How to Use the Archives PSA

Gee Whiz!  Archives sure are swell!

 

How to Use the Archives from Michelle DB on Vimeo.

ARCHIVES: A Motivational Gallery

Archivists: Champions of the Whovians??

From BBC.com

It's a lovely marriage of archives and science fiction.  If you haven't already heard the news, it turns out that 9 missing episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s have been rediscoverd in Nigeria by the Television International Enterprise Archive, an archiving business working out of the UK.

The nine episodes - which covered two "stories" - were aired in 1967 and 1968, and then were likely the victims of the cost-saving practicing of wiping and recycling tapes for new programs.  Thanks to the fact that they were shipped overseas for international distrubution, these particular tapes escaped recycling, and were kept in a quiet storeroom instead.  And we all know that nothing draws in those pesky, curious archivists like quiet storerooms....

These works can now join the others that have been recovered by archivists and fans around the world, and shared with a new generation of Whovians.

Read more about this story HERE.

So You Want to be an Archivist.... Why?

1.  I like filing.

2.  Lifting records center cartons onto high shelves gives me a much-needed triceps workout.

3.  The constant threat of papercuts makes me feel like I’m living life on the edge!

4.  Steering a rickety wooden cart piled high with early 19th century documents around a hairpin turn gives me a thrill like nothing else.

5.  I care about everybody’s great-great-great grandmother.

6. I secretly like Hilary Jenkinson and all his old-fashioned idealism.

 

7. Archivists make, like, a ton of money.  Right?

8.  I’ll never, NEVER organize my apartment, but when I see a box of papers shoveled out of someone’s attic, I catch myself subconsciously beginning to organize them into series.

 

9.  I like to know that my hands have touched history, that I’ve helped provide a window into the lives of the world’s movers and shakers, and possibly helped to give voice to the voiceless.  I recognize that a will, a school record, a letter, or a medical examination might be the only tangible remaining record of an entire life, and I am the person who decides to preserve it.

 

10.  Or I must just really like filing.

 

 

Happy Archives Month 2012!

It’s that time of year again, American Archives Month. Never heard of Archives month? You’re not alone, but this plucky little project has been steadily gaining steam over the last six years.  So, what exactly is Archives Month and what are the programs goals? In 2006 the Society of American Archivists (SAA) began their campaign to promote public awareness of what archives do and how they serve their community by creating American Archives Month. The goal of this program is to make archives more visible to surrounding communities and the United States at large, and the SAA achieves this goal by encouraging events and displays at archives across the country. The SAA also provides a variety of public relation resources and ideas on their website to help archives make the most out of their celebrations. Many states have taken up the cause as well throwing their own Archives Month events. In the last few years there has been a push to standardize the celebration date, and now most archives that participate celebrate an entire month of events every October.

In the spirit of American Archives Month, the archival studies graduate students in the School of Library and Information Studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison contribute blog posts relating the theme of Wisconsin's Archives Month. This year marks the fifth year UW students have written posts, which is pretty darn spectacular! Wisconsin's Archives Month is headed by the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) main branch in Madison. Like SAA, WHS provides ideas and promotional materials to Wisconsin archives to celebrate Archives Month at their repository. WHS also chooses the theme for each year’s celebrations. This year’s theme is “100 Years of the Wisconsin Idea: Forward Through the Past”. So, this year our Archives Month blog posts will feature archival collections from Wisconsin that exemplify the Wisconsin Idea.

The Wisconsin Idea, simply stated, is fostering programs in which public universities engage and contribute to their communities, and constructing legislation that benefits the greatest number of people.  

Check in through the month to learn about collections in Wisconsin that demonstrate the Wisconsin Idea in practice!

Ada James

Inspired by the recent political activities in Wisconsin’s capital, I turned to the Wisconsin Historical Society to find other instances of social reform and political activity born in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Historical Society was founded in 1846 and was originally located in the Capital Building in Madison. As WHS began to outgrow its quarters, a move was planned to a larger location on the University of Wisconsin’s campus to better serve the society’s main user base at that time, university students. WHS is now housed in an impressive building opened in 1900.

Not to be missed on a trip to WHS is the second floor reading room and the many paintings that grace the staircases.

Newly renovated reading room.

WHS is open to researchers and the public alike. If a trip to Madison is not an option, WHS has a fantastic website with a variety of digitized collections and virtual reference available.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/

The WHS archival collections are rich with materials of social reform and political unrest; varying from the papers and photographs of Edward Alsworth Ross, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin concerned with immigrant rights, federal health care and education; to film and manuscripts collections of anti-war protests from the Vietnam era; to the more recent Wisconsin Bureau of Community Health and Prevention Family Planning Program papers documenting family planning funding and education in the 1970’s and 1980’s. However, one collection in particular piqued my interest as an example of political reform born in Wisconsin.

The Ada Lois James collection chronicles the work of Richland Center, Wisconsin native Ada James as she worked to bring political equality to women and better the lives of Wisconsinites. Ada was born into a politically active family; her parents were David G. James, a Wisconsin state senator that among other accomplishments introduced a suffrage referendum bill to the state senate at the urging of his daughter in 1911; and her mother Laura Briggs James who was involved in the Wisconsin Woman’s Suffrage Association with her daughter. Throughout her life, Ada was involved in many organizations and social movements. Her papers contain correspondence with other social activist in the Midwest, correspondence from politicians as well as personal correspondence.

Below is the hand drawn cover and inside page of the Political Equality Club 1909 member log. Ada was president of the club from 1911-1918. She was also active with the Wisconsin Women’s Suffrage Association, and the National Women’s Party.

