January/February 2016 Published by the Society of American Archivists

www.archivists.org 4 Planning for 12 Winner of the 28 2015 SAA

Treasures Archives Short Foundation
of Carolina Fiction Contest Donors
 January/February 2016

3 6 21

Out of the Archives Who Knew? 2016 Research

and into the Learn how the Baruch College Archives got
the word out about their new Institute of Forum
Classroom Public Administration Collection. Submit your research presentation and poster
proposals to the 10th annual SAA Research
How one librarian is bringing primary sources Sandra Roff
Forum.
to new audiences.
Julie Thomas

FEATURES COLUMNS
2 Presidents Message
4 Exhibiting Archival Collecting Data That Demonstrate Value
Significance 18 From the Archivist of the
The Story of the Treasures of Carolina Installation
United States
Josh Hager
NARA Launches History Hub
7 Yes, I Google Better 28 From the Executive Director
Archival Reference in the Twenty-first Century The 2015 SAA Foundation Donors
Dara A. Baker

DEPARTMENTS
8 Structuring Spontaneity
Organizing the Inaugural SAA Teaching with Primary 17 Someone You Should Know
Sources Unconference Stephanie T. Vaillant

10 Project Jobs and the Archives 22 Kudos

Profession 22 In Memoriam
Susan Woodland

12 A Silent Promise
Winner of the Archives Short Fiction Contest
Stephanie T. Vaillant
COVER PHOTO
Snow in the Sewers. In the winter of 1914, New York Citys
19 UMD iSchools Professorship street cleaners, known as the White Wings, tried a novel
approach to snow removalshoveling it down the sewers.
and Fellowship Named for It did not go well. The tides backed up the overflow, and the
experiment was detailed in the Bureau of Municipal Researchs
Two SAA Members report, Snow Fighting Exhibits, one of the many documents
that make up the new IPA Collection at the Baruch College
20 Strengthening Our Connection Archives. Sandra Roff explains how she got the word out about
the collection on page 6. Photo courtesy of the Baruch College
2016 Joint Annual Meeting in Atlanta Archives in New York.
Cheryl Oestreicher and Barbara Teague

A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 1
 PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
Dennis Meissner
dennis.meissner@mnhs.org

Collecting Data That Demonstrate Value

I n my inaugural remarks at the 2015
Annual Meeting in Cleveland, I spoke
to what I believe to be a necessary next
step in SAAs overall strategic effort to
advocate more effectively for archives and
archivists. The essential notion is that
when we advocate for our profession and
our repositories, all of the stories that
we tell and the arguments that we make
should be solidly grounded on a bedrock of
data. Not the data that weve traditionally
captured: the number of collections, cubic
footage, processing efficiency, and so forth.
Im instead thinking about data that speak
to the archival value proposition: economic
impact, audiences served, outcomes
achieved. For our advocacy stories to
be truly compelling, we must be able
to reference slices of these data.
At first glance it may seem fanciful that
we can gather this kind of information.
But this data wrangling already is taking
place in the professional associations of
our GLAM siblings. The Center for the
Future of Museums and the American
Library Association have been busy
identifying helpful and capturable
data points, convincing their member
institutions to gather and contribute
this information, and then creating the
capacity and communication structure
to evaluate, manipulate, and present the
data in meaningful ways, including simple
dashboards. It will be wonderful when we
can take a brilliant story about our work to
an employer, legislator, reporter, donor, or
other stakeholder and share a data-derived
graphic that gives weight to the words. To
truly demonstrate value, rather than merely
inferring it.
I want us to be able to do this and I intend
to stay focused on the goal long after my
presidency ends. To that end, Ive put
together a small steering team to guide the
planning phase for this long-term project.
That team comprises Jodi Allison-Bunnell
(Program Manager for the Northwest
Digital Archives and Director of the Content
Creation and Dissemination Programs at
Orbis Cascade Alliance), Ben Goldman (Penn
State University Digital Records Archivist),
Erik Moore (Head of the University of
Minnesota Archives and Co-Director of the
University Digital Conservancy), Merrilee
Proffitt (Senior Program Officer at OCLC
Research), and Samantha Winn (Collections
Archivist at Virginia Tech).
These talented folks will determine how
we identify, harvest, aggregate, assess, and
present the data that can demonstrate
the value of archives and archivists. We
will partner with our museum and library
colleagues who are a few steps ahead of us.
We will develop a strategy aimed at rapid
implementation. We will seek funding
aggressively and creatively.
Unfortunately we were passed over by
one funder in our attempt to launch this
planning phase. Were quickly pursuing
other sources (including SAA and the SAA
Foundation) so that we lose no time in
getting this endeavor off the ground. Ill
keep you informed as the project moves
forward and will seek member input at all
opportune times. To that end, I hope that
youll advise us so that we pursue the right
objectives with the most effective means.
Please let me know what you think (at
president@archivists.org), and dont be
shy about offering your valuable help.

ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK
Archival Outlook (ISSN 1520-3379) is published six
times a year and distributed as a membership benet
by the Society of American Archivists. Contents of
the newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part
provided that credit is given. Direct all advertising
The Society of American Archivists serves the education and information inquiries and general correspondence to: Abigail
Christian, Society of American Archivists, 17 North
needs of its members and provides leadership to help ensure the identification, State Street, Suite 1425, Chicago, IL 60602; 312-
preservation, and use of the nations historical record. 606-0722; toll-free 866-SAA-7858; fax 312-606-0728;
achristian@archivists.org; www.archivists.org.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nancy P. Beaumont
nbeaumont@archivists.org
W E B A N D I N F OR M AT IO N
S Y S T E M S A DM I N I S T R AT OR
Matt Black
mblack@archivists.org
E D U C AT I O N CO OR DI N AT OR DI R E C T OR OF E D U C AT I O N G O V E R N A N C E PR O G R A M CO OR DI N AT OR
Mia Capodilupo Solveig De Sutter Felicia Owens
mcapodilupo@archivists.org sdesutter@archivists.org fowens@archivists.org
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND E D U C AT I O N CO OR DI N AT OR SERVICE CENTER MANAGER
A DM I N I S T R AT IO N
Peter Carlson Brianne Downing Carlos R. Salgado
pcarlson@archivists.org bdowning@archivists.org csalgado@archivists.org

DIRECTOR OF PUBLISHING E D I T O R I A L A N D P R O D U C T I O N C O O R D I N AT O R S E R V I C E C E N T E R R E PR E S E N TAT I V E M E M B E R S E R V I C E R E PR E S E N TAT I V E

Teresa M. Brinati Abigail Christian Lee Gonzalez Michael Santiago
tbrinati@archivists.org achristian@archivists.org lgonzalez@archivists.org msantiago@archivists.org

2 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK January/February 2016
 Unexpected Opportunities for Primary Source Instruction
Julie Thomas, Special Collections and Manuscripts Librarian
California State University, Sacramento
N early ten years ago a history professor
walked into the archives and invited me
to visit his History 100 class to speak a little
bit about archives in general. I gave my first
presentation on primary sources at California
State University, Sacramento, in September
2006 to 30 students. In the last academic
year, I delivered primary source instruction
to 931 students, and Im currently on track
to break that record this year.
This exponential increase can be
attributed to two factors: word-of-mouth
recommendations spread among faculty
colleagues and the initiative I take each
semester to examine the course schedule
to identify classes that have a research
component in the curriculum. In addition,
the scope of disciplines to which I provide
primary source instruction has broadened
from traditional fields such as history and
ethnic studies to nontraditional fields like
music and family and consumer services.
Students were employing the
same skills and techniques
used by researchers to
interpret primary sources.
My instruction focuses on primary source
research skills for upper-division classes.
The one-time presentations include
January/February 2016
Introduction to Primary Source Resource
Skills for students who are required to use
one or two primary sources in a format of
their choosing, Introduction to Archives
for courses that necessitate the use of
archival material, and Advanced Primary
Source Research Skills, most often needed
for seniors or masters students in advanced
research courses.
Engaging First-Year Students
A new and unexpected avenue for primary
source instruction materialized when I
performed research in summer 2014 for
Bridget Parsh, director of Sacramento
States recently created First Year Experience
program (FYE). The First Year Seminar
component of the FYE program addresses
the practical, theoretical, and self-reflective
requirements and outcomes of becoming an
educated person.1 I proposed the creation
of a presentation entitled The History of
Sacramento State and Parsh agreed to
disseminate the description of my talk to
the instructors of the twenty FYE seminars
offered in the fall 2014 semester. My email
asserted:
I offer a one-shot lecture entitled History of
Sacramento State University, and I believe my
presentation to First Year Experience students
can foster pride and enthusiasm in being
enrolled in our institution. I engage students
using historic photographs from the University
Photograph collection, informing them of the
Universitys milestones, and illustrating our
history of innovation and record of success.
I received only one response that semester.
But that number doubled in spring 2015.
And it doubled again this past semester.
Doing the math, it only adds up to four
sections. But, if the trend continues, it is
not outside the realm of possibility that I
will be giving the presentation to sixteen
sections in fall 2016.
After that first presentation in fall 2014,
I noted the significant effects I could have
on incoming freshmen. First, I immediately
observed that first-year students were
considerably more relaxed and delighted
with my description and display of archival
material than upper-division students. This
phenomenon resulted because students
who must utilize primary sources in class
assignments are obliged to conquer the
complexity, comprehension, and correct use
of archival material to receive good grades.
Conversely, the only requirement of the
FYE students is to enjoy learning about how
cool and exciting primary sources can be.
Second, the extensive Q&A session revealed
their interest in a deeper understanding of
primary sources and how they influence
critical thinking skills and facilitate
lifelong learning. Last, some students were
stimulated enough by my presentation to
visit the archives on their own volition.
Continued on page 24>>
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 3
 in g
i b it
Sig A r c h iv a l
Exh
nifi
can
ce
The Story of the Treasures of Carolina Installation
Josh Hager, State Archives of North Carolina
O n a brisk October night in Raleigh, as
the North Carolina Museum of History
closed after a full Friday of visitors, one
exhibit officially opened its doors. Donors
and dignitaries arrived at the museum and
proceeded to the third floor gallery to view
items never before displayed together in a
major public setting.
As the night progressed, the crowd heard
remarks from organizational leaders and
from guest of honor David Ferriero. Why
did the Archivist of the United States join
the rest of the dignitaries that night? They
were welcoming a new installation, Treasures
of Carolina: Stories from the State Archives, the
states largest archival outreach undertaking.
On October 23, 2015, the exhibit became
a reality, but the effort leading up to that
point was herculean. This is the story of how
the State Archives of North Carolina (SANC)
and the North Carolina Museum of History
(MOH) made this pioneering installation
a realityand why we hope its message to
visitors is that every record is a treasure.
4 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
The Right Collaborator
The inspiration for installing a large-scale
exhibit came in two phases to SANC
leadership. Outreach and Development
Coordinator Andrea Gabriel first had the idea
to collect a representative sample of SANCs
holdings after coming across a catalog that
the Library of Virginia had published in
1997 as part of their exhibition in the state
museum. At first, Gabriel only envisioned
producing a similar catalog, but discussions
with former State Archivist Dick Lankford
and current State Archivist Sarah Koonts
We wanted to emphasize
the totality of the records
and the stories that
researchers can find
in every record.
inspired the larger goal of installing a first-
of-its-kind exhibition of SANCs holdings.
In 2012, SANC decided to formally pursue
an installation at the North Carolina
Museum of History. An exhibition there
would prove quite valuable, as a recent
study revealed that, with more than
335,000 visitors in 2015, MOH was the
third most-visited state history museum
in the nationbehind only state museums
in Texas and Hawaii. In two years, the
museum has drawn visitors from all 100
North Carolina counties, all 50 states,
and 61 countries. In addition, MOH is a
Smithsonian Affiliate.
For the SANC exhibit to become feasible
required a new level of collaboration between
MOH and SANC. The museum, which is
located diagonally across from SANC, had
previously included SANC items in various
exhibits, but had never presented an exhibit
dedicated solely to archival items. Both
groups, however, agreed on the merits of the
installation, and MOH staff slotted SANC
January/February 2016
Left: Treasures of
Carolina Title Panel.
Right: State Archivist
Sarah Koonts, Deputy
Secretary of Natural and
Cultural Resources Kevin
Cherry, and Archivist of
the United States David
Ferriero at the exhibit
opening reception.
Photos courtesy of
Mathew Waehner, North
Carolina Department
of Natural and Cultural
Resources.
into one of the third floor galleries with a
tentative opening date of fall 2015.
Three Themes Arise
Once SANC staff got the greenlight for
the exhibit, the first and most important
question was why we should create a large
exhibit. SANC staff knew they wanted to
emphasize the institutions dual role as
both a center for historical research and
an active government agency responsible
for collecting and maintaining the current
records of state government. The SANC
leaderships concept of the exhibit is
summarized by Gabriel: The impetus
behind this exhibit was to demonstrate to
the visitor the role of the State Archives
in preserving evidentiary materials that
protect rights and liberties, document
government actions and decisions, and
chronicle the history of North Carolina. The
three core ideas of that conceptshowing
how records protect rights and liberties,
document government transparency, and
chronicle North Carolina historybecame
the thematic backbone of the exhibit.
When selecting items for inclusion, each
had to specifically address one or more of
those three themes. For example,
staff members decided to showcase
a map from the court records of
the trial of Tom Dula, the former
Confederate soldier who faced murder
charges in Wilkes County and who
would become the basis for the hit
song by The Kingston Trio, Hang
Down Your Head, Tom Dooley.
This map possesses a historical
significance due to the notoriety
of the case, but its inclusion also
allowed for a discussion of what kind
of records come out of trials as a
part of the government transparency
theme. Another item selected for
inclusion is not a record but an image with
which archivists are well-acquainted: the
life-cycle of a record. This model is included
in the government transparency section as
a way to explain to the general public that,
while not all records created by government
are kept permanently, transparency is
ensured through the maintenance of those
records deemed to have permanent value
in retention schedules.
Amidst the process of item selection, one
issue kept resurfacing again and again: What
should we name the exhibit? SANC staff
Continued on page 23 >>

