Section Newsletter
The Acquisition and Appraisal Section Newsletter is published periodically. If you have content for the next issue of the newsletter, please e-mail it to section vice-chair, Carl Van Ness.
Winter 2009 Newsletter
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Section Business
Report from annual meeting, August 29, 2008, San Francisco
Forty members attended the meeting chaired by Julie Herrada.
Election results:
Vice-Chair/Chair Elect: Carl Van Ness, Head of Archives and Manuscripts, University of Florida
Steering Committee (replacing Amy Scott): Karen Adler Abramson, Associate Director for University Archives & Special Collections, Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University.
This was followed by a presentation from James R. Jacobs, International Documents Librarian, Green Library, Stanford University, entitled Citizens in the Dark? Government Information in the Digital Age. Jim Jacobs explored the acquisition, preservation, and access challenges electronic government information poses, especially when agencies use proprietary sites like YouTube as information outlets.
The remainder of our time was devoted to an open forum discussion about projects and program proposals that would be of interest to section membership. Several ideas for program sessions for 2009 emerged from this discussion. The section officers in attendance met later in the day to discuss the proposals. Chair Julie Herrada also encouraged attendees to participate more fully in the section by submitting items for the newsletter and the meeting was adjourned.
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Acquisition and Appraisal at the 2009 Meeting
The following sessions were put forward by the section and approved by the Program Committee:
The Potential of Web 2.0 for Collection Development
Much of the future historical record is being created on blogs, wikis, and social networking and sharing websites. These technologies offer content, a means to identify movements, perspectives, and activities that merit documentation, as well as tools to network with and target potential donors and users. The speakers will discuss their experiences using Web 2.0 to build collections and donor relationships, how collecting from these sites differs from traditional selection, appraisal, and acquisition, and methods of providing access to the materials.
Chair: Kate Theimer, ArchivesNext Speakers: Lynne M. Thomas, Northern Illinois University, Laura Uglean Jackson, American Heritage Center, Amy Schindler, The College of William and Mary
Statewide Sustainability: Arizona's Experiment in Collaborative Collection Management
We cannot afford the collecting practices of the past. Backlogs, duplication, and fragmented collections cost time, money, resources and donor goodwill. Sustainable collection management for the 21st century must address the entire life cycle of holdings from the point of acquisition to de-accession or transfer to another repository. This panel analyzes one state’s attempt to bring together 26 repositories to establish common ground, update collection development policies and promote long term survival through non-competitive collecting.
Chair: Linda Whitaker, CA, MA, Arizona Historical Foundation Speakers: Greg Thompson, Univ. of Utah, Daniel Stokes, NHPRC, Melanie Sturgeon, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, Peter Runge, Northern Arizona University
How We Appraise: When Theory Meets Reality
Does current appraisal theory and education provide us with sufficient insights and skills to make the critical decisions that will shape our repositories for generations to come? This session will look at recent research in the field of information studies on how archivists acquire appraisal skills and expertise. With the intent of opening a dialogue on how we appraise, speakers will explore the diversity of appraisal practice and examine the effectiveness of appraisal education.
Chair: Carl Van Ness, Univ. of Florida Speakers: Kimberly Anderson, UCLA, Patricia Galloway, Univ. of Texas, Nanci Young, Smith College
More information on these and other sessions relevant to the section will appear in the Spring/Summer newsletter.
Deaccessioning Guidelines
The Acquisition and Appraisal Section Steering Committee is in the early stages of working with the Standards Committee to develop a standard for the process of deaccessioning collections. The idea came out of the session Trash or Treasure? Experiences with Deaccessioning and the Implications of Digitization, at the 2008 meeting, where there were repeated comments about the need for there to be established, profession-wide accepted guidelines for deaccessioning. The two presenters who discussed their deaccessioning projects (Laura Uglean Jackson, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, and Margery Sly, Presbyterian Historical Society) had looked to the American Museum Association's guidelines but ultimately had to formulate their own policies. Keeping in mind that not all practitioners have embraced the idea of deaccessionining, the Steering Committee envisions the product being guidelines for those who choose to deaccession. If you are interested in participating in the project, or have formulated your own local deaccesioning policy and are willing to share it, please contact Chair Tara Laver.
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News from Our Members
Acquisitions blog at Harvard’s Houghton Library
Submitted by Heather Cole, Assistant Curator of Modern Books & Manuscripts
The department of Modern Books and Manuscripts at the Houghton Library at Harvard announces the launch of a new acquisitions blog. The Modern Books & Manuscripts Collection encompasses materials in all formats dating from 1800 to the present. In addition to general strengths in American and European literature and history, there are concentrations in British, French, German, Latin American, Modern Greek, Russian, and Scandinavian literature; as well as significant collections of missions history, publishing history; music; and philosophy.
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Wisconsin Records Assessment Project
Submitted by Jennifer Graham, Project Archivist
In 2006, the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board (WHRAB) published a strategic plan for the next five years which outlined four major goals including one “to promote the collection of historical records that document the diverse history of Wisconsin, from 1945 to the present.”
Following this plan, the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) with approval from WHRAB sought and received funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to begin the Wisconsin Records Assessment Project. The primary goal of this effort is to support a future statewide effort to collect non-government historical records pertaining to under-documented subjects of Wisconsin’s state history after 1945 by accomplishing the following:
- Collect information about post-1945 manuscript holdings in Wisconsin historical records repositories.
- Analyze and share the gathered information with historical records repositories and individuals who use these records.
- Discuss with creators, keepers, and users of records those aspects of contemporary life in Wisconsin that may require additional collecting work in order to be adequately documented.
- Develop a new collaborative blueprint for collecting and documenting the current history of the state based on information collected and discussions with historical records stakeholders.
