From the Chair Amy Cooper Cary, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
From the chair where I’m sitting on the fifth floor of Bolton Hall, I can hear the kids at the elementary school next door, shouting in their last recesses before school lets out for the summer. I can see the dome of Miller Park and I look forward to attending a Brewer’s game; and on my desk is a copy of the Program for the DC 2006 SAA/NAGARA/COSA meeting. I’ve made my room arrangements and booked my flight, and my plans for the meeting are filling up... I’m especially looking forward to the Manuscript Repositories Section Meeting, to be held Friday August 4 from 10 AM until Noon! We’re hoping for a large turnout of both long time members and new members! Let me give you a "preview" of the agenda.....
First, we have ballots. We’ll be voting for the slate of candidates (also listed in this newsletter) who will hold leadership positions within the Section. We’ll also be voting for a change in the bylaws of the Section, to recognize the position of Web Liaison and Co-Web Liaison. See last newsletter’s article about the bylaws change at http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/mss/spring2006.asp#2. We need the input of all of our Section Members on this change, so please make it a point to participate in the Section by attending the meeting and voting.
We also have lined up two excellent speakers! In particular, I’d like to thank Steering Committee members Jill Severn, Fernanda Perrone and Maria Estorino for their efforts in coordinating this presentation. Our topic, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," will provide an avenue to discuss organizational response to natural disasters. Brenda Gunn, president of the Society of Southwestern Archivists and Assistant Director for Research and Collections at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, will be speaking about her involvement with SSA and the network developed in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Jim Cartwright, University Archivist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and former president of the Association of Hawaii Archivists, will discuss his repository’s response to flood. The presenters will address communication opportunities and networking strategies in response to disaster, and there will be a Q&A session to discuss best practices and approaches to dealing with disaster. It promises to be an excellent session.
We’ll close the meeting with a discussion that we think is very important to the section and its future. We’ll consider two questions:
What can the Manuscript Repositories Section do for YOU?
What can the Manuscript Repositories Section do for SAA?
By asking these questions of our membership, we are seeking to find out how the Manuscript Repositories Section can continue to move forward. We consistently offer successful section meeting programs, we help to develop and sponsor well attended session proposals for the SAA meeting itself, and we have a strong leadership; now we feel it’s time to capitalize on those strengths and more fully address the needs of the Section. We’d like your opinion on everything from section meeting content to potential projects to how best to communicate within the membership. We’d also like ideas about how we can support the SAA organization and our membership at the same time. Brainstorming these ideas within the section will help the incoming Chair (Beth Bensman) prioritize and create ongoing activities with the Steering Committee, as well as address issues that are of importance to our membership. We’ll look for ways to get more members involved in section activities, and provide direction for the section in the future. If having a voice in the section is important to you, please make it a point to attend the meeting and participate in this discussion!
We’re looking forward to a productive meeting. Come prepared to participate!
Report of the Nominating Committee Cynthia Pease Miller, Chair
The Nominating Committee, composed of Cynthia Pease Miller, chair, Mat Darby, Sammie Morris, and Morna Gerrard, submit the following slate of candidates for the elected to be held during the section meeting in Washington. A vice chair/chair elect and three members of the steering committee will be elected.
Vice chair/chair elect candidates:
Jill Severn. Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia.
Education: Certified Archivist by exam 1999, recertified by petition; MA, History, The University of Georgia, Georgia, 1996; Certificate of Graduate Study in Museum Studies, The University of South Carolina, South Carolina, 1994; BA, History, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, 1988
Professional Experience: Head of Access and Outreach, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia 2001-current; Processing Archivist, Richard B. Russell Library, The University of Georgia, 2000-2001; Assistant Processing Archivist, Richard B. Russell Library, The University of Georgia, 1997-2000; Project Curator, McKissick Museum, The University of South Carolina, 1993-1994
Activities in Other Professional Organizations: Academy of Certified Archivists: member, 1999-current; Society of Georgia Archivists: Vice President-President Elect, 2006; Chair, Membership Committee; Secretary, 2001-2002; Scholarship Committee 2004-2005; Membership Committee 2000-2001; National Forum on Archival Continuing Education: recorder, April 27-29, 2000; Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies: member of the faculty, 2001-current
Karen Spicher. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Education: M.L.S., archives concentration, University of Maryland at College Park (1995); B.F.A., music, State University of New York at Purchase (1987).
Professional Experience: Archivist (2001-present), Project Archivist (1999-2001), and Manuscript Cataloger (1996-1999), Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
SAA Activities: Member since 1995. Manuscript Repositories Section: Co-Web Liaison (2005-2006), Web Liaison (2000-2005); Steering Committee (2000-2002); Website Development Subcommittee (1999-2000). Performing Arts Roundtable: Co-Chair (2005-2006). Key Contact for Connecticut (2001-present). Mentoring Program (2002-present).
