Mentoring Citizen

ArchivistsRebecca Morin Holyoke Community College

Jennifer Bolmarcich Simmons College

What does that mean?▫ Partnering with community archives

projects, personal collectors (citizens),

and/or budding community archives

▫ Providing mentorship, support, and

guidance to communities looking to

document their histories and stories.

▫ Knowledge Sharing

We’ll get into the logistics in a bit...

“Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) Photograph # 8”

Courtesy of SAADA

Inspiration

Michelle Caswell ▫ “Owning Critical Archival Studies”▫ “Inventing New Archival Imaginaries”

Jarrett Drake▫ “Liberatory archives”

▫ A call to actionBergis Jules

▫ “Confronting our failures of care...”

“Occupy Wall Street”

Photo by Aaron BauerCourtesy of the Internet Archive

Liberatory Archives▫ Participatory

▫ Virtual vs. physical

▫ Nature of a physical space

▫ Belonging

▫ Post-custodial

▫ Independent & autonomous

Archives of the Occupy Movement

▫ Separate groups of people began collecting materials

▫ Initiated by occupiers (working-groups)▫ Initiated by “formal” archival institutions

▫ Other institutions focused on digital records

▫ Archivist Assistance▫ “Formal” archival institutions▫ Groups of archivists

▫ The Activist Archivists ▫ @actarc - Twitter

▫ Difficulties:▫ Resources▫ Finding balance in relationship

Radical nature Radical natureof the movement of the archives

Image: “Zuccotti Park - Art work” photo by Johanna Clearfield

Courtesy of the Internet Archive

South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)

▫ Founded in 2008▫ 501 (c) (3) ▫ Governance

▫ 5 member board ▫ Staff

▫ Volunteers nationwide▫ Pro-bono lawyers

▫ Funding▫ Grants▫ Fundraising site (razoo.com)▫ Individual gifts

▫ No physical location▫ Board members speak at community forums ▫ Administrative and fiscal independence▫ Commitment to social justice aims▫ Partnerships

“Curtiss Aviation School Students, including Mohan Singh”

Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society and SAADA.

Shorefront Legacy Center▫ Founded by Morris (Dino) Robinson Jr.▫ “Collects, preserves, and educates the

public about Black history on Chicago’s suburban North Shore”

▫ 501 (c) (3) - 2002▫ Museum-like

▫ Exhibits & Events▫ Board of directors, Board of Advisors,

volunteers, resident scholar▫ Archival students ▫ Black Metropolis Research

Consortium▫ Funding: grant based, independent

donationsArchival intern, Elizabeth Sanderson (Dominican University),

processing the Smith Collection.

Courtesy of the Shorefront Journal

How do we begin?

▫ Cultivating a community partner▫ Let the “community” define themselves▫ Relationship:

▫ Respect▫ Empathy▫ Sensitivity▫ Flexibility

▫ Communication strategy ▫ Broaden your collecting mentality▫ Participatory▫ Knowledge sharing▫ Offer your skills

▫ “Activist Archivists” - MA?▫ Pro-bono work?

“Family portrait photograph of the Saund family”

Courtesy of Eric Saund and SAADA

Possible Obstacles?

▫ Finding a community

▫ Encouraging people their

“stuff” matters

▫ Language barriers

▫ The digital divide

▫ Sustainability

Image:”flickr-ows--6218142948”photo by Matt.J.S.

Courtesy of the Internet Archive

ReferencesCaswell, Michelle. “Inventing New Archival Imaginaries: Theoretical Foundations for Identity-Based Community Archives.” In Identity

Palimpsests: Archiving Ethnicity in the U.S. and Canada, edited by Dominique Daniel and Amalia S. Levi, 35–55. Sacramento: Litwin Books, 2014.

———. “Owning Critical Archival Studies: A Plea.” presented at the Archival Education and Research Institute, Kent State University, July 2016. http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/75x090df.

———. “Seeing Yourself in History: Community Archives and the Fight Against Symbolic Annihilation.” The Public Historian 36, no. 4 (November 2014): 26–37.

Drake, Jarrett M. “Liberatory Archives: Towards Belonging and Believing (Part 1).” On Archivy. Medium, October 22, 2016. https://medium.com/on-archivy/liberatory-archives-towards-belonging-and-believing-part-1-d26aaeb0edd1.

———. “Liberatory Archives: Towards Belonging and Believing (Part 2).” On Archivy. Medium, October 22, 2016. https://medium.com/on-archivy/liberatory-archives-towards-belonging-and-believing-part-2-6f56c754eb17#.4hky7zcjt.

Erde, John. “Constructing Archives of the Occupy Movement.” Archives and Records 35, no. 2 (2014): 77–92.

Flinn, Dr Andrew. “Community Histories, Community Archives: Some Opportunities and Challenges.” Journal of the Society of Archivists. Society of Archivists 28, no. 2 (2007): 151–76.

Jimerson, Randall. “Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice.” The American Archivist 70, no. 2 (2007): 252–81.

Jules, Bergis. “Confronting Our Failure of Care Around the Legacies of Marginalized People in the Archives.” On Archivy. Medium, November 11, 2016. https://medium.com/on-archivy/confronting-our-failure-of-care-around-the-legacies-of-marginalized-people-in-the-archives-dc4180397280.

Shorefront Legacy Center. “Shorefront Legacy Center.” Shorefront Legacy Center, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161025065821/http://www.shorefrontlegacy.org/.