In this episode, cohosts Chris Burns and Camila Zorrilla Tessler speak to counterculture historian and archival music producer Pat Thomas about his new book Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg. Join us for a discussion about Pat’s research process, favorite items from Ginsberg’s collection, and thoughts on Ginsberg’s legacy.

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

Order your own copy of Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg here!

In this episode, cohost Chris Burns speaks with dindria barrow, Marika Cifor, Sarah Nguyễn, and Anna Trammell about their work on The Community Archives Center Toolkit, which was collaboratively developed by the Tacoma Public Library and the University of Washington.

This free resource is now available for other libraries and archives to use in creating community-focused projects. Listen to learn more about the toolkit and how you might use it at your institution.

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

Check out the web version and the PDF version of the toolkit. To learn more about Tacoma Public Library’s Community Archives Center, visit their home page and their collections access portal.

What is on the minds of our newest professionals? In this episode, host Nicole Milano speaks with Lyric Evans-Hunter, Allegra Favila, and Lia Warner, all new or recent graduates of New York University’s Archives and Public History program. They share how they came to the field, what they find exciting and daunting about the profession, and how we might increase mutual understanding between archival practitioners and those who rely on our work.

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

Check out Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s, an exhibition organized by the the Grey Art Gallery, that explored “mid-20th-century abstract art from North Africa, West Asia, and the Arab diaspora—a vast geographic expanse that encompasses diverse cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds.”

Also take a look at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, a collection of more than 300,000 images documenting the history and culture of those with African descent.

In this episode, co-hosts Nicole Milano and Camila Zorrilla Tessler speak with Rachel Chatalbash, Susan Hernandez, and Megan Schwenke about their recent book Museum Archives: Practice, Issues, Advocacy (Society of American Archivists, 2022). Chatalbash, Hernandez, and Schwenke discuss museum archives and archivists, the genesis of the publication and its connection to the Museum Archives Section of SAA, and what they hope readers will learn from the volume.

Read the transcript.

The editors want to thank all the contributors to the publication: Seth Anderson, Susan Anderson, Brad Bauer, Ellen Brooks, Rebecca Chandler, Emily Connell, Maygene Daniels, Sarah R. Demb, Nancy Enneking, Christina Velazquez Fidler, Jessica Gambling, Heather Gendron, Melissa Gonzales, Rebecca Morgan, Samantha Norling, Suzanne Noruschat, Michael Pahn, Lesley Parilla, Lynette Stoudt, Dawn Sueoka, Jennie Thomas, Madeleine Thompson, Lindsay Turley, and Kathleen M. Williams.

Episode Extras

Read more about Museum Archives: Practice, Issues, Advocacy in the March/April 2023 issue of Archival Outlook, and order your copy via the SAA Bookstore!

In this episode, co-hosts Anna Trammell and Chris Burns speak with Kristine K. Fallon, Aliza Leventhal, and Jody Thompson about their new book Born-Digital Design Records (Society of American Archivists, 2022), the ninth installment of SAA’s Trends in Archives Practice series. The interview explores the unique challenges of managing born-digital design records, prior efforts to address these issues, emerging research on user needs, and much more. Give it a listen!

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

The authors reference various resources in this episode including “An Archive of Interfaces: Exploring the Potential of Emulation for Software Research, Pedagogy, and Design” by Daniel Cardoso-Llach, Eric Kaltman, Emek Erdolu, and Zachary Furste; “Attending to Process and Data: A Research Alignment for Historical Videogame Production Artifacts and Their Archives” by Eric Kaltman; and “Digital Visual Literacy” by Anne Morgan Spalter and Andries van Dam.

To learn more about Born-Digital Design Records, see SAA’s press release and read Aliza Leventhal’s interview from the September/October 2022 issue of Archival Outlook.

Order your own copy via the SAA Bookstore!

How did archivists partner with activists to document and preserve the history of AIDS activism? How are archivists and community partners activating AIDS archives to reveal AIDS’s continued impact on marginalized communities? What lessons can archivists take from this moment of social and community memory-building as we grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic?

In this episode, co-hosts Anna Trammell and Chris Burns speak with Marika Cifor about her recent book, Viral Cultures: Activist Archiving in the Age of AIDS (University of Minnesota Press, 2022). Cifor is an assistant professor at the University of Washington. In this episode, Cifor discusses her inspiration for exploring AIDS archives, how the concept of vital nostalgia can inform archival theory and practice, and lessons for memory workers and activists interested in documenting other social justice movements. 

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

Visit Marika Cifor’s about page and faculty website and learn more about the projects and collections mentioned in the episode:

• Visual AIDS, The Artist+ Registry and Archive Project

• Visual AIDS, Artists+ Registry

• Lesbian Herstory Archives

• New York Public Library, Gay and Lesbian Collections and AIDS/HIV Collections

• New York Public Library Digital Collections, ACT UP New York Records

• NYU Special Collections, Downtown Collection

Listen to additional conversations about the book via the University of Minnesota Press podcast.

How can archivists reimagine reference services as they increasingly serve a broader and more diverse user base? In this episode, cohosts Anna Trammell and Chris Burns speak with Cheryl Oestreicher about her recent book, Reference and Access for Archives and Manuscripts (Society of American Archivists, 2020), the fourth volume in SAA’s Archival Fundamentals Series III and the recipient of SAA’s 2021 Waldo Gifford Leland Award for writing of superior excellence and usefulness.

