January 2015
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Volume 42, Number 1 • January 2015 C OVER—Image 509. Cast (identified) of “The Mexican I NSIDE— Archival Insight features John Campopiano’s Dancers,” a benefit for the Biddeford High School Alumni recent trip to explore the archival landscapes of Iceland and Scholarship fund, performed at the City Opera House, Greenland (page 4). From the President (page 6), and other Biddeford, Maine, 1915. organizational news, including our annual Awards season announcement (page 6). Matthew Spry reviews Anne Gilliland’s Photo courtesy of McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Conceptualizing 21st-Century Archives (page 9). Session report- Maine. ers arrange and describe the Fall Meeting (page 14). Erik Bauer is Around and About, connecting local teens with special collections (page 20). The Spring Meeting is Coming! (page 22). MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections announces a number recent staff changes (page 23). TAKING THE PAST INTO THE FUTURE 2 Volume 42, Number 1 • January 2015 Table of Contents Office of Medical History and Archives The Lamar Soutter Library University of Massachusetts Medical School 55 Lake Avenue North • Worcester, MA 01655 <www.newenglandarchivists.org> From the Editors ................................................................. 3 NEA Executive Board President: Jill Snyder Archival Insight Vice-President/President-Elect: Colin Lukens Immediate Past President: Alyssa Pacy Archival Awareness on Ice: An Archivist’s Secretary: Adrienne Pruitt Treasurer: Juliana Kuipers Travelogue from Up North .......................................... 4 Representatives-At-Large: Tessa Cierny Erica C. Boudreau Silvia Mejía Inside NEA Jessica Sedgwick Clerk of the Corporation: Jean Nielsen Berry From the President......................................................... 6 Archivist: Laura Smith Membership Secretary: Elizabeth Slomba Education Coordinator: James DaMico Open Forum Vendor Coordinator: Jane Ward Newsletter Editors: Heather Mumford 2014 Richard W. Hale, Jr. Professional Pamela Hopkins Carolyn Hayes Development Award Recipient Report ..................... 8 Jessica Holden Listserv Moderator: Maryalice Perrin-Mohr Membership Secretary: Elizabeth Slomba Reviews ................................................................................... 9 Inclusion & Diversity Coordinator: Anna Clutterbuck-Cook Registrar: Emily Tordo News and Notes Membership in New England Archivists, Inc. is open to all. Connecticut ...................................................................... 10 Dues of $35/year ($45 for institutions) should be sent to: Kristine M. Sjostedt, Office of Medical History and Archives, The Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Maine ................................................................................. 10 Worcester, MA 01655, or join online at <www.newenglandarchivists.org>. Massachusetts ................................................................. 11 Notices of archival events should be sent to: Heather Mumford at <[email protected]>. Rhode Island .................................................................... 13 The NEA Newsletter is published quarterly in January, April, July and Other News ..................................................................... 13 October. The contents of the Newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part provided that credit is given. Fall 2014 Meeting Session Reports ............................... 14 Articles and News of interest to archivists, historical society members, historians, and other NEA members should be sent for con- sideration to: Heather Mumford at <[email protected]. edu>, or to NEA Newsletter Editors, c/o Office of Medical History and People ....................................................................................... 19 Archives, The Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655. Around and About Contributions for inclusion on the NEA website should be sent to: <[email protected]>. Special Collections and Teen Engagement .............. 20 Deadlines for submitting materials are: November 15 for January issue February 10 for April issue NEA News .............................................................................. 22 May 15 for July issue August 15 for October issue Advertising Policy: ................................................................................. 23 There will be no fee to list position openings. Advertisements for archi- Calendar val products will be accepted as space permits. Advertising should be submitted to Jane Ward, (978) 459-2129 or <[email protected]>. New England Repositories are Growing! Rates: Full page: $125; half page: $75; quarter page: $40. Payment is requested at the time the ad is submitted. All checks should be made Recent Staff Changes .......................................................... 