Student Archivists at Maryland

Basketball Tickets!

2006-12-18T10:55:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks,

Now that most people are done for the semester, it seems like an opportune time for people to start thinking about the important stuff they're doing over Winter Break. By which I mean, going to Maryland basketball games.

We have 11 tickets each for the three following games:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 4 8:00 PM vs. Iona
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10 9:00 PM vs. Miami
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13 2:00 PM vs. Clemson

In the interest of making sure as many people get to go to the games as possible, this is how we're going to do this.

If you are interested in going to only ONE (1) game, or if you can only make one game, send an email to Steve Bookman (sbookman@umd.edu) and cc me on the email. You will receive priority on getting to a ticket to that game.

If you are interested in going to MULTIPLE games, or if you are able to make multiple games, send an email to Steve and me with a RANKED LIST of your preferences. For example, if I wanted to go to the Clemson game but could make the Miami game too, I would send the following:

1) Clemson
2) Miami

You will get preference for your preferred game, but if there are multiple people that have that game listed as their only availability, you may get bumped to your second or third choice. Depending on how many respondents we have, it MAY be possible for some people to get multiple tickets, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Please include both your name and ID number in your email so Steve can properly submit the information to the Athletics department and get our tickets. Those will be distributed at Comcast before the game. Because of the deadlines handed down by said Athletics department, we need to know people's preferences by DECEMBER 26 (Next Tuesday) if at all possible, particularly if you want to go to the Iona game. On December 28, once we have figured out our distribution, a list of attendees for each game will be posted on the SAM blog (http://samumd.blogspot.com). We will also send out emails to the ticketees with additional logistics info.

On behalf of Student Archivists at Maryland, have a Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah/Festive Kwanzaa/Joyous Festivus/Cheery Agnostica, and a enjoyable (and relaxing!) Winter Break. We'll see you in 2007!

Cheers,
Brad

Fashion Committee: Dressed for Success?

2006-11-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

At the October 25th SAM meeting, we formed 3 standing committees:

Social--will organize happy hours, parties, BBQs

Professional--will plan and schedule tours, talks, and professional development activities

Fashion--will make sure we are all beautifully bedecked in SAM T-shirts and buttons

I am here asking for your feedback so that the Fashion Committee can move forward with its assigned charge. Basically, what do you want the T-shirt/button to say or depict?
Two of the (more coherent) proposed slogans include:

"What would T.R. Schellenberg do?"

"Archivists will always give you access...but you may have to wear gloves."

However, I believe the fashion committee is open to more ideas, including non-textual forms of representation (How about a nice picture of a Hollinger box with a SAM logo on it?). So, if you have visions about how to promote your favorite student organization via a garment/accessory, now is your chance to make them a reality.

We want your feedback! If you have an idea, comment, or want to join the fashion committee, leave a comment on this blog posting and/or please e-mail Sara at snyder1@umd.edu, with "SAM Fashion" in the subject line.

The fashion committee is: Ashley Locke, Sara Snyder, Jason Speck, Matthew Matthias, and Gregory Horvitz. I would also like to nominate Ben and Cory, as we desperately need to add your mad design skillz to our talent stable.

Big thanks to Matt for taking notes at our last meeting and e-mailing them to all of us.

Remember, if you didn't get the chance to join any committees yet, next SAM meeting is November 29th.

Pics from the Weinstein Event

2006-10-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who came out for the conversation with Prof. Weinstein! Our very own Lloyd Beers graciously provided his digital camera for documentation of the event. A pic is above, and will hopefully be put on the main SAM page sooner rather than later. (On a personal note, it is very encouraging that unlike last year's photo, I am NOT the only male in the group.)

P.S. If you appear in this photo, please respond to this post so that I or Courtney can update it with names. Thanks!

Interesting article in the Washington Post on Handwriting

2006-10-11T19:52:00.000-04:00

The Handwriting is on the Wall: Researchers see a downside as keyboards replace pens in schools

This article has two premises, one of which I don't accept and one of which I'm unsure on. The first, that failure to teach cursive has some sort of negative impact on the cognitive abilities of students, seems foolish to me. I learned cursive in school, but because I am left-handed I never really learned it properly, and when it became obvious to me that longhand was seen as an inferior substitute to something that is actually legible, I abandoned it altogether. Pretty much the only time I write longhand is when I am signing my name. I certainly don't consider myself at a cognitive disadvantage for doing that, and among my students I have seen no correlation between use of cursive and superior essay scores on exams. (Admittedly this is anecdotal evidence, but it is 3 semesters of anecdotal evidence).

