~Archivists & Archives of Color Newsletter~ Newsletter of the Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable Vol. 19 No. 2 Fall/Winter 2005 Message from the Co-Chair Greetings from the New Editor! By Teresa Mora By Paul Sevilla It was only a few months ago that SAA gathered in New I feel very excited to serve as the new editor of the AAC Orleans for its 69th Annual Meeting. Little did we know at newsletter. One of my goals is to bring to readers articles that the time that the area would soon be devastated by Hurricane are interesting, informative, and inspiring. With help and Katrina. Many of our AAC friends and colleagues were support from my assistant editor, Andrea, we shall ensure that affected by the hurricane that hit the gulf coast. Rebecca this newsletter continues to represent the voices of our diverse Hankins offered family shelter in Texas, and, in an article on membership. the next page, Brenda B. Square at the Amistad Research Center updates us on Tulane’s situation. We have all read I became a member of SAA in my first year as an MLIS reports of the damage, and our thoughts are with all those who student in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA. hail from the area, especially with our colleagues and the As one of the recipients of this year’s Harold T. Pinkett unique collections, which many of us had been so fortunate to Minority Student Award, I had the privilege of attending the just see. conference in New Orleans and meeting the members of AAC. Now in my second and final year at UCLA, my passion for Unaware of the impending tragedy, the AAC meeting in New archives burns stronger than ever. I have interned at the Orleans was, as always, quite productive. Newsletter editor, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, processing Petrina Jackson was selected as the newest co-chair. Petrina, a archival papers and artifacts. Currently, I am interning at the past Pinkett Award winner, currently works as an Assistant Getty Research Institute, helping to conserve rare books. Archivist at Cornell University. In taking on this new Starting in January, I will be interning at the Natural History responsibility, Petrina stepped down from her editorial post. Museum in Los Angeles, processing their collection of 2005 Pinkett awardee and masters candidate at UCLA, Paul California photographs. In addition, I am working part-time at Sevilla has bravely stepped into this role. Paul will be aided the UCLA Dept. of Special Collections and serving as by assistant editor Andrea Jackson, Curator of Archives and secretary of the SAA Student Chapter. Manuscripts at the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Atlanta University Center. A special thanks to Paul and Andrea for Truly there is so much more I can do and I know that my being willing to jump into the thick of things! It was also enthusiasm for the archival profession will only continue to announced that Rebecca Hankins has agreed to take charge of grow. a committee to explore outreach to students in an effort to promote the archival profession. Greetings from the New Assistant Editor! As many have commented, the annual meeting itself was quite By Andrea Jackson informative. SAA introduced the membership to its newly developed Strategic Issues Statement, which includes the issue Like Paul, I am eager to serve the constituents of the AAC of Diversity. As a member of a number of SAA committees, I Roundtable and all who have the pleasure of viewing our can speak to the fact that SAA leadership is very interested in newsletter. I began my membership with SAA as a student in continuing to receive input from AAC and its members on this New York University’s Archival Management program in topic (as well as those others addressed in the statement). 2001. Since my involvement with SAA, I have been active AAC’s own meeting generated a lively discussion of issues of with the AAC and now feel both honored and privileged to recruitment and retention, and it is obvious that the AAC serve in the capacity of Assistant Editor of its informative membership is interested in continuing to delve into this issue organ. It is both a great opportunity and an important in its own work. We hope to see this dialog continue and extension of my responsibilities as an archivist to assist in develop within the coming year. acquiring pertinent information and making it accessible to you! Teresa is a Project Archivist at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. In addition to working with AAC, I am currently the Curator of Archives and Manuscripts for the Robert W. Woodruff Library where I REALLY enjoy working with African American and African Diasporic materials primarily relating Archivists and Archives of Color Newsletter - 1 to the greatest consortium of higher learning historically Australian librarians produced eleven protocols for Aboriginal geared to educating students of African descent in the United and Torres Strait Islander records. These protocols will serve States – the Atlanta University Center. Prior to joining the as a model http://www.cdu.edu.au/library/protocol.html . Ms. Woodruff Library Staff, I served