SAA 2008: What does it mean to be an Archivist?

Professional Considerations:

• The Reluctant Administrator, or How I Learned to Love Management - Nancy Freeman (Chair), Alison Stankrauff, Courtney Yevich, Colleen McFarland
• Family and Community Archives Project: Introducing High School Students to the Archives Profession - Christine Weideman (Chair), Diane Kaplan, Thomas Hyry, Molly Wheeler
• Past Rites: Marketing for the Future - John Treanor (Chair), Jean Elliott, Edward Rider, Jane Nokes
  

Collaboration and Professional Identity:

• I Walk the Line: Revolutionary Archivists Leading Special Collections Departments - Aaron D Purcell (Chair and Commentator), Susan McElrath, Clark E Center, Jr
• Convergence: R(e)volutions in Archives and IT Collaboration - Philip Bantin (Chair), Rachel Vagts, Daniel Noonan, Paul Hedges, Jennifer Gunter King
• Modern Perspectives on the Relationship Between Archives and Records Management - Alison Langmead (Chair and Commentator), Matthew Eidson, Julia Hendry, Tony Jahn
  

Ethical Considerations:

• Ethnic Archives: Collecting Within Cultural Contexts: The process of soliciting archival collections from individuals and organizations often brings with it a set of challenges that are familiar to many archivists. When collecting in specific ethnic communities, a number of other issues may emerge and the archivist must bring an added cross-cultural sensitivity to this task. Drawing upon personal experiences, three archivists identify some of these issues and raise questions about the nature of archival collecting in general.
• Returning Displaced Archives: Legal and Ethical Perspectives: When the letter arrives demanding the "return" of a collection, what do you do? Restitution claims range from relatives requesting return of family papers to the government claiming its property, disputes between repositories, or foreign countries recovering lost cultural heritage. Recent restitution disputes have generated a revolution in the archives. What are the best legal strategies, the ethical dimensions? Are archivists personally liable? Panelists clarify the questions to ask before you either send those papers back or say "no way."
• Archival Ethics with Changing Practices: The Impact of Technology: Technology is changing the way archivists perform their jobs, but are archivists' ethics changing under the strain of technology? As technology changes, archivists must reexamine their ethics. Ethics standards rooted in a paper and limited-access world are no match for the ethics required in an on-demand, multi-format world. What are the ethical standards that archivists should be employing in this technological world? How do archivists view their ethical role as technology pushes practices?
• Understanding the Balance: Repositories, Researchers, Public Domain, and the Law: Heather Briston (Commentator) University Libraries, University of Oregon: Do our own policies act as a barrier to use? We seek to understand the challenges posed by copyright law, but do we understand the effect of contract law? How do we balance the needs of our repository, the legal issues, and the ethical issues involved in an agreement to duplicate and use between our repository and a researcher? Two lawyers experienced in issues of contract and copyright look at both sides of the issues.
  

Reference and Instruction:

• Want to Thrive? Listen to Your Users (Patrons, Researchers, Customers) - Richard L Pifer (Chair), Judit Olah, Alexis Braun Ma
• Old Movies, New Audiences: Archival Films as Public Outreach Tools - Jeff Lambert (Chair), Bill Moore, Cristine Paschild, Snowden Becker
• Moving Targets: Identifying Evolving Needs in Electronic Records Education - Lee Stout (Chair and Commentator), Ciaran B Trace, Cheryl L Stadel-Bevans, Jim Cundy
• Archivists as Educators: Why Should We Teach? - Rick Ewig (Leader), Carol Bowers, Carol Bryant
  

Technological (Re)Evolution:

• Evolving Finding Aids for Basic Processing - Dan Santamaria (Chair), Mark Shelstad, Jennifer Meehan, D Claudia Thompson
• Pre-Custodial Intervention: Let Them Do the Damn Work! - Kevin Glick (Chair), Laura Tatum, Daniel Hartwig
• Capturing the E-Tiger: New Tools for Email Preservation - Mark Conrad (Chair), Kelly Eubank, Riccardo Ferrante, Glen McAninch
  

It's time to celebrate Archives!

It’s that special month where we celebrate our history and our archives! What are you doing to publicize your collections, celebrate your staff, engage your community, or share your stories?

The OSU Archives has a host of activities to keep everyone busy, full, and entertained all month.

Following the theme “Eat, Walk, Watch” we've planned these events:

October 8: Walk through OSU’s Building History: Larry Landis will lead a group on his buildings tour to learn about our historic campus buildings.

October 17: Taste of the ‘Chives: A Historical Recipes Showcase: It was a smash hit last year! Karl McCreary hosts a fabulous event featuring food prepared by Library staff and others—straight from the recipes in our historic publications.