President-Marila Marshall, Vice-President-Gracie Harn, Secretary-Marcia Bliss, Treasurer-Mary McCormick

The suffrage movement began in Wisconsin in 1846 and was not fulfilled until June of 1919 when Wisconsin became the first state to ratify the 19^th amendment. Below is a letter from state senator Harlan P. Bird to Ada explaining why he is unable to support women’s suffrage. Although Senator Bird appears to hold women in high esteem, he explains to Ada that he cannot allow women to carry a man’s intellectual burden of voting. He also writes that he cannot foresee a time when the suffrage movement will catch on at a national level. The letter is dated April of 1909, some ten years before women won the vote in Wisconsin. You can click on the images for a closer look.

Ada and her fellow suffragist traveled around Wisconsin holding gatherings and trying to win the public’s support for women’s suffrage.

A group of suffragists in 1911 or 1912. Ada is in the center, wearing a sash.

A gathering in support of women’s suffrage in 1912 at Sister Bay, Wisconsin.

Although the suffrage movement was of great importance to Ada, she found time to be involved in other political movements. During World War I Ada became involved in pacifism and prohibition movements. After women secured the vote, Ada remained involved in social and political reform. In 1922 Ada was the Vice-Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and in 1923 became the President of the Wisconsin Progressive Association. In her later life Ada became involved with social work within Wisconsin.

Ada was born in Wisconsin, and so was her determination and perseverance to bring about political equality.

[Post created by Laura Farley.]

Celebrate American Archives Month with SAA-SC!

Welcome to the 4^th annual Archives Month Blog! The Society of American Archivists-Student Chapter of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is proud to welcome you to share in another month’s worth of posts and pictures in honor of American Archives Month.

This year’s theme, “Born in Wisconsin,” invites people and organizations around the state to reflect on the meaning of archives in their lives and society, and to discover the wealth of fascinating materials held by archives in Wisconsin. Throughout the month members of the SAA-SC will be traveling around the state of Wisconsin (and beyond!) to highlight unique collections and organizations, all the while writing blog posts illustrated with photographs of the archives and materials we see. We will report on a variety of archival materials “born,” originating or having roots in Wisconsin: native peoples, individuals, places, ideas, events, products, industries, hoaxes and much more.

We hope you will join us throughout the month to learn about archives, read about the great organizations who preserve them, and share engaging stories about anything and everything “born in Wisconsin!” Check back often, and we’ll see you in the comments.

To read more about American Archives Month, visit this page on the Society of American Archivists website. To see what’s going on around Wisconsin throughout October, find suggestions for events for your organization, and learn more about Archives Month in Wisconsin, visit the Wisconsin Historical Society’s website.

Lodi Woman's Club Scrapbooks-Lodi Public Library

Lodi Woman’s Club Scrapbooks
Lodi Public Library
130 Lodi Street
Lodi, WI

The Lodi Public Library houses a collection of scrapbooks of the Lodi Woman’s Club. The Woman’s Club collected many scrapbooks until the early 1990s. During the library’s remodeling in 1990, volunteers assisted in moving the scrapbooks--person to person--from the old building to the new. There are also scrapbooks showing Summer Library Programs starting in 1961.

Kristine Millard, co-director of the Lodi Public Library, said the library houses bookshelves of local history books and scrapbooks. She found a unique scrapbook of the Merrick Family. The Merrick Family scrapbook was compiled by a relative from Washington State.

Additionally the library compiled scrapbooks during the early 2000s documenting the Summer Reading Program at the library.
They encourage local children to check out a ‘travel bear’ from the library to take with them on vacation and then send postcards to the library during the Summer Library Program from where they are visiting. The library has received postcards from many states, even Alaska, and from other countries, Sweden and Israel.

Entry compiled by Emily Johnson

Images courtesy of Kristine Millard, Co-director

The University of Wisconsin - Madison SAA-SC Thanks You!

The University of Wisconsin - Madison SAA-SC would like to thank all the participating repositories for their time and effort in helping us put together entries for this project.

We'd also like to extend a big thanks to our visitors for taking the time to stop by. We've had visits from as close as next door in Madison to as far away as Japan, Macao, and Kazakhstan!

We hope you've learned a bit more about archival institutions throughout Wisconsin - we certainly did. We also got to dabble with some Web 2.0 tools and got a hand at reaching new audiences. From our perspective, this project was a resounding success.

What did you think? Please feel free to leave feedback about what we've done and what you'd like to see in this blog in the future. Your comments can go under the "Comments" section of this post.

Again, thank you! We'll see you again next October for American Archives Month!

Image courtesy of Dr. Ciaran Trace.
Seated, left to right: Greg Kocken, Casey Coleman
Front row, left to right: Simone Munson, Christina Johnson
Second row, left to right: Lisa Muccigrosso, Rachel Pieper
Third row, left to right: Tyler Kennedy, Becky Julson, Sarah Mueller, Katie Scanlan
Fourth row, left to right: Dr. Ciaran Trace, Meredith Lowe, Heather Heckman, Anna Cianciara

October is American Archives Month!

In celebration of American Archives Month, the Student Chapter of the Society of American Archivists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will present a Wisconsin archives repository each week day in October. Beginning October 1, we will post entries about the various institutions around the state that act to preserve and make available for use the records of Wisconsin's rich heritage. These repositories include state and local governments, religious and medical institutions, colleges and universities, libraries, historical societies, museums, and businesses. Our goal is to make the public aware of the wide array of historical materials that are available to them, whether for scholarly research, genealogical study, or just for fun.

Please check back early and often to help us celebrate Wisconsin's archives!