Reading Group – Topics in Archival Literature
March 26, 2009 – Access

Access was the theme of the first meeting of the Seattle Area Archivists Reading Group. Over the past twenty years, technological advances have made information more accessible than ever before. As a result, the public has become used to instant access to information and these ever increasing expectations confront the archival profession. How and to what extent should archivists provide access to their collections? What are the political, technical, logistical, economic, and legal issues surrounding access and how do new technologies address these issues? Discussion was based on the following three readings.

Max J. Evans, “Archives of the People, by the People, for the People,” The American Archivist, Vol 70 (Fall/Winter, 2007): 387-400.

Brewster Kahle, “Universal Access to All Knowledge,” The American Archivist, Vol. 70 (Spring/Summer, 2007): 23-31.

David Lowenthal, “Archives, Heritage, and History,” in Archives, Documentation, and Institutions of Social Memory: Essays from the Sawyer Seminar, Francis X. Blouin, Francis X. Blouin, Jr., William G. Rosenberg, 193-206.

Winter Meeting – Student Presentations
March 2, 2009 – NARA – Pacific Alaska

Our winter meeting featured a fantastic “mini symposium” of student presentations. Students in archives from both the School of Information at the University of Washington and the History, Archives and Records Management program at Western Washington University gave papers and presentations on a variety of topics including:

Joshua Polansky “Images from the Victor Steinbrueck Archive” (UW iSchool)

Andrea Hernandez “The Rock: A Diamond in the Rough: My experience at the Gibraltar Government Archives” (WWU History and Archives)

Sammy Franklin “According to ye latest and most Exact Observations”: Digitizing Rare Maps at the University of Washington Special Collections (UW iSchool)

Heidi Holmstrom “The Religious Archives as Film Orphanage?: The Orphan Film Concept and Its Relevance to Religious Film Collections.” (WWU History and Archives)

Josh Zimmerman “On the Idea of Collective Memory” (WWU History and Archives)

Cafe des fonds: A Seattle Archives and History Cafe
November 3, 2008 – Herstory and ‘Zines: From the Ground Up We Rise Up

The first meeting of Cafe des Fonds kicked off with an exciting and insightful discussion on the topic of grassroots archives in the Pacific Northwest. Lisa Cohen and Emily J. Glenn of Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives spoke about their experiences starting and running a small, grassroots archives in the Seattle area. Nora Mukaihata and Kathryn Higgins talked about the Zine Archives and Publishing Project (ZAPP) and the DIY movement in the Seattle area.

Archives Month
October 27, 2008 – Archives Fair 2008, Seattle City Hall

Seattle Area Archivists coordinated the Archives Fair for the Seattle area held at Seattle City Hall this year. Area archives were represented at the fair that was set up in a prime location for area archives to gain critical attention for their collections and repositories.

“‘To the Limit of Our Integrity’: How We Do Our Work”
October 23, 2008 – NARA – Pacific Alaska Region

Guest speaker Scott Cline, of Seattle Municipal Archives, presented his paper titled “‘To the Limit of Our Integrity’: How We Do Our Work,” which he was also presented as part of a panel at the Society of American Archives meeting in San Francisco, California. The meeting began with welcome and announcements from the Seattle Area Archivists steering committee, as well as an update from State Archivist Jerry Handfield on the activities of the Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board (WSHRAB).