October 22: Archives Film Fest: Another popular event for the campus community! Karl McCreary has once again pulled together a selection of short films from the OSU Archives collections and invited a broad campus & community to a lunchtime showing of the 1925 National Dairy Champions, cowboys in the Fort Rock region of Central Oregon, and all manner of critters in Mount McKinley Park ca. 1930.

October 30: Haunting for History: Have you heard the one about the giant snake in the bowels of Weatherford Hall? Or about OSU's first University Librarian, Ida Kidder, and her watchful eye gazing from Waldo Hall? Participants will undoubtedly be scared senseless with tales of terror as they wander around the quads, entertained by stories of hauntings and eerie events. Tiah Edmunson-Morton will lead a night-time walking tour of the most ghostly kind!

Portland 2009: Where History Comes Together

Let's chat! Let's plan!
The 2009 joint conference between the NWA and Oregon Heritage Commission will be an excellent opportunity to come together to celebrate the history of the Pacific Northwest. As we reach out to other history organizations, museums, libraries, and special collections, asking them to join us in celebrating in Portland next April, I thought it would be great to have a space to gather and meet each other in preparation for the big weekend...
Yes, I know, we don't live in the same neighborhoods, but with the magic of social software, we can meet virtually! I've set up a page on a ning.com site, which is a social networking site that will manage other social software. I see the site, called Portland 2009: Where History Comes Together, as this virtual space for us to engage, assemble, and share. It's a place to pull together resources, blog posts, forum discussions, photos, sound files-- basically anything you want to put up! And yes, you can even create and print a PDX 2009 badge!
I've chosen some features to include on the page, but the list of optional add-ons is long and we can customize it to meet our needs (videos, blogs, photos, forums, events, etc.). For those of you who set up your pages, please let me know if you have suggestions for improvements, additions, or deletions.

• What is ning.com? "Ning is a platform for creating your own social networks. Our passion is putting new social networks in the hands of anyone with a good idea. With Ning, your social network can be anything and for anyone."
  
• What can you do there? "People who join your network will automatically have a customizable profile page and will be able to message and friend each other."
• An excellent example of what our site could become can be found on the "Lone Arrangers" ning site.
  
• How do I sign up? Yes, you have to create a profile... For details, visit their "signing up, signing in" page.

Please contact me with questions at tiah.edmunson-morton@oregonstate.edu or visit the ning help page.

Listen to a moose: the enchantments of the magical web

The American Museum of Natural History site has an extensive exhibit of "habitat group dioramas" that may just be worth the price of a plane ticket! They are described as being "precise depictions of geographical locations... [with] careful, anatomically correct mounting of specimens... these stunning dioramas are windows onto a world of animals, their behavior, and their habitats."

Sounds great, but what does it have to do with the Northwest? On this site you will find pages dedicated to the Alaska Moose (Alces gigas miller) and Alaska Brown Bear (Ursus gyas merriam). Included are virtual tours of the exhibits, historic film footage from William L. Finley and Arthur N. Pack (American Nature Association), and an audio clip where you can hear a moose!

Go forth & explore (without leaving your office chair).

Better late than never: In honor of Preservation Month

Preservation Matters!
The National Trust for Historic Preservation celebrated the 4th annual National Preservation Month in May 2008! Their theme was "This Place Matters."

Renewed Interest: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
For anyone who has wondered what their "Main Street" looked like in the late 1800s, the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps might hold research promise! Preservation Magazine featured the article "Map Quest: How Sanborn Fire Maps Can Guide Restorations, by Mary Beth Klatt, in their March 28, 2008 issue. She explores how homeowners are returning to historic Sanborn maps for their restoration projects. According to Grace DuMelle, president of Chicago-based Heartland Historical Research, more homeowners are interested in ways to ensure their restoration projects are historically accurate-- and these vintage drawings provide a wealth of information!
When D. A. Sanborn started his company in Manhattan in 1867, he intended to serve insurance underwriters by showing a building's fire risk. Each map gives information about the buildings on a town block, including the materials used in construction and whether the building was commercial or residential. Sanborn employees traveled around the country, literally pasting the changes on existing maps until newer versions were created. The Sanborn Co. flourished until the 1950s, when the insurance industry came up with new ways to gauge risk that made the maps obsolete.
To read the full article, go to the Preservation Magazine site.

Going Green?
Preservation Magazine's January/February 2008 issue is dedicated to eco-friendly restoration. To see their articles, take a few minutes to browse the table of contents.

Highlights of two Friday sessions

Northwest Archivists 2008 Annual Conference
New Frontiers in Archives and Records Management
Anchorage, Alaska

Following are summaries for two of the sessions that I attended:

Session 1: The Integrated Digital Special Collections (INDI)
This session introduced the Integrated Digital Special Coillections (INDI), an open-source archival management application developed at Brigham Young University. INDI is a web-based system designed with an emphasis on archival workflow and distributed processing activities. The session included an introduction to the project and demonstrations of the functional application modules and the INDI sandbox, and discussion of future directions for INDI development. Presenters were Brad Westwood, Cory Nimer, and Gordon Daines.

