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/.
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