Activities in Other Professional Organizations: New England Archivists:
Education Committee Chair (2001-2006); Branding Committee (2005-2006); Local Arrangements Committee, fall 2001. Music Library Association: MLA/RBMS Joint Committee on Early Printed Music (2001-present). ALA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section: Local Arrangements Committee and workshop leader, "Cataloging Manuscript Music," 2004 preconference
Steering committee candidates:
Kate Colligan. University of Pittsburgh
Education: C.A.S, Archives and Digital Preservation (1999); M.L.I.S Archives and Records Management (1998), BA Anthropology/Architectural History (1995); University of Pittsburgh.
Professional Experience: Archivist, Archives Service Center (2000- ); Adjunct faculty School of Information Sciences (2000-), Steering Committee Women’s Studies Department (2004-), EAD Associate, Digital Research Library, (1998-2000) University of Pittsburgh
SAA Activities: Co-chair, Women's Collections Roundtable, 2001-present, member EAD Roundtable 2000-present; member, Description Section, 2000-present, member, Manuscripts Section, 2003-present, Key Contact Representative for Pennsylvania, 2004-present. SAA Student Chapter Faculty Liaison (University of Pittsburgh), 2004-2006.
Activities in Other Archival Organizations: Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives
Conference: Co-chair, Program Committee, Scranton, 2007, Workshop presenter, “EAD”, 2004, member Local Arrangements Committee, Pittsburgh 2004, member, Program Committee, Gettysburg, 2003. American Library Association: (ACRL) member, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (2004-2006), member, Women’s Studies Section (2004-2006). Member, Manuscripts Society, (2003-)
Professional Experience: Archivist/Librarian, William Rainey Harper College (2001-present); Processing Archivist, Chicago Historical Society (Volunteer, 2001-present); Intern, Clerk of Circuit Court Archives (2001); Intern, Northwestern University Archives (2001).
SAA Activities: Key Contact Representative (Illinois), SAA Membership Committee (2003-present); Member, Acquisitions and Appraisal Section (2001-present); Member, Reference, Access, Outreach Section (2001-2003).
Activities in Other Professional Organizations: Member, Academy of Certified Archivists (2002-present); Member, Chicago Area Archivists (2001-present); Member, Midwest Archives Conference (2001-present).
Tara Zachary Laver. Louisiana State University
Education: Certified Archivist by exam 2003; MLIS, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 1996; graduate coursework in American history, 1994-1995 and 2000-2001, LSU; BA with double major in history and mass communication, LSU, 1994.
Professional Experience: Assistant Curator for Manuscripts, Special Collections, LSU Libraries, 2000-present; Archivist, Delta State University Archives, Cleveland, Mississippi, 1997-2000; General Librarian in Manuscripts Processing, January-July 1997.
SAA Activities: Member, Steering Committee, Acquisitions and Apprisial, 2005-present; District 7 Representative for Membership, 2005-present; Key Contact for Membership for Louisiana, 2003-2005; Mentor, 2004-2005; Member, Steering Committee, Description Section, 2001-2004; Key Contact for Membership for Mississippi, 1999-2000.
Activities in Other Professional Organizations: Society of Southwest Archivists: Executive Board, 2005-2007; Scholarship Committee, 2003-presesnt, Chair, 2005-2006; 2005 Local Arrangements (Baton Rouge) Committee Co-Chair, 2003-2005; Newsletter Editor and Publications Committee Chair, 2001-2003; 2003 Local Arrangements (New Orleans) Committee, 2002-2003. Louisiana Archives and Manuscripts Association: Ex-officio, 2004-2005; President, 2003-2004; Vice-President/President Elect, 2002-2003; Local Arrangements Chair, 2002-2003; Executive Board, 2000-2002. Society of Mississippi Archivists, Vice-President/President Elect, 1999-2000, Executive Board Member, 1998-1999.
Stephen Mielke. Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Education: M.L.I.S., The University of Texas at Austin, 1992; B.A., History and Psychology, North Texas State University, 1988.
Professional Experience: Manuscripts Archivist, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, 1997-present; Librarian, Brown McCarroll & Oaks Hartline, Austin Texas Law Firm, 1996-1997; Technical Archivist, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia, 1993-1996.
SAA Activities: Member, Technical Subcommittee on Descriptive Standards, 2002-2005.
Activities in Other Professional Organizations: Society of Georgia Archivists: Member, Annual Meeting Program Committee, 1994; Newsletter Section Editor, 1994-1995.
Kevin Proffitt. American Jewish Archives
Education: M.S.L.S., University of Kentucky, 1998; M.A., Wright State University, 1980; B.A., Miami University, 1979.
