kudos
15 COVER PHOTO All Hands on Deck in the Play it again! Anna Moffo, a world-famous leading soprano Archives throughout the 1950s and ’60s, plays with her musical family. Years Kathy M. Gaynor after her death, her alma mater, the Curtis Institute of Music, saved her archival materials from being discarded. Read how the near loss reenergized the Institute’s collections policy on page 12. Photo courtesy of the Curtis Institute of Music Archives.
ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Meredith Evans [email protected]
Personal Reflection on Memory Work
eaching K–12 students about archiving more with preserving the work, leaving a T can be daunting, but it is necessary. trail of breadcrumbs for those to follow, I am reminded of this at the beginning of learn from, or adapt to new methods. The each new year. January is not just the return questions posed at this symposium brought to school for many of us, but the beginning back memories of St. Louis, the protests in of a series of commemorative holidays and Ferguson, and supporting a repository that months. From the American federal holiday documented related events in “real” time. Tommie Smith’s personal archives, and to marking the birthday of Martin Luther the Carlos Museum to see DO or DIE: Affect, King Jr. to Presidents’ Day honoring the As an archivist, leader, and parent, I find Ritual, Resistance to connect to our African ancestry and encourage healing. We also birthdays of George Washington, Abraham that the complexities of memory work viewed an interactive timeline reflecting the Lincoln, and other presidents, to Black are challenging. In an attempt to avoid many ways in which sports and race have History and Women’s History months, dwelling in a personal space while doing intersected over the past 100 years at the these moments of remembrance bring this work, I expose my son to as many NFL Experience, created and sponsored by awareness to specific groups of people, things as possible so that he might come to the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality cultures, and issues and give archivists his own conclusions. He was five years old (RISE). We listened to oral histories and saw an opportunity to market and advocate when the events in Ferguson unraveled. He the documents and photographs that tell in creative ways. remembers the protests outside our home and was awed by the passion of people of all the stories of many who are working toward I had the pleasure of attending a Project races and ages. He distinctly remembers the social justice in their own way. Showing my son the many ways that archival material STAND (https://standarchives.com/) words “Black Lives Matter” spray painted on can be used and displayed made him think symposium in Atlanta recently, at which the plywood that protected the storefronts about ways to collect and even create his the phrase “memory work” was shared on in our neighborhood. He is aware of the own history. several occasions. Memory work implies number of Black men and women who died the ability to capture thoughts, ideas, and or have been hurt at the hands of the police As many of us produce programs to support events organically, despite the reliance on and others, and knows that one day as an and engage the K–12 community, let’s the written word. There were many student adult he will want to see the photographs remember all the ways that archivists and activists and archivists in attendance who or read the records that document these archival material can be seen outside of leaned in and embraced this phrase. Having events. He looks for answers as he tries to a reading room to enhance learning and written about social memory in the past, unpack the impact of these moments on his promote understanding. Whether you I am aware of the flaws of memory, but life. To the extent that I can, I answer his work in special collections or a stand-alone with archivists feeling motivated by the questions, but I also expose him to memory facility, you can have an impact. Let’s phrase it is evident that we are challenging work in different ways. During Black History continue to partner with other cultural archival theory and traditional formats Month we went to the High Museum of Art institutions and private entities to introduce creatively and responsibly. There was less to see the exhibit With Drawn Arms: Glenn the public to their history—and to be even concern about an individual’s legacy and Kaino and Tommie Smith, which incorporated better memory workers.
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2 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 WHO WAS IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED?
Classroom training for US Navy radio operators in San Diego, ca. 1941. Courtesy of the National Museum of the Pacific War.
Unmasking the WWII Radio Messenger of “The World Wonders” Chris McDougal, CA, National Museum of the Pacific War
Mixed Signals The gambit worked, and three days later an urgent message requesting assistance hen a unique research request W arrived at the headquarters of Commander with an infamous subject made its way First, a bit of background. During World in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) Admiral Chester to the National Museum of the Pacific War War II, US landings at Leyte Island on W. Nimitz. In response, Nimitz radioed a (NMPW), it was my genealogical research October 20, 1944, threatened Japan’s message to Halsey requesting his location. skills honed over years that played a vital access to oil and raw materials in the When sent, it read: role in making a historical discovery. region. To counter, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent three large groups of fighting TURKEY TROTS TO WATER GG The request came from historian Richard ships to the area. The series of encounters FROM CINCPAC ACTION COM Frank, who concluded research at the between the US and Japanese navies that THIRD FLEET INFO COMINCH CTF NMPW during September 2018. He’d followed is considered the largest naval SEVENTY-SEVEN X WHERE IS RPT spent time studying one of our unpublished battle in history and resulted in nearly WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY memoirs, which appeared to give new 13 percent of all US Navy Cross medals FOUR RR THE WORLD WONDERS information on a well-known incident. Two awarded for bravery during WWII. of the most recognizable names from the Admiral William F. Halsey and Task Force The radio officer sending messages like Pacific War were involved and, according 34 protected the landings at Leyte. The this would normally place a string of to the memoirist, so was a hapless officer Japanese navy’s plan was simple. One nonsensical words, called “padding,” that sent a notorious message from one to group of ships would attract Halsey’s at both beginning and end so that, if the other. The messenger was identified by attention and draw him and a large portion intercepted, any attempt to understand name and Frank asked if that name could of his task force away from their protective it would be frustrated. The officer receiving be verified in our archives. mission while the other two groups attacked the landing area. Continued on page 20>>
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 3 THE Greatest IN THE Theft Archives Recalling the Book Bandit 30 Years Later Tim Pyatt, ZSR Library, Wake Forest University
It’s a lesson I won’t forget. Ever. Oregon—although I would not learn of I called the university librarian’s office for the Duke theft until after his trial in 1991. help. The campus police arrived and, later On a chilly December day thirty-one years I actually think I met Blumberg while that day, a detective from the Eugene Police ago, I received a crash course on archives working at Duke as an assistant in the Rare Department, Richard Hansen, who was and the legal system. I didn’t know it at Book Collection in the mid-1980s. One of assigned to the case and inspected the site. the time, but the University of Oregon had the disguises he would use to gain access December 7 was a Monday and Sgt. Hansen become one of the many victims of Stephen to restricted collections was to dress as a hypothesized that the theft had occurred Carrie Blumberg, aka the Book Bandit. What visiting faculty member from another school. over the weekend when we were mostly started as an investigation by the local police closed except for a few hours on Sunday. would later involve the FBI. An account of Eerily enough, I recall an encounter in Although we alerted area book dealers and Blumberg’s trial in 1991, by Oregon’s then the Rare Book Reading Room with an shared information about the missing books curator of Special Collections, was published eccentric man in a worn tweed jacket who as best we could, we figured our materials in the SAA Newsletter.1 Additional accounts had disheveled hair and was slightly smelly were long gone. of Blumberg’s thefts would be published in (Blumberg was known for poor hygiene). newspapers across the country, in popular We didn’t ask for photo IDs then, so I took Delayed Discoveries magazine such as Harper’s 2 and Reader’s him at his word that he was a visiting faculty Digest,3 and, most famously, in a book by member. I’ve since wondered if it was indeed The mistake we made on December 7 is that Nicholas A. Basbanes, A Gentle Madness.4 Blumberg and if he was casing our security. we did not look further than the processing At the time, Duke experienced a number room to see if anything else was missing. Since that experience in Oregon in 1987, of “false” alarms, most of them occurring On December 29, Special Collections was my career has taken me through Maryland, between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Blumberg open with a skeleton staff of two during the Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. later told Duke curator John Sharpe he was holiday break. A visiting researcher requested Throughout the years I have transported testing our response time while stealing to see the papers of an early Oregon pioneer to my offices a growing box of newspaper more than 300 volumes from the Rare family, the Applegates. When my colleague clippings, journal articles, Book Collection.6 could not locate them, she asked me to correspondence, conference talks, look. I also and notes—all pertaining to the couldn’t greatest library and archives thief The mistake we made is that we did not look find them of all time. These documents piece further to see if anything else was missing. and called together the story of Blumberg’s Hilary, who pilfering of more than 23,000 knew of Blumberg struck a second time when I books and manuscripts valued at millions of no reason for the papers to be off the shelf. worked as the rare book librarian in Special dollars from forty-five states, two Canadian In the meantime, my colleague discovered Collections at the University of Oregon. provinces, and the District of Columbia.5 several other boxes out of place in the stacks. This was my first job after graduate school At one point I naively thought I would write and I shared an office with the manuscripts Upon further investigation, our worst the history of his exploits, but the stories curator, Hilary Cummings. On December 7, fears were realized. A number of collections, in Harper’s and by Basbanes give more thor- 1987, I discovered several items missing mostly documenting Oregon pioneers, were ough and emotionally removed accounts. from our processing room: early Oregon missing. This time we knew what to do almanacs as well as a custom-bound and and Sgt. Hansen came back to investigate. The Heists autographed copy of Noel Loomis’ novel Because the pioneer accounts were used Wells Fargo. relatively often, we were able to determine a Purely coincidental, Blumberg robbed window of time when the theft might have two of the schools for which I worked: The head of Special Collections, Ken happened. November 10 was the last time Duke University and the University of Duckett, was on sabbatical, so Hilary and one of the missing collections had been used.
