The overwhelming majority of visitors to the archive I work at have never been inside an archive before. Many of the visitors come from outside academia or are undergraduate and high school students stepping into an archive for the first time. In addition to being new to archives, many visitors are searching for documents relating … Continue reading Introducing the Archive: Greeting First Time Visitors
Open Access and Archival Journals
The latest issue of the American Archivist (Volume 75, Issue 2) featured an article by Paul Conway and William E. Landis titled, "Open-Access Publishing and the Transformation of the American Archivist Online." This article provides an interesting examination of recent trends within the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and current thoughts regarding open-access and digital … Continue reading Open Access and Archival Journals
Christmas in the Archives
Archival institutions across Canada (and the world) often contain some ephemeral material. Some of my favourite types of ephemera are postcards and greeting cards. Given the approaching holiday, here's a glimpse at holiday themed ephemera. This item is from the Kenneth Rowe fonds held by Library and Archives Canada. This fonds contains a number of … Continue reading Christmas in the Archives
Sharing Archival Photographs in a Digital World
Check out my latest post at the ActiveHistory.ca site. The post talks about options for cultural heritage organizations looking to share photograph collections online through free or low coast image hosting and image sharing sites.
Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) recently released, Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research by Laura Schmidt. The guide focuses on how researchers utilize archives and outlines the best way to approach archival research.In addition to provide useful information for researchers the guide includes a number of guidelines and policies that most archival institutions … Continue reading Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research
Closed Stacks, Open Shutters
The Closed Stacks, Open Shutters: An Archivist Photobook became available today. The book initially started off as an idea for a sexy archivist calendar and is the result of a call for “sexy archivist” pictures and on Twitter.All proceeds raised by the sales of the Photobook go towards next years Spontaneous Scholarships fund which helps … Continue reading Closed Stacks, Open Shutters
Seasonal Exhibits: Holiday Heritage
It's that time of year, Christmas merchandise has already started to fill the malls, and the beginning of the commercial holiday season is looming ever closer. In the heritage field a lot of organizations are beginning to plan and develop exhibits and activities that coincide with the upcoming holidays. As a child, one of my … Continue reading Seasonal Exhibits: Holiday Heritage
Tangible History: Artifacts as Gateways to the Past
Powder Flask, McCord Museum, M975.61.76My most recent post can be seen over on the ActiveHistory.ca site. The post, "Tangible History: Artifacts as Gateways to the Past" focuses on the use of artifacts as primary sources in historical research and in educational settings.
Pest Control and Your Family Photos
Mice, silverfish, cockroaches, and a whole pile of other creepy crawlies can do serious damage to your collection of photographs, letters, scrapbooks, and family memorabilia. This damage can take the form of nesting, eating, and burrowing in your paper based materials.Most libraries and archives maintain stringent Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems to protect their holdings … Continue reading Pest Control and Your Family Photos
Archives and Google Analytics
The Spring/Summer issue of the American Archivist has been sitting half read on my coffee table for weeks taunting me. I finally got around to finishing it and found the article, "Using Web Analytics to Improve Online Access to Archival Resources" by Christopher J. Prom particularly relevant. Prom's work provides a step by step look … Continue reading Archives and Google Analytics