Professional Experience: Senior Archivist for Research and Collections, American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2003-present; Chief Archivist, AJA, 1990-2003; Associate Archivist, AJA, 1981-1989.
SAA Activities: Waldo Gifford Leland Award selection committee, 2005-present.
Activities in Other Professional Organizations: Certified Archivist and charter member of ACA; Society of Ohio Archivists (past president and council member); Midwest Archives Conference (member of various task forces and committees, including chair of Membership Committee and co-chair of 2004 fall meeting Program Committee); member of the Academic Council of the Jewish Women’s Archive, Brookline, Mass.; Archival consultant and advisor to many organizations, including the Center for Jewish History, New York, N.Y. (NHPRC Advisory Board member).
Melissa Watterworth. Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut
Education: M.L.I.S. Simmons College (1997); M.A. History Simmons College (1997); B.S. Family Studies Univ. of Connecticut (1989)
Professional Experience : Curator of Literary, Natural History and Rare Book Collections, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut 2004 - present; Project Coordinator, Connecticut History Online, University of Connecticut 2003-2004; Technical Archivist, Special Collections and Archives, University of Massachusetts 1998-2003. Adjunct Faculty, Manchester Community College 2005 - present.
SAA Activities: Key Contact Program Representative 2003-2006; Member, Description Section 2000 - current; Manuscript Section 2004 - current; Reference, Access and Outreach Section 1998 - 2003; Session Presenter "Expanding Our Common Ground: Cooperation as Infrastructure for Building Future Access to Archives and Cultural Heritage Materials" 2004.
Activities in Other Professional Organizations: New England Archivists, Education Committee 2001 - current; Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, American Library Association, Member 2005 - 2006. Mentor, Fulbright Student and Scholar Program 2006 - 2007. Connecticut History Online Technical and Cataloging Committees, Member 2004 - current. Hampshire County Historic Records Preservation Board, Massachusetts 2000 - 2002
John Quincy Adams's Diaries are now online
Nancy Heywood, Massachusetts Historical Society
In 1779, when John Quincy Adams was twelve years old he began keeping at least one diary volume each year and continued this practice until shortly before his death in 1848, a period of more than sixty-eight years. The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) has made digital images of this entire extraordinary diary, almost 15,000 manuscript pages in fifty-one volumes, available via a new website: The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection (www.masshist.org/jqadiaries). A matching grant from the Save America’s Treasures program funded the project as well as the systematic conservation of Adams's diaries that form part of the MHS's enormous collection of Adams Family Papers.
During the conservation phase of the project, staff cleaned and deacidified soiled and brittle pages of the original manuscript volumes, repaired tears and holes in diary pages, reinforced the fragile edges of pages, and re-attached loose pages. A conservation bookbinder repaired broken and damaged spines and covers and constructed custom microchamber boxes for each volume.
The Records of AP Saigon Return to The Associated Press
Valerie S. Komor, Director, AP Corporate Archives
In January 2006, the Associated Press Corporate Archives acquired the files of the AP Saigon bureau from Pulitzer-prize-winning war correspondent Peter Arnett, who sent them out of Saigon in 1972 for safe-keeping. Housed in 136 French-style loose-leaf binders, they contain carbon copies (1960-71) of the news stories transmitted to New York (whether they moved on the wire or not) and the service messages between New York and Saigon. Other than a 1953 volume, earlier carbons do not survive. As Saigon fell in April 1975, the 1972-75 files and the bureau’s picture library were destroyed by looters as they sat aboard a cargo ship awaiting departure.
Memorandum from Peter Arnett (AP Saigon), December 22, 1965.
The Vietnam Report. The AP Corporate Archives.
An exhibit that recently opened at AP headquarters in New York, Remembering AP Saigon: Selections from the Vietnam Files, 1950-73, highlights the work of several AP staffers who will be participating in a June 26 panel discussion on the history of the bureau. They include: Seymour Topping, who opened the Saigon bureau in his Boulevard Charner apartment in February 1950, working with Frenchman Max Clos; Peter Arnett, who arrived in Saigon on June 26, 1962 and remained for thirteen years; George Esper; who went to Saigon in 1965 and stayed until the North Vietnamese communist victors threw him out after the fall of Saigon in 1975; Hugh Mulligan, who produced some of the war’s finest reporting and writing, particularly from Cambodia; Richard Pyle, who covered the Indochina war for five years from 1968 to 1973 and succeeded Dave Mason as Saigon bureau chief in 1970; and Edith Lederer, who from 1972 to 1973 brought a fresh perspective to the waning years of the war.
AP Saigon bureau chiefs, April 28, 1972.
Left to Right: George Esper, Malcolm Browne, George McArthur, Edward Q. White, and Richard Pyle.