4 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 Unresolved Questions
The Blumberg theft had profound effect on both Hilary Cummings Newspaper clippings from The Register-Guard and me. In 1988 I left Oregon for a job in and The Denver Post in 1988. Maryland and shortly afterward Hilary left the profession altogether. While Hilary and I were never official suspects, we were at one Aside from notifying rare book and manu- point asked if we would be willing to take a script dealers, the theft was kept quiet for a lie detector test. We both left the university few weeks as Sgt. Hansen set a trap in hopes with unresolved questions and a feeling of our thief would return. When it became failure. In August 1990, Hilary interviewed clear he would not, Sgt. Hansen urged the Sgt. Hansen as a port-mortem to the theft,
library to go public. On January 21,1988, and he confirmed we were never suspects. we held a press conference in the reading room with local media present; shortly I contacted Special Agent W. Dennis Aiken afterward we were contacted by Washington who oversaw the FBI raid and helped We continued inventorying collections and State University, which had experienced with the return of the stolen books and discovered that more than 9,000 letters, a similar theft. The officer in charge of its manuscripts. That conversation led to Aiken diaries, and other early Oregon documents investigation, Steven Huntsberry,7 played giving a talk at the 1991 spring meeting were missing as well as 13 early Oregon a key role in helping the FBI find Blumberg. of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives imprints. We were lucky in one sense— It would be Huntsberry who would make Conference (MARAC), in which he told the all of the manuscript collections had been the connection that an individual caught audience that Blumberg was a determined processed at the item level and several of breaking into the University of California– thief and that maybe to dig “a fifty-foot the collections had been microfilmed. Later, Riverside’s Special Collections was Stephen hole in the ground and encase everything this would prove to be extremely valuable Blumberg and tie him to the Washington in concrete” might stop him.9 That I was to the FBI when they raided Blumberg’s State and other regional thefts. His capture not at fault provided a modicum of comfort storehouse in Ottumwa, Iowa. While there finally happened after one of Blumberg’s but also made me realize how vulnerable can be more than one copy of a rare book, associates, Kenny Rhodes, turned him in. our collections are. Blumberg would not be manuscripts are unique, and our list was Blumberg’s house in Ottumwa, Iowa, was evidence of theft for the search warrant. raided on March 20, 1990.8 Continued on page 21>>
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 5 “It’s Not You, starting working on several areas of interest. We began conducting oral histories, contributing to the library’s podcast, and hosting It’s Me” several public programs to engage the broader community. MANAGING DONOR During this process, we stumbled across the Facebook page of Michael O’Harro, an 80-year-old “Disco King of Georgetown.” RELATIONS O’Harro may well be the founder of the nation’s first singles bar, Tramps (named after the Charlie Chaplin character), and its first Ray Barker, sports bar, Champions. Through these bars, O’Harro received a DC Public Library, lot of attention locally and nationally. His Facebook page contains and Calvin Rydbom, his massive collection of photographs, and he takes great care Archival Consultant in organizing and describing detailed images and news clippings covering his fifty-year career in the entertainment business.
Donor relations and collection development are a uniquely valu- As archivists we were naturally able and significant function of archivists’ work. State, university, impressed and hoped to add Consistent follow and government archives, special collections, historical societies, O’Harro’s collection to the library. up and maintaining and similar institutions, large and small, all depend on individual A phone call later, we made plans to donors, the donor community as a whole, and the materials donated. conduct an oral history interview relationships may Active, careful, and honest engagement with the donor community with him. And while the collection bear fruit later. is essential for institutions to sustain themselves as key resources hasn’t been donated (the eighty- and repositories for researchers using primary sources. year-old bachelor has no interest now), at least O’Harro is aware of us as a possibility for a future However, as important as this aspect of our duties is, the archives donation. In the meantime, the three-hour oral history interview profession doesn’t approach it with the level of education, planning, will suffice for research needs. Consistent follow up and maintaining and foresight that we should. There’s a surprising lack of training, a relationship with O’Harro may bear fruit later. workshops, graduate coursework, or publications addressing this topic. Aaron Purcell’s Donors and Archives: A Guidebook for Successful A few months after that, we came across the Bayou Facebook Programs remains the single monograph with an in-depth focus Group, which has become home for sharing historical photographs, on this core function of archives. While we hope the profession ephemera, and memories of a popular live music venue in develops more resources on this topic, here are a few insights we’ve Georgetown. Appreciating the enthusiastic interest in the venue’s gleaned in fifteen years of working with donors. Continued on page 23>>
Always Follow Up
Coming into a new position as one of three archivists who worked with donors at the DC Public Library, there were few, if any, protocols in place for managing donor relations. However, there was one new tool implemented upon our arrival in the department— a simple, but effective donor spreadsheet that included the donor name, contact information, collection information, date of last contact, collection subject area, and additional information. This was essential in tracking information regarding the status of various donors—active and inactive—in the city.
In the first days on the job, this perspective provided a snapshot of the more recent, albeit abbreviated, departmental history regarding its acquisitions and hoped-for collections. One of the organizations had donated a portion of its collection earlier in the year and had been flagged to “follow up.” We scheduled one meeting to reconnect with the donor and another one to retrieve the remaining materials. As the groundwork had already been laid months before, it was an easy and neat transaction.
Be Proactive and Creative
A follow-up spreadsheet can only go so far. We also needed to Pearl Bailey with her husband John Pinkett Jr. in Washington, DC, 1947. Courtesy cultivate new connections. Without a guidebook in place, we of the Edward Fletcher Collection and the DC Public Library Special Collections.
6 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 OPYRIGHT and the MUSIC © MODERNIZATION ACT Eric Harbeson, American Music Research Center, University of Colorado Boulder
ongress recently enacted one of its most significant changes to the Copyright Act in decades. The Orrin G. Existing Limitations and Exceptions CHatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (MMA),1 which was enacted October 11, 2018, aims to rework the complicated The primary motivation for Title II of the MMA was the creation of a music licensing regime into something that is more compatible with new royalty right for digital public performances of pre-1972 sound modern music distribution models. The law presents a number of recordings, following the failure of recent litigation to secure those opportunities for archivists seeking to make use of sound recordings rights at the state level. Though the new right is housed within the in ways that previously had been unavailable or legally ambiguous. Copyright Act, it is not technically a copyright and so is outside the The new law is in three parts: Title I of the act is devoted to the copyright system, including the normal federal suite of limitations statutory music licensing regime found mostly in sections 114 and exceptions, except as specifically provided in the text of the and 115 of the Copyright Act, and Title III concerns royalties for new law. The fact that MMA includes provisions for limitations producers of sound recordings. The most important change for and exceptions is therefore of critical importance for archivists. archivists is contained in Title II—the “Classics Protection and Prior to the passage of the MMA, the state of limitations and Access Act”—which creates a new federal law governing recordings exceptions for pre-1972 recordings was impossibly vague and fixed prior to February 15, 1972. inconsistent. Among the various state laws, some provide Previously, use of “pre-1972 recordings” was governed entirely by exceptions for library uses and some provide exceptions for state laws, and those varied widely. As a result, none of the principles nonprofit use. A small number of states provide neither, and that archivists apply when making copyright analyses—including none of the states’ exceptions is consistent across state lines.3 The the term of copyright, available exceptions or limitations, potential result is that making any Internet-based or other interstate use of damages, and even the nature of exclusive rights—could be applied pre-1972 recordings required knowledge of and compliance with to pre-1972 recordings. The new law, while still leaving in place some multiple state laws. In addition, though it’s widely presumed that of the problematic aspects of the state laws, substantially improves the US Constitution demands some form of fair rights use as a the situation by bringing certain key elements of the recordings matter of First Amendment law,4 the extent to which fair use is copyright under a more uniform federal law. applied at the state level is unknown.