The website for INDI: http://www.lib.byu.edu/indi/

This application has some of the same goals as other open-source archival management applications, such as Archon and the Archivist's Toolkit -- but with a stronger emphasis on workflow and project management. The application currently has no public interface and is intended for staff use (BYU special collections has a permanent staff of ~15+ and employs about 40 student assistants).

Modules that were described or demonstrated:
** Contact management system is used to to track donors and creators; using a single tool for both creator management (authority control) and donor/contact management has been problematic.
** Help feature has been useful to staff; includes both "application assistance" (how to do something) and "data entry assistance" (what information and in what format is appropriate for a given field). Usability testing showed that staff use latter more than former.
** Desktop search tool; have been retrospectively entering accessioning data, so this can serve as "one stop searching" tool.
** Project management (with e-mail feature that allows e-mail discussions that are preserved within the system, linked to the project/collection); this is one of the most robust areas of the application.
** Appraisal; breaks down appraisal of potential purchases/donations into detailed tasks. Probably most useful for a repository with an active acquisitions program in many areas.
** Accessioning; this has been useful because many of the accessioning steps are actually done by student assistants.

The project team has experienced issues because several different programmers have worked on the project which have had different approaches to documentation and varying programming styles. The BYU Library is currently evaluating how to proceed with the project -- whether to continue to invest in programming or to migrate to another system. They are especially interested in a system being developed by/for the ICA (International Council on Archives).


Session 7: New Modes of Access: Challenges and Opportunities for Archival Collections
This session focused on the development/implementation of WorldCat Local at University of Washington Libraries. Presenters were Nicole Bouche (UW Special Collections); Jennifer Ward (Head of Web Services for UW Libraries) and Mela Kircher (OCLC).

The session especially focussed on the impact of WorldCat Local on archives/special collections. Several issues that were raised are:

* "duplicate" titles -- "split" collections at different repositories that the WorldCat Local algorithm considers as different editions ..
** duplicate records for a record in WorldCat submitted by a repository and a record for the same collection submitted by NUCMC (which were previously only in RLIN ... but are being migrated to WorldCat).
** WorldCat local does not serve as a collection-management system ... does work well as a "discovery" tool
** very limited notes displayed

Future enhancements to WorldCat Local will be:
** more articles metadata
** branch scoping (driven off 4-character location codes)
** simple language facets
** additional fields displayed (this is especially important for notes fields in archival MARC records)
** federated search (may be able to search NWDA finding aids database)
** reviews
** FRBR/editions display improvements
** improved WorldCat account authentication
** tagging
** improved reports

Elizabeth Nielsen
OSU Archives

1890 Comes to Anchorage, or at least to UAA

I won’t compete with Emily’s fine description of the Aviation Museum reception except to state that it was a blast and I didn’t get a chance to crash the simulator or to shoot its guns. A tragedy, a travesty, or both . . .

I had the responsibility to run the business meeting Saturday morning. It went as most meetings do, but it is the best opportunity to thank all of the people that really made this wonderful conference go. Arlene Schmuland and her local arrangements crew, Gina Rappaport and her program committee, Kathy Bouska who almost singelhandedly raised nearly $1500 for NWA scholarships, all of the sponsors, all of the hardworking committees, the presenters and speakers, and of course all of the 74 people who registered for the conference. I’m regularly wowed by the energy and power of our little motley crew.

There was one last session. Since I was participating as chair, I had to attend.

Breaking the Ice: Protocols for Native American Materials and Archivists in the Northwest (Linda Wynne, Monique Lloyd, John Bolcer). This session is the result of the Northwest Archivists board decision to present the protocols in each of its five member states during the next five years. Linda, of Sealaska, discussed the need for protocols in Native communities. Her very personal and moving stories about the need to bring tribal material back to the tribe were powerful. I always like the courage needed to show your heart. Monique discussed the background and development of the protocols and also used personal stories to illustrate the nature of the protocols. John discussed institutional concerns with the protocols as written, and had suggestions for revisions that could strengthen the document and make it more supportable by non-Native American institutions. There was very lively discussion afterwards and I think the session was a success in its intention of creating communication of this important subject.

All that remained was the closing plenary with Mike Doogan.

I have to say that I was entranced by Alaska. I believe that the success of this conference should encourage the NWA board and membership to consider moving Alaska into regular rotation, like any other member state, so that our Alaskan colleagues can showcase their digs on a regular basis.

