Archivists

Call for Proposals for the 2023 SAA Research Forum, due May 1, 2023

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[MAY 1] DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS FOR THE SAA RESEARCH FORUM 

On behalf of the 2023 Research Forum Program Committee, we invite you to submit abstracts (of 300 words or fewer) for either approximately 10-minute platform presentations or 2-minute 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 settings. 

The 2023 Research Forum will be conducted as two Zoom-based virtual sessions, each three-and-a-half hours long, on July 12 from 1:00 – 4:30 pm CT and July 19, 1:00 – 4:30 pm CT. In addition, professional posters will be displayed online with presenters’ contact information so that one-on-one discussions can take place.

Presentations on research results that may have emerged since the 2022 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. Please indicate whether you intend a platform or poster presentation. See the full call here: https://www2.archivists.org/am2023/research-forum-2023

Special topics this year include: global challenges; equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice; collaboration across GLAM domains (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums); repository-level data; centering users; and building audiences. These topics are detailed in the SAA CORDA Research and Innovation Roadmap (beta version.)

Abstracts will be evaluated by the 2023 Research Forum Program Committee convened by Jennifer Gunter King (Emory University) and Sarah Pratt Martin (Simmons University).

Deadline for submission of abstracts: May 1, 2023. You will be notified of the review committee’s decision by June 1.

Proposals should be submitted here and must include: Presentation title, your name and affiliation, email address, whether your proposal is for a platform or poster presentation, if you are a first time presenter, and an abstract of no more than 300 words.

Best,

Jennifer Gunter King, Research Forum Chair
SAA Committee on Research, Data, and Assessment

Apply for the Carroll Hart Scholarship today

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The Society of Georgia Archivists is now accepting applications for the 2023 Carroll Hart Scholarship. The application deadline is March 6, 2023.

This year’s Georgia Archives Institute will be held June 5-16, 2023.

For full details, please go to https://soga.wildapricot.org/scholarships/hart

The Society of Georgia Archivists awards a scholarship for attendance at the Georgia Archives Institute held each summer in Atlanta. The purpose of the scholarship is to enhance archival education and membership. The scholarship is named for Carroll Hart, former director of the Georgia Department of Archives and History, founding member of the Society of Georgia Archivists, and founder of the Georgia Archives Institute.

Individuals eligible to compete for the scholarship are:

  • Those engaged in compensated or volunteer archival work at any level in an institution in the state of Georgia.
  • SGA members employed outside the state of Georgia.
  • Graduate students preparing for a career in archives at a college or university in Georgia, or SGA student members studying outside the state of Georgia.

Preference will be given to applicants who do not have access to institutional support for attending the Georgia Archives Institute.

The scholarship will cover an amount equal to the non credit tuition for the Institute, but not to exceed $500, and a year’s membership in the Society of Georgia Archivists. Please note that individuals must apply separately to the Georgia Archives Institute and pay the application fee to the Georgia Archives Institute. All regular deadlines and requirements for the Georgia Archives Institute apply. After participating in the Georgia Archives Institute, the recipient will submit a brief article on the experience for use in the SGA Newsletter.

How to apply:

Please fill out the online portion of the application for the Carroll Hart Scholarship. Then, to complete your application email your resume or CV and cover letter to scholarships@soga.org. Your application is not complete until these documents have been received.

Complete applications including cover letter and CV or resume must be received by March 6, 2023.

Read the 2023 SGA Magazine Today!

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The new SGA 2023 Magazine has just been published online, visit here to read the full issue, https://soga.wildapricot.org/publications/magazine 

This year’s issue is full of professional development opportunities, words from our former and current presidents, a new member spotlight, updates on a couple of institution’s grant projects, and a post on remembering SGA’s first President Edward Weldon after his passing in late 2022.

Habersham Education and Research was founded to collect the history of Habersham County in Georgia and make it more accessible to the public. The history of the county is spread out into the Clarkesville Library, courthouse and local historians residences. The most important project Habersham Education has focused on is the digitization and indexing of local newspapers, a valuable resource for researchers and genealogists. With the help of a SGA Spotlight grant the Digitize Habersham project launched in November of 2022 after two years of work of digitizing and indexing. Peter Madruga from Habersham Education and Research details more about this project in the new SGA Magazine. If you are interested in the Georgia Archives Month Spotlight grant learn more on our website. 