The Public Domain The new law makes useful changes to this. The MMA carves out exceptions to the new royalty right for four exceptions most important to archivists: One important way in which the new law benefits archivists is in its creation—for the first time—of a substantial public domain for 1. fair use (Sec. 107) sound recordings. Though post-1972 recordings have always had 2. library and archives exceptions (Sec. 108) limited copyright terms, protection for pre-1972 recordings was 3. the first sale doctrine (Sec. 109) perpetual, protecting even the earliest nineteenth-century cylinder 4. limitations on public performance, including classroom recordings and possibly even piano rolls. The MMA creates a phased- teaching (Sec. 110) entry public domain for recordings, granting all recordings at least 95 years from publication, with later recordings getting additional Importantly, these exceptions apply to all uses of pre-1972 protection. The result is the following schedule of protection2: recordings. When initially introduced, the royalty right and its exceptions applied only to digital public performances of Date of publication Term of federal protection recordings. Near the end of the legislative process, the bill was Pre-1923: Through December 31, 2021 amended so that the exceptions applied also to reproduction, 1923–46: 100 years from publication distribution, etc., creating a much stronger bill and one that is more useful to archivists. Under the new law, archivists may take 1947–56: 110 years from publication advantage of any of these four exceptions when making use of 1957–72: Through February 15, 2067 pre-1972 sound recordings.5
Additionally, all federal protection for pre-1972 sound recordings It is important to note that other provisions in the law that archi- ends after February 15, 2067. Because the expiration of protection vists sometimes employ—notably the registration requirement in is based on publication date, rather than fixation date, unpublished Sec. 412, or the safe harbor for online material in Sec. 512—are not recordings appear to be unaffected by this schedule, and so this carved out in the new law and should be assumed not to apply to latter provision ensures that all recordings eventually enter the pre-1972 sound recordings. public domain. Continued on page 21 >>
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 7 TRANSPARENCYTRANSPARENCYTRANSPARENCY IN APPRAISAL AND RETENTION SCHEDULES
nsuring transparency and access CH: Why does transparency matter the public to understand how it works and to records—as well as archivists’ to you? to participate. NARA must post a notice in the Federal Register about any records appraisal and retention decisions NJ: As a historian, it’s hard to write schedule proposed by agencies that includes Eabout them—is a critical function in history without access to historical requests to destroy records. Any member archival work. How best to achieve it? documents. A lot of historians tend to give of the public can sign up for alerts about up and say, “The information is classified, this type of Federal Register notice, request a The following Q&A, we can’t write the story yet.” But I like copy of the schedule, and submit comments led by Cliff Hight fighting for it and using the tools available to NARA about the appropriateness of the to us, including the Freedom of Information (CH), university schedule. Generally, not enough people are Act (FOIA). I view access to historical paying attention to these schedules despite archivist at Kansas documents as a moral issue. their importance in shaping what comes State University to the archives. However, occasionally an Libraries, continues MP: Under Archivist of the United States important proposed schedule receives David Ferriero, NARA has really internalized this discussion begun attention from the public, and public the ideals of the open government at a joint presentation comments can influence the appraisal of the Cliff Hight movement—transparency, public records. This happened most recently in the by SAA’s Acquisitions participation, and collaboration. The idea is case of a proposed Immigration and Customs and Appraisal and not merely to show what you are doing as a Enforcement schedule.3 Currently, NARA is Records Management federal agency but also to invite the public working to streamline the Federal Register sections during to help improve processes and make better process so full schedules are available online decisions in the public interest. NARA has ARCHIVES*RECORDS as soon as the Federal Register notice goes a double role in transparency since we are up. Instead of the multi-step process of 2018 in Washington, part of government ourselves and we also requesting schedules in response to a Federal DC, last August. provide a window into the workings of Register notice, commenters can read full Guest speaker Nate the rest of the government through access schedules and comment in https://www to historical records. Our focus is on our Jones (NJ), director .regulations.gov/. Nate Jones mission—preserving and providing access of the FOIA Project to historically valuable records of the US CH: What barriers have you at the National government—but we try to be transparent experienced in trying to understand Security Archive, about our own processes, too. appraisal and retention decisions? addressed challenges CH: What role does transparency NJ: Lack of clarity from NARA and federal in accessing federal play regarding archival appraisal agencies about how the public can access records held in various and records retention scheduling? records transferred, but not accessioned, locations, and the to the Washington National Records Center NJ: I think NARA is increasingly improving resulting confusion (WNRC). It seems like neither agencies, its transparency to customers in that regard. which have official responsibility, nor NARA while pursuing It realizes the public must have a say in what has a desire to make the documents at the Meg Phillips 1 them. During documents have priority to be preserved. WNRC available to the public. The records questions afterward, Without transparency, issues such as the transmittal and receipt form NARA uses— Meg Phillips (MP), external affairs destruction of records on the US role in Standard Form 135 (SF-135)—is a terrific the 1953 Iranian revolution by the Central liaison with the National Archives and research tool. I have suggested that these Intelligence Agency and NARA will continue forms, some segment of them, or all new Records Administration, noted that the 2 to occur. Transparency and public input are ones be posted online so researchers can mix-up could be an indicator of how an important check to ensure historically pinpoint their requests for documents communication methods should adapt important records are not purposefully at the WNRC. and improve. Read on to learn more or inadvertently destroyed. MP: This question raises the issue I think about what else they have to say on MP: Reviewing agency records schedules is most interesting for archivists because this important topic. and appraising agency records are among it highlights the difference in perspective the most important processes at NARA. between archivists and records managers We are actively trying to make it easier for and researchers.
8 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 NARA publishes a lot of information about Presidential Libraries, and the National is to comprehensively declassify and/or federal records management, and the Declassification Center. This would require process the records of agency leaders as Federal Records Center Program (which proper funding of the Archives, a change to soon as possible before moving to other is part of NARA) provides a number of NARA’s regulations on records transfers (36 subjects. Most topical areas of interest will resources about the services it provides CFR Part 1235), and possibly a legislative be covered by the files of the Secretary of for agencies.4 However, it is all written for tweak (possibly 44 U.S Code § 2107 and/or Defense, Secretary of State, or Secretary NARA’s federal agency customers. Even § 2108).6 Yet, as seen by recent legislation of Commerce. Because I believe in this NARA’s customer-centric organization strengthening the independence of the principle, I remain pretty shocked and upset divides us into a researcher-facing side Office of Government Information Services by the glacial pace of document processing/ (Research Services, the archival side of and improving the Presidential Records declassification at the Presidential Libraries. NARA) and a government-facing side Act, there are certainly bipartisan allies on I think the firepower should be concentrated (Agency Services, the records management Capitol Hill who would support common- at the top-line decision makers first side). Up to now, we have not highlighted sense reforms that would allow citizens to (secretaries and presidents) and emphasized for researchers information about records access their historical records more easily.7 elsewhere after that work is done. management and the 18 NARA Federal MP: NARA continues to believe that the Records Centers (FRCs) where records are CH: Meg, based on Nate’s views as records management services we provide in the physical custody of NARA but remain a user of records, how can records to agencies through FRCs are valuable for the legal responsibility of other agencies. professionals implement some of his ensuring well-managed records, and that ideas in our efforts to better serve On the suggestion to put the agencies’ agencies must continue to be responsible researchers? request to transfer records to the FRC for FOIA requests for records in their (SF-135) online, we are working to assess legal custody. However, providing more MP: I think archivists can do a better how we can provide better access, including information to researchers and the public job explaining for the public how records the possibility of access without an onsite about our agency-facing services, why they management processes work and why visit. We will need to communicate our exist, and how they work is something they matter, and always work for more expectations for future transfers to agencies that could be valuable to Nate and other transparency—and participation—in and also decide how to address the existing researchers like him. NARA is also examining the scheduling and appraisal process. This forms for the nearly 30 million cubic feet of the feasibility of putting the SF-135s online. would strengthen the archives and help us records currently stored in NARA’s FRCs. As NARA recognizes, however, NARA does serve our researchers better. Incidentally, not have the resources or the authority to collecting institutions that don’t rely Our government customers are very respond to public requests for most agency on records management to build their important to us, and services we provide records physically stored in an FRC. collections can do this, too, by sharing more to agencies through the FRC program are information with researchers about their This may also be a good place to point out critical to ensuring that many agency- collecting scope and any special priorities, that this whole discussion has been focused owned records are well managed. Part of and inviting input from their communities. the goal of good FRC services is making on the existing world of FRCs full of paper sure records are available and searchable by records. In the future, we expect agencies CH: Any final points you would like agencies for their FOIA requests. NARA’s to maintain their records electronically. By to make? Office of Government Information Services the end of 2022, agencies will transfer their Just to say that the National Archives did a blog post to help educate agencies and records to NARA electronically to the great- NJ: does tremendous work preserving and requesters about this very issue, and we can est extent possible. Although agencies may providing access to America’s documents. continue to educate agencies about their still need to use offsite records storage for I do realize that “recent” still-classified FOIA responsibilities.5 their non-current records, the new storage options are likely to involve cloud storage documents are a tiny fraction of NARA’s CH: How can archivists and records vendors rather than physical records centers. holdings. But, there is a large base of cus- managers reduce those barriers to tomers that want to see these documents, access and to understanding appraisal CH: Nate, at ARCHIVES*RECORDS and I think there is room for improvement and retention decisions? 2018 you noted that records in 1) being more transparent about what the professionals need to recognize holdings are—even if they are not yet avail- NJ: In my situation, an immediate solution organizational power structures able to researchers, 2) improving the system would be for NARA to make more informa- and save records aligned with such of telling researchers how they can request tion available online about how to access structures. Could you please elaborate access, and 3) actually allowing the public to records stored at the WNRC, post SF-135 on that point? access “recent historical” documents. I think forms online, and take an active role ensur- 1 and 2 can be fixed fairly easily. I think NJ: I think I was getting at my opinion ing that agencies are actually searching the 3 is the hardest one to fix. To do that documents held there in response to FOIAs. on the issue of prioritization. With limited resources, there has been much discussion there has to be a policy change to move A more comprehensive solution would be about which records to release, with lots of agencies out of the way and allow NARA for NARA to end its policy of warehousing it focused on subject areas (Cuban Missile to do its job to “provide public access to other agencies’ records without having Crisis, Vietnam, Katyn Massacre, etc.). Federal Government records in our custody the authority to release them. This policy I don’t think these are bad ideas, per se, and control.” change also would benefit NARA, the but I do think a better general principle Continued on page 19 >>
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 9 It’s a somewhat ironic endeavor to Turning on African Americans, Researching talk about transparency when study- African American Families in Maryland. ing records of slavery. Native Africans sold into slavery were subjected to Data into Following Jacobsen’s retirement in brutal dehumanization of their tribal, 1990, much of the research leading up to the creation of the legacy cultural, and individual identities. project was conducted by a dedicated In effect, their enslavers wanted to People in group of volunteers. Many of them make them “transparent” vessels— were genealogists trying to recon- stripping away past affiliations so struct their family history, while that their indoctrination to docile Maryland’s others were passionate about uncov- servitude would be complete and per- ering African American history. One manent. Black servants were meant volunteer, the late Jerry Hynson, to be barely seen, rarely heard, and Slave approached staff regarding research only superficially recognized. Africans he’d found on an individual who were forced to renounce everything had been charged with assisting an they’d known and accept an unknown Records enslaved man to escape. MSA future. Punishment for refusing to archivists encouraged his effort, acquiesce could result in whippings, Chris Haley, Maya Davis, which expanded into searching family separation, and death. primary sources such as advertise- Ryan Cox, and Michael Kurtz, ments for runaways in our vast Nevertheless, through documen- Maryland State Archives collection of newspapers. tation intended to legally Following Hynson’s recom- consign these involuntary mendation, MSA applied for immigrants to a lesser world its first grant to expand and order, a collaboration between make public research on sto- the Maryland State Archives ries of flight among enslaved (MSA) Legacy of Slavery communities. project and the University of Maryland Digital Curation Over the years, the project has grown to include a website Innovation Center at College with a searchable database, Park has used original local mapping functionality, and and federal government biographical case studies, records to once again recognize as well as increasing cross- these citizens as people— departmental support for mothers, fathers, sons, and digitization and migration daughters—who lived as best of information into a digital they could under extremely platform. The project has inhumane circumstances. remained sustainable through the work of staff, interns, and Establishing a Legacy Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom, published in 1855. volunteers; successful applica- of Slavery Project Courtesy of Maryland State Archives. tions for both federal and local grant funding; and community engagement. Frederick Douglass wrote in My Bondage and My Freedom, “It is gener- ally supposed that slavery, in the state of Maryland, exists in its mild- est form, and that it is totally divested of those harsh and terrible Moving from Analog Records to Relational peculiarities, which mark and characterize the slave system, in the Databases southern and southwestern states of the American union.” The Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Project, established in 2001 at MSA has a number of unique record series that document the func- MSA, seeks to uncover and document the untold stories of numer- tionality of a slaveholding state. The Census of Negroes, tallied in ous enslaved individuals and communities throughout the state. 1832, was the result of slaveholders’ fears after revolts led by Nat Turner in Virginia. Manumissions and Certificates of Freedom were Early efforts to document African American communities began granted to formerly enslaved and free Black citizens. when then reference archivist Phebe Jacobsen worked to assist underrepresented communities in identifying their families in There are also a number of records that didn’t intend to document the public record. In 1969, Jacobsen helped an up-and-coming enslaved individuals, such as slaveholders’ tax records or bills of sale. They may not seem an obvious resource at first, but in writer, Alex Haley, in researching his family. That research led to reviewing the notations and nature of the transactions, we can Haley’s acclaimed book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. In 1984, Jacobsen published MSA’s first guide on conducting research Continued on page 22>>
10 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 t h e a c a d e m y o f c e r t i f i e d a r c h i v i s t s Why Becoming Certified Matters > It provides a competitive edge. It strengthens the profession. It recognizes professional achievement and commitment.
