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PLENARY SESSION
Point-Counterpoint:
Do Institutional Archivists and Manuscripts Curators
Belong to the Same Profession Anymore?
For understandable reasons, archival discourse over the past decade has concentrated heavily on the record-keeping impact of the electronic age. These developments are of importance to all who work within the field of archives administration, but they are perhaps of most compelling significance to institutional archivists. Thus, there has been a perceived emphasis in professional literature, meetings, and education on the perspective of archivists who manage the permanent records of a parent institution, at the expense of those who work in manuscript repositories. Is there once again a growing divide between institutional archivists and those who maintain historical or literary manuscript collections? Are manuscript curators and "pure" archivists concerned with enough of the same issues today to make up a unified professional discipline? Whom do archivists serve foremost: society or bureaucracy? Panelists will advance divergent viewpoints, setting the context for subsequent breakout discussions among attendees.
Moderator: Timothy Ericson, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Speakers:
Mark Greene, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
John Fleckner, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Philip C. Bantin, University Archives, Indiana University
William J. Maher, University of Illinois
Barbara L. Craig, University of Toronto
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
All-conference "breakout" sessions will divide the conference into smaller discussion groups to consider the issues presented by the plenary speaker, Ian Wilson, and the plenary panelists. This was a device used recently at a MAC meeting and was received enthusiastically. The smaller groups will not only help to provide a reality check of the issues among an informal group of archival practitioners, but will give MARAC and MAC members a chance to meet and exchange ideas outside of a formal session. The breakout sessions will be led by members of the MAC/MARAC Program Committee.
3:15 p.m.-4:45 p.m.
Are All Researchers Created Equal?
The concept of equal access is frequently asserted, but do all our users really receive the same treatment? Should all users find our collections and services equally available? Or, do we acknowledge that administrators, major donors, and others likely to benefit our archives sometimes receive "gold-plated" service? Is the notion of the "qualified researcher" dead? In this point-counterpoint session, two archivists will present distinct views on this controversial and often unacknowledged topic and challenge the audience to delineate their own opinions.
Moderator: Frank Boles, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University
Speakers:
Danna Bell-Russell, National Digital Library, Library of Congress
John J. Treanor, Archdiocese of Chicago
Authenticity and Preservation of Electronic Records: US-InterPARES
This session will report on the research activities and findings of the US-InterPARES Project as it concludes the first half of its work. The US-InterPARES Project is part of the wider international InterPARES Project that examines methods for establishing the authenticity of electronic records and ensuring their preservation, in time and over time. The session will discuss the conceptual framework that has been developed, the analysis of case study data, and the modeling and systems prototype development under way.
Moderator: Beth Yakel, University of Michigan
Speakers: Ciaran Trace, University of California-Los Angeles
Fynnette Eaton, Smithsonian Institution
Mark Giguere, National Archives and Records Administration
Role of Popular Culture
What actually is the role of popular culture in documenting our history and heritage? Who is responsible for collecting popular culture? To better understand the role of popular culture in our acquisition planning, this session will grapple with a working definition of "popular culture" and discuss the various emphases of popular culture, for example, mass culture and folk culture, as well as the various types of documents to be acquired and preserved.
Moderator: Alison Scott, Harvard University
Speakers:
Shirley Wajda, Kent State University
Randall Scott, Michigan State University
Lorna Toolis, Toronto Public Library
Who Teaches the Teachers?
Is there an archivist among us who hasn't been asked to present a workshop on one of the following topics: how to do oral history, how to do genealogy, how to do local history, how to preserve your family's history, etc.? Having accepted the offer to do the workshop we are then told to provide our audience with all of our wisdom and insights in two hours (sometimes less)! This mini-workshop will be led by an archival educator who will provide helpful techniques to any archivist called on to do these types of presentations.
Speaker:
Kathleen Roe, New York State Archives
John D. Rockefeller - The Cleveland Legacy
Collaboration between Archivists and Documentary FilmMakers
The Rockefeller Archive Center will sponsor a screening of the new documentary film John D. Rockefeller: The Cleveland Legacy, produced for Cleveland's public television station, WVIZ. Following the showing, the film's producer, Jane Hirz, and Mark Rosenberger, production and local program director of WVIZ, will discuss working with archivists from a producer's perspective, and Rockefeller Archive Center photo archivist Michele Hiltzik will discuss working with film producers from an archivist's point of view. Conference attendees are invited to offer their perspectives on this growing demand on archivists' time and resources.
Moderator: John LeGloahec, Rockefeller Archive Center
Speakers:
Jane Hirz, producer of John D. Rockefeller: The Cleveland Legacy
Mark Rosenberger, WVIZ
Michele Hiltzik, Rockefeller Archive Center
Saturday, October 21
9:45 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
Electronic Records: Access and Use
As archives begin to accession electronic records and make them available to researchers, what issues arise for user orientation, access, and use of these materials? This session will bring together archivists and researchers. The archivists will discuss how they provide access to electronic records, critiquing the few such interfaces available. The researchers will describe how they have used electronic records in their work and what they need to be able to use them successfully.