Georgia State University in partnership with the University of Maryland received a CLIR Hidden Collections grant to digitize the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department Southeast Division Records. The department operated in Atlanta from 1964-1989 and was instrumental in ensuring equal job opportunities and the creation of training programs for marginalized communities. The collection has 78 linear feet of mainly documents with some audio visual material. Not only does the team want to make the documents available online, they also are collaborating with the Digital Library of Georgia to create online educational resources. Read more about how this grant project is progressing in the new magazine, available to read now!

Thanks to all of our contributors for submitting something to be featured in this year’s SGA Magazine. We have years and years of a backlog of our quarterly newsletters which were the predecessor of the SGA Magazine. If you want to learn even more about SGA as an organization take a look through our previous issues on our website, https://soga.wildapricot.org/publications/newsletterbackissues . Consider submitting an article next year or if you cannot wait, submit it as a blog post here.

2023 Georgia Archives Institute Announcement

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Submitted by Jill Sweetapple, GAI Outreach

June 5-16, 2023 is the date for the 2023 Georgia Archives Institute. The Institute will be held at the Georgia Archives, located in Morrow, GA, just outside Atlanta. Classroom instruction will take place the first week, June 5 through June 9 and also on Monday, June 12. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday June 13-15 will be an on-site internship at a local institution, where you can ask all the questions you want and put your classroom instruction to good use. Friday, June 16 will be a wrap-up day, held back at the Georgia Archives.

Pam Hackbart-Dean, Head and Professor, Special Collections & University Archives, Interim Associate University Librarian, University of Illinois Chicago Libraries, will serve as primary instructor. Preservation of Archival Materials will be taught by Tina Seetoo, Preservation Manager at Delta Flight Museum. Born-Digital and Digital Preservation will be taught by Katherine Fisher, Head of Digital Archives, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Tuition is $500 and enrollment is limited to 20 students. The application will go live on January 1, 2023 with a deadline of midnight on March 15. There is an application fee of $75, but if your application is not successful, your fee will be refunded. 

Currently, there are also four scholarships that fit your situation and aid your ability to attend the Institute. You can find links and more information here:
https://www.georgiaarchivesinstitute.org/support

For additional information, please visit our website at www.georgiaarchivesinstitute.orgor contact us at georgiaarchivesinstitute@gmail.com.

SGA’s President Reflects on our Annual Meeting Theme

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Submitted by 2022 SGA President Cathy Miller

This year’s annual meeting theme, Sustaining Archives: Practical Solutions for the Future, in my mind, speaks to not only what we have done to sustain the work of our archives, but the work we have done over the last three years to sustain ourselves. During the meeting, specifically in our keynote and in one of the planned sessions, the importance of self-care was emphasized. And boy howdy, can I say what an advocate I have become for self-care in these times. 2022, which is really just 2020 dressed as two kids in a trenchcoat, has been a year, to say the least. There’s been good, sure, but also, to put it plainly, there’s been a lot of suckitude. I hope that everyone who attended the meeting took away many learning moments regarding the work they do, but I also hope that attendees may have taken away new leases on life – I know, that’s a tall order, but bear with me a moment. Maybe you met a colleague at the meeting who plays Animal Crossing as religiously as you do, and before you know it, you are Switch friends and visiting each other’s islands and conspiring about how to take Tom Nook’s empire down. Or you found someone who shares the same hobby as you and you are able to trade ideas. Or you made a colleague who lives near you and now you have a new friend to go grab coffee or food with. In leaving the annual meeting, I hope you were able to take away something that sustains you as the person you are, not the archivist/librarian/information professional that you are.

SGA Keynote Address at the 2022 Annual Meeting

We have a lot of vocational awe in our profession. We are either told by someone or we tell ourselves that we are so lucky to be working in this field and getting to do the things we do, thus we’ll let slide the often poor pay, lax benefits, and multitude of other black marks that our profession is guilty of. I am here to say that while the work we do is awesome and important, the work will never love you back. So please, sustain yourself, however that is, be it treating yourself to a yummy food or drink treat on the drive home from work or going to the dollar spot in Target to see what new and exciting things await you. I’ve been reading T.J. Klune’s Under the Whispering Door – the premise of the novel is that Wallace, a workaholic lawyer, has died and he is given one week to get his afterlife in order and cross over to the great beyond. Wallace decides to embrace living a lifetime in those seven days. Let’s not be like Wallace. Live your life in the present. Leave work promptly at your 7 or 8 hour mark. Go enjoy being you with the people and pets that matter most to you in life.