The Certified Archivist exam is held in locations across the United States and beyond. The 2019 exam application is online and the exam will take place at selected test locations on August 2. Please check the ACA website for updates. The 2019 exam locations include:
Austin, TX (in conjunction with Philadelphia, PA ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2019) Seattle, WA Detroit, MI Tallahassee, FL Houston, TX Worcester, MA Jefferson City, MO
Pick Your Site! When you apply early you can indicate a “Pick Your Site” city. Any city nominated by five qualified applicants by May 31, 2019, will be designated as another test location. Invite your colleagues to apply, too!
For more information about the Certified Archivist examination and to submit the 2019 application, go to our website (www.certifiedarchivists.org/get-certified) or contact the ACA office.
THE ACADEMY OF CERTIFIED ARCHIVISTS • 230 WASHINGTON AVENUE EXTENSION, SUITE 101 • ALBANY, NEW YORK 12203 518-694-8471 • [email protected] • WWW.CERTIFIEDARCHIVISTS.ORG Facing the Music
HOW A NEAR LOSS REENERGIZED COLLECTIONS POLICY Kristina Wilson, Curtis Institute of Music
Opera singer Anna Moffo. Courtesy of the Curtis mong the many collections The Soprano Institute of Music Archives. in the archives of the Curtis Institute of Music, it is the The Curtis Institute of Music, founded manuscript collection of which in 1924, is a merit-based, tuition-free at the Vienna State Opera, Teatro di San the institution is most proud. music conservatory located in the heart Carlo, The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera ALargely comprised of alumni materials, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Among its of Chicago, and the Royal Opera House. these discrete collections represent the graduates are many famous names including Curtis experience as seen through the eyes Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Ned Celebrated as much for her voice as for her of its students, offering unique personal Rorem, Yuja Wang, Hilary Hahn, and Anna beauty (she was christened “La Bellisima”), perspectives which both complement and Moffo, who in her heyday was an opera Moffo dominated the operatic stage for humanize the Institute’s history. singer on par with contemporaries Maria nearly a decade, particularly in her signature Callas and Beverly Sills. role as Violetta in La Traviata. However, When one such collection—that of famed a grueling schedule coupled with weekly soprano Anna Moffo—nearly slipped out Moffo studied voice at Curtis in the early appearances on her namesake variety show of Curtis’s hands, it highlighted the need 1950s, then traveled to Italy on a Fulbright led to serious injury to her voice from which for staff to adopt more proactive approaches Scholarship. Her operatic career soon took she never fully recovered. After formally in educating the Curtis community about off after a televised appearance as Cio-Cio- retiring from singing in 1983, Moffo served the archives—both as a resource and as San in Madame Butterfly. By the early 1960s, as a board member on the Metropolitan a potential means of preserving their Moffo had cemented her reputation as a Opera Guild and taught master classes professional legacies. leading lyric-coloratura soprano, performing around the world until her death in 2006.
12 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 Fast forward ten years to 2016 when existing students and alumni. Staff Barbara Benedett, digital archivist at began by raising awareness about the Curtis, received an unexpected, frantic archives among existing students. phone call from an attorney. Representing Although geographically a captive audi- the estate of Anna’s younger brother, ence, students are often so immersed Nick Moffo, the attorney told Benedett in their studies that it can be difficult to that Nick’s home contained a large pile divert their attention to other opportu- of boxes filled with material belonging nities. We began by displaying rotating to Anna. Recognizing the name of Curtis historical exhibits in Curtis’ main build- among the items, the attorney made ing, providing context for current perfor- an impromptu call to the archives and mances, events, or commemorations. asked—did we want the boxes? If so, they had to be picked up immediately We also contributed news of recent or they would be tossed, as the house collections, fun facts, or important was being sold. Benedett accepted the events in the school’s history to a collection sight unseen and set out the weekly student e-blast; publish biweekly next day in a rented U-Haul truck. Notes from the Archives blog posts that highlight alums and collection artifacts; The collection was unwieldly, haphazardly and contribute to Curtis’s weekly stored, and interspersed with mold and “Throwback Thursday” Twitter feed, broken glass. However, after a careful usually in the form of a photograph and transition to the archives and an initial accompanying blurb. We are hopeful that appraisal, it became clear that the this variety of approaches will increase collection was remarkable. Comprised student awareness of Curtis’s history of correspondence, posters, recordings, and—perhaps—instill the notion of scrapbooks, and hundreds of photographs, contributing to it themselves. the materials rendered a portrait of Moffo’s life and career from childhood to retirement with a scope unmatched Reaching Alumni by any other alumni collection at Curtis. Needless to say, we were thrilled! Once our student awareness program was underway, archives staff turned their A Plan in Place focus to alumni—a tougher challenge in that alumni varied greatly in age and locations. It was immediately apparent Our initial enthusiasm was soon undercut that we’d need the expertise of other by a recurring thought: this irreplaceable Curtis departments. We reached out to collection was one day away from being two departments to develop an effective destroyed. If the estate attorney hadn’t plan of action. taken the initiative Partnering with the to contact If Moffo’s collection Advancement department, Curtis, Moffo’s served as a possible archives staff began carefully contributing articles and curated legacy indicator of at-risk photographs to Curtis’s not only would internationally distributed have been alumni collections, how print and online publication lost but, more could we change this— Overtones. In addition, the troublingly, we and quickly? archive’s Notes from the Archive wouldn’t have blog series is often written even known in support of a Curtis-wide about it to stop event or celebration, with topics planned its destruction. Moffo’s collection was in conjunction with the Advancement possibly an indicator of at-risk alumni editorial team. Finally, we are seeking to Anna Moffo performed around the world before her retirement collections. How could we change this— in 1983. Courtesy of the Curtis Institute of Music Archives. initiate an Adopt-a-Collection program and quickly? which, once launched, will aid in the Motivated by this near miss, the archives preservation of existing collections while staff created an alumni engagement pro- gram focused on two main demographics: Continued on page 23 >>
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 13 repeats, then each group discusses what is • a place to repair documents when The on their final big papers with the class. necessary • a space where your collection is kept As the faculty member at Tennessee • super organized “Big Paper” Technological University did not specify a • a place you go when you want to learn focus for the archives session, I modeled my how to research “what it’s like to be an archivist” discussion • a place to donate items Approach on Hutchens’s big paper idea. Although this was an invested group of history students, I These responses led me to talk about born- Megan Atkinson, wanted something to assist with discussion digital collections and storage, maintaining Tennessee Technological University so as not to bore students or find myself an archives facility, the difference between standing in front of a nonparticipating group. preservation and conservation, how In my experience, most students don’t ask archives preserve but also provide access, questions without a conversation starter or how archivists work with researchers in something to invite them into discussion. the reading room, and how archives are different and similar to the library in which “What does an it resides. archivist do?” Here are students’ responses to “What does an archivist do?”: In response to this question, SAA encour- • organize/archive materials ages us to craft and have at-the-ready our • categorize documents and make sure “elevator speech.” While I’m prepared for they’re stored properly that, I’m not prepared to be stuck in the • research proverbial elevator addressing this same • log and preserve information question with students for ninety minutes. • maintain a digital database However, this challenge was exactly what a • clarify/determine whether information faculty member invited me to do for history is accurate or relevant students at the Tennessee Technological • assist in finding documents University, where I teach a variety of one-off classes about archives. • store and preserve artifacts • decide if something is worth saving Fortunately, I had just attended the Megan Atkinson and students’ responses. Teaching Undergraduates with Archives These responses sparked discussion about Conference in November at the Bentley I created two of my own big paper the importance of cataloging and access; Historical Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, questions, asking students: “What is an collection policies; the difference between and I was armed with new pedagogical archives?” and “What does an archivist do?” assisting someone in research and doing tactics and ideas—including, most I assumed students had a general idea, but it for them; provenance; accessioning; the intriguingly, the “big paper” approach. perhaps not specific details and probably impossibility of digitizing everything; and some incorrect details. I also assumed that the differences and similarities between museums and archives. Big Paper Brainstorming many students confused the profession with museum curators and librarians, and I wanted these differences discernable at the Most importantly, I was able to discuss Developed by Kate Hutchens at the end of the presentation. After letting the the accuracy and relevance of born-digital University of Michigan’s Special Collections, groups work on each paper for three to five records, their preservation, and maintaining the big paper approach is based on carousel minutes, I collected the papers and began authenticity of fleeting formats. We also brainstorming. Hutchens divides students my presentation based on their responses. discussed collecting digital records, activist into groups to answer one question in as This enabled me to directly address their archivists, and how collecting records today many ways possible—all written on “big ideas, correct misconceptions, or elaborate differs from in the past. These latter topics paper.” Each group addresses different on what they already knew. greatly interested students because it made questions that relate to content or a format records relevant to their lives. discussed in class, such as zines or art books. Creating a Concrete Picture Student-Directed Conversations For instance, when discussing zines, one Here are the students’ responses to “What big paper question asks, “Why might This approach was used with two groups is an archives?”: you choose to produce a zine rather than of 12 to 20 students in sessions that lasted a big library with a collection of another type of media?” Briefly, the group • more than an hour. I found that informing documents writes down their answers and then students that their papers were going to be swaps papers with another group that has • a database with a catalog and search addressed a different question. The process engine Continued on page 19>>