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January/February 2016 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 5

WHO KNEW?
Publicizing the Baruch College
Archives IPA Collection
Sandra Roff, Baruch College
O ne of the challenges that college and
university archivists face is ensuring
that their collections are used by those who
can benefit from them. This is a difficult
task when students and less seasoned
researchers feel that Googling a topic will
reveal everything that is available, thus
overlooking important archival collections.
At Baruch College of the City University of
New York, we didnt want those in the field
of public administration to simply stumble
across our exciting new Institute of Public
Administration Collection and the Luther
Gulick Papers, so we actively promoted the
collection throughout the long process of
its preparation.
6 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
Gulicks Ongoing Legacy
The collection includes documents, reports,
and memorabilia related to the Institute
of Public Administration (IPA), founded in
1906 as the Bureau of Municipal Research
(BMR) with the motto, An Adventure
in Democracy. In response to municipal
corruption, a group of advocates founded
a new science of honest and accountable
local government, which quickly spread
across the country. Support came from
such luminaries as Andrew Carnegie,
John D. Rockefeller, and W. Averell
Harriman, enabling BMR to open a training
school for public servants, as well as sponsor
investigative studies to expose corruption.
Autographed photo of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill
found in Gulicks collection. Photos
courtesy of the Baruch College
Archives.
The guiding visionary behind
BMR was Luther Gulick
(18921993), who counseled
generations of mayors,
governors, and presidents
on economic recovery, social
policy, wartime mobilization,
and reconstruction. During
WWII, Gulick helped prepare
the nation not only for
victory, but also for postwar
peace, prosperity, and urban
modernization.
In 2007, more than
seven hundred boxes of
Gulicks personal papers,
government files, and
unpublished records and
reports from BMR/IPA were
deeded to Baruch College.
The impressive collection
includes historic maps,
Czarist police manuals,
WWII aerial bombing
photos of Japan, and letters
signed by Albert Einstein,
Herbert Hoover, Franklin
D. Roosevelt, and Dwight
D. Eisenhower. Through
generous grants from
Carnegie Corporation of New
York, we are digitizing these
materials to expand access for researchers
and scholars.
Using a Variety of Media
to Get the Message Out
In the first stage of the project, we began a
blog called An Adventure in Democracy
(www.blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/ipaprocessing/)
to document the process of moving the
collection from storage to the archives,
discovering historical materials in dire need
of preservation treatment, and exploring
unexpected treasures in the cartons, such
as a key to Atlantic City dated 1943,
snow removal policies at the beginning of
Continued on page 27 >>
January/February 2016
 Yes, I Google Better
Archival Reference in the Twenty-first Century
Dara A. Baker, CA and Head Archivist, Naval Historical Collection, U.S. Naval War College
W hat effect has technology had
on providing reference service
to archives users?
This question was wrestled with by a panel
of information professionals at the SAA
Annual Meeting in Cleveland last August:
Jan Blodgett (Davidson College), Russell
Gasero (Reformed Church in America),
Abigail Nye (University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee), Dennis Roman Riley (Brooklyn
Navy Yard), and me. Although we represent
varied approaches to reference in the digital
age, we all agree about the primary role
of archiviststo provide access to the
resources in our collections.
Reference Scenarios
We wanted to open a discussion about the
ways in which digital tools such as Google
January/February 2016
search engines, Instagram, Twitter, and
tagging have changed the reference side of
the profession and about archival reference
best practices based on our collective diverse
experiences.
To encourage participation, the panel
contacted SAA roundtables and sections
to ask SAA members to provide questions
and scenarios on reference issues. We
received a dozen responses and the panelists
added a half dozen of our own that fell
roughly into three categories: (1) standards
and access, (2) cutting-edge reference to
make archival collections and archival staff
more accessible to users, and (3) the effect
that remote reference and digitization has
on brick-and-mortar archives.
From these, we added another overarching
issue: how to define meaningful metrics
for reference requests and whether remote
use of material without an archivist as
mediator should be considered a part of
reference statistics. Then we created the
following hypothetical scenarios, to which
the panelists responded.
Scenario 1 A researcher asks how to
access material in your archives when
your institution does not have EAD
nding aids.
The scenario derived from a question asked
by an SAA member, Are you, as a savvy
reference archivist, okay with the fact that
not all repositories make their finding
aids available in EAD format via some
interoperable interface? Can you still find
Continued on page 26 >>
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 7
STRUCTURING
Organizing the Inaugural SAA Teaching
with Primary Sources Unconference
Teaching with Primary Sources Team of SAAs Reference,
Access, and Outreach Section
T he inaugural unconference of the
Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS)
Subcommittee of SAAs Reference, Access,
and Outreach Section was held in Cleveland
on August 19, 2015. Generously supported
with contributions of space and funding
by the Cleveland Public Library, the
unconference welcomed more than 150
participants for a full day of free workshops,
sessions, dine-around lunches, all-attendee
meetings, and spontaneous conversation
centered on improving our collective and
individual ability to effectively teach with
primary source materials. The unconference
was the culmination of a year of planning by
more than thirty people who, in many cases,
had never met in real life.
What Is an Unconference
Anyway?
The unconference format of loosely
organized and informal gatherings of
participants who share equally in the
planning and execution of the days
events grew out of the technology
community. From developers and bloggers,
the unconference format migrated
to THATCamp (The Humanities and
Technology Camp), where many archivists
got their first taste of these highly flexible,
participant-driven teaching and learning
experiences. The TPS Unconference
Team imposed some structure on the
unconference by breaking the day into five
morning workshops led by pre-selected
participants (many of whom assisted in
the unconference planning), and afternoon
sessions proposed and voted on by
attendees during the unconference.
Fully aware that archivists arent the only
people teaching with primary sources,
the unconference also was open to our
colleagues in museums, libraries, and
schools. Knowing that K12 teachers,
8 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
Sp o n t an
museum educators,
librarians, and allied
professionals might
not be attending the
SAA conference or
even know about
SAAs existence, the
Unconference Team
sought permission to
make the unconference
free for all wishing
to attend, regardless
of whether they had
registered for the
SAA Annual Meeting
or SAA membership
status. Cleveland Public
Librarys decision to host the unconference A small group conversation in a quiet corner of the
made this dream a reality. In the months Cleveland Public Library during the afternoon sessions.
leading up to the unconference, volunteer
publicists reached out to potential unconference participants self-identified
participant communities via email and as archivists, and the majority of early
social media. Luckily, two team members registrants were affiliated with colleges and
worked in museums and were able to universities. However, many Ohio-area
identify target organizations. archivists spread the word to nonarchivist
colleagues, who were welcomed as
TPS leader Matt Herbison used a Wordpress participants on the day of the event even
site (www.teachwithstuff.org) to create though they had not registered in advance.
publicly accessible documentation for the The flexible, informal structure of the
unconference, including participant lists, unconference allows such spontaneous
a tentative schedule, logistical information, decisions. No one was turned away.
and guidance on what is expected of
The day commenced with Lee Ann Potter,
unconference participants. Also crucial to
director of educational outreach for
the unconferences success, note-taking
the Library of Congress, energizing the
Google Doc templates connected to the
assembled with her presentation, What
main Wordpress site permitted volunteer
Cant Primary Sources Teach? Through
reporters to record in real-time what
stories illustrated with primary sources,
everyone was learning. The Unconference
Potter demonstrated that all learners can
Team also heavily promoted the use of the
find meaning from primary sources that
#SAA15teach social media hashtag in the
resonates across disciplines and educational
days leading up to the unconference.
attainment.
How the Day Unfolded The hour-long morning workshops were a
hit. The Cleveland Public Library provided
Although the initial registration goal free, WiFi-equipped classroom space
was quickly surpassed, most of the and semi-private discussion areas across
January/February 2016
 two connected buildin
buildings in downtown
Self-selected volunteer reporters
Cleveland. Self-selecte
neity
eemployed the live note-
ttaking templates to
rrecord the proceedings
of five workshops,
which covered
topics ranging from
assessment to visual
literacy instruction
effective exhibitions.
too creating effe
These notes are now publicly available
Th
thhrough the Wo
through Wordpress site.
Following the workshops, a half-
hour of organic conference planning
transpired in Stokes Auditorium.
Using suggestions submitted during
online registration as well as topics
solicited from the floor, unconference
participants collectively mapped out
the afternoons sessions, vetoing
some ideas and modifying others on
the fly, while unconference organizers
frantically recorded all decisions in a
spreadsheet projected onto a screen. We
broke for lunch with sixteen afternoon
sessions on the agenda.
The three fifty-minute unconference
session blocks covered a variety of