SGA Members tour the Bartow History and Booth Western Museums

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Submitted by Marion Hudson

We had a good turnout for our SGA membership outing in August. The Booth Western Art Museum and the Bartow History Museum hosted some wonderful tours to 11 of our members.

The first tour included a behind the scenes look into the Bartow History Archives, recently named for the Mulinix Family of Bartow County. Our guide, Trey Gaines, then took us over to the Bartow History Museum and discussed the history of the building. The group had time to explore the temporary exhibit of It’s All Fun & Games: Iconic Toys of the Past and the permanent collection on the upper floor.

A docent led highlights tour at the Booth Western Art Museum covered many of the museum’s permanent and loaned collection. Pat, a long time docent at the Booth, led a great tour full of interesting history and facts about art and artists housed at the Booth. A horse created from recycled materials, “Walking Horse” by Leo Sewell, was a great talking piece among the group! The piece is created from repurposed metals.

Walking Horse by Leo Sewell

After the docent tour, Marion Hudson, gave the group a look at the Booth Research Library. Marion has been the librarian/archivist for the Booth since 2020. Many of the SGA members enjoyed lunch in the Booth Café with its wonderful view of the Bartow History Museum, which is housed in the historical courthouse. 

We thank the Booth Western Art Museum and the Bartow History Museum for their hospitality. For more information on the Booth Western Art Museum and the Bartow History Museum visit the websites below. Both are sister museums to the Tellus Science Museum and Savoy Automobile Museum; all are part of Georgia Museums, Inc.

See their websites at www.boothmuseum.org and www.bartowhistorymuseum.org.

VSU Indexing the Equal Rights Magazine

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Submitted by Douglas R. Carlson, Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections

The Valdosta State University Odum Library Archives and Special Collections acquired a run of the Equal Rights magazine published from the 1920’s – 50’s when the National Women’s Party (NWP) disposed of its surplus. The magazine covers four decades of worldwide women’s issues. The NWP publication highlights then current events in the areas of fair representation, voting and the fight for equal rights. The magazine has been a key addition to our collection of publications for traditionally underrepresented groups that includes The Southern Patriot Civil Rights Newspaper and the Black Panther Party Newspaper.

The archive has increasingly tried to identify and collect materials that support the university curriculum. Collaborating with the History Department, the VSU Archives has built a successful student volunteer program offering history class credit for participation in indexing projects. The magazine collection has enabled the archives to expand this effort to include students and interns from the Women’s and Gender studies program who index Equal Rights.  This is a challenging task for students because writing in the 20’s and 30’s was so different than the way we use words and arguments today.  Such writing often “talks around” an issue rather than addressing it succinctly. Pulling out details and summarizing often requires careful reading.   

Since the magazine still has copyright restrictions, we chose to create access by indexing the articles into a searchable database. Students read the text and then record specific metadata for issue, date, subject, people and a summary of the article for entry into an in-house created My-SQL database. Published online, the database allows researchers to browse and then request fair use reprints of specific articles. The archives staff tracks entries for accuracy, completeness, and level of student participation. While indexing, students have begun to research and compile more information on people mentioned frequently in the magazine.

The Equal Rights indexing is part of our vital efforts at increasing collection outreach, student involvement and access to primary sources. We hope access to the collection will increase scholarly research at the university. The indexing activity has also been included in new efforts to increase experiential learning by offering students an opportunity to participate in a public history project. The Equal Rights Newsletter Collection may be accessed at https://archivesspace.valdosta.edu/repositories/2/resources/473 . The index may be searched at https://archives.valdosta.edu/equal-rights/ .

Atlanta History Center Making Women’s History Accessible

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As Atlanta History Center works to make history available and accessible to all, a key component is women’s history. In 2020, Atlanta History Center archivists created detailed inventories for 16 archival collections that focus on women’s history in Atlanta. The photographs and historical documents in the collections help tell the stories of women civic leaders, activists, photojournalists, and entrepreneurs. This initiative is made possible by Emily Bourne Grigsby whose bequest endows support for the research, interpretation, and presentation of the role of women in the South. Grigsby was a multi-talented philanthropist from Atlanta, who’s donation established the Emily Bourne Grigsby Fund for Women’s History.

Portrait of Emily Bourne Grigsby (1922-2020) modeling. Grigsby worked as a runway and print model for department stores for 15 years. She was also an opera singer for the San Francisco Opera and prolific artist and arts advocate. She later practiced as an arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Directors (NASD) and as a mediator for the Justice Center of Atlanta. Emily Bourne Grigsby visual arts materials, VIS 391, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.