14 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 Kathy M. Gaynor, All Hands on Deck Webster University IN THE ARCHIVES
ike many of you, I wear a number of hats on the job. As a archives is helping me process a large collection of papers from a L librarian at Webster University in St. Louis, I share instructional previous university president. duties with colleagues and am the subject liaison to four academic departments. In my spare time, I’m also the university archivist. Like many library departments, RMS has experienced significant changes during the past few years. We’ve switched many of our As a part-time archivist, my to-do list is lengthy. On occasion, journal subscriptions to online formats so there are fewer paper student employees are available, but they’re also doing projects issues to check in and bind. A tightened budget has resulted in for other staff and have limited hours. For some archival projects, personnel losses and fewer book and video purchases. While RMS having a student for only an hour here or there would make the is still plenty busy, especially with a growing number of e-resources, project drag on for weeks. these changes to our daily workflow create more opportunities for collaboration with the archives. And since these colleagues are Recently I decided to address a project with an “all-hands-on-deck” known for their attention to detail, RMS was the perfect partner approach. Instead of a single person doing a little at a time, for what I had in mind. I gathered a group of coworkers to attack the task all at once. In a little more than an hour, the entire project was completed. Tedium Turned Triumphant Lending a Hand across Departments During our 2018 fall break, eight RMS staff members and I gathered in a room to work on my project: putting 2,000 envelopes The all-hands approach is nothing new to our library. We’ve used it of film negatives in numerical order. We weren’t entirely starting to tackle jobs such as shelving a backlog of books, removing outdated from scratch—most of the envelopes were labeled with a roll titles from the reference collection, and sorting a donation of 3,300 number. Unfortunately envelopes with four-digit numbers were books from the family of a recently deceased faculty member. In the interfiled among those with five-digit numbers. For example, a latter case, we gathered all of the subject librarians to open boxes sequence might go: 6952, 6953, 69531, 6954. I wanted everything and sort books into broad subject areas. By dividing up the books in a true low to high number sequence to make retrieval easier for simultaneously, people could immediately evaluate the titles in their photo requests. subject areas and decide whether to add them to our collection. This approach made for swifter processing of the gift. After a brief explanation of the project, we got to work. The envelopes were in a set of plastic drawers. Each person took a For my archival project, I was fortunate to have the assistance of drawer of envelopes and put its contents in order. Once all the staff from our library’s Resources Management Services (RMS) drawers were sorted, we removed the five-digit envelopes and department, which handles acquisitions, subscriptions, cataloging, shifted everything until we had a consecutive run. The final step and collection management. RMS has helped with archives was to add new drawer labels. With the help of the RMS staff, this before by digitizing materials, cataloging selected institutional time-intensive project was finished in a little more than an hour. publications, and converting Six Effective Tips webpages to our new A group approach is not appropriate for every project, but for many web content tasks it works quite well. Here are a few recommendations for management making the process go smoothly: system. In 1. Discuss the option with your management ahead of time to addition, get their support. one RMS 2. Find the partners who fit your situation. In my case, the head member who of the RMS department was open to having her staff help me is finishing with this project. You may find it’s a different department in her library your institution, or perhaps a person or two can be drafted degree from several departments. A nonuniversity repository may and has an be able to recruit volunteers from nearby universities or local interest in archives groups. Colleagues lend a hand in tackling time- Continued on page 19>> intensive projects. ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 15 A TRANSFORMATIVE
D Experience! Joyce Gabiola (SAA), Tanya Marshall (CoSA), and Rachel Winston (SAA), Program Committee Co-chairs
TRANSFORMATIVE! is the theme of the 2019 Joint can be promoted and integrated into their sessions. Some Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) proposals explicitly named white supremacy, whiteness, and SAA, held July 31–August 6 in Austin, Texas. As racism, or bias, and we’re pleased that so many propos- program co-chairs, we’ve been intentional about using als intend to address the effects of systemic power on this opportunity to put into practice ideals that CoSA and archives, records, people, and the environments in which SAA seek to uphold. Many discussions that occur within we work, study, and teach. the archives profession—at conferences, workplaces, classrooms, and in our daily lives—revolve around During the program committee’s January meeting in issues of inclusivity, accountability, creating space for Chicago, members engaged in thoughtful discussions underrepresented voices, and challenging the status quo. around proposals. We regret that we had to decline many However, such discussions are often held in the margins. proposals that were not only relevant to the conference We hope that this conference will help to widen the arena. theme but also robust in their educational objectives. For this conference, we made space for under-discussed topics Taking steps to ensure that members of our organizations by creating tracks on: who have been marginalized feel seen and cared for, par- • Diversity/Whiteness Normativity, and Cultural ticularly in today’s challenging social climate, espouses our Humility profession’s goal of inclusivity. A new element to the pro- gram submission process is an inclusivity statement, which • Invisible Labor encourages people to consider the ways in which inclusivity • Instruction and Pedagogical Practice
2019 Joint Annual Meeting Travel Awards
The Society of American Archivists Foundation Applicants will be notified of the status of their is pleased to announce the availability of ten application by June 15. To apply, visit https://app Travel Awards—of up to $1,000 each—to support .smarterselect.com/programs/48989-Society-Of attendance at the 2019 Joint Annual Meeting of -American-Archivists. the Council of State Archivists and SAA in Austin, July 31–August 6. Applications due May 1, 2019.
Travel awards may be applied only to conference The Society of American Archivists Foundation is the registration fees and related expenses (such as nation’s leading source of nonprofit travel, lodging, and food) incurred to attend the funding dedicated to the interests Joint Annual Meeting. Only current SAA members of archives and archivists. Donations are eligible for this award. The primary criterion for to the SAA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) selection will be financial need. organization, are tax deductible.
16 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 • Leadership Development and Mentoring; Spaces, that power and, depending on the topic of your Places, and Margins presentation, erases the contributions and voices of historically marginalized people and communities. • Government Archives and Records Management. On a related note, we’d like to remind you that the With these optional tracks, we hope that conference SAA Council voted in 2017 to keep the Joint Annual attendees find professionally enriching sessions. Meeting in Austin despite anti-trans legislation in process at the time. Currently, there As co-chairs we’d like to are no civil protections for our trans acknowledge the power colleagues in Texas as they engage in structures that underlie A new element to the everyday activities that the rest of us take our collaborative work as a program submission for granted, such as using the restroom. In committee. We also want to regard to your presentations, we ask that process is an inclusivity you reflect on and acknowledge the ways acknowledge the emotional and statement, which in which any aspect of your presentation invisible labor that is required may cause harm for our colleagues/ for some of our fellow committee encourages people to attendees and/or the community that members as they serve in this consider the ways in you and your institutions serve. Please be capacity, as well as some of assured that the conference organizers you—our colleagues—who which inclusivity can be and the hotel are making every effort navigate the systems of power promoted and integrated to ensure the safety and comfort of all under which our institutions and attendees. organizations operate. Relevant into their sessions. We hope that the committee’s approach to this is an excerpt from the to the selection process will create an notification emails sent to session chairs: experience that will be vibrant, informative, and thought- As presenters at the Joint Annual Meeting, it’s provoking—and encourage you to take on a challenging important to recognize your positionality as it but meaningful endeavor. We believe there are endless relates to your topic. At a basic level, this involves possibilities that can move us toward transformative work reflecting on and acknowledging power structures and relationships. Our efforts combined with your energy and your social location (intersecting identities) as it relates to your topic. As the nature of archives will make our time together at the Joint Annual Meeting is a colonialist project, to not acknowledge the memorable. Let’s make history in Austin. We look forward power structures that control our work reproduces to seeing y’all!