instruction topics, from the practical
to the theoretical, including embedded
instruction, physically taking materials
out of the archives, social justice concerns,
outreach strategies, different pedagogical
approaches, and teaching paleography to
undergraduates. Cleveland Public Library
employees invited participants to a session
on materials handling in their workroom.
Each session was led by a facilitator who,
Kate Blake of the Toledo Museum of Art leads a morning workshop, Teaching with Visual Resources, for unconference attendees in the Learning Commons of the
Cleveland Public Library. Photographs by Catherine Young for the Cleveland Public Library.
January/February 2016
instead of teaching the group, helped
promote dialogue among participants.
Again, volunteer note-takers were asked
to record the sessions, and some of these
notes are available on the Wordpress site.
The flexible, informal
structure of the
unconference allows
spontaneous decisions.
The day wound down with unconfer-
ence participants reconvening in Stokes
Auditorium, where a much-depleted group
discussed what went right, what could be
improved, and how we could make the
unconference better. In the interest of
democratic self-governance and transpar-
ency, these wrap-up notes are available
on the Wordpress site, warts and all.
Planning for 2016
Invigorated by the energy present in
Cleveland, the TPS Unconference Team is
already planning the next unconference to
be held alongside the Joint Annual Meeting
of CoSA and SAA this summer in Atlanta.
Finding an institutional collaborator like
the Cleveland Public Library is crucial to the
future unconferences success. Here are a
few other developments:
t
1BSUJDJQBUJPO
One of our goals is to
cultivate diversity and strive for greater
inclusivity. We would like to see more
educators at the 2016 unconference.
Archival Outlook readers are invited to con-
tact the TPS Unconference Team with any
outreach suggestions, proposals, or leads.
t
5FDIOPMPHZ
A technology failure
occurred sometime during lunch,
causing the Wordpress site to go down.
Consequently, the live note-taking
templates were inaccessible for the
afternoon unconference sessions. Because
we depended solely on volunteer reporters
for the live note-taking documents,
some sessions went unrecorded. We
havent relinquished hope that there are
unconference participants who can help
fill in the documentation gaps! If you
are reading this article and took notes
privately, please share them with the
Unconference Team.
t
&WBMVBUJPOT
A crack team led by
Lori Birrell analyzed data from a
survey distributed to all unconference
participants, identifying areas of
success and where the unconference
may have missed the mark. Findings
indicate a tension between a desire
for more structure and making the
unconference more participatory.
Because this unconference was a first
for many participants, it may be that
we need to better communicate and
orient unconference participants in how
unconferences function, or modify the
unconference concept to the preferences
of our audience.
All communications concerning the
2015 TPS unconference or future TPS
unconferences should be directed to
TeachWithStuff@gmail.com.
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 9
 StaDrat te
Project Jobs Archives Profession
Susan Woodland, Senior Archivist, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Collection at the American Jewish Historical Society
H ow exactly do project jobs affect the
archives profession? Do they adversely
affect archives and archivists? Or are they
necessary to provide experience and a
temporary paycheck while archivists at
all stages of their careers look for more
permanent work?
I have more questions than answers, and
can provide only anecdotal evidence in a
conversation about project jobs that needs
to take place among the decision-makers
in our fieldarchives and library directors,
hiring managers, development officers,
CFOs, and executive directorsabout the
long-term effects of running an archives
with too many project jobs and not enough
permanent staff.
The genesis of this article was the lightning
talk session Taken for Granted: How Term
Positions Affect New Professionals and the
Repositories that Employ Them at the Joint
Annual Meeting of CoSA, NAGARA, and
SAA in Washington, D.C., in 2014. Until a
study is undertaken (if one has been done
I have been unable to find it), the growing
trend of project jobs in place of permanent
staff positions will have negative long-term
effects throughout the archives profession
in the following areas.
The Mental Health and Stress
of Archivists. Knowing from the start
that your job will end on a specific date and
you will be job hunting again is stressful.
The constant feeling of impermanence
is different from choosing to leave a job
when you are ready for a change, and when
moving from one short-term project to the
next, the job search never actually ends.
Unacknowledged in conversations of project
work is another source of stress: that of
completing a large project on time, before
the funding runs out, and with no guarantee
of an extension.
10 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
and
the
Long-Term Career Planning. Continual
job hunting makes it difficult to know where
you will be in six months or a year. Will you
jump to another project job that is longer
term? Will it involve moving or a longer
commute? If your project ends in the spring
and you want to attend the SAA Annual
Meeting, will you have a new employer by
mid-summer who will pay for a conference,
or do you book early to get a good rate
and hope youll be reimbursed? Can you
consider a DAS course or other professional
development without institutional support?
As a temporary staff member, will you
be around long enough to effectively
participate on committees at work?
Training for Archivists. It can be difficult
for temporary staff to gain on-the-job
training that is available to permanent staff.
The specific responsibilities of a project
job may hinder archivists from gaining
necessary experience in a diverse range of job
responsibilities. This can be challenging later
when qualifying for managerial positions,
which require a wider range of experience.
New Archivists. How can a new archivist
gain consistent experience and learn
about the range of work in an archives at
a particular organization when working
there short-term? How can other staff get
to know the quality of their work? Often a
project job has very specific parameters
only processing or encoding or finishing the
work that someone else started. If given
the opportunity to learn, new archivists can
develop a broader, long-lasting knowledge
that builds from one job to the next. Not all
short-term archivists respond to reference
requests, participate in shifting boxes in
the stacks, or engage in repository-wide
committees.
Mid-Career Archivists. Hiring managers
will compare you to competitors who have
d Da t e
En
longevity at one job. They may wonder
if something is wrong with your work,
why you jump from job to job, or why you
havent been able to land a staff position.
At mid-career, many archivists have
established a presence in SAA or in regional
or local archives groups but find difficulty
in continuing that involvement when in a
project job because of varying or inflexible
vacation time or the lack of institutional
support. Can you plan on sitting on a
conference panel or running for chair of an
SAA section? Mid-career archivists may have
a larger network of colleagues than new
archivists, but that wont necessarily create
an appropriate job.
Late-Career Archivists. How many
senior-level long-time jobs have disappeared
because of the financial crisis, leaving
someone who has built up an archive after
years of work and real love for a collection
without a job? Job hunting will consist of
more than brushing up on EAD and current
options for a new DAM; looking for work
when you are at the top of your career is
complicated. You are competing against
archivists with fewer years of experience
and thousands less in salary expectations,
and jobs like the one you had are few
in number.
Archivists in Permanent Staff
Positions. Who covers the reading room
when one staff member is on vacation,
one is out sick, one has been at the desk
all week, and the remaining archivists are
project archivists working on deadline?
Who do you have respond to a reference
request when everyone who worked on that
collection was a temporary employee, now
working elsewhere? And how much of your
time is taken up with interviewing new term
employees, year after year?
Continued on page 23 >>
January/February 2016
 The Academy of Certified Archivists

Why Becoming Certified Matters

It provides
a competitive edge

It strengthens the
profession

It recognizes
professional achievement
and commitment

The next Certified Archivist examination will be held

August 3, 2016, in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and
Los Angelesand wherever five or more eligible candidates
want to take it. The application deadline is May 15.

Early Bird Special: 50% Discount!

Apply by February 15 and the exam fee is only $25
(reduced from the normal fee of $50) and it only takes three
candidates to pick an additional exam location.
For the 2016 application and more information about the
Certified Archivist examination, go to the ACA website
(www.certifiedarchivists.org/get-certified) or contact
the ACA office (518-694-8471 or aca@caphill.com).
 Stephanie T. Vaillant
Cataloguing and Digitization Archivist, Stratford Festival

T
he boxes here are the same powder blue as the dress I wore on my last day. It had little paper flowers sewn
into the hemline. I remember swirling in it backstage, the tulle fanning out below my knees. It was the
most beautiful thing I had ever worn. The Pine Island Ballet Company offered us other versionsstiff,
heavy things that were fireproof, but none of the girls wore them. Who wanted something so ugly when
you could wear a garden of powder blue?

There were seventeen fouett turns in that scene. We had done it several times. It was our second week after previews
and I knew the steps by heart. The layers of tulle billowed out farther and farther. I could feel the air rushing past my
ears, drowning out all sounds of the orchestra save for the constant, heavy crash of the cymbals. My leg turned the
circle seven times, eight times, and then I smelled it: a hot, thick stench, like fat near the fire. My vision blurred with
a streak of light and the pain seared up my legs. The joy of dancing gave way to agony. Ethel was screaming. At least,
I think it was Ethel. I couldnt see her because of the smoke. It might have been me.