The second premise, however, is that the gradual extinction of longhand will make historical research more difficult. As typed material replaces written notes, argue the scholars interviewed for this story, it will become more difficult to verify the Jenkinsonian 'authenticity' of a particular manuscript collection. Alternately, they argue, insights into the thought processes of authors or other historical figures will be lost if they do not create the informal sketches and scribblings that handwriting allows.

Like I say, I don't know if I buy this premise either. I don't think that cursive is necessarily a prerequisite for informal scribblings, and I don't believe that it's not possible at all to brainstorm in an electronic or typed format as well. At the same time, handwriting IS a pretty unique identifier of an author's stuff, and the loss of that material does seem like it might have an impact on identifying accessions of tomorrow's important manuscript collection producers. So, I dunno. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

For the record, my own handwriting is TERRIBLE. And I PRINT.

Archives Fair, October 11, Archives I

2006-09-27T15:31:00.000-04:00

I am just the messenger; this is essentially copied whole-cloth from the Archives list email. Please contact the address listed in that email for more details. Regardless, if you CAN make it, it sounds like a good program, and one worth your time.

The National Archives Assembly and the DC Caucus of the Mid-Atlantic Regional
Archives Conference are sponsoring the 10^th Annual Washington, DC, Area Metropolitan
Archives Fair on Wednesday, October 11, 2006, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the
National Archives, 7th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW. The Fair celebrates
American Archives Week, an observance highlighting the significance of the
documentary record and the documentary richness of our nation. This year’s theme is
“Archives: Bridges from the Past to the Present.” Representatives from many
Washington area archival repositories will display information resources
from their institutions.

Some of the participating institutions include the National Air and Space Museum,
George Washington University Special Collections Department, Virginia Room of the
Arlington County Central Library, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of Congress Manuscript Division, University of the District of
Columbia Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives, National Press Club, University of Maryland S
pecial Collections, Smithsonian Archives of American Art, National Museum of American
History Archives Center, Goodwill Industries, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at
Howard University, Washingtoniana Division of the District of Columbia Public
Library, and others.

The Fair will feature a panel discussion at 11:45 entitled, “The John Roberts
and Samuel Alito Experience: The Role of the National Archives of the United States
in Nominations to the Supreme Court.” James Hastings, John Laster, Nancy Smith, and
Steven Tilley of the National Archives will discuss the extraordinary measures that
NARA had to take in 2005 to make federal records in Washington and Presidential
records in California available to the Senate and the public before the hearings on
the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. They will
offer a real-world account of what it was like for archivists to be involved at the
center of the storm for access to records.

These events are free and open to the public. Information on visiting the National
Archives, including transportation options, is available at
http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/washington/index.htmlwww.nara.gov.
Fair attendees may use the special events entrance on Constitution Avenue to
enter the building.

* *

For further information, contact Marisa Bourgoin at
mbourgoin@corcoran.org  or (202)
639-1721or Jennie Guilbaud at jennie.guilbaud@nara.gov
 or (301) 837-1777.

Open Thread

2006-09-20T18:14:00.000-04:00

Use this thread to make suggestions, advertise events, find roommates, etc. Basically this is all you guys. (I'll post one of these every few messages or so.)

Meanwhile, please mark your calendars for the Allen Weinstein visit, Tuesday, Oct. 10, now at 3:00 PM in the McKeldin Special Events Room (6137). Also don't forget to come to Americana this tuesday-- the website for that is linked on the main SAM webpage.

Not dead yet

2006-09-11T17:39:00.000-04:00

I'm just restin'! Or possibly pinin' for the fjords.