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March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 17 FROM THE ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES David S. Ferriero National Archives and Records Administration [email protected] 35 Days in the Life of the National Archives
he partial government shutdown and security staff in each building and staff While our website and online catalog Tfrom December 21, 2018, through in the Office of the Federal Register, payroll remained available to the public, we January 25, 2019, affected every employee services, and the general counsel’s office as could make no updates. Our social throughout the National Archives and well as a number of senior leaders. media accounts, usually places of vibrant Records Administration (NARA). For 35 engagement, were quiet and static. Some effects of the partial shutdown were days, much of our normal operations publicly visible, like the closed doors of our Public events and educational programming were on hold as reference requests went research rooms and museums. Less publicly in Washington, DC, field locations, and unanswered, digitization projects halted, visible effects included the interruption to presidential libraries were canceled. The records processing stopped, public programs accessioning and processing records and National Archives at New York alone had were canceled, and exhibits were delayed. delayed building maintenance. to cancel 36 programs that would have reached 1,100 people. Exhibits schedules Some parts of the agency were able to carry While research rooms at all National Archives were disrupted as openings and closings on during that time. Staff in the Federal locations and presidential libraries were were delayed, and film screenings, lectures, Records Centers Program (FRCP) were closed, thousands of reference requests went the National Archives Sleepover, and a designated “exempt” because the FRCP is unanswered and Freedom of Information Act naturalization ceremony were canceled. funded separately from the regular annual (FOIA) requests accumulated. Researchers During a comparable period, the staff of the appropriations. That meant that we were who had planned their travel far in advance National Declassification Center https://( able to continue to fulfill most requests had to delay their research or find other www.archives.gov/declassification/ndc) for veterans’ service records and provide sources of information. uninterrupted service to federal agencies normally would review and index hundreds that were still open. Records accessioning and processing of thousands of pages. The Office of was suspended in archival units and at Government Information Services (https:// A small number of staff in several other presidential libraries, and the annual move www.archives.gov/ogis), which provides NARA offices worked without pay during of permanent records to NARA, usually policy guidance and mediation services for the shutdown to ensure the continuation of about 75,000 cubic feet, was delayed. FOIA activities, would have closed about essential operations. These included facility 260 inquiries in a comparable period. When a leak was All of these examples remind us of the discovered at the valuable work we do every day to safeguard National Archives at the records that tell the stories of our Boston, research and nation’s history. facilities staff were called in to clean up, The days following our return to duty were protect the wet records, a time for refocusing, both in terms of and assess damage. staff needs and our work. We have been Thanks to their quick reassessing our projects and will continue action, damage was to realistically pursue our goals. confined to a very small Our staff were eager to return to work, portion of the records, and this sentiment was expressed over and and our preservation over during the shutdown on a personal staff is tending to those. Facebook group created by staff as a place Our various digitization for NARA employees to share information, projects were support each other, and just keep in touch suspended. One project while on furlough. The group grew from 77 to digitize more than members to more than 500 by the end of 70 million World War January and became an important place for II draft registration maintaining person-to-person connections cards at the National across the country. Archives at St. Louis Throughout the agency, people are making (with Ancestry.com an effort to get back to normal and continue as a partner) lost 17 to protect and ensure access to the nation’s workdays of scanning, documentary heritage. I’m proud of their delaying the project by dedication to our mission, and we all look more than a million forward to continuing to serve the nation by images. protecting and sharing its history.
18 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 KUDOS
Doug Boyd, director of the University of Kentucky Libraries’ Transparency in Appraisal Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, has received a Fulbright and Retention Schedules U.S. Scholar Program Award to conduct research in Australia. continued from page 9 Boyd will spend four months researching the expansion of the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS), a digital tool MP: Thanks to Nate for recognizing the he developed at the University of Kentucky and for which he efforts NARA makes, and for his thoughtful received SAA’s Archival Innovator Award in 2018. suggestions! Adriana Cuervo has been appointed the inaugural head Notes of Archival Collections and Services at Rutgers University– 1 Slides available at https://nsarchive.files.wordpress Newark. Cuervo will be responsible for the day-to-day .com/2018/08/nate-jones-the-indiana-jones operations of the Institute of Jazz Studies—the largest and -warehouse.pptx. He further developed his most comprehensive jazz research facility in the world—as presentation for the National Security Archive blog, well as the newly established Dana Archives, which documents Unredacted (https://unredacted.com/2018/10/04 /the-indiana-jones-warehouse-how-to-use-foia-to-get the university’s history. Cuervo is a member of the American -documents-from-purgatory/). Archivist Editorial Board. She holds a master’s degree in library and information 2 James C. Van Hook, ed. Foreign Relations of the United science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. States, 1952–1954, Iran 1951–1954 (Washington, DC: United States Government Publishing Office, 2017): Peter B. Hirtle, SAA Fellow and Past President (2002–2003), 15, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments has retired from Harvard University and his most recent /frus1951-54Iran/sources. duties as an Alumni Fellow of the Berkman Klein Center for 3 David Ferriero, “National Archives Updates Progress Internet and Society. Prior to his appointment at Harvard, on ICE Records Disposition,” AOTUS Blog, June 27, 2018, https://aotus.blogs.archives.gov/2018/06/27 Hirtle worked in the Cornell University Library as senior /national-archives-updates-progress-on-ice-records policy advisor with a special mandate to address intellectual -disposition/. property issues and as the director of the Cornell Institute 4 See https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/faqs for Digital Collections. He previously held positions at the National Archives and /general.html and https://www.archives.gov/frc Records Administration, the National Library of Medicine, and the Archives of the /about for examples of this information. 5 American Society for Microbiology. He has served as the chair or as a member of Amy Bennett, “FOIA and NARA’s Federal Records Centers,” FOIA Ombudsman, June 13, 2018, a number of SAA committees and working groups, including most recently as the https://foia.blogs.archives.gov/2018/06/13/foia founding chair of the Intellectual Property Working Group. He has also represented -and-naras-federal-records-centers/. the archival profession on numerous national and international initiatives, including 6 See 36 CFR Part 1235 at https://www.law.cornell the seminal Commission on Preservation and Access/Research Library Group’s Task .edu/cfr/text/36/part-1235, 44 USC § 2107 at Force on Digital Archiving and the Copyright Office’s Section 108 Study Group. He https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/44/2107, and 44 USC § 2108 at https://www.law.cornell.edu is the author of Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. /uscode/text/44/2108. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, which is free at http://hdl.handle.net/1813/14142. 7 For the OGIS legislation, see https://oversight.house Hirtle graduated with an MA in history from Johns Hopkins and an MLS with a .gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/SLW_027_xml.pdf. concentration in archival science from the University of Maryland. For the PRA legislation, see https://www.congress .gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1233.
All Hands on Deck in the Archives The “Big Paper” Approach continued from page 15 continued from page 14
3. Make things as convenient as possible for your workers in terms of environment, swapped with their colleagues, as well as shared scheduling, etc. I reserved a room on the same floor as the RMS department so with me, motivated them to delve deeper. that participants could easily run to their offices if necessary. Our task was held during fall break when undergraduates were gone and the library quiet. This approach to the question connected 4. Provide any needed training or explanation. Be around to participate and students to the presentation because their answer questions. ideas shaped the conversation. My discussion generated more questions and more interest. 5. Afterward be sure to acknowledge the assistance that was provided (e.g., I easily talked with students for the remaining thank you notes, chocolate, mentions in reports and social media, etc.) period with little preparation, and each class had 6. Be prepared to jump in and help with someone else’s project. a slightly different focus because the students Not every department can commit staff and time to help with archives projects directed the discussion. The professor also on an ongoing basis. With this approach, assisting with a project may require responded favorably to the format of the class. only a few hours on occasion. Such an arrangement may be more feasible for Suffice to say, the big paper approach was a big many institutions—and have the added benefit of boosting your institution’s success. esprit de corps.
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 19 Who Was in the Room The Search Begins Where It Happened? continued from page 3 Admiral Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, where the NMPW is located, and our archives have several the message would then remove the small collections from individuals that padding before delivering the message. In served at CINCPAC headquarters. Even this instance, the end of the message— though Oettinger gave a specific name, “The World Wonders”—appeared to make I approached this search as I would a sense, so it remained when delivered. genealogy puzzle. I considered it possible, even likely, that after four decades the When read by Halsey, it gave the name provided could be spelled as he impression that Nimitz was sarcastically remembered it sounded and not as it truly criticizing his decision to move Task was. For that reason I considered name Force 34 away from the landing area. In variations. reaction, Admiral Halsey became enraged and brooded over the situation. During After searching through several folders the hour it took for him to recover and I discovered a document that appeared head back to give assistance, the US lost useful. It was from the right timeframe one escort carrier and three other ships. and had lists of junior officers. Page two showed an Ensign “J. D. Kaster”—that Admirals Chester W. Nimitz and William F. Halsey. The First Clue immediately focused my attention. Courtesy of the National Museum of the Pacific War. I followed up on my discovery by using a In the following decades, two key ques- trusted genealogy website. I hypothesized One of the collections in the NMPW tions about “The World Wonders” message that “J. D. Kaster” would be in the age archives is related to USS Northampton. lingered. Who sent it and why did the range of most people who served during A folder in the collection contained ending of it make sense when it shouldn’t the war and would have been born recollections involving the sinking. I have? Both appeared to be answered between 1915 and 1925. One of my initial found that one them was from the radio in an unpublished memoir by Elmer R. search results contained an Iowa WWII officer, Ensign Byron W. Eaton. In his Oettinger Jr. in NMPW’s archives. bonus record for a John Donald Kaster. remembrance, Eaton described how he After glancing over the and radioman Kaster destroyed the ship’s Written in the late handwritten entries on the codebooks and decoding machines after 1980s, Oettinger’s “You are a superhero form it seemed highly likely the order to abandon ship was given. That act to deprive the Japanese of valuable memoir details his of the archives.” that I had the right person. experiences during means to decode American messages the war as a CINCPAC In one section of that record, may have appeared significant enough to warrant a promotion and eventual communications security officer. Shortly John Donald Kaster indicated all the assignment to CINCPAC headquarters. after completion he donated the memoir places that he served during the war. He to the NMPW. In it, Oettinger revealed wrote that he was on USS Northampton that a recently promoted ensign, named followed by brief duties elsewhere before Making Veterans Known eventually receiving an assignment to Dan Coster, sent the infamous message. “Com-Chief Pacific Fleet.” I knew that “You are a superhero of the archives. According to Oettinger, Ensign Coster Northampton was torpedoed and sunk Did you wear a cape and a mask when had received a promotion from the in 1942, which might explain the act of you did this?” That was the message of enlisted ranks due to “bravery in sea bravery Oettinger mentioned, and I also astonishment that I received from Richard combat” and had not been at CINCPAC recognized that “Com-Chief Pacific Fleet” Frank after providing the historian with my findings. As the NMPW archivist, headquarters for very long at the time of would be CINCPAC. genealogical research skills are something the incident. In Oettinger’s opinion, this I then checked the navy muster rolls, I regularly hone. The museum focuses on new man had not been properly trained which showed that Kaster was a honoring those who served in the war, and to handle sensitive messages and, Northampton radioman when it was sunk. some of the greatest satisfaction I receive therefore, posed a communications risk Those records also confirmed his short from my job comes from making sure at CINCPAC. Oettinger claimed that he assignments and that he was promoted to veterans are known. To help make that attempted to report the matter but his ensign in early 1944, before assignment to happen, I use trusted genealogy resources. concern was rebuffed. As a consequence, CINCPAC headquarters. Some additional In this case, the sender of “The World “The World Wonders” message was sent searching also resulted in hometown Wonders” message might have never been sometime later. newspaper items that revealed he was positively identified if not for an archival known as “Don” Kaster. intercession.
