Archival Research Requests: Finding Balance

A lot of my job is driven by research requests.  These requests come from a range of audiences: academics, community members/scholars, genealogists, production companies, authors, students, and others.  I love the challenge of a particularly insightful research question and the sense of accomplishment that comes when you figure out a particularly tricky question or manage … Continue reading Archival Research Requests: Finding Balance

Friday Reading: Gender and Outreach

A weeks end look back at some of the archives, public history, and library world readings that I've been pondering on this week. Gender in Libraries: "If You Give a Librarian A Cookie" a great post by Dani Brecher Cook on the gendered work, the challenges of letting gender expectations control actions, and the need to … Continue reading Friday Reading: Gender and Outreach

Archival Photo Books: A Century Of Progress

I recently received a copy of A Century of Progress: A Photographic Tour of the 1933-34 Chicago World Fair. The book is a collection of archival photographs from the Chicago Tribune collections documenting the world's fair held in Chicago from 1933-1934 to celebrate the city's anniversary. The fair was marketed as the Century of Progress Exposition and … Continue reading Archival Photo Books: A Century Of Progress

Meaningful Student and Internship Work

Since starting at Algoma University in 2010 I've supervised and worked with a number of students, interns, co-op placements, and volunteers. At any given time I might be working with 3-6 different individuals who are working in the archives on a part or full time basis. I enjoy this part of my job. But it … Continue reading Meaningful Student and Internship Work

Accession Best Practices

Chaos --> Order recently featured a great post, "What We Talk About When We Don't Talk About Accessioning", by Rachel Searcy.  The post argues for the importance of thoroughly documenting accession work and the need for archivists to talk more broadly about accession practices. I couldn't agree more.  One of the long term projects I'm … Continue reading Accession Best Practices

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba officially opened this week.  The first day of opening  focused on the history of residential schools, reconciliation, and steps for the NCTR going forward.  The second day of he opening emphasized education and included the launch of the NCTR website. Work on the … Continue reading National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Roundtable On The Future of RAD

On October 23, 2015 the Archives Association of British Columbia held a Roundtable on the future of the RAD (Rules for Archival Description).  The roundtable was also available as a webcast and participants could send questions via email or following using the hashtag #rethinkRAD. I stumbled across the hashtag on twitter and ended up watching … Continue reading Roundtable On The Future of RAD

Introduction to Archives

As my last post indicated I've been thinking a lot about archival instruction and introducing students and other new users to archives.  As part of this process I've been gathering resources that explain how archives are organized, introduce the basic of archival processing, and explain different aspects of archival theory. Some of the best resources … Continue reading Introduction to Archives

Archival Competences and University Archives

As September approaches and campus begins to bustle again I've been thinking a lot about outreach from the perspective of university archives.  A pair of American Archivist articles , "Archival Literacy Competencies for Undergraduate History Majors" and "Archival Literacy for History Students: What Do Students Need to Know About Primary Source Materials" both speak to … Continue reading Archival Competences and University Archives

Self Care Revisited

A few months ago I wrote about working in a field that involves historical trauma and the need for self care.  The topic of self care and the mental toll of working on emotionally charged topics came to the forefront for me earlier this week.  I spent a few hours digitizing records and cross referencing … Continue reading Self Care Revisited