12 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK January/February 2016
 The gas lamps. I found out later that I had danced too close
to the gas lamps.
There are shelves here full of newspapers. I hate going near
them. They tell the story so differently. Ive had time to read
them all since, and I know Mr. Bader, our manager, must have
refused to give the press my name, for they never mention
me. They tell the story of a poor little ballerina girl who was
mercifully whisked away by a stagehand so that Lady Beatrice
Figg would not see a dancer burn to death on stage. Thats all
they care aboutthat I didnt die in front of Lady Beatrice Figg.
I never liked her anyway. She didnt even care about me. She
was only there to see Ethel.
Its a good thing I liked Ethel. She was such an easy girl to hate.
Of course, shes gone now. They all are, but not me. I am forever
frozen at eighteen, just as I was that last weektrapped in
a void of eternal youth, forbidden to ever grow up. For many
years, I danced in Ethels dreams, though she was doomed to
change, to move on without me, to live as I never could, as if
I never had.
At first, I was only vaguely aware that time was passing. I would
go to the rehearsal halls and sit on the benches, watching the
other girlsmy friendsglide across the floor and be corrected
by the dance master. I never spent time in the actual theatre
anymore. I was eager to avoid it: all the corners were crammed
with memories, waiting to remind me of that day Id rather forget.
One by one, they stopped coming. Sometimes I would hear
Ethels laugh, but then it turned out to be some new dancer,
smiling over things Ethel wouldnt have found funny. Sometimes
I can hear her giving me advice, but its all in my head, or just
some patron whose voice sounded like Ethels for the briefest
of moments. Little by little, my world faded away. The rose
wallpaper in the lobby and the hair of my favourite patrons
turned to grey with time. But I was still there, still hoping.
For many years I lingered by the picture board outside the
ticket booth. They made a trading card of Ethel and me, dressed
in scratchy red gowns I hated for Copplia, but it was the only
photograph of me that was ever taken. We are standing side
by side in it, my head cocked slightly to the left, our arms
around each other. I sat by it for years, watching the patrons
walk in with shorter and shorter hair and hemlines, while new
photographs of dancers slowly crowded out the wall.
Then one day a woman came and took the photos down.
No, I pleaded. Dont take me away. Dont let them forget me. in another world. She took a seat, brushed her white bangs
She didnt hear me, of course. They never do. But I felt
somehow that this woman understood. She didnt touch my
photograph like others didwith greasy, prying fingers. She
wore gloves. She handled my photo as it was meant to be
handled: like my last remaining memory, my last remaining
link to the world I loved.
She took it to this building at the back of the theatre and I came
with it. I couldnt leave it behind. What was left for me at the
January/February 2016
theatre? Everything had changed. Even the curtain is different
nowsome gaudy purple thing lit to the nines by bright electric
lights (I dont mind the new lights so much).
I like it better here, surrounded by the objects from my time.
It is comfortable, and familiar.
Someone has labelled the photograph of Ethel and me. It reads
Two Ballerinas, c. 1880. They still dont know my name. I will be
forever known as the little girl who burned to death on stage,
and they will never know what I look like, for they cannot
connect the photograph with me. I am merely a horror story
that they tell on Halloween tours. I heard the tour guide raving
about it when he came in to dig up some old tales to scare
the visitors.
I was so angry, I shut the lights off on him. You should have
seen him jump.
Ethel wouldnt have approved of that trick. I have learned
so much about her since I came here. The papers say she got
married and stopped dancing. But before that, she was prima
ballerina. It says so in the many programmes they have stacked
on the shelf, in neat little coloured rows, and they have a poster
for a Life Achievement Award they gave her when she was
eighty-seven (it is hard to imagine Ethel at eighty-seven). I have
found other things while rifling through the boxes at night: a
cushion from the theatre chairs we used to sit on backstage;
Mr. Baders account books (nobody forgot himhis photo is
labelled); letters from patrons applauding or complaining about
the dances; audition sheets (I even found mine! Mr. Bader said
I had potential); and a fragment of the velvet curtains I used
to run my hands over before every dance.
There is one box I hate more than the newspapers. I have hidden
it under one of the mobile shelves. The woman with the gloves,
who is called Margaret, has been driving herself mad trying to
find it, but I dont care. I dont want her to find it. I dont want
anyone to find it. The powder blue cloth still smells of death. The
celluloid skirt frame has melted into the tulle. It is not beautiful
anymore. I dont want to be remembered like that. I want them
to get rid of it.
I know they wont. They dont get rid of anything here.
I didnt understand that until today.
She held a bag under one arm, and her skirt was to the floor.
Her modesty put me at ease. Margaret welcomed her and led
her to a table. She smiled kindlya smile that felt familiar to
me, though I couldnt place it. I felt like I had seen it long ago,
out of her eyes and placed the bag on the table.
You said your great-grandmother used to be
a dancer, Mrs. Every? Margaret asked.
Oh yes, the woman replied. One of the
best. My grandmother kept everything,
and my father after that. Of course, we
never throw things out. Its a habit that
makes our house a bit stuffy.
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 13
 She laughed. Even her laugh was familiar.
But this lot is such wonderful stuff, Mrs. Every continued,
I thought it would be better cared for here.
She pulled a red leather book out of the bag.
I gasped. It had black flowers on it. I knew those flowers.
You said your great-grandmothers name was . . . ?
Margaret prodded.
Mrs. Ethel Williamson, Mrs. Every replied, inclining her
head with pride. And this is her diary.
I clenched my fists as Mrs. Every opened the cover. I wanted
to rush towards the book, but I knew that would be foolish.
The pair of them would shiver with the cold, and then Mrs.
Every might leave and everything would be ruined. The hope
within my heart was threatening to drown me.
The entries start when Ethel was but twelve, Mrs. Every
explained, flipping through the pages, training to be one
of the girls in the corps de ballet at that time. See this entry
here? She was such a clumsy thing offstagewrites about
burning her hair off by accident with the curling papers.
On her birthday, I told them, though they couldnt hear me.
That was her thirteenth birthday.
Margaret leaned over, enthralled. Ethel Williamson . . .
was her maiden name Twill?
No, her stage name was Twill, I whispered, only to have
the line repeated by Mrs. Every.
There was an excited glint in Margarets eyes. She clutched a
fist to her mouth and I knew she was restraining herself from
grabbing the book or shouting with joy. Her elation matched
mine. I, too, was unable to show it. Sudden movements on
my part can frighten people.
Mrs. Every, Margaret addressed, I cannot tell you what
an important addition this would be to our collection. Ethel
Twill was one of the most celebrated dancers in the history
of our company.
14 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
Yes, agreed Mrs. Every, beaming, which is why the family
was so reluctant to part with these things for so long. We
have a few items from her sister as well. You know, if it
werent for the accident, she would have been just as good
as Ethel.
Margaret pulled back. Her sister?
My heart was beating so fast I could feel it. It was an odd
sensation, after having it sit quiet for so long.
Mrs. Every smiled fondly and pulled a trading card out of the
diary. It was my trading card. Not just the one with me on it,
but my very own copy of it. There we were in those itchy red
dresses, and there was me, standing next to Ethel, labelled
in my own cramped writing: Elspeth and Ethel. Copplia, 1882.
Margaret started gushing over how they have a copy of the
very same card, but I wasnt listening. I wanted to hug Mrs.
Everythis beautiful woman who was part of me, and who
remembered me. I felt lighter than ever, as though I had just
soared into the clouds in a weightless grand jet.
She met a tragic end, though. Very unfortunate,
Mrs. Every sighed. My elation abated with her breath.
The family forbade anyone to talk about it. Ethel writes
about it extensively.
She flipped a few pages in the diary.
Their mother went to the manager and demanded he
withhold Elspeths name from the press. They wanted to
grieve in private, you see. Its all on the dog-eared pages,
right here.
She knew the story and she told it. About the fouett turns.
About the gas lamps. About me. She showed Margaret an
entry in the dairy that broke my heart:
May 12 1883. Elspeth badly burned. Horrid. Praying to
St. John.
Later
Rest in Peace Elspeth Penner, May 14 1883. I have lost my dearest friend.
I shall dance for us both. I shall aspire to achieve what you have lost. I love
you. I love you. I will never forget you.
January/February 2016
Oscar de la Renta Archives digitized by Heritage Werks

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 Margaret asked Mrs. Every questions and had her fill
out papers, and then they sat and talked for hours about
everything I ever held dearabout our black cat, Pine,
whom we named after the theatre; about Jeff Ross, who
worked as a stage hand and was dead set on marrying me,
though I wouldnt have himand she tells me things I didnt
know; things I couldnt know. How Ethel had three children.
How she named her only daughter Elspeth.
I dont remember Mrs. Every leaving, or watching Margaret
finish the paperwork and take the diary away. I sat alone
until nightfall, as quiet and as still as my body had laid in
that hospital bed so long ago.
Ethel danced for me. And I know, because the archives has
told me, that she danced to perfection.
I was never forgotten. I never will be now. There is a tiny tag
hanging from the diarya silent promise that it will be kept,
that my memory will always be safe.
Before I leave, I enter the room with the mobile shelves,
and reach beneath it for the powder blue box. Though I
loathe to touch it, I leave the corner sticking out, so it will
be impossible to miss.
I havent felt peace in one hundred and forty years.
The moon is bright tonight.
I close the door of the archives behind me, and finally say
goodnight.

About SAAs First Fiction Contest Sponsored by the Publications Board, the Archives Short Fiction Contest, which ran from
August 3 through October 30, 2015, garnered thirty-four entries. Stories had to feature an archives, an archivist, or archival
materials, and could be up to 3,000 words in length. Submissions went through a blind review by a jury of three archivists
Scott Cline, Caryn Radick, and Arlene Schmulandwho rated the stories based on the writing, plot, and archivalness. The jury
was impressed by the overall caliber of the submissions. Radick said that what set apart Stephanie T. Vaillants winning entry,
A Silent Promise, was that in addition to being very well-written and moving, it gave a different perspective of archiveswhile
demonstrating their valueboth in narrative point of view and how the story unfolds.

Honorable Mentions The jury also selected two honorable mentions: Principles of Provenance by Laura Millar and Coco Mo
by JoyEllen Freeman. Read Millars and Freemans stories online at http://www2.archivists.org/news/2015/winner-of-the
-archives-short-fiction-contest.