Anyway, I am going to try to be more conscientious about updating this thing, seeing as how I set it up and everything. For now, a brief look at what's coming up on the SAM Calendar for September:

Peter Hirtle on Copyright, Wednesday, September 13, 7:00 PM, Non-Print Media Room H

If you're in 605, you're going to this anyway. If you're NOT in 605, it's still worth checking out, as you almost certainly will have to deal with copyright issues at one point or another during your archival career. Also, Peter Hirtle is a former president of SAA, so you can say to your friends and family, "I got to hear a former president of SAA speak!" (You may be greeted with blank stares upon making this pronouncement. This is perfectly natural.)

First Student Archivist Happy Hour, Wednesday, September 13, 8:30 PM, R.J. Bentley's

It's back, and it doesn't require a car! Join your fellow archivists and archivists-in-training at what is arguably the least sketchy (such as it is) bar in College Park, R.J. Bentley's, for good times, good beer (or whatever it is you drink) and an escape from the rigors of classes (if only for the evening). We'll try to get a table in the front-ish area for ease of finding us.

SAM Meeting, Wednesday, September 20, 4:30 PM, CLIS Lounge

It's taken a while to get around to it, but we do have meetings in this here club! Come hear about our plans for this year, or suggest some of your own. Send things you want to bring up to myself or Courtney.

Americana III, Tuesday, September 26, 6:30 PM, McKeldin Special Events (6125)

Now that we FINALLY have a room for this I feel comfortable advertising it. Americana is a celebration of American Archival Culture, and one of our "marquee" events for the year. This year, SAM brings you "Art In Archives," in which our three presenters will examine how the American Archives and Art (both visual and audio) work together-- or have trouble doing so. As this is a fundraiser for SAM, there will be a small fee to enter, but for that you get free food, live entertainment before the presentations, and three scintillating speakers. Look back here later for a link to the Americana site proper.

That's all I got for now, folks-- keep checking back! I promise to actually update....

Allen Weinstein at UMD 10/10--Save the date!

2006-08-09T20:23:00.000-04:00

We interrupt this SAA blogging to bring you the following exciting announcement: Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, will be speaking on the University of Maryland Campus on October 10, 2006! Unfortunately, that's all I have for you right now, but more details will be forthcoming here as they come in!

Link Dump

2006-08-05T16:34:00.000-04:00

Grargh. I have many notes but am far too tired to post them. Meanwhile, here are some other SAA conference-related links:

Jeanne Kramer-Smyth, a fellow CLIS archives student, has posted some initial impressions about SAA at her blog, Spellbound. Thus far she only has the first session covered but I imagine she'll have more so you should check it out.

Geof Huth at The Anarchivist has much, much material on SAA on his respective blog. Definitely go check this out.

The unnamed admin at Foldering.com (I actually met her at the Archon section but forgot her name-- d'oh) has some other coverage of the event.

Most of these sites have content which I didn't go to, so they're going to be worth looking at even after I get my notes in blog form.

OK, that's it. I'm going to go sleep until school starts now.

More Sessions: “Big Bird’s Digital Future” and “Secrecy vs. Access”

2006-08-04T13:58:00.000-04:00

Dear sir, I wish to register a complaint. I was promised Big Bird in the session on digital preservation of A/V materials, and yet, with one exception, the large yellow avian was nowhere to be found. I think I should get my money back. Please send the registration fee to the registrant address found on my form. Yours Sincerely, Me

Actually, the session was pretty good, though my least favorite of the three I attended and thus the one about which I have the least to say. Tom Connors gave an interesting presentation about the collection archives side of this, and in particular on the methodology he used in the Public Broadcasting Archives to appraise materials for preservation. He was (rightly I think) skeptical of the claim by Brewster Kahle that inpreservation of every piece of human information is a) possible and b) preferable. (Among other things, such preservation would involve saving this blog, which I don’t really think anyone wants that much.) I was also intrigued by the criteria which Connors used to determine the worth of preserving an item.

Lisa Carter’s presentation was mainly an advocacy piece—it documented the current sad state of archiving in TV stations, examined the challenges inherent in doing archival work specifically for such an organization, and gave some suggestions to archivists as to how they could undertake this process and (more importantly) how to convince station management that the process is necessary. Really, it annoys me that in this day and age it’s still necessary to go through that second step—as she pointed out, all of the tapes, etc. are going to have to be archived anyway, and until they are they’re just taking up office space—why NOT let an archivist get to the stuff ahead of time, thus saving them and you time in the long run? This, I think, is possibly the most frustrating part of being an archivist—people seem almost willfully ignorant of good recordkeeping processes, even when you tell them how to do it repeatedly, which ends in more work for both you and them when it comes time to put those records in an archives. (This may be me being bitter after working in Federal Records Management for 2 ½ months.)