Friday Sessions

In case you think that this conference is supposed to be fun, think again. There were sessions! And serious work! My sessions on Friday included (if there are mistakes, please let me know. My documentation strategy is minimalist):

Usability Testing in Archives (Tony Kurtz, Tiah-Edmunson Morton, Megan Freidel). This session discussed a variety of usability testing performed in relation to the use of NWDA. The goal of the project was to determine whether users were getting what they needed form the NWDA interface and finding aids. They cited a lot of specifics (and I’m sure Tiah, the owner of this blog, would share at length . . .), but the takeaway lessons I got were:

• Users are interested in the big picture – how the information looks and is presented (“If display is secondary we risk alienating customers”)
• We (the site creators) need to be more innovative in design and consistent in presentation.
• We need to keep asking what users want.
• We need to try and replicate old world feel in new world medium (“people want context and relationship”).
• Users needs are not homogenous and even a single user’s needs are not static.
• They want a personalized research experience (“think Amazon.com”)

Or as Tony Kurtz put it: “We need to educate users in a non-dictatorial way.” A great session with three lively presenters and a real call to all of us to start finding out what users want/need and incorporating a lot more of it into our online reference.

How Do We Keep From Getting Further Behind? Applying the Principles of Minimal-Level Arrangement and Description to New Accessions (Elizabeth Nielson, Scott Cline, Elizabeth Uhlig). Holy Moly. Another session on MPLP? Who’d have thunk it? Elizibeth N. and Scott discussed their priorities in trying to reduce the expansion of backlogs by applying MPLP to accessioned collections. Elizabeth discussed a one-year project at Oregon State Univ. to try and make minimal collection descriptions for 36 accessions. They ended up getting complete usable descriptions in the one-year project for 34 of them. Scott discussed the City of Seattle’s use of folder descriptions provided by the depositing agency to reduce intellectual processing needs (they continue to rebox and refolder). He also stated something that always gets a laugh from me because it’s so true - “there’s always been MPLP. We just used to call it government records processing.”

Elizabeth U. discussed the need for MPLP in a half-time lone arranger shop as a necessity in order to just make records available. This is especially true in the context of MPLP’s call for access prioritization. So a useful session, and one that acknowledged that MPLP has become the dominant paradigm in processing, regardless of what people may think of it.

State of the States lunch plenary (Steve Walker (Idaho), Steve for Jodie Folie (Montana), Glenn Cook (Alaska), Jerry Handfield (Washington), and Jerry for Mary Beth Herkert (Oregon).. This is a session that I hope becomes a tradition. It’s been done three times in the last five years and allows each of the five member states’ State Archivists to talk about what’s been happening in their respective states. Most of the discussions centered around numbers of patrons, number of electronic visits (latter up, former down, big surprise!). Glenn is new to Alaska (3 months) and is still getting to know everyone. Steve noted that his most active records are Idaho Penitentiary Records: “nearly everyone in Idaho seems to have had some relative in the pen.” Jerry indicated that we need a new acronym for archivists that could compete with CIO’s. He suggested PRIMO – “Primary Records and Information Management Officers.” That’s very cute, but I wouldn’t put it on my business card. He did have a good 12-step plan for archivists, which he promised to send me (because I couldn’t write fast enough. I’ll post it when I get it.

The big surprise was a presentation by a group of archivists from the Sakha Republic. Dr. Panteleymon Petrov and Eduard Yakovlev gave short presentations on their research in Alaska and on the state of operations in Sakha. It was a wonderful moment. Dr. Petrov very bravely and clearly gave a short presentation in English followed by his presentation on research. I didn’t take very good notes on the presentation; I was more intrigued by the translation process – several translators and several Russians all engaged in a discussion of how best to relay the meaning. It reminded me of a childhood listening to sermons in foreign languages relayed by translation and wondering just how different the two stories might be.

The second short presentation was by Senior Registrar Eduard Yakovlev, of the Sakha State Archives. He mentioned that the Sakha Archives is the oldest archives in the Russian Far East, operating since the 18^th century. It has over 1600 collections including 6 million folders, with some records dating from the mid 17^th century. They have just started digitizing information. He indicated that they had enjoyed the state of the states addresses and were happy to have been invited to speak and would use the information they had learned to improve their services. I think both groups of archivist were genuinely touched by the meeting and a lot of smiles, pictures, and card-exchanges followed.

Archival Research: The History and Future of the Profession. This is a traditional session involving research papers presented by Western Washington University students in the Archives program. Caitlan Maxwell presented a paper on cyberinfrasturcture. I missed almost all of it, due to getting caught up in conversation. I’m sorry, too, because after looking the term up it sounded very interesting. I hope another blogger can fill in. Megan Bezzo presented on Watergate and the Presidential Records Act (it really wasn’t Marja Krusten presenting. Really.) It was a pretty straightforward treatment of the impact of Watergate, especially the exclusion of the national archives from the process, on the creation of theact. One comment caught my attention – Bezzo stated that manuscript archives have been more invested in access issues than government archives. That has not been my experience at all. What do you all think? Finally Stephanie Brown discussed Margaret Cross Norton and her impact on the development of the professionalized archivist, the creation of SAA, and the American Archivist. Norton was definitely the original mover and shaker – an archival rockstar. All good papers and an enjoyable session as usual.