16 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK January/February 2016
Someone You Should Know
Stephanie T. Vaillant
W hen shes not geeking out about
new cataloguing software,
Stephanie T. Vaillant is writing stories
she doesnt share with anyonethat
is, until her story A Silent Promise
won our first Archives Short Fiction
Contest. Vaillant is a graduate of
Queens University and holds a MLIS
from the University of Western
Ontario. She completed an archival
internship at Puke Ariki and District
Libraries in New Zealand before
serving as the archivist for the Town
of Peace River, Alberta, Canada. She Stephanie T. Vaillant
currently works as a cataloguing and
digitization archivist at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada,
which allows her to combine her life-long passion for theater with
her professional aspirationsand still leaves her time to write.
We talked with Vaillant about the inspiration behind her winning
story and the real-life stories she encounters in the archives.
SAA: How did the idea for A Silent Promise come to you?
SV: A few years ago, I was at one of my nieces dance competitions.
It was held in an old 1920s theater with photographs and trading
cards of previous performers tacked haphazardly to the walls. I
almost missed my niece dance because I was standing there forever
thinking, how tragic that these people are stuck here fading,
completely unknown. I wonder what happened to them. I wonder
who they are. I wonder what they would say if they knew their
photographs were still here like this.
Its a thought that often crosses my mind when Im accessioning
and processing collections.
A few weeks before the short fiction competition was announced,
I read an article in Performance! (published by the SAA Performing
Arts Roundtable) that mentioned ballerinas and gas lamps in passing.
It piqued my curiosity and I began researching the historical hazards
of performing with gas lighting, coming across such tragic figures as
Clara Webster and Emma Livry in the process. I was jarred by how
the press at the time portrayed their deaths as sensational romantic
occurrences, and wondered how the subjects of these articles would
have reacted had they still been around to comment.
These two ideas were combined with a joke someone made about
an archive being haunted and the ironic fact that my old prom dress
is the exact same color as the Gaylord acid-free boxes.
SAA: What was your reaction when you learned that you
won the Archives Short Fiction Contest?
SV: Joyously stunned. I am notoriously shy with my creative
writing and had challenged myself to work up the courage to enter
January/February 2016
a writing contest this year. Managing to press the send
button on my entry form was setting a personal best as
it was. Winning was a wonderful early Christmas present.
Im glad I picked up the phone when they called to tell me
I almost let it go because I didnt recognize the area code.
But then I thought, Well, Im on lunch. It wont hurt me
to be nice to a telemarketer for a few minutes.
SAA: You mention in your bio your passion for theater
as well as the archives. How does your perspective
and engagement in one area inform the other?
SV: The lesson I apply most in my archival work is to view
holdings as parts of peoples lives instead of collections of
things united by a mandate. Like the butler who has no lines and
appears in a single scene in a production, the unknown man in the
back of an accessioned photograph also has a name and life story,
even if he cannot tell me about it. While theater practitioners
strive to realistically portray how a characters life experiences and
past decisions affect their actions in a particular moment, archives
preserve the physical manifestations of those moments as they
occur in real life. If these human experiences werent so important,
archives wouldnt preserve the evidence of them, and nobody
would undertake such massive efforts to attempt to reproduce them
realistically on stage; we certainly wouldnt find it impressive when
they succeeded in doing so.
SAA: Have you uncovered any real-life mysteries in the
archives or do you have a favorite story from the archives?
SV: While working as an intern at Puke Ariki and District Libraries
in New Zealand, I uncovered a number of scandalous court cases
that had been hiding away in the Supreme Court records for
hundreds of years. I wrote up synopses of all of my favorites. You
can read them online at http://pukeariki.com/Heritage-Collections
/Taranaki-Scandals.
While I have to give a shout-out to the falsely accused carrot thief
and the lady of twenty-four who sued a man over fear of becoming
a spinster, my absolute favorite case involved a gentleman by the
name of Ebenezer Thorne. Thorne had four wives during his lifetime,
and unlike most men of his day, who waited for death to take one
wife before pursuing another, Thorne was married to two women
at the same time on two separate occasions. He cleverly managed
this ruse by switching countries every once in a while, developing an
alias (complete with fictitious parents) and changing his profession
with each change of place. At one point he was an author. In his next
marriage he posed as a book reviewer, and gave all his own works
(which were published under a different alias) glowing reviews. By
the time he died, Thorne was the owner of three estates by marriage.
He is buried to this day under an alias with a fake birthdate on his
gravestone.
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 17
 FROM THE ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES
David S. Ferriero
National Archives and Records Administration
david.ferriero@nara.gov

NARA Launches History Hub

R esearching at the National Archives is
usually a rewarding experience.
After all, youve got more than 12 billion
pages of documents dating back to the
Revolutionary War, 14 million photographs,
miles and miles of audio and video, a cache
of electronic records growing at warp speed,
and countless other kinds of records.
But sometimes a researcher gets a feeling
theres more. Yes, you got the answers to
your original questions, but you may still
feel you dont have all the answers, all the
perspectives, or all the interpretations needed
for putting the event in proper context.
Where would you find information like that?
* * *
The National Archives is on the case.
We are developing a platform for researchers
to connect with people interested in
their topic and people interested in our
collections and expertise. It will be a
support community for researchers, citizen
historians, archives professionals, and
open government advocates to provide the
answers, interpretations, and perspectives
you might need.
Were calling it the History Hub, and it
is available at historyhub.archives.gov.
This is more than just a giant chat room.
The idea is to bring all the resources,
including the National Archives vast
holdings nationwide and the archivists who
oversee them, to bear on a topic someone is
We plan to collaborate with other federal
interested in. One of our strategic goals is
agencies, cultural organizations, and
to make access happen. This platform does.
citizen experts to offer a one-stop shop
History Hub invites researchersor anyone, for crowdsourcing information related
reallyto touch on all bases to fill out to your research subject.
the story of our national experience. This
includes students and teachers, historians
and journalists, citizen archivists, subject
matter experts, or even people who
participated in a particular event. It all
adds value to the research experience at
the National Archives.
And if youre an archivist, youll be better
able to connect your records with the
communities who can use themand
maybe not answer the same questions
for researchers again and again.
* * *
The History Hub is one of the initiatives
that has grown out of the work of the Office
of Innovation, which seeks to develop
ways to share the National Archives
extensive holdings with the public,
launch collaborative projects, and form
partnerships with the archival community,
industry, and academic institutions.
In everything we do, we have our agency
mission and goals in mind. History Hub
helps us with the transformation pillar of
A Customer-Focused Organization and
achieves another one of our four strategic
goals, Connect with Customers.
History Hub will strengthen our connection
with customers by expanding public
participation using tools like discussion
boards, blogs, and community pages to
bring together experts and researchers
interested in American history.
Lets say, for example, youre interested in
the details of President Andrew Jacksons
removal of Native Americans from
the eastern states to those west of the
Mississippi.
Some students weigh in, as do some of their
history professors. A few other history buffs
with appropriate expertise have something
to say about it, as would experts at the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the NARA
staff archivist who is most familiar with
the records pertaining to this dark chapter
in U.S. history.
Or how about the day the last helicopter left
the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon as the
Vietnam War ended? A lot of eyewitnesses
and participants are still around: soldiers,
journalists, government officials, and some
lucky South Vietnamese.
When the six-month History Hub pilot
project is finished in May 2016, well gather
the statistics about its use and see where to
go from there. Well be tracking questions
that were asked and answered, the number
of views, and the number of people who
have signed up as well as how qualitative
data, such as how useful is crowdsourcing
of knowledge, occurs.
Well also look at how well the History Hub
does compared to more traditional websites.
History Hub is just one more way the
National Archives broadens access to the
records we hold around the country. Thats
what we at the Archives have to draw on
and bring to the discussion.
Please join the conversation at historyhub
.archives.gov. We look forward to learning
from your expertise.