Unfortunately my notes are not very good on Leah Weisse’s presentation—maybe someone else who was there can fill us in?

The “Secrecy vs. Access” session was interesting, if perhaps predictable. It won’t surprise anyone, of course, to hear that the GW Bush administration is the most secretive administration since the height of the Cold War; what DID cause me to look at it in a different way was Tom Connors’ noting of the fact that while more secrets are created now than ever before, simultaneously more documents are available to the public than ever before, thanks to the internet and electronic copies of documents. In addition, noted Ira Chinoy, this trend towards secrecy is not a new thing with the Bush Administration; Clinton also took a number of steps towards limiting access to information, and even LBJ, who originally signed the Freedom of Information Act, only did so reluctantly. However, for the most part the panel was critical specifically of the Bush administration’s overabundance of secrecy. Tom Blanton, for example, talked up the absurdity of the flap over the NYT disclosure of the wiretapping program: “There ARE real secrets”, Blanton noted, “but the Deputy Attorney General’s thoughts on the legality of wiretapping should not be so.”

Another interesting point brought up by the panel was the idea that the overabundance of security may not actually make us safer. As an example, Blanton cited the refusal of Homeland Security to disclose port information on the grounds that terrorists might then target the weaker ones; in fact, the real reason the information was not disclosed was because NONE of the ports had adequate security. My personal favorite example used by Blanton was actually literary (sort of): he used the example of the climax of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to show how keeping secrets could have fatal consequences. This being an, ahem, well-read crowd, this example was well-received.

I should note that this seems to have been one of the more popular sessions in the 3rd slot—the audience was standing-room only, and in fact a few people were turned away. This comforts me somewhat, though it is not really surprising—one would expect that archivists would be in favor of as much open access as possible. Otherwise, what are you doing in the profession? (Unfortunately, this is not as much of a rhetorical question as it sounds, based on what I read in the literature, though it is getting better, I think.) I did have a conversation with a gentleman on the way out regarding the lack of an alternative perspective on the issue of secrecy, which I admit confused me at first—what do you argue from the other side? As he pointed out, there is a need for secrecy sometimes, which neither I nor the presenters would argue with. Rather, I think that the ‘secrecy’ line is drawn too broadly and not always for good reasons, which in turn dilutes the value of classification altogether. Certainly, though, the line is hard to find on certain documents.

Other things—Student Forum and Student Mixer

Very briefly—the Student Forum was held at lunch on Thursday and was, I think, very productive—we broke up into focus groups and came up with a number of things SAA was doing right for students and things on which they could improve. Among the suggestions (from memory, as I didn’t take good notes, alas) were a week of “Archivists without Borders”, where institutions gave students off a week to do archives-building projects in places like New Orleans and the like, and the institution of a student calendar on the SAA websites to let student chapters know what their obligations are and when they are due. Again, other contributions to this are welcome.

Wednesday Night was the SAA student mixer, and Thursday Night the Maryland Alum mixer, both of which were organized by SAM and/or SAM alumni and both of which were big successes. Many thanks to Sara and Megan Smith for their work ironing out the details of the former, and to Rob Jensen for booking the space and organizing the latter.

Whew. Day one is done, and it only took 2 days to write up! (Oy.) Stay tuned for the rest of the thing.

I am a bad SAM president

2006-08-04T09:22:00.000-04:00

Instead of attending either the Plenary session of the SAA conference or the Cokie Roberts talk (which, I should note, Dr. Davis was very upset she had to miss and thus I feel especially bad about missing myself), I am sitting in a coffee shop in Dupont Circle and updating this blog. Well, at least I'm doing SOMETHING related to my presidential duties. (Also I have no internet at home presently, so this is the only means I have of feeding my addiction)

Anyway! SAA is very hectic from what I've seen thus far. Not that I'd expect anything else-- I mean, it IS the national conference of the national archivist organization-- but it's still a little overwhelming, particularly for people (like myself) who haven't been to one of these things before. I have not been doing as much of the connection-making thing as I probably should be, but it sounds like the other SAM folk at the conference (Of which there are many, thanks to proximity to UMCP) have been, so when in doubt I can ask the membership for help. Hurray for delegation!