20 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 The Greatest Theft Copyright and the Music Imperfect Good News in the Archives Modernization Act continued from page 5 continued from page 7 The Music Modernization Act is not perfect, and it’s a far cry from the full the last person to rob the special collections New Provisions federalization for which SAA and others where I was on staff. In 1995, Gilbert have been advocating for many years. The Bland10 stole from a number of libraries and Thanks to skillful lobbying on the part of MMA preserves the state laws protecting archives including the Southern Historical several public interest groups, the new law pre-1972 recordings to the extent that they Collection at the University of North contains two important exceptions to the are not preempted by this law, leaving in Carolina where I was employed at the time. protection of pre-1972 recordings that place several inconsistencies across the exceed the exceptions already contained states that need resolution. in the Copyright Act for other works. So What Happened to In addition, the law directs the Copyright Blumberg? The first new benefit to archivists concerns Office to study, among other things, what the existing Sec. 108(h). This exception constitutes a “good faith, reasonable It was initially estimated that Blumberg had allows librarians and archivists broad search,” and that study is in progress. more than $20 million in stolen books and freedom to reproduce, distribute, perform, As of this writing, the Copyright Office and display published works that are in their manuscripts at his Iowa house. The penalty is proposing a rule that would require a last 20 years of copyright and that currently for his crime? The prosecution recommended five-step search, which may be sufficiently are not being commercially exploited, for ten years in prison, but the judge sentenced cumbersome that it’s preferable to apply purposes of preservation, scholarship, Sec. 108(h). him in 1991 to seventy-one months with a or research. The MMA extends that $200,000 fine.11 While the sentence seemed exception so that all pre-1972 recordings That said, new copyright legislation is rarely light to those of us who were robbed, for are considered to be in the last 20 years good news for archivists. The general trend the judicial system it was a simple interstate of their copyright term. Archivists may in Congress over the past several decades possession of stolen goods with no weapons therefore consider any published pre-1972 has been a consistent push toward longer or personal injury involved. sound recording that satisfies the conditions terms and stricter, narrower, and more specified in Sec. 108(h) to be covered by difficult to follow exceptions. There was concern by many that Blumberg this exception.6 It’s unclear whether this would try to rebuild his collection. Since provision applies to unpublished pre-1972 Taken in this context, the MMA is a his release from prison in December 1995, recordings, but the plain language appears to significant victory for libraries and archives he has been arrested for stealing antiques suggest that only published recordings apply. that are concerned with sound recordings. and violating probation, but no record of The Music Modernization Act reduces the additional library theft has come to light. A second new benefit is a provision for noncommercial uses of pre-1972 recordings term of protection for a class of works for Even so, I remain vigilant. that are not being commercially exploited. the first time since the enactment of the The law states that such uses are non- 1976 Copyright Act; it creates two new and Notes infringing provided that the user satisfies easy-to-follow exceptions; and it formally three conditions: applies, if not the full suite, at least the 1 Cocks, Fraser, “Witness for the Prosecution: The 1. that after a good faith, reasonable most important copyright exceptions, Trial of Stephen Cary Blumberg,” SAA Newsletter search, the user has not found the simplifying the law governing works whose (July 1991): 16–7, 22–3. recording available for sale or rental protection regime was previously the most 2 Weiss, Philip, “The Book Thief,”Harper’s Magazine or in the Copyright Office records; complicated of all creative works. (January 1994): 37–56. 2. that the person provide notice to the 3 Ziegler, Edward, “Case of the Rare-Book Notes Phantom,” Reader’s Digest (November 1991): Copyright Office of their intended 92–96. use; and 1 Orrin G. Hatch – Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, H.R. 1551, Pub. L. 115-264 4 Basbanes, Nicholas A., A Gentle Madness (New 3. that within 90 days of filing notice, (2018). York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995): 465–519. the owner of the royalty right has 2 17 USC 1401(a)(2) 5 Basbanes, 476. not objected to the use. 3 Survey of State Criminal Laws, https://www 6 Interview with John Sharpe, May 21, 1991. This is a remarkably broad exception in that .copyright.gov/docs/sound/20111212_survey 7 The Society of American Archivists honored it applies to any and all noncommercial _state_criminal_laws_ARL_CO_v2.pdf. Steven Huntsberry with a certificate of 7 uses and to any person. From an archivist’s 4 See for example Golan vs. Holder 565 U.S. 302, appreciation at its 1990 Annual Meeting. perspective, the use of this provision may 328 (2012). “We then described the ‘traditional 8 Ziegler, 94–95. depend to some extent on the definition of contours’ of copyright protection, i.e., the ‘idea / 9 Basbanes, 481. (Special Agent Aiken gave the “good faith, reasonable search.” However, expression dichotomy’ and the ‘fair use’ defense. same quote to Basbanes for his book when the noncommercial exception applies to Both are recognized in our jurisprudence as describing Blumberg’s determination and ability.) unpublished recordings where Sec. 108(h) ‘built-in first amendment accommodations.’” 5 10 Harvey, Miles, The Island of Lost Maps(New York: may not; in any case, it may prove useful to 17 USC 1401(f)(A) Random House, 2000). scholars and other patrons for whom the 6 17 USC 1401(f)(B) 11 Weiss, 54. Sec. 108 exception is not available. 7 17 USC 1401(c)
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 21 Save Our Archives on MayDay 2019
With an Action Plan With a Gift
Protecting our collections is one of You can also celebrate MayDay 2019 our fundamental responsibilities as by giving to the National Disaster archivists. On May 1—this year and Recovery Fund for Archives! every year—you can do something Established by the Society of that will make a difference when and MMAY A Y 1 • 20172019 Southwest Archivists and SAA if an emergency occurs. That’s the to address archival repositories’ purpose of MayDay—a grassroots stabilization and recovery needs, the fund effort to save our archives. provides grants for recovery of archival collections from major disasters. Find ideas at http://www2.archivists.org /initiatives/mayday-saving-our-archives. Help the SAA Foundation provide disaster relief to archives by making a gift to the National Disaster Recovery Fund for Archives at https:// saa.archivists.org/4DCGI/donate/form.html.
Turning Data into People in may have been like in counties across the Digital Curation Innovation Center (DCIC) Maryland’s Slave Records state. Historical research tends to be linear in the College of Information Studies at continued from page 10 in its findings and storytelling, but we’ve the University of Maryland began working learned to look at records more broadly in with MSA staff on the legacy project. The order to extract the information we need, goal of the DCIC is to enhance students’ learn a lot about an enslaved individual. even if we aren’t sure what we’re going to analytic and technical skills. In real-world Inventories of deceased Marylanders find along the way. projects that integrate archival research often list enslaved individuals alongside with technology, students participate The project’s goal is to present findings in the deceased’s furniture, crops, and tools. in research focused on human rights, such a fashion that students, researchers, By mining these records of justice, and cultural heritage as well as genealogists, and conveyance, we gain insight cyberinfrastructure development. into Maryland’s enslaved and scholars can use enslavers. Historical research our tool for their Working in teams at MSA, students used tends to be linear unique purposes. digitized copies of 1850 and 1860 federal As we gather research, the task in its findings and More than census records and the state’s Certificates becomes how to best display and 400,000 pieces of of Freedom to transcribe data onto spread- publish the information. We’ve storytelling, but we’ve information can sheets to facilitate analysis of the effects of created spreadsheets across learned to look at be found on slavery slavery in Maryland. Students also applied .msa.maryland.gov. a number of mediums and for- records more broadly visualization technologies to identify mats that note the record type As technology patterns and relationships in the data and pertinent information. The in order to extract the and methodology that provide insights into the complex web problem with this approach after information we need. evolve, MSA will of slavery. DCIC students will continue to seventeen years of the program collaborate with partner with MSA on this fascinating local universities becomes how to integrate and and timely topic. relate this information to one another. Our and institutions to implement best practices database analysis spent hundreds of hours on displaying information and serving Thanks to the work of many people and to cleaning data, formatting like categories of patrons’ needs. evolving research methods, the Legacy of information, and publishing information on Slavery program has rediscovered and made the online database. Partnering with Student accessible facts which have given a voice Researchers to hundreds of thousands of Maryland’s As a result of this tool, we can search across past African American residents. The early time, name, record, and place to find a more One such collaboration is already underway. history of Maryland’s Black population can well-rounded analysis on what enslavement In the fall of 2017, twelve students from the finally be recognized.