18 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK January/February 2016
UMD iSchools Professorship and Fellowship
Named for Two SAA Members
T he University of Marylands iSchool has
secured gifts to endow the Michael J.
Kurtz Professorship in Archives and Digital
Curation, and plans to establish the Bruce
Ambacher Archives and Digital Curation
Fellowship. The Ambacher Fellowship will
support a graduate student pursuing studies
in the field.
Both Kurtz and Ambacher were long-
time staffers at the National Archives and
Records Administration as well as UMD
faculty members. Kurtz, a nearly thirty-
year member of SAA and author of the
management volume in SAAs Archival
Fundamentals Series II, served as NARAs
assistant archivist for the Office of Records
Services and as acting director of
the National Declassification Center.
Ambacher was among the first generation
of digital archivists working at NARA on
such projects as updating the FBIs records
January/February 2016
Michael J. Kurtz Bruce Ambacher
schedule and evaluating CIA records. He is a
Fellow of SAA and has written extensively on
records management and electronic records.
technology to explore issues of concern
The growing requirements of government
agencies, private industry, and public orga-
nizations to manage, preserve, and access
ever increasing amounts of digital informa-
tion led the iSchool to establish in fall 2015
a combined Archives and Digital Curation
specialization. There are four subject areas
in the specializationarchives and special
collections, digital curation and preserva-
tion, records management, and data man-
agement. The iSchool also offers an online
Post-Masters Certificate in the Curation
and Management of Digital Assets.
To strengthen these initiatives, the iSchool
established the Digital Curation Innovation
Center (DCIC) in March 2015 with
Professor Richard Marciano as director.
The DCIC has a research and educational
mission and undertakes interdisciplinary
projects that integrate archival research
data, user-contributed data, and
to contemporary society and to study
historical events with a fresh perspective.
One of the DCICs core cyberinfrastructure
projects is Brown Dog, a $10.5 million
NSF/DIBBs-funded collaboration with the
University of Illinois NCSA Supercomputer
Continued on page 27 >>
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 19
 Strengthening
Our Connection
2016 Joint Annual Meeting in Atlanta
Cheryl Oestreicher (Boise State University) and Barbara Teague (The Library of Virginia),
2016 Joint Annual Meeting Program Committee Co-Chairs
T he Program Committee for
ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2016, the
Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of
State Archivists and SAA, is excited to be
part of the planning team for the Atlanta
conference, July 31August 6. Weve
taken seriously the SAA Councils charge
to experiment and innovate and the CoSA
Boards emphasis on information access
and collaboration. But even as continuous
improvement has been on our minds,
weve also embraced the importance of
continuity: providing two old and close
friendsCoSA and SAAwith another
opportunity to strengthen our alliance based
on our shared commitment to archives
and records. We look forward to bringing
our groups together again to learn, share,
and grow in sessions that will be worthy
of the continued collaboration of our two
professional organizations.
Feedback and Experiments
The experiments youve seen thus far
include a later submission date for session
proposals. The deadline was moved from late
September/early October to mid-November,
giving CoSA and SAA members and others
more time to connect, brainstorm, and
plan session ideas and speakers. Another
very welcome change involved a move from
using the time-worn and cumbersome Excel
submission form to using a new web-based
form that (we hope) made your submission
process easier and (we know) will make
the Program Committees review process
much easier. Were grateful to the SAA staff
for shifting gears to make these changes
possible.
20 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
The Program Committee appreciated that so
many individuals and groups used a Google
document to share ideas about session topics
with others. Based on several members
suggestions, the committee wholeheartedly
endorsed its use to make the session proposal
process more open and collaborative. We
received lots of positive feedback about this,
so we hope it will continue for the 2017
conference and beyond.
Pop-Up Sessions, which were initiated at
the 2015 SAA Annual Meeting in Cleveland,
will continue as an almost new feature.
Were planning to build on the successes
and lessons learned last year to again offer
these sessions. For those of you who were
not in Cleveland, the Pop-Up Sessions offer
an opportunity for sharing information
on more timely topics or issuessimilar
to Birds of a Feather sessions at the
Best Practices Exchange or to sessions of
current interest that might be included in
a CoSA work session or an SAA section or
roundtable meeting.
We hope that attendees will provide
feedback on these new initiatives, whether
directly to the Program Committee or via
the conference evaluation, so that future
program committees can continue to
improve their processes to ensure that
were supporting attendees needs at the
Annual Meeting.
How the Program Is Formed
The Program Committee will have met in
chilly Chicago even as this issue of Archival
Outlook went to press (January 1416).
Three CoSA members and ten SAA members
considered the 141 session and poster
proposals that were whittled down during
the course of our meeting to approximately
70 education session slots on the final
program. Prior to arriving in Chicago,
each committee member read and ranked
every single proposal. (If we estimate just
15 minutes on each proposal, that means
that each Program Committee member
spent around thirty-five hoursalmost
a full work weekreading and evaluating
the submissions.) Our scores were then
compiled into a master spreadsheet
that served as the basis for our onsite
discussions, debates, and negotiations.
Our goal was to provide even coverage of
subject areas that address diverse levels
of professional experience, as well as
appropriate representation among speakers
in accordance with the SAA Statement
on Diversity. We sought to enable newer
professionals, nonmembers, and non-
archivists to participate in Joint Annual
Meeting sessions so that they might gain a
fresh perspective from both the archives and
affiliated professions. And we made every
effort to embrace a diversity of perspectives
while ensuring that selected proposals are
relevant to current and emerging trends in
the profession.
* * *
Archivists roles and duties are constantly
changing and developing. ARCHIVES*
RECORDS 2016 will be a chance to share
ideas, promote projects, and provide practi-
cal advice on all aspects of the profession.
We look forward to providing an outstand-
ing educational experience for you in Atlanta
this summer!
January/February 2016
 SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS
2016 RESEARCH FORUM
FOUNDAT IONS AN D I N N O VAT I O N S
Tuesday, August 2, 9:00 am5:00 pm sHilton Atlanta Georgia
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS / CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
Participants enthusiastic response to the past nine Research
Forums conrms that the full spectrum of research activitiesfrom
pure research to applied research to innovative practiceis of
interest and value to the archives community. The 2016 Research
Forum will build on previous success by continuing with a full day
of presentations.
If youre engaged in research, seeking to identify research-based
solutions for your institution, willing to participate in the research
cycle by serving as a beta site for research trials, or simply interested
in whats happening in research and innovation, then join us for the
10th annual SAA Research Forum: Foundations and Innovations!
Researchers, practitioners, educators, students, and the curious
across all sectors of archives and records management are invited
to participate. Use the Forum to discuss, debate, plan, organize,
evaluate, or motivate research projects and initiatives. The event
seeks to facilitate collaboration and help inform researchers about
what questions and problems need to be tackled.
Archivists from around the country and the world will convene at
ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2016, the Joint Annual Meeting of CoSA
and SAA in Atlanta, July 31August 6. The Research Forum
will provide a platform to acknowledge currentand encourage
futureresearch and innovation from across the broad archives
community and for the benet of the archives profession.
CALL FOR PLATFORM AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
SAA invites submission of abstracts (of 250 words or fewer) for
either 10-minute platform presentations or poster presentations.
Topics may address research on, or innovations in, any aspect
of archives practice or records management in government,
corporate, academic, scientific, or other setting. Presentations
on research results that may have emerged since the 2016 Joint
Annual Meeting Call for Proposals deadline are welcome, as
are reports on research completed within the past three years
that you think is relevant and valuable for discussion. Topics
that address the 10th Anniversary of the Research Forum
are especially welcome this year. Please indicate whether you
intend a platform or poster presentation.
January/February 2016
In celebration of this 10th anniversary, please consider
submitting a proposal that looks back at the rst nine years (see
the accumulated proceedings of the Research Forum online a
http://archivists.org/proceedings/research-forum) and/or looks
ahead to the next decade. You might identify trends in research
methodology that are reected in past platform and poster
presentations; review the coverage of particular topics of interest
to you; consider the archives communitys progress in producing
research outcomes; look at gaps in the Forums coverage that
might be addressed in the future; or develop any other topic that
relates to the past, present, or future of the SAA Research Forum.
If you have questions about using the Research Proceedings to
address a topic of interest, please send it to researchforum@
archivists.organd watch for updates on the Forums webpage:
http://archivists.org/proceedings/research-forum.
Research Forum Events at
ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2016
The following events are planned for 2016:
s 2ESEARCH0RESENTATIONSAND0OSTERS(Tuesday, August 2, 9:00
am5:00 pm): Heres your chance to present, discuss, listen to,
or view research reports and results on a variety of topics. The
nal thirty minutes of this session will seek input for SAAs 2017
Research Forum.
s 0OSTER3ESSIONS Be sure to make time to visit the poster sessions,
which will include practice innovation and research topics.
Abstracts will be evaluated by a review committee co-chaired
by Nancy McGovern (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
and Helen Tibbo (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).
Deadline for submission of abstracts: May 1, 2016.
You will be notified of the review committees decision
by July 1 (in advance of the Early-Bird registration deadline).
Submit your 250-word abstract no later than May 1 via email
to researchforum@archivists.org.
Please be sure to include: Presentation title, your name,
affiliation, email address, and whether your proposal is
for a platform or poster presentation.
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 21
 KUDOS
Anne Wells David Gray
Anne Wells is the new audiovisual archivist
at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, where she will work on a three-
year grant project in the Southern Folklife
Collection to develop an integrated system
for managing sound and moving-image
materials from accession through digitiza-
tion as well as process and catalog SFC
collections. She holds a BA in art history
from DePaul University and an MLIS with
a certificate in special collections from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
David Gray has been appointed the
Director for Library Services, Welder
Library, University of Mary, in Bismarck,
North Dakota. Gray recently retired
after 27 years as a Captain in the United
States Navy.
IN MEMORIAM
Kathryn Hammond Baker, 57, passed
away November 17, 2015, after a pro-
longed illness. Since 2007 she served
as deputy director of the Center for the
History of Medicine, Countway Library,
Harvard Medical School. Prior to that she
was an archivist at the Massachusetts
State Archives. For the past sixteen years
she also was an adjunct instructor at
Simmons College, where she had earned
an MLIS. She had a BA in American
cultural history from Boston College and
an MA in history and archival studies
from the University of Massachusetts
Boston. A past president of New England
Archivists, she was deeply invested in the
role of libraries and archives more broad-
ly. At the Countway, she developed the
HMS records management program and
was a catalyst for the development of the
Archives for Women in Medicine and the
online Medical Heritage Library, through
which millions of users worldwide have
accessed the Centers collections.
22 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
Richard Szary Abigail Christian
Richard Szary, director of University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hills Louis Round
Wilson Special Collections Library and
Associate University Librarian for Special
Collections, will retire February 1, 2016,
after a forty-year career in archives and spe-
cial collections. Szary joined the UNC Library
in 2006, coming from Yale University, where
he was the Carrie S. Beinecke Director of
Manuscripts and Archives and University
Archives. Szary was named a Fellow of SAA
in 2000.
New SAA Staffers
Abigail Christian is SAAs new editorial
and production coordinator. Originally from
Wisconsin, Abigail got her MFA in poetry at
Dr. Frank G. Burke, 88, acting Archivist
of the United States from 19851987,
died in Annapolis, MD, on November 30,
2015. He had been ill with Alzheimers
disease. Burke earned a PhD in history
from the University of Chicago in 1969.
A job as assistant curator for Archives and
Manuscripts at the universitys library led
to a position at the Library of Congress
in the manuscripts division, where he
helped develop SPINDEX, an automated
control system. Later, as special assistant
for information retrieval at the National
Archives, Burke was instrumental in
developing SPINDEX II, an automated
control system designed more specifically
to index archival collections. He served
as executive director of NHPRC (1975
1984) and in 1985 became acting Archivist
of the United States. Burke then became
professor at the University of Marylands
College of Library and Information
Services. A Fellow and past president of
SAA, members are invited to pay tribute
at archivists.org/news/2015/saa-remembers
-frank-g-burke.
Michael Santiago
Columbia College Chicago and is the poetry
editor for The Lettered Streets Press. Her first
full-length book, girls their tongues (Orange
Monkey Publishing), is forthcoming in the
spring. Shes excited to delve into the world
of archives and the stories they hold.
Michael Santiago is SAAs new Member
Service Representative. Michael grew up
on the north side of Chicago in the middle
of Humboldt Park and Wicker Park. He
went to Dominican University in River
Forest and studied Nutrition and Dietetics.
After working in the nutrition field, he
transitioned into retail banking as he
always had a passion for operations and
customer service. Hes excited for this new
opportunity at SAA.
Joan Echtenkamp Klein, 62, passed
away on December 2, 2015. Born in
Schenectady, New York, and raised
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Garden
City, New York, she was the daugh-
ter of Harlan and Wilma (Walther)
Echtenkamp, sister of Paul and John.
A graduate of Gettysburg College and
the Catholic University of America, in
1982, she became the curator of historical
collections at the University of Virginias
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library,
where she built a renowned program. In
1996, she was invited to the White House
for her work on the Tuskegee Syphilis
Study Legacy Committee, and in 2003,
she received the Society of American
Archivists Waldo Gifford Leland Award
for digitizing the Walter Reed Collection.
She read widely, loved music, and had
a distinctive infectious laugh. Joan is
survived by her family and her husband
of 26 years, Mike.
January/February 2016
Exhibiting Archival
Signicance
continued from page 5
wanted to avoid any phraseology that would
connote that certain items are worthy of
exhibition over others and instead emphasize
the totality of the records and the stories that
researchers can find in every record. MOH
staff wanted a short title that would work
from a marketing standpoint to generate
interest from visitors who were not familiar
with archives or their holdings. In the end,
both ideas merged to create Treasures of
Carolina: Stories from the State Archives,
which also helped shape exhibit design.
SANC staff decided to use high-profile wow
documents on a rotating schedule to increase
interest in the more routine records also
included in the exhibit. The goal was to make
visitors realize that each record in the SANC
is a treasure to someone.
From Ideation to Creation
Now the immense challenge of tackling