Archives At the Last Frontier: Collections of Alaska (James Simard, Bruce Parham, Kevin Tripp, and Tracy Leithauser) This was more of a fun session, allowing several local institutions to showcase collections, primarily visual resources. Bruce discussed records of the Pribiloff Islands Program, 1868-1984, including a variety of records related to the seal harvesting and processing program there. A lot of good photos, with the seal clubbing ones thankfully edited. Kevin showed a number of movie clips from the AMIPA collection. Two notable ones both involved memento mori – one was perhaps the last footage shot of Will Rogers and Wiley Post before their famous crash near Point Barrow; the second involved footage of JFK just minutes, maybe seconds, before his assassination. Another fine clip involved scenes of people reacting to the 1964 Good Friday quake. Tracy showed a series of photographs related primarily to the growth of Anchorage. Some of my favorites were the aerial views, the sail-sledding machine, and the earthquake pictures.

Thanks guest bloggers!

Thanks to Terry Baxter and Emily Dominick for sharing their experiences with all of us! Stay on and keep writing!!

For anyone else interesting in being an author for this blog, please send me an email (tiah.edmunson-morton@oregonstate.edu)-- set up is easy and sharing is fun.

Home again, home again

You know you've had a great conference when you've crammed your suitcase full of brochures, pins, pens, and postcards-- and it explodes when you unzip it in your living room!

While I am happy to be tip, tap, typing from my computer at home, largely because the screen is much bigger than my laptop and easier on my eyes, I also feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to travel north. Our Alaska colleagues were gracious and welcoming, obviously proud to share their wonderful collections and beautiful home with us. It's hard to avoid cliches when writing about the trip, but the power of those mountains and the enchantment you feel when watching a young moose chomp on a bush is second to none.

Of course, I wasn't there for sight-seeing, and I spent most of the trip home yesterday scribbling notes for the 2009 NWA/OR Heritage Comm joint conference on my Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau notepad.

I'd like to share some percolations before returning to my morning java, though I must fully disclose that these aren't actually all my own-- great conversations make great ideas!

• Various Google map mash-ups with restaurants, activities, and shopping
• "Angel" project to link early archival arrivers with local repositories/historical societies to work on projects (i.e. one-day blitz processing)
• "Crawls": jazz clubs, coffee houses, bookstores, brew pubs
• Poster sessions: grad sutdents from a variety of programs (Western WA, Emporia State, WSU, distance/online) and disciplines (Urban Planning, Public History), panelists without a panel (the great ideas for presentations that don't quite gel into a session), high school students (History Day)
• Ning.com site for connecting people before, during, and after the conference (I've set up a "beta" site and will send out the link when I am aesthetically satisfied)

And these are the things I'd like to steal from this year:

• Silent auction: this time including framed prints of images from repositories
• Sign up for local archivists to arrange dinner outings to their favorite Portland restaurants for meals
• Message board ("real" and virtual ) to link people, post notes, ask questions
• Navigator program: including a program that would link an archivist to a heritage participant

In the words of our current fearless leader (T Bond), "let's make 2009 the best conference EVER"-- we have some pretty big shoes to fill...

Spruce Moose

As the conference winds down, I am reflecting on what a great success it has been. I attended two sessions yesterday afternoon: student papers and a focus on collections of Alaska. Kevin Tripp showed some amazing film clips from the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association's collection including what is thought to be the last footage of Will Rogers before his tragic death in a plane crash in Alaska. Another clip he showed was taken by a local Anchorage resident the devastating damage caused by the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964. I had seen some photographs of the damage before, but somehow the moving image captures it in a different and more stark way. Most striking to me was the image of a house on its side from which a couple of guys were extracting a sofa from a door or window.



















Immediately following the final presentations, we were shuttled off to the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum for the All-Attendees Reception. The food was quite delicious (as it was consistently throughout the conference, I should mention) and it was fun to meander through the exhibits which included a flight simulator and, of course, a bunch of planes. Enjoy this sampling of photos. Unfortunately I don't have a knack for including people in my photos, so you'll have to take my word for it that the reception was well attended! In fact, the conference as a whole had something on the order of 75 attendees which is pretty impressive considering that we are in Alaska, which is pretty far from pretty much everything!

















