The Society:
From Birth to Maturity
by NICHOLAS
C. BURCKEL, Director of Libraries, Marquette University
52nd president of the Society of American Archivists
The following
presidential address was delivered on August 28, 1997,
during SAA's 61st annual meeting in Chicago at the Fairmont Hotel.
Abstract:
The author takes a statistical "snapshot" of the Society of American Archivists
at three different periods in its history--each separated by twenty-five years--to
illustrate the continuity and changes that have occurred. For the years 1940,
1965, and 1990, the author examines the composition of the Society's membership,
its leadership, its scholarly journal, its annual meetings, and the perspective
of its presidents. The article concludes with some comparisons with allied
professional
organizations, such as the American Library Association, the American Historical
Association, and the Organization of American Historians, placing the Society's
experience in a larger context.
About the author: Dr. Nicholas Burckel is Dean of Libraries and Associate
Professor of History at Marquette University and a presidential appointee to
the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Formerly he was
Associate Dean of Libraries at Washington University and adjunct Associate Professor
in the University of Missouri's School of Library and Information Science. He
is a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists and former president of the
Midwest Archives Conference and Regent of the Academy of Certified Archivists.
He served as a Council on Library Resources management intern at the University
of Chicago and as a senior fellow at the Palmer School of Library and Information
Science. His books and articles deal with history, archives, and librarianship.
In preparing
this address, the author had the generous assistance of a number of colleagues:
Marquette University graduate student Jeff Steely was especially diligent in
locating essential information from among myriad sources; J. Frank Cook worked
with the author to locate needed information in the Society's archives at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison; Steve Masar (UW-Madison) and John LeDoux (Marquette
University) assisted with scanning and transferring files; and Bill Schulz provided
graphic enhancements. Frank Cook, Marquette University Archivist Charles B.
Elston, and the author's wife Lenore read and critiqued earlier versions of
the text.
Introduction
SAA Membership
SAA Leadership (Council & Officers)
Research and Publication
Annual Meeting Analysis
Financial Profile
Presidential Perspective
SAA in a Comparative Context
End Notes
Introduction
At last year's meeting in San Diego, I highlighted the changes before us and
suggested how we might respond--as archivists and members of the Society.1
The short year that a president has to influence the Society's development convinces
me that it is much easier to recognize the challenges and prescribe the solutions
than to implement them. Rather than further hortatory remarks, therefore, I
thought I might instead share with you how the Society has changed over its
sixty years. Some of that change has come from outside the Society, some as
a result of conscious decisions from within about our membership, leadership,
research agenda, and financing. Those changes suggest to me that we are capable
of responding to today's challenges and should not be overwhelmed by them. Last
year I looked to the coming millennium; now I'd like to look at where we've
been.
A thorough examination
of the Society's evolution requires more time than is available for this address.
For those interested in our history, I commend Frank Cook's excellent presidential
address, "The Blessings of Providence on an Association of Archivists."2 I
will present a more eclectic approach--focusing on different points in the
Society's history that reflect its evolution. I chose to take three "snapshots" of
the Society--each separated by twenty-five years--to examine a number of
variables. The composite of those variables shows a Society at three distinct
stages of development analogous to human growth--childhood (1940), youth
(1965),
and maturity (1990).
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