the nuts and bolts of exhibit creation
loomed over us. The logistics of exhibit
design required an unprecedented level
of collaboration. SANC staff from all of its
component divisions contributed to the
effort as well as staff members from the
MOH and the North Carolina Department
of Natural and Cultural Resources
(NCDNCR, the parent department for
both SANC and the MOH).
Project Jobs and the Archives
Profession
continued from page 10
Professional Associations. Members
caught in a project job cycle arent becoming
involved leaders. They attend conferences
inconsistently and maintain their member-
ships only when their salary and benefits
make it possible.
The Organizations that
Employ Archivists. The loss to an
organization of institutional memory is
hard to quantify. But as fewer collection
specialists, a lack of institutional loyalty, and
a smaller permanent staff become the new
normal, the inability to maintain and grow
collections properly takes its toll.
Researchers. Although more collections
have online finding aids, researchers have
January/February 2016
The first category of tasks was selecting
items, merging wow documents with more
ordinary examples that illustrate the day-
to-day operation of SANC. Working closely
with the item selection team were the
content writers, who created the text for the
labels in the exhibit, and the conservation
team, who ensured that original items
could safely travel to the exhibit and live
on display for over half a year. Digital
reproduction staff produced high-quality
scans for use where originals could not
handle the stress of exhibition. MOH staff
worked closely with SANC staff to create
the structures for the exhibit, including
hanging wall panels, a large title panel that
includes donor acknowledgements, and two
multimedia stations (one for oral history
and another for GIS data).
Outside the exhibit walls, the marketing
team for SANC worked with staff from the
MOH and NCDNCR to contact interested
individuals, generate press coverage,
craft press releases, plan a pre-opening
media event, and coordinate the opening
reception. The marketing team also worked
with the Friends of the Archives, a non-
profit private organization, to fundraise
for the exhibits costs. Finally, Gabriel led a
team to compile a more exhaustive catalog
to accompany the exhibit. Staff members
from all three institutions worked on one
or more of these tasks; each category could
not operate in isolation as the exhibit went
from idea to installation.
fewer collection specialists to turn to for
specific help with collections.
The Collections. More and more of the
research process is turned over to the
researcher as subject specialists disappear
or are pulled in other directions in the
archives. We dont know what this will do
to the usage of under-described collections
or collections still waiting to be processed,
but an increase in term archivists can only
exacerbate the issue.
* * *
While its great to find funding to hire
temporary archivists to deal with a
backlog of processing, this short-term
thinking has a higher cost for archivists
and their individual careers, as well as
institutions. How many staff positions
can be replaced with term-funded project
jobs before permanent damage is done
A Story to Tell
The exhibit and the catalog have received
rave reviews from visitors, some of whom
are learning about the existence of the
SANC for the first time. Although the
exhibit has only been open for a few
months, we already have learned some
crucial lessons. An exhibit like this requires
an all-in effort as soon as it is confirmed. For
example, fundraising could have benefitted
from a stronger push in the early days of
planning. In addition, it is essential to work
with exhibit professionals who know how
to plan the logistics of preparation and
installation. We are grateful that MOH staff
contributed their time to this project to help
it succeed.
Finally, we learned just how important
having a story to tell is when creating such
a major outreach project. It is not enough
to want to show off what a repository holds;
rather, why do those items matter to a
specific audience? Fittingly, in the preface
to the exhibit catalog, State Archivist Sarah
Koonts provides the denouement to this
exhibits story: I hope that in providing
a look at these North Carolina treasures
ordinary and extraordinarythe reader
gains an understanding of the rich legacy
we protect, that records do matter, and that
every record is a treasure. The Treasures
of Carolina: Stories from the State Archives
runs through June 19, 2016, in Raleigh, NC.
Come visit!
to our collections? What damage are
we doing to the profession and to our
archivists by tolerating project jobs? How
can new archivists get a real foothold in
the profession when they are forced to
follow project jobs to new repositories
every year or two? And how do we continue
the conversation about changes in our
profession that are unsustainable if we
are to provide quality care for our cultural
heritage collections?
To improve the long-term health of our
archives, we must create more permanent
sources of funding to better manage our
collections. Yes, we are dependent on our
development office, finance department,
CFO, executive director, or library director
for our budgets. How do we communicate
to them that this is unsustainable, and what
can we do to ensure the return of more
permanent staff jobsnow?
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 23
Out of the Archives and into
the Classroom
continued from page 3
Most recently, I revamped my presentation
to make it more engaging for students. The
history of the university is presented in quiz
form and the students utilize voting cards
to play along. I incorporate more diversity
of primary sources from the University
Archives than photographs alone. Formats
include correspondence from the Office of
the President, artifacts, and the student
newspaper, the intent being to expose
young scholars to a wide variety of formats
that are not ordinarily thought of as
primary sources. I also describe parallels
between historic and contemporary events.
I immediately noticed the increase in their
awareness of how primary sources promote
critical thinking and directly affect their
interpretation of current events.
An Unexpected Pairing
I was afforded another unanticipated
opportunity to educate students about
the value of primary sources in developing
lifelong learning skills when Amber Ward,
a newly hired faculty member, asked to
bring her Art 133 class to the archives.
24 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
Like the FYE program,
this class curriculum does
not compel students to
use archival sources in
their assignments. Per
the course description:
ART 133 is intended for
students who are preparing
to become elementary
school teachers in California,
providing subject matter
study in art appropriate
for grades 1-6. Students
will learn the components
and strands of visual
arts education found in
the California Visual and Julie Thomas uses primary sources such as this watercolor by Harry
Performing Arts Framework.2 Yoshizumi depicting a boy in front of the Poston Relocation Center barracks
and latrines, 1943, to facilitate student discussion.
Professor Ward used a
teaching method involving Visual Thinking and disclose the circumstances under which
Strategies (VTS), which is a rigorous the artwork was created. I chose a painting
group problem-solving process, [wherein] by an internee created while he was held in
students cultivate a willingness and ability a WWII Japanese American incarceration
to present their own ideas, while respecting center. I was taken by complete surprise as
and learning from the perspectives of their I listened to the students interpretation
peers . . . learning to use what they already of the artwork. I recognized that the
know to figure out what they dont.3 students were employing the same skills and
techniques used by researchers to interpret
The strategy entailed Professor Ward primary sources to support a hypothesis.
facilitating student dialogue on their
observations and ideas about a work of Some students associated the painting with
art selected from our collection. After the a German concentration camp; others saw
discussion period, I was to identify the artist elements of pride, racism, a ghetto and
January/February 2016
low-income neighborhood, and a reflection
of daily life. I surprised the students,
Professor Ward, and even myself when I
informed them that their interpretations
were all correct. The Japanese American
incarceration centers were undeniably
poorly constructed concentration camps
in desolate areas. The racism was officially
documented when the 1983 investigation
by the Commission on Wartime Relocation
and Internment of Civilians determined the
Internment was the result of war hysteria,
racism, and a failure of political leadership.
The pride observed by a student was a
reflection of the Japanese philosophy of
Julie Thomas uses primary sources like this to teach
students the history of Sacramento State.
January/February 2016
gaman, which means enduring the seemingly
unbearable with patience and dignity.4
Gratifying Results
I was gratified by the unexpected similarity
between the analysis of the art students
and that of student researchers who
routinely formulate a hypothesis and
interpret primary sources to support
their theory. I spontaneously modified
the central focus of my presentation
to recognize that the art students had
successfully employed the cognitive skills
needed to interpret primary sources.
In a card I received the next week, some
students conveyed the following comments:
Thank you for all the information provided us.
It enlightened me.
Thank you for presenting to us! I really enjoyed
your VTS style.
Thank you! It was so much fun!
And in a letter Professor Ward sent to my
Dean, she wrote:
[O]ne student surprised me by participating
in the class discussion, and later confessed to
feeling validated by Thomass comments.
This is especially noteworthy, as the student
has had a chronic fear of public speaking due
to being an English Language Learner and
nontraditional student.
I will continue to expand my outreach
efforts to cross-curricular educational
partners so as to deliver presentations
that incorporate primary source literacy
to classes that do not require a research
component. I never thought the thrill of
seeing that aha! moment on students
faces when they grasp the complexity and
nuance of primary source research had
an equal. But I now experience that same
joyfulness myself when I inspire students
to go to the source to broaden their
critical thinking skills.
Notes
1
First Year Experience Programs, Sacramento State,
http://www.csus.edu/schedule/Fall2012Spring2013
/fye.html#seminar.
2
Special Topics in Art Group, Sacramento
State University Catalog, Sacramento State,
http://catalog.csus.edu/15-16/programs/art.html.
3
What Is VTS?, Visual Thinking Strategies,
http://www.vtshome.org.
4
Delphine Hirasuna, The Art of Gaman: Arts and
Crafts from the Japanese American Internment
Camps, 19421946 (Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed
Press, 2005): [i].
A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 25
Yes, I Google Better
continued from page 7
information in other repositories despite the fact that they dont
follow standards? All of the panelists agreed that yes, you can still
be a good repository without EAD finding aids. Nye highlighted
the key element: While standardization and interoperability can
promote access and discovery, all archivists need to figure out how
to provide the best access for our users, in our context, and that
doesnt necessarily mean mandatory EAD finding aids.
Archival reference
is not fast food.
In fact, as Blodgett and Riley responded, there is benefit in teaching
students and researchers multiple ways in which to access archival
collections, with EAD as one tool. In terms of access, here is a place
where technology can assist an institution without relying on EAD;
OAI-PMH harvesting provides similar benefits by pulling results
from good metadata into Google search results.
Critically, the panelists all agreed, though we understood that it
might be controversial, EAD should be considered unproven for
born-digital records. We concluded that following EAD and other
standards has clear benefits for most institutions, particularly
in a world still dominated by content aggregators (WorldCat,
ArchivesGrid), but archives should ensure that EAD finding aids
provide a measureable return on investment (increased access,
reach, awareness, speed) that outweighs input costs (staff time,
effort, tech support, training).
Scenario 2 A supervisor has just told you that you will be
taking a turn on a two-hour live chat, which was already
announced to the staff and the public.
We developed this question from a variety of responses and
our own experiences with cutting-edge technologies, including
reference by Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. While none of us
had participated in a live chat, all the panelists were willing to
experiment with the mediumwith limits and recommendations.
The panel made key points: 1) archival reference is not fast food,
and 2) archivists should welcome experimentation, within reason.
Archival reference, unlike much library reference, cannot be
answered quickly. While an archives staff can create an FAQ, which
the panel recommends, we acknowledge that researchers, even
if asking what seems to be the same question, are often seeking
different information.
Gasero emphasized that most archival reference requires the
archivist to consult a wide variety of sources that often precludes
answers formulated in the succinct format needed for a live chat
or Twitter exchange and the more complex the question, often
the more complex the answer. When embracing new technologies,
live chat and social media can be fantastic tools if you have the
26 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK
staff, knowledge, and support to use them as intendedfor quick,
rapid response.
Scenario 3 A request comes in asking about items that
are available only in house.
What do you do for a researcher who is located locally versus
one who is long distance or even overseas? In trying to answer
this question, we did, of course, have to include the ubiquitous
it depends as an answer. However, none of the panelists was
comfortable leaving it there. Most importantly, we believe that
digitizing everything is not the answer, at least not yet, and
particularly since digital preservation remains in its beta stage.
We, as archivists, need to educate our researchers on the time,
effort, and expense that goes into any digitization project to
balance their expectations of availability and access with our
staff, technology, and budgetary constraints.
Some Recommendations
One of the key recommendations that I wanted to emphasize
regards resource allocation: telling a researcher how much time a
request will takewhether its thirty minutes or four hours or two
daysis a critical skill to develop and pass on to new hires. An
honest statement about what kind of turnaround a researcher can
expect makes a big difference for workflow. In the end, simplifying
the archival staff members work while providing the best service
possible through shared reference files and good continuity of
operations is key.
The open discussion about reference statistics and metrics pulled
a number of the points in the discussion forward, particularly how
to deal with declining visits to the institution and an increasing
expectation by users that reference access be available 24/7 rather
than during regular business hours. In many ways, who we help
and how well we help them often has an effect on our bottom
line. Adjusting metrics to the new realities of archives, our digital
presence, the separation from researchers, and increasing demands
of resource allocators to take business measures such as ROI and
year-over-year improvements into account should be actively
embraced by our profession.
Archivists are not alone in grappling with these questions.
Reference should be front and center in any discussion about
how we as archivists do our work and respond to the challenges
of constantly changing technology. Reference is the front line for
technological change as researchers find us in new ways, forcing
us to embrace technologies that are seldom tested by the archival
profession before we have to adopt them. It is up to us to adapt,
reject, or reshape these technologies to meet our needs. By being
proactive rather than reactive to new technologies, we can maintain
archival references unique characteristics: the importance of the
reference interview, the reminder that archival reference is seldom
successful when done FAQ style, and that subject knowledge and
institutional knowledge must be preserved for the benefit of staff
and researchers.
January/February 2016
Who Knew?
continued from page 6
the twentieth century, and a housing crisis for WWII workers in
war plants and shipyards. We promoted the blog in the scholarly
community, starting a conversation and sparking interest from
researchers in Public Administration around the world.
Another major form of outreach is publishing articles in widely read
newspapers. The Baruch College Archives is fortunate to have Ralph
Blumenthal as a distinguished lecturer in our division. Blumenthal
was a reporter for The New York Times for forty-five years, and he is
a master at relating archival documents to contemporary issues. His
articles on the collection have appeared in The New York Times, The