This morning we had the NWA breakfast business meeting followed by a set of sessions and the Closing Plenary luncheon. The plenary speaker was Mike Doogan, former newspaper man current Alaska State Legislator and mystery novelist.

We have crammed a lot in to these few days up in Alaska and we have been graced with great weather and of course a lot of daylight. Still no moose sighting but I still have some time before I leave tomorrow, and if not I took this picture at Alyeska of the faux moose just in case the real thing didn't happen.

Lunch Break!

So, still no moose sightings (at least by me) but plenty of great discussions and presentations about the current state and the future of the archival profession.  Thus far, I have enjoyed talks about the ins and outs of archival consulting; the importance of finding out what archival users (i.e. students, historians, genealogists, and others) want from your website and how they expect to find it; and finally a "State of the States" presentation by the representative State Archivists of the Northwest Archivists.  

We are about at the half-way point of today's sessions--so more to come!  

No Aurora, No Moose

So, I tried to see the Aurora both last night and the night before. There is a forecast website that showed Wednesday as the best hit. No luck. I think it's just too light It is just a little too weird to be romaing around at 10 or 11 in the evening and just seeing the sun set! It isn't really dark at 3 in the morning. I am getting a feeling for how Pacino felt in Insomnia . . .

There is also supposed to be a moose roaming around the park between the library and the dorms. I haven't seen it, but would like to get that special Northern Exposure moment.

My only responsibility was the Board meeting and that was fun. We were going to get a presentation from Gordon Daines, but his plane was struck by lightning and delayed. Luckily it was on the ground. I got a little misty about my last board meeting as president, but I sucked it up and we were able to finish.

The reception was right after and I had to run back and get on big boy clothes. The reception was in full swing when I got back. It was a joint reception with the local ARMA chapter. Good food, good company, and good music from some local artists. I got to see my old friend and mentor Jerry Handfield. He was excited about finally visiting the last state he'd never seen.

After the reception, people grouped up for hosted dinners. My group ended up at the bear tooth. In between bites of halibut (yummy) and sips of Prince William Porter, I enjoyed about two hours of great camraderie. A special treat was the presence of the central european archivist, Grina.

So now, I probably should listne more attentively to Tony Kurtz and his description of his long-lost Plymouth Valiant. More to come.

Opening Reception

After a day of enjoying nature's bounty (by way of Portage Glacier and the Alyeska Tram) I am headed to the opening reception at UAA's Consortium Library.  Join the fun by following along with the conference schedule!

Looking for large, wild beasts?

Hello from Alaska!
We slid in on a glacier last night and parked in the University of Alaska dorms. Quite pleasant and unlike my own experience in the tiny, tiny rooms at the U of O ages ago... We even have a coffee pot!
The conference is still in its infancy, so there isn't much for me to report on that front...
I spent the morning talking with colleagues, enjoying this beautiful city, and planning an outside dinner with friends. And, as if being here wasn't enough of a treat, we've been graced with sunshine and warm temperatures. The mountains hug the edge of the city, you can smell the sea air from downtown, and I am actively hunting a moose sighting.
Stay tuned, the opening reception is this afternoon and rumor has it a "dorm based" moose can be spotted around 10PM.
Tiah

Welcome fo NWA 2008 in Anchorage!

Well, it really kicked off with the Northwest Digital Archives meeting on Monday and Tuesday, but since reality only happens with in your own existential experience, the conference starts today. After three days in Denali (pics to follow, either here or on Facebook), it was nice to roll into Anchorage and see old friends and meet new ones. The weather has been beautiful -- sunny and "warm" (65 degrees qualifies here). Dorm life is nostalgic. Bunks beds, tiny rooms, bans on alcohol, RA's -- there was even a pajama party in the NWDA chicks' megaplex after the movie last night.

The Progressive Archivists meeting was last night and five people attended. Following the standard method, we introduced ourselves and talked about what we were doing or were interested in. It was a nice group and there are some interesting things out and about.:

• There is a book prospectus being developed around the subject of green archives.
• Advocacy in the possibility of a new political regime
• The impact of MPLP on basic archival practices as well as on the profession's carbon footprint

"What is a Progressive Archivist?" was asked at least twice. That's a question that comes up at most meetings. My answer is usually "whatever you want it to be." I mean there's the usual suspects -- greenies, peaceniks, lefties, really lefties, commmies, pinkos -- you know the ilk! But I think the group welcomes anyone who looks to a better world in the future, not in the past, and is willing to work to make it happen. And in answer to the question "how can we keep in touch with other like-minded archivists?" Join the prograrchs listserv and start a discussion.

The meeting moved into the evening showing of the movie "Eskimo". It was 16mm on 3 reels and the way the sound revved up as the reel started reminded me so much a high school movie nights. That's back in the pre-vhs, pre-dvd, pre-cable days, boys and girls. The showing was introduced by Dr. Ted Mala, who is the son of the lead actor in the 1933 movie, Ray Mala. The stories about growing up in Hollywood and Alaska in the early 1940's was fascinating.