Oestreicher is a professor at Boise State University and the head of Special Collections and Archives at Boise State’s Albertsons Library. In this episode, she shares memorable reference experiences and discusses the evolution of the reference model away from acquisitions and toward advocacy.

Listen to learn how access informs all areas of archival practice.

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

For even more information about Reference and Access for Archives and Manuscripts, see Kayla Scott’s review of the book in Issue 84.1 of American Archivist.

Reference and Access for Archives and Manuscripts is the current selection for SAA’s One Book, One Profession reading initiative—learn more, download study guide questions, and consider reading it with your colleagues! To order your own copy, visit the SAA Bookstore.

More than 1,000 archivists came together in-person—many for the first time since 2019—in Boston in August during ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2022, the annual conference of the Society of American Archivists. Another 1,000 archivists tuned in virtually. In this episode, co-hosts Chris Burns and Anna Trammell talk with attendees about their favorite conference sessions, the perks and challenges of remote work, the “glass half-full” lessons we can take away from the pandemic, and the joy of connecting with other archivists.  

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

If you missed ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2022, or attended but didn’t get to all the sessions you would have liked, don’t worry! All education sessions, both plenaries, and the open forums were recorded and are available for on-demand access on the conference website. Register today to get access—and join us next year for ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2023, which will take place July 22–29, 2023 in Washington, DC.

“Archivists helping archivists”—in this episode, cohosts Nicole Milano and JoyEllen Williams speak with Bob Clark and Beth Myers, members of the Society of American Archivists Foundation Board. Myers and Clark discuss the Foundation’s purpose, goals, and opportunities for engagement. Listen to learn how the Foundation supports SAA, archivists, and the profession.

Bob Clark is director of Archives at the Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC), a historical research center for the study of philanthropy. In addition to managing a talented team of thirty-two archives and IT professionals, he actively engages with the RAC’s records-creating organizations, such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, to shape information governance, records management, and archival programs that are responsive to the digital environment. From 2001 to 2015, he served in various leadership roles at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum, including as supervisory archivist, deputy director, and acting director.

Beth Myers is the director of Special Collections at Smith College Libraries, a position held since 2014. She provides leadership and oversight to a unit that averages twenty staff and encompasses the three primary repositories of Special Collections. Myers is responsible for personnel, budget, developing internal and external funding streams, working with donors and developing strategic initiatives and planning. A dedicated archival professional, Myers participates actively in the Society of American Archivists, most recently as chair of the A*CENSUS II Working Group and member of the Foundation Board. She has published reviews, articles and book chapters related to the field of archives and special collections.

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

Get involved with the SAA Foundation’s work by applying for a Strategic Growth Grant, nominating yourself or a colleague for an SAA award or scholarship, volunteering for the Foundation Board, or making a donation. Donations to the SAA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, are tax deductible.

As the United States continues to confront systemic racism on several fronts, archival repositories are rethinking the idea of space and how it pertains to inclusivity. A leader among these conversations is Dr. Jesse Erickson, author of “The Gentleman’s Ghost: Patriarchal Eurocentric Legacies in Special Collections,” published in Archives and Special Collections as Sites of Contestation (2020) and Astor curator and department head of Printed Books and Bindings at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. In this episode, Dr. Erickson discusses his path to special collections and the physical spaces that gave him entry into the field. Dr. Erickson also shares insight into “The Gentleman’s Ghost” and encourages archivists to think critically and imaginatively about reading rooms of the future.

Dr. Erickson most recently worked as coordinator of special collections and digital humanities and assistant professor in the department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, and as associate director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center at the University of Delaware. Prior to this role, he worked as a bibliographic researcher and archival processor in the manuscripts division of the Charles E. Young Research Library and the Center for Oral History Research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He recently served as the vice president for programs for the American Printing History Association. He has also served on the editorial boards of the University of Delaware Press and Publishing History, and he is co-editor for the Papers of Bibliographical Society of America. His research specializations are in ethnobibliography, alternative printing, non-canonical textuality, African American print culture, and the transnational publishing history of the works of Ouida. Dr. Erickson holds a master’s degree in library and information science and a doctoral degree in information studies from UCLA. 

This episode is sponsored by the San José State University School of Information.

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

Check out Dr. Erickson’s essay “The Gentleman’s Ghost: Patriarchal Eurocentric Legacies in Special Collections Design,” in Archives and Special Collections as Sites of Contestation, edited by Mary Kandiuk (Library Juice Press, 2020). 

Also mentioned is Ashley Farmer’s essay “Archiving While Black” (Chronicle of Higher Education, July 22, 2018). Read her essay and listen to her Archives in Context conversation.

Interested in publishing with the Society of American Archivists? Cohosts Anna Trammell and Chris Burns talk with SAA Publications Editor Stacie Williams and American Archivist Editor Amy Cooper Cary about the many publishing opportunities that SAA offers. Williams and Cooper Cary provide an overview of these opportunities and ways that archivists of all experience levels can engage in scholarship, and they discuss their own personal journeys as writers and editors.

Read the transcript.

Episode Extras

Read past issues of American Archivist—and get involved! Browse the Editorial Policies and Submission Guidelines for writing an article or review, or sign up for being a peer reviewer.

Learn more about the SAA Publications Program more broadly, including writing case studies, modules, books, Archival Outlook articles, and more.