The 16 archival collections now available to the public because of the Grigsby Women’s History Fund include the following:

Suzanne Anderson Photographs

Atlanta Tomboys Documents

Atlanta Women’s Network Records

Lucinda Bunnen Photographs

Maria Helena Dolan Papers

Sally Fanny Gleaton Papers

Yolande Copley Gwin Visual Arts Materials

Emily Bourne Grigsby Visual Arts Materials

Florence Inman Photographs

Lochrane and Reid Family Papers

Chris Mastin Photographs of Protest Marches

Roan Family Papers

Leila Ross Wilburn Visual Arts Material

Darlene Roth Papers

Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Atlanta Visual Arts Materials

Cathy Woolard Papers

Along with her accomplishments as a model, opera singer, and arbitrator, Emily Bourne Grigsby (1922-2020) was also a licensed pilot. Pictured here is Grigsby with an unidentified man and child before take-off. Emily Bourne Grigsby visual arts materials, VIS 391, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center.

Explore more about the Emily Bourne Grigsby Fund for Women’s History here https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/learning-research/projects-initiatives/womens-work/

Submitted by Kate Daly, Visual Culture Archivist, Atlanta History Center

Saving African American genealogy programs

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By Jill Sweetapple, SGA Blog Contributor and Archival Assistant at the Delta Flight Museum

Tamika Strong, Reference Archivist at the Georgia Archives in Morrow, took on a big challenge and created a program that has won a Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC) award. Time to find out more!

What spurred this idea in the first place, can you remember?
A chance reading of an article in Georgia Library Quarterly written in 2009 by Dottie Demarest, former genealogy and local history librarian at the East Central Georgia Regional Library System which is now Augusta-Richmond County Public Library. In the article, Ms. Demarest talked about the funeral program collection at the library. After reading it, I thought that if Augusta could do it, so could Atlanta. So I started thinking about how to get the programs and where would they be housed.

Did you talk to the other project’s “inventors” or did you jump right in?
I just jumped right in. I didn’t think to reach out to Ms. Demarest. I just figured it out on my own. The goal was to collect the programs, index them and then donate them to the Auburn Avenue Research Library. Once I had the goal in mind, I shared my idea with the members of the Wesley Chapel Genealogy Group and they liked the idea. I also approached the then president of the Metro Atlanta Chapter of AAHGS, Gene Stephens, who was also on board. Auburn Avenue was the only institution I considered as a permanent home for the collection and thankfully, the Archivist at the time, Kerrie Cotten Williams, was accepting of the collection.

Did you have programs ready to go or did a collection elsewhere inspire you?
Our collection was inspired by the collection at Augusta-Richmond, that had been digitized on DLG. We didn’t have any programs ready, so through word of mouth, we began to receive donations of programs. We are still collecting and processing them. Hopefully, the programs we are collecting now will eventually be added to the Atlanta Funeral Programs Collection on DLG.

Did you have to solicit anyone to include their collections, or did a percentage donate once they heard about the project?
All of the programs were donated by members of the Wesley Chapel Genealogy Group and the Metro Atlanta Chapter of AAHGS. Some members reached out to family members, friends, funeral homes, and cemeteries and were able to get programs from them.

How did you “advertise” to get interest and donations?
Mostly word of mouth through members of the groups, but I remember creating a bookmark and would share that bookmark with attendees of workshops I taught several years ago.

How important were your genealogical ties in growing the project?
Our genealogical ties were the driving force behind the project. The obituaries contained in funeral programs are, in many cases, the only biographical sketch an individual will ever have. In the African American community, funeral programs are collected and, in some cases, treated as heirlooms. When the collector of these documents dies, unfortunately, these documents are among the papers thrown away, especially if the deceased are not members of the family. We wanted to provide a way to preserve these records because as genealogists tracing African American ancestry, we know how difficult it can be to uncover information. Though the information contained in the obituaries may not always be correct, it is a starting point for someone tracing their family’s history. Many of my fellow genealogists are having to start from scratch and it is our hope that this collection and others like it will help provide a foundation on which future researchers can begin the journey of tracing their family’s history.