The movie itself is pretty melodramatic, but the fact that it was shot live and on location provides wonderful insight into the life of Native Alaskans 80 years ago. Be warned. If you don't like to see live hunts of whales, birds, fish, polar bears, seals, then this movie might not be right for you.

So that was then and this is now. I'm about to head off to the Board meeting. More to follow.

Baby it's cold out there...

The Willamette Valley in Oregon is awash with colors—must be the cold rain…

As we prepare for another NWA conference, let's look back at one of the highlights from our 2007 conference: visiting the International Jazz Collections at the UI Special Collections. In addition to February's Lionel Hampton Festival, here are some other collections that feature jazz music, festivals from this winter, and other eclectic tidbits!

• Leonard Feather Collection at University of Idaho
• Jazz Society of Oregon
• Portland Jazz Festival
• Oregon History Project: When the Joint Was Jumpin’: A Look Back At Portland Jazz
• Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz, 1942-1957
• Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival University of Montana, Missoula
• Bing Crosby Collection at Gonzaga University
• Seattle’s Bud's Jazz Records Closes
• Alaskan Cool: Jazz from the Last Frontier
• Sitka Jazz Festival
• University of Alaska Anchorage: Jazz Week
• NWDA Search Results: “JAZZ”
• Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra
  

Anyone know of any others we should include? Let me know!

More News from November

More on the Featured Collection from the Oregon Historical Society Research Library

• To learn more about the Meier & Frank Building in Portland, visit the Wikipedia page.
• Flickr is Fabulous: What are the amateur archivists putting together? Check out these various Meier & Frank photos taken in Portland:
• Slowtron
• Seaweard
• Whateverthing
• Matt Niebuhr
• MuddyRavine
• The Bon
• rabbithaircut
• Rodefeld
• Meet Me Under the Clock: PDX History site

Pack Your Bags!

Alaska is rich with cultural resources! Amazing heritage centers, beautiful museums, interesting archival collections. Get ready for the NWA Conference and take some time to explore their offerings. Here are a few gems I came across:

• Anchorage Museum
• National Museum of the American Indian Archives
• Eagle Historical Society & Museum Archives
• Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center: Library, Archives, & Photographs
• Cordova Museum Photo Gallery
• Sealaska Heritage Institute: Special Collections Research Center
• The Clausen Museum
• Sitka Historical Society
• Museum of the Aleutians on-line photograph collection
• Valdez Museum & Historical Archive

News from the State Archives of Alaska

• Help the State Archives of Alaska identify their mystery photos! Visit this page to view unidentified images from the State Archives.

News from the Alaska Native Language Center Archive

• Explore the rich resources of the Open Language Archives Community
• Steven Bird, of the University of Pennsylvania, worked on a project several years ago to explore linguistics. This is the list of language archives that emerged as a part of that project.

News from Owyhee County Historical Society

• Visit the Research Center and Library site to learn more about their progress and collections.
• To find out more about Owyhee County, stop in at the county site or the Wikipedia page.

Not All News is New News! "Historical" News from Idaho

Two interesting online collections worth exploring:

• Benedicte Wrensted: An Idaho Photographer in Focus
• Kate and Sue McBeth, Missionary Teachers to the Nez Percé

News from the Montana Historical Society

• To learn more about the Montana Public Service Commission records, see the NWDA finding aid.
• The finding aid for the Montana Federation of Labor and AFL-CIO collection can be found on the NWDA site.
• More on the New Deal: For a nice book of historical photographs selected from the Farm Security Administration Collection at the Library of Congress, see Hope in Hard Times: New Deal Photographs of Montana, 1936-1942, by Mary Murphy. Arthur Rothstein, Russell Lee, John Vachon, and Marion Post Wolcott became some of the United States' best-known photographers through their pictures of Depression-era America. In the 1930s and 1940s, these four Farm Security Administration photographers were sent to Montana to document the effects of the Depression on the state. They captured the many facets of the Depression in Montana: rural and urban, agricultural and industrial, work and play, and hard times and the promise of a brighter future. the photographs in Hope in Hard Times offer a look at life in Montana in the years preceding the United States' entry into World War II.
• To learn more about Harry Billings, see The University of Montana School of Journalism’s Montana Newspaper Hall of Fame page.

News from Rocky Mountain College Archives

• For more about Dr. Arthur DeRosier, Jr., see the Rocky Mountain College press release.