as Archivist at Fisk Alana Garwood-Houng, one of the authors of the Australian University. Additionally, I received my early archival training guidelines, will join the April conference. as a Graduate Assistant in the New York University Archives and an intern at the Atlanta History Center Archives, the The development and subsequent dissemination of Native Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New American Protocols for American Libraries, Archives, and York Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum of Art Archives, Information Services will no doubt be challenging, yet and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center of Howard rewarding, as the participants in the April 2006 conference University. Paul and I look forward to receiving your grapple with conflicting values, multiple perspectives, and the comments, questions, and – most importantly – your sometimes competing forces of a pluralistic society. Topics submissions for future newsletters. Thank you! include: • the balance between preservation and access in perpetuity (in some native cultures information has a life cycle) Update on Tulane’s Situation • intellectual freedom and individual and communal By Brenda B. Square privacy (when the privacy of the information may be paramount) Thanks to advanced preparations, the collections at the • intellectual property rights Amistad Research Center were safe and remained dry, • accessibility and use although we had a small amount of water (no more than 2 • sensitivity and censorship inches) in one of our offsite storage facilities. Thanks to all of • sacred and offensive materials you who have expressed concern and offered prayers for our • Gulf Coast communities. Thank you also to all who have description practices • volunteered to help with the clean up. The Amistad Research sovereignty and the public trust • Center is presently closed due to Hurricane Katrina. We hope the potential impact of the federal Native American to resume limited operations in January. The Center needs Graves Protection and Repatriation Act your financial support now more than ever. As an • the moral rights of a culture, the Sui generis, which independent non-profit 501C-3, we depend on the generosity cannot be defined under Western law of individuals. Members of AAC are also invited to join me in documenting the current New Orleans Diaspora by collecting The resultant Protocols will be shared at professional oral interviews with New Orleans evacuees who may have conferences, including the annual meetings of the Society of settled in your cities. Please share your interest by sending an American Archivists, the American Library Association, the email to [email protected]. Thank you again. International Indigenous Librarians Forum, the American Association for State and Local History, and the Society for Brenda is the Director of Archives and Library at the Amistad Applied Anthropology. If the project is successful, archivists Research Center of Tulane University. should enjoy enhanced understanding at the national level of Native American concerns around appropriate care and use of archival collections and information resources housed in non- tribal repositories, increased cooperation between tribal and Native American Protocols for American non-tribal libraries, archives, and museums, and the generation Libraries, Archives, and Information Services of new models for joint stewardship. By Karen J. Underhill The project has received generous support from the American Hundreds of organizations in the United States hold archival Library Association, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, collections, gathered with and without informed consent, the National Library of Medicine, the Wenner-Gren which document Native American lifeways. Although well- Foundation, and Dr. P. David and Mary Seaman. intentioned, non-Indian archivists in traditional institutions often lack training in the many nuances of caring for such collections. Several professional organizations have revised Karen is the Head of Archives and Special Collections at Northern Arizona University. ethical codes to include cultural sensitivity and respect. However, a common framework of ethical “best practices” for handling Native American archival collections would benefit archives, tribal communities, and scholars alike. A proposed gathering at Northern Arizona University (NAU) April 5-7, 2006 of sixteen tribal and non-tribal information professionals will facilitate the creation of national guidelines. In the early 1990s, a group of Aboriginal advisors and Archivists and Archives of Color Newsletter - 2 The Hip-Hop Archive Project materials to establish the archive with an appropriate time By Steven G. Fullwood frame. In 1999, Lela Sewell-Williams, formerly of the Schomburg Steven, Manuscripts Librarian at the Schomburg Center for Research Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public in Black Culture of the New York Public Library, was recently Library and Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard nationally recognized by receiving one of the 2005 New York Times Librarian Awards.