Black history, the SAA election, and libraries
This week's newsletter will focus on the archives and library fields, new articles about a Black Towson cemetery, the SAA election, and my friend's new fictional work. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great this week, even with the spread of COVID-19 across the world and across the U.S. Let’s hope you aren’t finding rocks in your archival boxes! Apart from that, I’d like to share some articles I have written and news in the archives and library fields, along with my newest fictional work.
I’ll start with an article I put together today. It focuses on the historically Black cemetery in Towson, Maryland named Pleasant Rest Cemetery that I visited today. I also focus on limits to access, noting how FamilySearch has not all by restricted access to the 1900 U.S. Census, as you have to either be a member of FamilySearch or be at a FamilyLibrary. I also talk about the importance of this cemetery and the Mount Olive Baptist Church in the history of Towson.
Other than that, I also wrote about the SAA (Society of American Archivists) election, calling for new leadership. I put together a slate of candidates to support and those which you shouldn’t vote for. I remain optimistic about the results with voting ending on March 20th. I’d also recommend reading the SNAP 2020 candidate forum for the SAA' Vice-President/President-Elect for further information.
A couple days ago my friend published their last fictional work for a while which had a whole section in a fictional archives which has normal hours with pauses during the day, and clarifying how libraries are different from archives. My friend notes how archives do not lend out documents, the similarities with libraries, but differences, especially with what archives preserve, serving as a “form of documentary evidence of the past which could be interpreted and recognized through countless perspectives.” My friend also portrays the archives as a clean environment, how no one dared confuse it with a library without getting a mouthful from the archivists, with this archives not visible from the outside but is the safest place on the planet, with possible satellite branches in the future. My most favorite part is what the three archivists chant when walking back to work:
We’re here!
We’re archivists!
Get used to it!
I’m not going to note what is referencing here, because it should be common knowledge, as this story has to be my friend’s most pro-archives/archivists one yet!
In terms of the archives field, there are some interesting stories for this week. Articles focused on student loans and the archives profession, preserving vintage music, and the digitization of Confederate slave payrolls. These are all positive developments. I also enjoyed reading, on various platforms, about archival finding aids, early representations of horsepower from old patents, and partnerships that archives can begin (or continue) in order to complete their duties. There were, additionally, some interesting articles about records on the Georgia frontier, digitizing school records and church minutes from a North Carolina library, and a review of the book, Laura A. Millar’s A Matter of Facts: The Value of Evidence in an Information Age, examining the book through three main questions: what is evidence, why is it important, and what do we ultimately do next?
That brings me to some news in the library field. Hack Library School focused on, this past week, business mantras, reflections on learning and teaching, and “other duties.” It was also promising to hear about a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working to address mental illness among librarians.
That’s all for this week. I hope everyone has a great rest of your week.
- Burkely