News from Oregon State University Archives

F.A Gilfillan Papers, 1909-1984

• For more information about Gilfillan’s career as an Oregon State College, visit the President's Gallery.
• For more information about Gilfillan, see A.L. Strand’s Remarks made at the banquet honoring Dean and Mrs. Gilfillan, May 9, 1962, MU Ballroom, OSU. LD4342.8 .S7
• To learn about Gilfillan’s views on space biology, see this 1964 piece, aptly titled Space biology, from the 1963 Biology Colloquium held at OSU. QH301 .B577 1963
• Gilfillan served in the Army chemical warfare department. For more information about the 89th Infantry Division of WWII look here.

Keep Oregon Green Association Records, 1945-1957

• To see another collection with Keep Oregon Green Materials, see the State Archives finding aid.
• To learn more about Keep Oregon Green’s current activities, visit their website.
• To see what is going on at the College of Forestry at OSU, go to their website.
• For more information about Oregon’s Department of Forestry, see their site.
• To learn about the US Forest Service, visit this site.
• For an international perspective, see the World Forestry website.

Florence L. Kohlhagen Notebook, 1923

• To learn more about rural sociology, see the Wikipedia definition.
• For information about the Rural Sociological Society, visit their site.
• Visit the International Rural Sociology Association page for an international point of view.
• To learn about current courses of study in rural sociology, see the Department Community and Rural Sociology at WSU, the Department of Agriculture Economics and Rural Sociology at the University of Idaho, or the Department of Rural Sociology at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Village Improvement Society Minutes, 1904-1911

• To learn more about Corvallis in the 20^th century and the movement to make it even more beautiful, see the City of Corvallis’ page “Corvallis in the new century: The dawn of the motor age, 1900-1929.”
• For more details on the City Beautiful Movement, read the Wikipedia article that can be found by clicking here.

News from the City of Seattle Archives

Related Materials and Additional Collections Related to the New Online Exhibit: “Pike Place Market Centennial”

• Records relating to the Market can be found in various records series in the Seattle Municipal Archives. These include the records of City Council members, Mayors, the Engineering Department, and the Department of Community Development.
• Finding aids related to the Pike Place Market can be found on the NWDA. Collections include the Guide to the Department of Community Development's Pike Place Market Records, 1894-1990; Guide to the Pike Place Market Visual Images Collection, 1894-1984; Guide to the Pike Place Market Historical District Records, 1971-1989.
• The Pike Place Market Bibliography, found by clicking this link, is another excellent source of information.
• Additional materials relating to the Pike Place Market urban renewal project can be found in two collections in the Manuscripts & University Archives division of the University Libraries at the University of Washington. Specifically, look to the Victor Steinbrueck Papers, particularly the first accession; this collection documents his role in organizing the Friends of the Market, as well as his leadership of the "save the market" ballot initiative. Another useful collection is the Friends of the Market Records, donated by the organization, which documents this grass roots movement's activities in the struggle to preserve the Market.

News from WSU Pullman

Not New, but Noteworthy: Wallis and Marilyn Kimble Northwest History Database

The core of the Northwest History Database is composed of roughly 40,000 newspaper clippings from the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Clippings Collection. Article topics cover Native Americans, Pacific Northwest environmental concerns, including reclamation, mining, dam site construction, and other issues. Selected articles have been digitized and can be searched in the online collection.

These articles were collected and organized in the 1930's and 40's by dedicated historians working for the Works Progress Administration. The office was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to provide work and relief to an impoverished economy; before it was closed in 1943, it was one of the largest employers in the country and in most individual states.

The collection describes, in vivid details, a period of rapid growth and development in the Pacific Northwest. During the early part of the 20th century, the Pacific Northwest experienced an influx of inhabitants and rapid development in the area; settlers continued to arrive, when farm land was limited and available water supply was in short supply. In addition to economic and environmental issues, the collection documents the profound impact the settlers had on the indigenous Native American population.

The database also includes additional primary source material; specifically, federal and state documents, laws, and other source material that provides background for about the stories found in the newspaper clippings, including government reports, legal documents, and maps pertaining to the settlement and development of the region.

Funding for the creation and construction of this project was made in large part by the generous donations from WSU Alumni Wallis and Marilyn Kimble.

News About a Great Resource

• If you haven’t already done so, check out the Center for the Study of Pacific Northwest History and their Annotated Resources page.

News from Our Neighbors to the North

• The "Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History" project provides engaging, high-quality materials to schools and universities for the teaching of historical methods and Canadian History. The project, based at the University of Victoria, the Université de Sherbrooke and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, has created a series of instructional websites based on the premise that students can be drawn into Canadian history and archival research through the enticement of solving historical cold crimes. All the material is provided free as a public service.

News About a Great Read: Zhang article in D-Lib Magazine

• Allison B. Zhang, Creating Online Historical Scrapbooks with a User-Friendly Interface: A Case Study. D-Lib Magazine, November/December 2007, Volume 13 Number 11/12