- Launch an on-line directory of Wisconsin historical records repositories to promote cooperation and information sharing.
The project started in April 2008 and to date, two of the five objectives have been completed. A survey designed to collect information on the depth and breadth of current archival holdings was distributed to seventy selected Wisconsin historical records repositories to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of post-1945 documentation in specific subject areas related to Wisconsin. Sixty-one surveys were returned and a preliminary report on the survey findings was published on the WHS website.
Additionally, a series of twenty interviews with individuals at selected repositories included in the survey were conducted to clarify survey answers and to gain additional background information regarding the state of documentation of post-1945 Wisconsin history. Further, the discussions gauged individual repositories’ interest in beginning and/or continuing collecting work in specific subject areas.
An analytical report is currently being prepared which combines all the data and information from the surveys and interviews with research on recent scholarship, external documentation on subjects, and collection use at the WHS. This report will be made available on the WHS website and will help guide discussions with creators, keepers, and users of archives at a one-day symposium to be held in Madison in April 2009. Make sure to visit the project page for more information and future additions.
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New Appraisal Process at Earth Resources Observation and Science Center
Submitted by John Faundeen, US Geological Survey, Sioux Falls
The U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science Center archives observational records obtained from aircraft and satellites. Its holdings date to the 1930s with extensive national and global coverage. The center employs records management principles to manage the collection, and additional emphasis has recently been placed upon appraisal and preservation principles. A formal appraisal process has been developed to review current holdings and those offered to the center. That process included the development of a tool to document what is known about a collection. The tool is openly available for use and comments.
Electronic media play a large role in our preservation efforts. As part of our management strategy, archive media trade studies have been conducted to guide our media decisions during migration moves. The most recent study, and the previous four, are available for review online.
Both the Scientific Records Appraisal Tool and the Archive Media Trade Studies are recognized as best practices by the National Archives and Records Administration. For more information contact John Faundeen, Archivist, USGS via email or via phone at 605-594-6092.
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Acquisitions and Collecting Initiatives
The Matthew Shepard Web Archive: An Online Resource from the American Heritage Center
Submitted by Laura Uglean Jackson, University Archivist, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
The American Heritage Center (AHC) at the University of Wyoming (UW) is pleased to announce the completion of the Matthew Shepard Web Archive, made possible by a grant from the University of Wyoming’s President’s Advisory Council on Minorities’ and Women’s Affairs.
Matthew Shepard was a gay student at the University of Wyoming. He was brutally beaten on the night of October 7, 1998 by two men and died four days later in a hospital in Ft. Collins, CO. Since Shepard’s murder ten years ago, the AHC has been collecting material such as photos, news clippings, UW President’s correspondence, memorial banners, pamphlets, and ephemera to document the murder and events that followed. At the same time, people throughout the world were affected by his murder and used the World Wide Web as a place to document, reach out, create, organize, and share. Websites are thus an important part of the societal memory of Matthew Shepard, his murder, and related events and issues.
With a one month subscription to Archive-It (a service from the Internet Archive that assists archives in preserving websites) the AHC captured seventy websites that broadly document the ten year mark since the murder of Matthew Shepard and related lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. Included in the archive are blogs, wikis, videos, memorial web pages, a MySpace page, and Flickr photos. It also includes the websites of organizations, films, books, music, and events related to Matthew Shepard.
The Matthew Shepard Web Archive can be accessed through the University of Wyoming’s online library catalog, and through a finding aid in the Rocky Mountain Online Archive. Archive-It provides access to the collection with keyword searching and browse capabilities through their website. Preservation of the websites will be managed by Archive-It. It is hoped the archive will not only enhance the AHC’s existing material on Matthew Shepard, but will be valuable to the general public as a unique resource.
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Important Territorial Document Donated to Wisconsin Historical Society
Submitted by Jonathan Nelson, Collection Development Archivist
A donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has donated a significant territorial-era document to the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Library-Archives. The document, a quartermaster’s ledger from Fort Winnebago (near modern-day Portage, Wisconsin), was purchased by the donor from an east coast rare books dealer expressly for the purpose of donating it to the Society. As the donor said, he thought it should come home to Wisconsin.
Fort Winnebago, which formed the middle link in the chain of three Army forts along the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers that ran from Fort Howard in Green Bay to Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien, was an important frontier outpost for the United States Army and played a role in the Black Hawk War in 1832. The ledger volume, which includes entries from 1831-1844 when Fort Winnebago functioned as a military post and 1849-1851 when the then abandoned fort buildings were used by local residents, provides insights into military life on the frontier and the early history of Portage, Wisconsin.
Among the details to be gleaned from the ledger is the fact that desertion was a big problem at the fort: there are many entries for bounties paid for the return of deserters ($20.00 per soldier in the early 1830s, and $30.00 per soldier later on). One entry shows that in 1832, during the middle of the Black Hawk War, there was a payment of $36.00 to a shipping company for carrying an “express” from Galena, Illinois to Fort Winnebago. That it would be so expensive to ship a relatively short distance illustrates the difficult state of communication and transportation in what would shortly become the Wisconsin Territory. In the winter of 1832, Ebenezer Brigham, who was the first permanent European settler in Dane County, was paid $22.00 for expenses incurred recovering some “public” oxen that had strayed. In 1851, Sheriff Jacob Low of Columbia County leased two barracks for use as a county jail, and later that year Fort Winnebago (soon to be called Portage) was officially voted as the county seat of Columbia County. These and other facts learned from the ledger help make the early history of Wisconsin come alive.
The Wisconsin Historical Society’s Library-Archives greatly appreciates this donor’s public spirited gesture.
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Page last updated December 19, 2008.
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