Preserving the Documents of the Past and Making Them Accessible to the Future! Volume 43, Number 2 (169) October 2015
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Preserving the Documents of the Past and Making Them Accessible to the Future! Volume 43, Number 2 (169) www.midwestarchives.org October 2015 It’s Not Too Early to Start Thinking About It: Ready to Renew? ArchivesFest in the City of Festivals! It’s autumn—and that means it’s almost time to renew your MAC membership! Keep an eye out for membership renewal reminders in your e-mail. And, when you renew, consider sup- porting MAC’s scholarship funds and other financial obligations. Fall Symposium 2015 Learn all about what hap- pened at the Fall Symposium, “Hard Skills for Managing Digital Collections in Archives,” in the January issue of the Howard Heston Bailey Map of Milwaukee, 1872. Image courtesy of the American MAC Newsletter! Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Summerfest, Polish Fest, PrideFest, Germanfest, Feste italiane, Labor Fest, Arab In This Issue… World Fest, Mexican Fiesta, Petfest, Oktoberfest, Indian Summer Festival! What do these have in common? President’s Page ....................2 (Continued on page 3) MAC News .............................3 MAC Seeks Nominations for Presidents’ Award News from the The MAC Presidents’ Award was es- region. Each state committee may Midwest ............................... 15 tablished in 1986 as a means for MAC put forward only one nomination per Archival Resources to recognize significant contributions year. As many as three awards may on the Web...........................17 to the archival profession by individu- be presented each year. Recipients are als, institutions, and organizations invited to attend the Members’ Meet- Electronic Currents .............. 20 not directly involved in archival work ing held at MAC’s Annual Meeting to Mixed Media ........................ 23 but knowledgeable about its purpose receive their awards. and value. A committee comprising MAC uses this award to reward, Preservation Essentials ........27 the three most recent past presidents and to shine a light on, many indi- of MAC chooses recipients based on Up-and-Comers ..................... 30 viduals and organizations—profit nominations submitted by committees People and Posts ................. 32 in each of the 13 states in the MAC (Continued on page 5) MAC Contacts ...................... 34 President’s Page September 2015 Hello MAC members, I want to thank the previous MAC president, Amy Cooper Cary, for leaving the organization in such an excellent state. As I have acclimated to my new role this summer, Amy has graciously and patiently responded to my questions as I settle in. My summer has been busy here at Cargill. We are midway through our 150th anniversary year, and the archives has wrapped up its contributions to 150 stories about Cargill’s heritage. We are also arranging artifacts to go on display during the employee celebration in October. In addition, our building is being gutted and redesigned over the next two years, which has entailed relocating Cargill’s art collection and will involve moving the archives next spring. Although summer is a light time for MAC business, there have been a few notable events. On May 27, the MAC Speakers Bureau sponsored a workshop on preservation in Abilene, Kansas, which was well attended and well received. Plans are underway for our Annual Meeting in Milwaukee this spring. A big thank you for all of the excellent program proposals already submitted. Program Committee and Local Arrangements Committee chairs have been selected for our meeting in Omaha in 2017, please see the announcement in this newsletter for additional details. And, if you were able to attend the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists, I hope you had a chance to visit the MAC table and say hello. My focus this fall is on the next Council meeting, which, by the time you read this, will have been held prior to the Fall Symposium. During the meeting, we will undertake a strategic planning session. MA C’s current strategic plan takes the organization through 2015, and we will look forward to 2020. A draft will be made available for review later this fall, but if you have thoughts about where MAC should be in the next five years, do not hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected]. Lastly, I want to draw your attention to a new career planning discussion forum, archivescareerplan .proboards.com, which grew out of the open forum on Career Planning during the Lexington Annual Meeting. Check it out and join the conversation. Sincerely, Jennifer Johnson President, Midwest Archives Conference 2 MAC Newsletter • October 2015 MAC News—Daria Labinsky, Assistant Editor, National Archives at St. Louis ArchivesFest in the City of Festivals (Continued from page 1) In Milwaukee, if we love something, we fest it, As part of your festival travels, you may get to know most often on the lakefront. Milwaukee as a place of history. Traveling very far back Just as the