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Wall Street Journal, and The Baltimore Sun, generating more interest

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in the archive.

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UMD iSchools Professorship and Fellowship
Named for Two SAA Members
continued from page 19
Center and industry partners (NetApp and Archive Analytics
Solutions). This project will help accelerate the development
of digital curation algorithms and services by creating a data
observatory to provide access to Big Records training sets and
teach students practical digital curation skills.
Other novel infrastructure to support student hands-on learning
at Marylands iSchool includes:
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by NetApp storage and commercial Cassandra-based Indigo
software for long-term archival storage and preservation,
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research data processing and storage, and
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computing lab for creating Windows/Ubuntu instances using
Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The gifts to endow the Kurtz professorship and the Ambacher

Fellowship will assist the iSchool in sustaining these innovative
educational and research endeavors.

The IPA Collection displayed in the William and Anita Newman Library. Photo
ORAL
courtesy of the Baruch College Archives. HISTORY
We also looked at where we could announce the collection at TRANSCRIPTION
professional association meetings. In our case, NASPAA (Network
of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration) was
holding its annual conference in Brooklyn at the same time we were Accurate! Dependable! Experienced!
planning the opening of the archives. We worked with our School
of Public Affairs to produce brochures, leaflets, and promotional
t-shirts for distribution at the conference. Feedback from the
Oral history interviews transcribed
conference was encouraging and we had several inquiries following by a former archivist with over 25
the meeting. years of experience in the business.
Not to be neglected is the visual appeal of an exhibit. We have Confidentiality and quality are assured.
prepared showcases on the floor where the archives are housed
We pay careful attention to the details.
in the William and Anita Newman Library, hoping that highlights
from the collection will entice students and faculty to visit the
archive and stimulate students to use the archives for class projects. All-Quality Secretarial Service
These outreach methods are just a sampling of how Baruch College Liz Weinrich, Owner
Archives has promoted the wide scholarly appeal of our new collec-
tion. Already, Public Administration faculty have encouraged the
Telephones: 516/921-1623 OR 516/567-7212
use of the collection among undergraduate and graduate students Email: rhauser9@aol.com
and incorporated archival research into their curriculum.

January/February 2016 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK 27
 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nancy P. Beaumont
nbeaumont@archivists.org

The 2015 SAA Foundation Donors

T he 292 donors who contributed $54,910 to the SAA Foundation in 2015 include SAA past presidents,
Distinguished Fellows, and long-time volunteers. And this list (with 78 more donors than in 2014)
also includes many individuals who have not chosen to volunteer with SAA (yet!) but who value the
work done byand the possibilities reflected inthe Foundation. To all we say thank you for making
a difference for the archives profession!

PRESIDENTS CIRCLE .PSF
UIBO
 

: Fynnette L. Eaton. VISIONARY  
UP
 
: Maarja Krusten. PHILANTHROPIST
 
UP
 
: Nancy Perkin Beaumont, Richard A. Cameron, Kathleen D. Roe, Becky Haglund Tousey, Helena Zinkham. FOUNDER


UP
 
: Maygene Daniels, Jackie M. Dooley, Linda Edgerly, Larry Gates, Peter B. Hirtle, Randall C. Jimerson, Stacy Belcher Lee,
Wilda D. Logan, Dennis E. Meissner, Chon A. Noriega, Cathy ODonnell, Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Ben Primer, Mary Jo Pugh, Margery N.
Sly, Lisa Weber, Kathleen M Williams. PATRON

UP

: Elizabeth W. Adkins , Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt, Nicholas C. Burckel, Wesley
J. Chenault, Robert Clark, Mark J. Duffy, Winnie Feng, John A. Fleckner, Mark A. Greene, Robert B. Horton, Gregory S. Hunter, Geoffrey A.
Huth, William L. Joyce, Christopher M. Laico, John LeGloahec, Waverly B. Lowell, Christopher J. Prom, Timothy D. Pyatt, Robert E. Sink,
Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, Edward Weldon. FRIEND 
UP

: Bruce I. Ambacher, Michael Arbagi, George W. Bain, Lewis J. Bellardo,
Lisa Calahan, Scott Cline, Richard J. Cox, Daria DArienzo, Sarah Eilers, Adam Foldes, Brenda S. Gunn, Judith A. Huenneke, Elisabeth Kaplan,
William E. Landis, Nancy Zimmelman Lenoil, Michelle Light, Bertram Lyons, William J. Maher, Lucinda Manning, Charles L. Martin, Paul H.
McCarthy, David F. McCartney, Nancy Y. McGovern, Barbara L. Narendra, Michael C. Oliveira, Michele F. Pacifico, Marilyn E. Rackley, Colleen
McFarland Rademaker, Allen Ramsey, Jessica H. Ritchie, David A. Rook, Shelby Sanett, Amy C. Schindler, Arlene B. Schmuland, Paul R. Scott,
Helen Wong Smith, Virginia H. Smith, Marjorie Snyder, Sharon Gibbs Thibodeau, Melissa Torres, Rachel Vagts, Sheryl B. Vogt, Diane L. Vogt-
OConnor, William K. Wallach, Elizabeth Yakel. DONOR 6Q
UP

: Kristine Abu Hantash, Margaret O. Adams, Ruth Andel, Claudia W.
Anderson, Maija Anderson, Elizabeth Andrews, Krystal Appiah, Kathleen Arthur, Lori J. Ashley, Brenda S. Banks, Elizabeth S. Banks, Linda
Barnickel, Alexandra Barrows, Jeannette A. Bastian, Erin E. Baucom, Stephanie Bayless, Virginia L. Beatty, Danna C. Bell, Bernadette Cheryl
Beredo, Edmund Berkeley, Kim L. Bishop, Rebecca Bizonet, Victoria Bleick, Frank Boles, Charlene E. Bonnette, Steven D. Booth, Sally Brazil,
Lorene Broersma, Barrye O. Brown, Terry A. Brown, Holly Browning, Mary Lynn Bryan, Sarah Buchanan, James B. Byers, Mary Caldera,
Maureen Callahan, Stuart Campbell, Elizabeth Campion, Peter Carlson, William C. Carpenter, James G. Cassedy, David L. Chapman, Aleris
Charleman, Courtney E. Chartier, Jeanie F. Child, Thomas F. R. Clareson, Joseph W. Coen, Faith Coleman, Thomas Connors, Eleanor E. Craig,
Lisa L. Crane, Nahali R. Croft, Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa, Roger M. Dahl, Steven H. Daley, Deborah L. Dandridge, Susan E. Davis, Maria Day,
Mary S. Dionne, Anita Taylor Doering, Rachel Donahue, Rachael Dreyer, Frank Kim Kimball Efird, Rebecca Elder, Katherine E. Emery, Ellen
M. Engseth, Elaine Engst, Timothy L. Ericson, Maria Rita C. Ferraris, Nancy Freeman, Geoff Froh, Denise P. Gallo, Patricia Galloway, Tammy
Gobert, David B. Gracy, Monica F. Gray, Heather A. E. Gring, Pam S. Hackbart-Dean, Wendy Hagenmaier, Keri L. Hallford, Johanna L. Harden,
Julie Hatfield, Elizabeth Haven Hawley, Jeffrey A. Hayes, Aaisha Haykal, Laura E. Helton, Mary E. Herkert, Sue E. Holbert, Deborah Hollis,
Frederick L. Honhart, Marcella D. Huggard, Lisa O. Hullett, Laura Hulscher, Ann Hunter, Thomas Hyry, Polina Ilieva, Paula Jabloner, Barbara
L. Jenkins, L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin, Jennifer I. Johnson, H. G. Jones, Cameron Kainerstorfer, Rebecca Katz, David Keller, Megan Keller,
Joo Yeon Kim, Elinor M. King, Daria Labinsky, Jessica L. Lacher-Feldman, Lawrence A. Landis, Erin R. Lawrimore, Helena Leonce, Jeannine
T. Levesque, Lori Lindberg, Dawne Howard Lucas, Lydia Lucas, Mary Denis Maher, Steven Mandeville-Gamble, Lisa Mangiafico, Mary M.
Manning, Linda M. Matthews, Patrick Maxton, Laura McCann, Brenda S. McClurkin, Daniel McCormack, Dylan J. McDonald, Meg Miner,
Alden N. Monroe, Teresa Mora, Mary L. Morganti, Eva S. Moseley, Judie D. Moses, Katie Mullen, Lisa Murphy, Timothy D. Murray, Clifford L.
Muse, Lindy J. Narver, Kathryn M. Neal, Elizabeth A. Nielsen, Martha R. Noble, Daniel W. Noonan, Vincent Novara, Ann OKeefe, Alex H. Poole,
Jeannette Remington, Veronica Reyes-Escudero, Sherwin Rice, Deborah A. Richards, Deborra A. Richardson, Dennis R. Riley, Phillip M. Runkel,
Mary Elizabeth Ruwell, Lisa E. Samson, Tiffany-Kay Sangwand, Gail G. Sansbury, Kevin W. Schlottmann, Lori N. Schwartz, Scott Schwartz,
Elizabeth M. Scott, Debra S. Shapiro, Deborah J. Shea, Kelcy Shepherd, Lisa M. Sjoberg, Lynn A. Smith, Margaret B. Smith, Paige L. Smith, Reid
S. Smucker, David Solomon, Mark W. Sorensen, Susan K. Soy, Robert Spindler, Darwin H. Stapleton, Donna L. Stapleton, Heather Stecklein,
Jordon Steele, Nancy L. Steinmann, Leon J. Stout, Carol Street, Shelley Sweeney, Eira Tansey, Mark G. Thiel, Ruth Thomasian, Sue R. Topp,
Deborah A. Torres, Maria Tucker, Susan Tucker, Richard E. Turley, Ellie Meek Tweedy, Carl Van Ness, Amy S. Vilelle, Trish Vlastnik, Christine
Ward, Chela Scott Weber, Jennifer Westrick, Ardra L. Whitney, Sheryl K. Williams, Valerie Wingfield, Elisabeth Wittman, Kelly Wooten, Sonia
Yaco, Young Pil You, Tanya Zanish-Belcher.

28 A R C H I VA L O U T L O OK January/February 2016
17 North State Street, Suite 1425
Chicago, IL 60602-3315 USA