If someone wanted to do a similar project, what first couple of steps would you suggest?
I would suggest they check to see if there is another project like it in their area first. If there is not, they may want to identify and speak with a repository to see if it is a collection they would be interested in receiving. The collection criteria for our project only had one restriction, the deceased had to be African American. Auburn Avenue Research Library was selected in part because they collect materials from around the world. Someone interested in doing a project such as this will have to make sure that the programs fall within the collection policy of the institution. Once they have a home, then they can work on collecting the programs. Word of mouth and some publicity at workshops worked well for us. They may be able to expand that in other ways. The goal was the index the programs before donating them to the institution so that the institution wouldn’t have more work added to their workload. Additionally, you may want to work with the institution to identify and possibly purchase supplies, archival safe boxes, folders, etc. to house the collection so that it will not become a financial drain for the institution. Grants may help to supplement this need. Work with the institution on deciding how to organize the collection, whether each program will have its own folder or if they will be grouped alphabetically. Depending on the size of the project, you may have to get volunteers to assist with the project. Once the foundation is laid and a process established, you can focus on collecting the programs.

Tell me a bit about your new GHRAC award!
Angela Stanley, the Director of Archival Services & Digital Initiatives at Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS), who was instrumental in getting the collection digitized, submitted the nomination and we were fortunate to be one of the recipients of the award. It never crossed my mind that this project would one day be honored with a state-wide award like GHRAC. It goes to show you never know. Though my name is listed on the award, the honor is shared with everyone who made contributions to the success of the project. I am grateful for the recognition and thankful to all the partners, especially the Wesley Chapel Genealogy Group, AAHGS Metro Atlanta Chapter, Derek Mosley and the archival staff at the Auburn Avenue Research Library, Angela Stanley and GPLS, and the Digital Library of Georgia for all of their work on making this project the success that it is.

A busy pandemic for the Portman Archives

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by Jill Sweetapple, SGA Blog Contributor

Westin Peachtree Plaza; ca.1976
© 1976 Alexandre Georges courtesy of the Portman Archives Interior of the Westin Peachtree Plaza by John C. Portman, Jr. with Olga De Amaral’s commissioned work, ‘El Gran Muro’, hanging within the central atrium.

Tell us a bit about the Portman Archive, for those who may not know about it.
The Portman Archives is the repository for the architectural and artistic contributions of John C. Portman, Jr. serving to promote and preserve his architectural philosophy and legacy. We are centrally located in the heart of Peachtree Center, one of his lasting contributions to the architecture of downtown Atlanta. The Portman Archives act to provide resources for research, digitization, and circulation of information and assets from our collections, internally, locally, and internationally.

What is your staffing, are you a lone arranger or are you a team?
Here at the Portman Archives, we are a team of three, directed by the leadership of the Portman Foundation. In addition to myself, the visual materials archivist, there are two other wonderful archivists, Becca Brown and Katie Twomey.

What kinds of collections do you have in your archive?
Our collections include architectural drawings, paintings, sculptures, artifacts, photographic materials, and marketing materials all related to Mr. Portman’s career as an architect and developer.

What were some of the changes in your job due to the pandemic and lockdown, and how did these changes reveal new opportunities?
During the pandemic we shifted our focus to digital projects, while also using the time away from our physical assets as an opportunity to revamp our archival policies and procedures. During this initiative, we streamlined our mission statement and collection policy and began working on a collaborative deaccession project that focuses on reducing our physical footprint, while ensuring retention and expansion of our digital collections. This exercise has been both challenging and rewarding!

My favorite example from our deaccession project has been working to rehome a beautiful set of Olga De Amaral weavings titled, ‘El Gran Muro’ that were commissioned by Mr. Portman in the 1970s to hang in the central atrium of the Westin Peachtree Plaza. While these weavings help to tell the story of Mr. Portman’s Westin Peachtree Plaza, we have come to realize that keeping the physical items is outside of our collection policy due to their scale and our inability to display them, especially with our move to smaller square footage on the horizon.

While the pandemic certainly made it more of a challenge to handle and show the weavings in-person to interested institutions, our deaccessioning initiative has really proven to create a new and exciting opportunity to build relationships with institutions who share our goal of making these assets accessible and able to be enjoyed by the public once again!

What prompted your move?
Our move represents a new direction for the Portman Archive as we aim to be more outward facing in our promotion of Mr. Portman’s legacy. Our new space will also position us closer to our sister companies within the Portman Companies so that we can collaborate more efficiently. We are excited about what the future holds for The Portman Archives and look forward to sharing with SGA in the future. If interested, please visit our website at www.portmanarchives.com!