Moderator: Edward A. Galloway, Digital Research Library, University of Pittsburgh
Speakers:
Virginia Ainslie, Ainslie & Associates
Jack Licate, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Mark Salling, Northern Ohio Data and Information Service, Cleveland State University
Nancy Deromedi, Bentley Library, University of Michigan
Electronic Epiphanies AND Archival Description
As archives have entered the on-line world, archivists have been reexamining finding aids. This session will attempt to elucidate the reasons archivists should be considering the adoption of EAD as opposed to other methods for distributing finding aids electronically. What are the new questions, issues, and revelations that have emerged as finding aids have moved into the electronic realm? What works in the print world but doesn't in the electronic world? How have archivists changed their finding aids to make them work better in the electronic world? This session will discuss the emerging need for standards in finding aids and address how on-line finding aids are being used and how effective they are. This workshop discusses EAD as an effective tool to meet modern electronic archival needs.
Moderator: TBA
Speakers:
Jill Tatem, Case Western Reserve University
Bradley Westbrook, University of California-San Diego
Nicolas Maftei, Nicolas Maftei Consulting
Improving Relationships Between SAA and Regional Archival Organizations
The archival profession consists of many distinct and thought-provoking individuals who represent themselves and the art of archiving through regional, national, and international organizations. However, the symbiotic relationship between the Society of American Archivists and this country's regional organizations is clouded by poorly delineated purposes and inflation's relentless forward march to the drumbeat of more for less. The discordant sounds of the regional-versus-national-organization debate serve only to rob the swing and flatten the meaning from the essence of the archival profession. The purpose of this debate is not to just present the strengths and weaknesses of belonging to one type of organization over another. It is to initiate a thoughtful dialogue among all participants that will engender new ways for the Society of American Archivists to better serve regional professional organizations and enhance benefits for those individuals that belong to one or both.
Moderator: Dennis Harrison, SAA Council Representative
Speakers:
Todd J. Daniels-Howell, MAC Representative
Jim Stimpert, MARAC Representative
Scott Schwartz, SAA Representative
Reaching Out to Elementary and Secondary School Students:
Effective Curricular Use of Archives
Children from grade school through high school find their way into repositories to use primary sources for a variety of reasons. Primary sources expose students to several perspectives and interpretations and develop knowledge and analytical skills. Yet, using primary sources is often not a positive experience for the student, teacher, or archivist. What can archivists and teachers do to make the student's trip to the archives positive and enriching? What should a teacher expect from such an experience? The archivist? The student? Are elementary and secondary school students an audience that archives should develop and market to? Succeeding with the student audience requires defining expectations and outcomes, and commitment by the archives and teachers. This session will explore the need to better define the relationship that the archivist and teacher should forge in order to effectively use archives in developing and enhancing curricula. It will provide useful tips on preparing your staff and archives for young researchers. An archivist, a museum educator, a teacher, and a student will discuss this issue.
Moderator: Gail Redmann, Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
Speakers:
Matt Blessing, Marquette University Archives
Janice Ziegler, Western Reserve Historical Society
Connie Miller and student, Birchwood School
11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Confidential Records in State Archives
According to the "Archivist's Code," the archivist is to promote "access to the fullest extent consistent with the public interest," always observing proper restrictions on the use of records and working to make records available. In case study fashion, the presenters from Indiana and Michigan will detail how their respective states have grappled with providing access to confidential state records and how they developed individual agreements and statutory provisions in meeting the needs of agencies and users.
Moderator: Roland M. Baumann, Oberlin College
Speakers:
F. Gerald Hanfield, Jr., Indiana Commission on Public Records
David J. Johnson, State Archives of Michigan
Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt, Pleasant Company/Klodt Associates
Small Archives in the Electronic World
In an article on EAD and the small repository in the fall 1997 American Archivist, Elizabeth Dow wrote, "EAD is quickly becoming fundamental to the Web presence of a historical repository." Just when we were getting used to the MARC format, along come EAD, WWW, HTML, SGML, and a host of other acronyms for the technologically savvy. Given the increasing number and complexity of issues that all archives are currently dealing with, what strategies exist for smaller, less well-funded institutions to keep up? How are priorities being set in successful small archives? What management tools are being used to cope with or embrace these new technologies? This session will provide a forum for the discussion of administrative techniques for successfully dealing with technology issues.
Moderator: Erik Nordberg, Michigan Technological University
Speakers:
Kenneth Wirth, Johnson Controls
Richard Wandel, New York Philharmonic Archives and National Lesbian & Gay Archives
Margery Sly, Presbyterian Church USA
Working with the Media
If you've ever been tongue-tied or struck dumb in the presence of members of the fourth estate, attend this session. Panelists will discuss successes with the media, including tips and tricks for anticipating coverage, preparing for the public's "need to know," pitching stories that sell, and forming a working partnership with local journalists. Do journalists get special treatment? Or, do some of us give them less than stellar service? How do you deal with donors who favor restricting journalists from access to their collections? Come with examples and questions; this will be a wide-ranging and valuable discussion.
Moderator: Cheri Thies, Minnesota Historical Society
Speakers:
Larry Wagenaar, Joint Archives of Holland
Brian Albrecht, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Heather Bruce Satrom, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, Smithsonian Institution
Do We Need Printed Professional Literature Anymore?
The archival field has a major task ahead of itself to determine whether its various publication venues are sufficiently coherent. Is our professional literature meeting real needs of the field? Do ever-expanding electronic dissemination options render the traditional journal obsolete? If research continues to be needed and desired, what distribution methods will provide the greatest stimulus to this activity? Do the regional organizations have a distinct role to play in distributing archival research and writing (in whatever form)? Panelists will address these issues from divergent viewpoints, followed by substantial audience participation.
Moderator: David Klaassen, Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota
Speakers:
Philip Eppard, State University of New York at Albany
Helen Tibbo, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
David Haury, Kansas State Historical Society
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