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NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 33, Number 3 • July 2006 C O VER–– The Reading Room of the Congregational I NSIDE–– From the Spring 2006 NEA Meeting at Boston Library, Boston, ca. 1898. (This library’s automation project College: Dr. Thomas O’Connor’s keynote address, “From the is the subject of Around & About, page 24). For more Dark Ages to the Present” (Archival Insight, page 4); Session information about the Congregational Library, visit Reports, page 12. <www.14beacon.org>. ❦ ❦ N EW E NGLAND A RCHIVISTS 2 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 33, Number 3 • July 2006 Table of Contents WPI Archives and Special Collections Gordon Library 100 Institute Road • Worcester, MA 01609 <www.newenglandarchivists.org> From the Editors ....................................................... 3 NEA Executive Board President: Nora Murphy Archival Insight ......................................................... 4 President-Elect: Chris Burns Past President: Paul Carnahan From the Dark Ages to the Present ...................... 4 Secretary: Elizabeth Slomba Treasurer: Lois Hamill Representatives-at-Large: Tom Hyry Inside NEA ................................................................ 7 Brenda Lawson From the President ................................................ 7 Karen Adler Abramson Mark Savolis Executive Board Meeting Report ........................... 7 Clerk: Jean Nielsen Berry PR Coordinators: Tracy Messer Officers’ Reports ............................................... 7 Tara Hurt Development Coordinator: Jane Ward Confernces ........................................................ 8 Newsletter Editors: Susan Earle Michael Forstrom Committee Reports........................................... 8 Maryalice Mohr Sheila Spalding Old Business ..................................................... 8 Web Coordinator: Jonathan Penyack Policies .............................................................. 9 Membership in New England Archivists, Inc. is open to all. New Business .................................................... 9 Dues of $30/year ($40 for institutions) should be sent to: Rodney Obien, WPI Archives and Special Collections, Gordon Library, New Members................................................... 10 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609. Notices of archival events should be sent to: NEA c/o Internet Tidbits .......................................................... 11 WPI Archives and Special Collections, Gordon Library, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, or electronically to <[email protected]>. NEA Spring Meeting 2006 Session Reports ............. 12 The NEA Newsletter is published quarterly in January, April, July People ......................................................................... 19 and October. The contents of the Newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part provided that credit is given. News and Notes .......................................................... 20 Articles and News of interest to archivists, historical society members, historians, and other NEA members should be Connecticut........................................................... 20 sent to: NEA Newsletter Editors, c/o WPI Archives and Special Collections, Gordon Library, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA Maine .................................................................... 20 01609, or <[email protected]>. Massachusetts ........................................................ 21 Contributions to the NEA Web site should be sent to: <[email protected]>. New Hampshire .................................................... 21 Deadlines for submitting materials are: Rhode Island ......................................................... 22 November 15 for January issue February 10 for April issue Vermont ................................................................ 23 May 15 for July issue August 15 for October issue Around and About .................................................... 24 Advertising Policy: Congregational Library and Archives There will be no fee to list position openings. Advertisements for archival products will be accepted as space permits. Advertising Automation Project ............................................ 24 should be submitted to Jane Ward, (978) 459-2129 or <[email protected]>. Reviews ....................................................................... 26 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 payable to New England Archivists. Calendar...................................................................... 27 Volume 33, Number 3 • July 2006 NEA NE WSLETTER 3 From the Editors - Maryalice Mohr ith the dog days of July upon us, we hope that you Newhall, describes the entire process of automation Wwill include the NEA Newsletter on your summer including the selection of software and a retrospective con- reading list! The theme that pervades this issue can be version partner, funding of the project, cataloging obstacles, summed up by the tag-line for the new NEA logo: “Taking and finally, the overall impact it will have on the library. the Past into the Future.” In different contexts throughout the issue, this phrase can be applied to individual reposito- In Inside NEA, new NEA President Nora Murphy ries, NEA as an organization, and the archival profession as addresses ways in which we as a professional organization a whole. can move forward in terms of achieving more visibility both for our individual repositories and our profession. She refers Archival Insight features renowned Boston historian to the upcoming Archives Week in November as one way of Thomas O’Connor’s address, “From the Dark Ages to the pursuing this objective. Richard Cox’s new book Archives Present,”which was presented at the Spring 2006 NEA and Archivists, reviewed in this issue by David Horn, Meeting at Boston College. This talk, written from addresses some of the same challenges for the future – how O’Connor’s perspective as a researcher, discusses how the we define our professional identity and our role in this process of conducting research has drastically changed increasingly digital world, how we promote ourselves, and during his academic career. Consequently, his words demon- thereby educate others about what we do. strate how our professional role and duties as archivists have changed over time. Finally, the editors would like to thank Kathleen Barker for her contributions as Internet Tidbits columnist over the A perfect example of an individual repository taking its past two years. She has introduced us to many fascinating past and moving into the future can be found in this issue’s Web sites and online exhibits. At the same time, we would Around & About. The topic is the automation project taking like to welcome our new Internet Tidbits writer, Susan place at the Congregational Library, Boston, in which the Martin, whose first column highlighting the Maine Memory library’s antiquated card catalog is being converted into an Network’s Web site appears in this issue. ❦ online catalog. This article by Jessica Steytler and Claudette ❦ ❦ N EW E NGLAND A RCHIVISTS NEA Needs You - Please Volunteer! Opportunities for volunteer participation in New England Archivists activities abound. NEA is a volunteer-run organization; without the participation of its members, NEA would cease to function. There are many committees, offices, and projects that need assistance from members. Professionals in the archival field already possess skills and experience needed to support and advance New England Archivists. The opportunity to meet, converse, and do meaningful work with colleagues is of great professional and personal benefit. In addi- tion, service to a professional organization such as NEA adds an important dimension to a professional resume. If you are interested in volunteering for a committee, contact either Membership Committee Co-chair. 4 NEA NE WSLETTER Volume 33, Number 3 • July 2006 Archival Insight From the Dark Ages to the Present Dr. Thomas O’Connor, Professor Emeritus & University Historian, Boston College (Keynote address, Spring Meeting, March 11, 2006) should make it very clear from the turned into print on a sheet of white almost any day of the week. I outset that the reference to bond paper, backed by carbon paper the “Dark Ages” in the program intro- and several sheets of so-called onion- By this time, an even greater techno- duction does not involve pre-historic skin paper, and banged off either on a logical advance had come into my history as such, but is a hopefully light- clunky manual typewriter or one of the academic life – the computer. This hearted attempt to describe the type new electric models that had recently was something I totally rejected at of archival opportunities available to come onto the market. In either case, first – ostensibly because I had only young researchers some fifty years however, any substantial changes recently purchased a beautiful new ago. And if you think I am going to either in the spelling of words or in the electric typewriter that I thought pine for those “good old days” in the numbering of the footnotes usually would solve all my problems, but in groves of academe, you have another meant a complete re-typing of the reality because I was scared stiff about thing coming! entire chapter. entering into a new realm of high- tech complexity I was absolutely sure During my formative years as a My work with the so-called Lords that