23 payable to New England Archivists. Newsletter design by Culp Design <www.culpdesign.com> This Season in New England History ............................ 24 3 Volume 42, Number 1 • January 2015 tion/SIBMAS joint conference (2014) and the launching of From the Editors the Hub Dance Narratives of Boston (HDNB) project. -Pamela Hopkins I hope you’ll share your 2015 us – What new projects appy New Year, NEA! As ever, your January Newslet- are you taking on? What fresh starts are you anticipating? Hter reflects on the past and takes us into the future Where do you want to go this year and how can NEA help – from Session Reports from the Fall Meeting in Newport, you get there? Rhode Island, to the announcement for the Spring Meeting, March 19-21, 2015, held in conjunction with our MARAC To that end, NEA currently offers its members four colleagues in Boston, Massachusetts. (Registration is now awards – the Hale Professional Development Award, the open at <www.newenglandarchivists.org/spring_2015>!) Richard L. Haas Records Management Award, the Audio/ Visual Professional Development Award, and Meeting Two of our colleagues bring us news from home and and Travel Assistance Scholarships – see page six for details afar – don’t miss Archival Insight with John Campopiano and and visit <www.newenglandarchivists.org/awards> for his archival adventures in Iceland and Greenland and Erik more information. Bauer’s Around and About, in which he leads local teen explor- ers into the Peabody Institute Library’s Special Collections. Finally, I’d like to leave you with a taste of my favorite poem about January: Matthew Spry reviews Anne Gilliland’s Conceptualiz- In January ing 21st-Century Archives – you may want to check the bal- it’s so nice ance on your holiday gift cards! while slipping on the sliding ice January’s Open Forum features Eugenia Kim, Robert W. to sip hot chicken soup Hale, Jr. Professional Development Award recipient, who with rice. reports on her presentation at the Theatre Library Associa- - Maurice Sendak, “Chicken Soup with Rice” 4 Volume 42, Number 1 • January 2015 Archival Awareness on Ice: Archival Insight An Archivist’s Travelogue from Up North By John Campopiano y October-November 2014 trip to Iceland was originally about two separate things: continuing my work to expose and promote films made in and about Greenland; and finally visiting the National Archives of Iceland. Scandina- Mvian nations – Iceland and Greenland in particular – have long been of interest to me – culturally, cinematically, and musically. And yet when I made my third trip to Iceland on this occasion (my first visit as a working archivist), I never expected to find common themes running throughout many of the experiences I had specifically, the power of awareness. Since 2010 I have had a fascination with films made in to Greenland is also a strong indication that Greenlanders and about Greenland, specifically those centered on tradi- have a vested interest in forging new paths of cultural ex- tional and contemporary Greenlandic culture. There has pression through the arts and taking control of their own always been something alluring about the vast openness of future vis-à-vis the establishment of cultural centers (such the Greenlandic landscape – the ways in which seemingly as archives) in their original homeland. endless glaciers and towering mountains dominate the fro- zen landscape that nearly 57,000 people call home. Stark yet For Ivalo, myself, and others involved, one way of at- beautiful landscapes of this kind make for dramatic and vi- tempting to establish a tangible, authentic representation sually compelling backdrops for films, and perhaps it is not of both contemporary Greenlandic society and a fresh per- just the landscapes themselves but also the ways in which spective on Greenland’s cultural heritage has been to survey these landscapes play an important role in everyday life that the Greenlandic films in existence and gauge what kinds of first captured my attention and imagination. Greenlanders support might already be in place for such a project as start- have a unique respect for the physical and spiritual earth ing a formal film archives. Knowing of my interest in film, and I, in turn, have an enormous respect for them, their tra- my training as an archivist, and my familiarity with film ar- ditions, and their will to survive. chives (I interned at Northeast Historic Film and spent over a year working as Project Archivist at the Harvard Film Ar- Around this same time I began exchanging emails with chive), Ivalo has looked