22 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 “It’s Not You, It’s Me” deeply concerned with the institution continued from page 6 preserving, commemorating, and in some EDUCATE YOUR DONORS! ways celebrating their legacy. We took the time to connect with that community, Once you’ve identified potential donors, history, we organized a screening of a use SAA’s brochures to educate them on locally-produced documentary about the accessioning small collections and treating the donation process according to nationally club along with a panel discussion with the their collections with a degree of reverence, practiced standards. These free brochures film’s producers and members of the family patience, and care. cover deeds of gift and donating personal, who owned and operated the beloved venue family, and institutional records. Some of the donors had significant for nearly 40 years. collections they’d spent a lifetime building. Find brochures at https://www2.archivists .org/publications/brochures. The program was a success with nearly 100 We met with them dozens of times without people in attendance. A month later, one ever making “the ask,” but instead slowly of the producers reached out to the film’s established the relationship over time. contributors and the venue’s community When the right moment came, we made a to make donations to the library’s special successful request. Establishing an authentic collections, in large part due to the care relationship before seeking to obtain the and sensitivity with which we treated the collection benefitted us as well as the donor. community. People donated ephemeral items featured in the documentary as Here are a few other tips based on our well as related materials that emerged experiences with donors: due to our public program. Engaging the • Develop a clear, concise statement community and identifying its place in local to share with the donor, concretely history through creative programming is identifying what your institution meaningful to all parties. offers them. What makes your organization special? Get to Know Donors • Don’t over-promise services you can’t support. In establishing a donor community where one doesn’t exist, archivists may need to • Create consistent contact with your community and potential donors, slow down to speed up. The initial impulse Contact with donors should happen early may be to rush in seeking donations. even if the conversation isn’t about donations or their collection. Keep and often. So use these tips to get out there Instead, take time to learn about and and start talking! integrate yourself into the community the channels open. you seek to document. Trust isn’t gained • If donations ultimately aren’t made This article evolved from a panel presentation overnight and may take months—even to your organization, there may given at ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2018, the years—to establish. still be positive outcomes from the Joint Annual Meeting of CoSA, NAGARA, relationship that manifest in the and SAA in Washington, DC, August 12–18, At the Akron Sound Museum, several future. 2018. potential donors were area musicians
Facing the Music context to an event, or provide materials Moffo collection has had ramifications not continued from page 13 for commemorations, tributes, and only within the archives but in all of Curtis. celebrations. In addition, the newsletter and Staff is continuing to seek out programs and the alumni network website now list the build relationships to further the acquisition raising awareness of the archives as an archives as both a resource and repository of material, particularly from older alumni. option for the permanent care of Curtis- in what we hope further reiterates the related materials. reciprocal relationship between those who In reinvigorating a flagging collections policy and facilitating new partnerships, We also fostered a collaborative partnership make and those who safeguard Curtis’s the wider Curtis community is now invested with Alumni Relations. We hoped to history. in rescuing other alumni collections from establish a more formal arrangement obscurity or destruction. It’s an exciting for contributing to its monthly alumni A Community on the Lookout time in the archives. As the keepers newsletter. Our involvement began with of Curtis’s institutional memory, it’s a small blurb notifying alums that the Although still in the early stages, we’re incumbent upon us to present a full picture archives was seeking collections, but has hopeful that these engagement efforts with of the Curtis experience—something which since evolved so that staff now provide students and alumni will bear tangible fruit. would not be possible without the stories historical articles and photographs to However, waiting for results does not equal alumni records have to tell. highlight announcements, offer historical complacency. The near loss of the Anna
March/April 2019 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 23 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Nancy P. Beaumont [email protected]
The 2019 Joint Annual Meeting in Austin
s noted in the 2019 Program not reach the legislature’s floor and app) reminding our attendees of A Committee’s article in this issue (“A therefore failed. The hotel is working the “do’s and don’ts for bystander Transformative Experience,” pages 16–17), with us to ensure that our conference intervention,” based on our research “the SAA Council voted in 2017 to keep the space provides an adequate number into best practices. In support of this Joint Annual Meeting in Austin despite of gender-inclusive restrooms. They effort, we are looking into providing anti-trans legislation in process at the time. will be designated via signage and on ribbons or buttons (e.g., I’ll Walk With Currently there are no civil protections conference maps. Our all-attendee You, I’ll Go With You) that individuals for our trans colleagues in Texas as they reception will be held at the Moody may wear to indicate their willingness engage in everyday activities that the rest Theater (home of “Austin City to assist colleagues. of us take for granted, such as using the Limits”), which also will give us the • Consultants: We are exploring option to designate gender-inclusive restroom. . . . Please be assured that the the feasibility of hiring one or more restrooms. conference organizers and the hotel are consultants who can help us ensure making every effort to ensure the safety • Handguns: The Moody Theater that the conference environment and comfort of all attendees.” does not permit handguns on its is accessible for individuals with disabilities and for those who identify To that end, here are some of the steps that premises and posts this in signage as trans, gender non-conforming, or we’ve already taken: throughout the property. (Texas law notes that establishments that derive non-binary. • “Positionality” Statement: at least 51% of their revenue from • Local Service/Activism: And we are The Program Committee co-chairs alcohol may prohibit open-carry and looking into possibilities for service drafted a statement on “positionality” concealed handguns.) We are working projects and other actions that our that appeared in our recent with the hotel on its signage. attendees might take in Austin to communication to presenters and • Chemical and Fragrance share their support for various causes. will be incorporated (in some form) Sensitivities: Although the JW Stay tuned! throughout our conference materials Marriott does not have a “fragrance as a reminder and inspiration to all program” like some other hotels I so wish that there were some way for attendees. (Read it on page 17.) (which intentionally use sprays and SAA to guarantee attendees’ safety at every • Code of Conduct: We are developing candles to scent the air), it does use Annual Meeting, workshop, and component materials to guide presenters should cleaning products to which some group meeting that we offer. Unfortunately disruptive situations arise during individuals may have sensitivities. The that’s not possible. What we can do, though, their sessions. And we will post SAA’s hotel is not able to change its cleaning is pay attention to every aspect of our Code of Conduct throughout our hotel supplies while SAA and CoSA are in meetings and to continuously improve space and in our print and online house. In an attempt to minimize on our efforts to provide a comfortable, materials as a further reminder of the challenges for chemical-sensitive inclusive, and empowering environment appropriate behaviors. attendees, we will post reminders in which participants experience a sense to attendees to be aware that some of community and belonging. • Gender-Inclusive Restrooms: individuals may have sensitivities to The conference will take place at the There’s always more to be done. We look scented products and to consider this JW Marriott in downtown Austin. forward to hearing your ideas for specific when preparing for the day. Marriott Corporation was one of the actions that we might take to move groups that was active in opposing • Bystander Intervention Tips: SAA toward being a truly welcoming the “bathroom bill” that came up As in Portland in 2017, we will environment. Reach me at any time at in committee during the Texas distribute information (via a [email protected] or 866-722-7858, legislature’s 2017 session. The bill did handout, signage, and the mobile ext. 212.
24 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK March/April 2019 CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS AND PRESENTATIONS
society of american archivists 2019 RESEARCH FORUM “FOUNDATIONS“FOUNDATIONS ANDAND INNOVATIONS”INNOVATIONS”
Friday, August 2, 9:00 am–5:00 pm • JW Marriott, Austin
Archivists from around the country and the world will The organizers encourage submissions for the Research convene at ARCHIVESHRECORDS 2019, the Joint Annual Forum that address 1) diversity and inclusion and/or Meeting of the Council of State Archivists and SAA in 2) models for collaboration across domains (archives, Austin, Texas, July 31– August 6. If you’re engaged in libraries, galleries, and museums). research, seeking to identify research-based solutions for For ideas or to learn more about past Forums, see your institution, willing to participate in the research cycle by the 2007–2018 proceedings at http://archivists.org serving as a beta site for research trials, or simply interested /proceedings/research-forum. Questions? Contact the in what’s happening in research and innovation, then join us organizers at [email protected]. And watch for for the 13th annual SAA Research Forum: “Foundations updates on the Forum’s webpage at http://archivists.org and Innovations”! /proceedings/research-forum.
Researchers, practitioners, educators, students, and Events at the 2019 Research Forum the curious across all sectors of archives and records management are invited to participate. Use the Forum • Research Presentations and Posters (Friday, to discuss, debate, plan, organize, evaluate, or motivate August 2, 9:00 am–5:00 pm): Here’s your chance to present, research projects and initiatives. Here’s your chance to find discuss, listen to, or view research reports and results on a collaborators or to help inform researchers about what variety of topics. The final thirty minutes of this session will questions and problems need to be tackled. The Forum seek input for SAA’s 2020 Research Forum. features the full spectrum of research activities—from “pure” • Poster Sessions: Be sure to make time to visit the poster research to applied research to innovative practice—all of sessions, which will include practice innovation and interest and value to the archives community. research topics.
CALL FOR PLATFORM AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
SAA invites submission of abstracts (of 250 words or fewer) Abstracts will be evaluated by a review committee for either 10-minute platform presentations or poster pre- co-chaired by Nance McGovern (Massachusetts Institute sentations. Topics may address research on, or innovations of Technology) and Heather Soyka (Kent State University). in, any aspect of archives practice or records management in government, corporate, academic, scientific, or other setting. Deadline for submission of abstracts: Presentations on research results that may have emerged May 15, 2019. You will be notified of the review since the 2019 Joint Annual Meeting Call for Proposals dead- committee’s decision by July 2 (in advance of the Early-Bird line are welcome, as are reports on research completed registration deadline). within the past three years that you think is relevant and Submit your abstract at https://app.smarterselect.com valuable for discussion. /programs/56822-Society-Of-American-Archivists. 17 North State Street, Suite 1425 Chicago, IL 60602-3315 USA
saa presents Season 1 of Archives in Context
This new podcast highlights archival literature and technologies and, most importantly, the people behind them. Cosponsored by SAA’s Publications Board and American Archivist Editorial Board, the podcast offers a new medium for exploring the often moving and important work of memory-keeping. Season 1 features interviews with:
• Kären M. Mason, contributor to Perspectives on Women’s Archives • Cal Lee, editor of American Archivist • Michelle Caswell, author of Archiving the Unspeakable: Silence, Memory, and the Photographic Record in Cambodia • Karen Trivette, cohost of the podcast An Archivist’s Tale • Anthony Cocciolo, author of Moving Image and Sound Collections for Archivists • Dominique Luster, presenter at TEDx Talk in Pittsburgh Listen to the full season via the Archives in Context website (https://archivesincontext.archivists.org/), • Select stories from A Finding Aid to My Soul, an open- iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. mic event at ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2018