snow is (probably) melting and spring is (theo- into that history—and just down the street at Milwaukee retically) here, from April 27 to 30, 2016, the Midwest Public Museum—see the most complete mammoth skel- Archives Conference will further this noble tradition and eton discovered in the United States. The mammoth lay celebrate ArchivesFest in the city of festivals. buried south of Milwaukee until the 1990s and represents the multiglaciated geological past of Wisconsin. Walk While many of the festivals in Milwaukee honor the mul- farther to the Milwaukee County Historical Society for titude of immigrant groups that have arrived on the shores city and regional history, and marvel at the 1913 Second of Lake Michigan for more than two centuries, other Ward Savings Bank that houses MCHS. It served as the festivals celebrate new cultures and common interests—so backdrop for the bank-robbery scene in the 2009 Johnny why not ours? Archivists descending on this city deserve Depp and Christian Bale movie Public Enemies. For a celebration as well. We envision a jovial and merry An- much more recent pop culture history, wander the lovely nual Meeting—a long weekend with food, drink, music, Riverwalk along the Milwaukee River and take a selfie motorcycles, and mingling to celebrate and expand the with the 2008 Bronze Fonz statue, commemorating the horizons of our unique archivists’ culture. set-in-Milwaukee Happy Days sitcom. But to fully participate in the events, you should learn from Wisconsinites How to Fest Properly. We offer the following helpful tips. First, get to know the festival grounds. The Hilton Milwaukee City Center Downtown will serve as the home base of ArchivesFest, where you can attend the conference workshops, sessions, and meetings, but also from which you can easily explore a lively city. From your ArchivesFest epicenter, you may discover that Milwaukee is home to many renowned art venues. The Milwaukee Art Museum on the Lake Michigan shore houses more than 25,000 items and features a set of movable wings (the work of architect Santiago Calatrava) Irish Fest is one of many held at Henry Maier Festival Park. whose 217-foot span opens and closes twice daily. It In the 1920s, the land served as an airport, and, in the 1950s, is within walking distance from the hotel. Marquette as a Nike missile site. Since 1970, it has been the grounds of University’s Haggerty Museum is also minutes away. On Milwaukee’s many festivals. Marquette’s campus, you can visit the Joan of Arc Chapel, Irish Fest Grounds, 1983. Image courtesy of the Ward Irish which originally stood in a French village south of Lyon Music Archive, Milwaukee. in the fifteenth century. Disassembled brick by brick, it was transported across the Atlantic and, after a few stops, To experience some of the ethnic flavor of Milwaukee’s was reassembled in 1964. festivals and to discover the city’s immigrant-rich history, you should find your way into the many distinctive urban Also close is the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, neighborhoods that lie closest to ArchivesFest. Explore, home of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, which will for example, the Historic Third Ward, just south of the be performing Brahms Symphonies No. 1 and No. 2 dur- hotel, nestled between downtown, the Milwaukee River, ing the weekend of the Annual Meeting. For theater fans, and the lake. Originally home to a large number of Irish the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre will present August immigrants, the Ward has a rich heritage. The walking Wilson’s Tony-winning drama Fences over ArchivesFest weekend. (Continued on page 4) MAC Newsletter • October 2015 3 MAC NEWS—Continued Daria Labinsky, Assistant Editor (Continued from page 3) tour, available as a download, features buildings from the ignite, accelerate, and travel the open roads of the world. late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, built both You can even sit on “archive bikes” in the experience before and soon after a massive fire in 1892. Other delight- gallery—and take photos! ful nearby neighborhoods include Bay View, Walker’s During the reception, The Shop, purveyor of Harley- Point, the East Side, and Brady Street. Davidson art, attire, and accoutrements, will be open. You’d be amiss to attempt a Milwaukee festival without finding the sources of beer. ArchivesFest proves no Reserve your seat for your favorite shows. exception, and honestly, beer is not hard to find. The city Having become acquainted with the festival grounds and boasts at least 15 breweries, from the giant Miller-Coors attended the opening ceremony, you should be ready to to productive craft breweries like Lakefront Brewery, take in the heart of the ArchivesFest—the presentations, Milwaukee Brewing Company, and Sprecher Brewery, workshops, and vendor fairs that make up the Annual to tiny brewpubs offering their own lagers, pilsners, Meeting. and ales, such as the Water Street Brewery, not far from On the main stage at ArchivesFest will be our plenary the conference hotel.