Sessions attended by Brad

"The Archival Pharmakon"

Veeery interesting session. The premise of the thing was that archives, which in an ideal world should be used exclusively for good, had the potential to also be used in the service of, not evil exactly, but less-than-moral purposes-- and often were, particularly by the government. Rand Jimerson, former president of SAA (and particularly interesting with respect to this session because he was in that role when Allen Weinstein was confirmed), took the more optimistic view of the two speakers, noting that while there are many historical examples of governments using records to their particular advantage (the most cogent example he used was that of the Apartheid Regime in South Africa), they could also be forces for good, and that it was the job of the archivist to make them such. In particular, Jimerson pointed out 4 functions of archives in this regard: 1) To hold politicians accountable; 2) To address social injustices; 3) To help represent the unrepresented and minority groups in society; and 4)To make records available without the influence of political pressure. He noted that archivists have to be careful to examine our own cultural and societal biases when deciding what is to be saved and how to describe it, which is certainly good advice. I was a bit more struck by his quoting of Verne Harris, however, when he noted that "Our most important accounting is to the call of justice" and postulated that in cases such as the Tuskegee syphilis experiments it is the responsibility of the archivists to call attention to such records. Hm. I wonder. Certainly we need to make them available if at all possible, but is it really the job of the archivist to do advocacy on the contents of his/her own records? Doesn't that compromise some of the objectivity that we need to maintain? (On the other hand, as a history student and activist I'm all for this kind of action-- maybe not as a professional though.)

Roy Turnbaugh's commentary on the issue was much more inflammatory, and for that reason I thought much more interesting. His talk began with a radical statement, "Archives in America have little power because history has little power," and he spent most of his time attempting to prove that statement. He noted, fairly I think, that NARA has a weak hand in regards to autonomy because it's an executive office (something which I've always wondered about myself... why make the guy in charge of establishing archives policy for the ENTIRE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT a political appointee) and that it's been further weakened by various executive orders taking power from the hands of archivists and put into the hands of politicians. He asserted that the national archives were, by and large, used to buttress the power of the current order rather than to provide any meaningful accountability (a word which he took exception to anyway, calling it "a stand-in for justice") and said that the historical narrative put forth by NARA was by and large in support of a "Bankrupt Nationalism." Turnbaugh said that the people themselves had to deal with this problem, but that "If there is a way out, it's not through an archives." Again, I find my professional self at odds with my activist self-- I'm right with him on the way that national archives "filter meaning" to serve their own ends, but I'm not sure if I agree with his comment during the question time that there would be "no difference on a macro level" to government accountability if the national archives didn't exist. Perhaps because I am just starting out I am naive, but I think what the National Archives chooses to display is very different from what is actually available, and that with the right diligence people can find the truth behind the filtered narrative. (Whether they can get the public to listen is another question-- Look at Howard Zinn, for example, who is (rightly or wrongly) reviled as a nutcase by much of the historical 'establishment'.) Certainly, though, it is incumbent upon us as a profession to work on it-- we cannot, as he said, "keep supporting the complacency of our government and its leaders."

Aack. These take longer than I thought. More later when I don't have to run to a section roundtable. Meanwhile, comments welcome!

Wilkommen!

2006-08-03T08:16:00.000-04:00

Hi all!

Welcome to the official (unofficial) blog for the Student Archivists at Maryland. This blog, which will be staffed by the three SAM officers for the 2006-2007 academic year, will bring you updates on SAM events, archives in the news, local archives stuff, and more! For now, stay tuned for a liveblogging* of the Society of American Archivists annual conference, happening RIGHT NOW!

*Well, I say liveblogging except that it's going to be delayed posting because the Washington Hilton doesn't have free wifi. The writing will be live though. Um, I'm also kind of missing the Council of State Archivists chair Plenary session right now because I'm setting up this blog-- maybe Sara or Courtney are there and can report?