Mario Savio Correspondence while in Mississippi available at the Bancroft Library Alison E. Bridger, Archives and Manuscripts Cataloger
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Mario Savio Correspondence while in Mississippi available at the Bancroft Library
Alison E. Bridger, Archives and Manuscripts Cataloger
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Mario Savio, best known for his leadership roll in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley campus, was also involved in other civil rights activities. Evidence of Savio's activities can be found in the recent Bancroft Library acquisition of letters to girlfriend Cheri Stevenson written during the summer of 1964.
Going to the American South as a volunteer for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Savio helped register black voters and taught in the Mississippi Freedom Schools. In his letters he described his reasons for being there, despite the danger, giving the reader some insight into why he jumped on the police car holding Jack Weinberg in Berkeley later that year.
While the work in the South was not done, Savio debated with himself about staying in Mississippi past the summer. His parents worry over his education and his safety sent Savio back to Berkeley in the fall of 1964, just in time for the Free Speech Movement.
Although there are only ten letters, they go into great detail about the life of the volunteers and the African Americans living in Mississippi during the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, as well as Savio's own personal motivations. They can be found in the Bancroft Library as: "Mario Savio correspondence: Mississippi, to Cheri Stevenson, Berkeley, Calif." (BANC MSS 2006/110)
Northwest Digital Archives Update
For Easy Access Jodi Allison-Bunnell, NWDA Consortium Administrator
The Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA), a project that provides enhanced access to archival collections and facilitates collaboration among archives, libraries, and museums in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, is making excellent progress on the major goals in its second grant-funded phase. The consortium is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission through June 2007.
The Best Practices Working Group completed a major revision of the consortium’s best practices for encoding EAD finding aids early this year. Major changes driving this revision include the availability of Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), updates to subject access, and the need to continue to comply with international data exchange standards. The Northwest Archives Processing Initiative (NWAPI), the portion of the project funded by the NHPRC, revised their finding aid standard to comply with DACS and NWDA’s revised Best Practices. The revised best practices and finding aid standard are available on the "Tools for Members" section of the NWDA website, http://nwda.wsulibs.wsu.edu/tools.html.
Participating institutions can now use an automated compliance checker to ensure that their finding aids comply with the NWDA best practices before they are submitted to the database. They can also submit their finding aids to the database over the Web.
The NWDA search interface has been updated in accordance with priorities and plans created during Phase I. A new advanced search interface, available at http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/nwda-search/Advanced.aspx, allows users to perform powerful searches by combining broad browsing terms with keywords.
Other institutions in the Northwest have expressed interest in joining the project as non-grant-funded members. Any other institutions interested in joining can contact Larry Landis, Consortium Director, at (541) 737-0541 or
NYPL Manuscripts and Archives receives NEH grant William Stingone, Charles J. Liebman Curator of Manuscripts
New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives
The New York Public Library's Manuscripts and Archives Division has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a two and a half-year project to preserve and enhance access to the records of the New York World's Fair 1939-1940. This vast collection --the official records of the Corporation that was established for the purpose of planning, realizing, and operating the Fair-- measures more than 1000 linear feet and includes correspondence, interoffice memoranda, photographs, and architectural plans. The records document every phase of the Fair. While it has for many years been among the most heavily-used collections in the Manuscripts and Archives Division, intellectual access to it is limited by the cursory level of the finding aid.
The project will enhance researcher's access to the collection by significantly expanding and improving on the current finding aid and making an existing crucial card index electronically searchable. The new finding aid and index will be available to researchers around the world through the Library's website. The project will also ensure the long-term preservation of the collection by rehousing the records.
Theme Diagram - New York World's Fair 1939
The records provide insights into many aspects of the Fair unavailable from other sources: there is no event, visit, meeting, incident, or transaction related to the Fair's conception, planning, realization, and day-to-day operations that is not documented in some way in its records. Likewise, the participation, no matter how large or small, of each of the thousands of people and organizations involved in the Fair --from President Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, and General Motors to maintenance workers, chorus girls, and local construction companies-- is traced in the Fair's records.
Emory University Expands the Irish Literary Collections Portal Susan Potts McDonald, Coordinator Arrangement and Description Unit
Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University
The Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) at Emory University, in partnership with University of Delaware; the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at University of Texas, Austin; Washington University in St. Louis; and Wake Forest University, has a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation to support the second phase of the Irish Literary Collections Portal.
During the first phase of the project and with the support of the Delmas Foundation, Emory and Boston College worked together to provide access to a fully searchable array of EAD encoded finding aids for Irish literary manuscript collections. These finding aids have helped scholars locate materials and discover connections among collections in different institutions. The portal created in Phase 1 has greatly increased access to these distinctive collections and has generated a high volume of visits from researchers who, for the first time, can search for relevant research materials across widely scattered research collections.
During the second phase, Emory will expand the portal with its partner institutions. We will also conduct a survey to identify related Irish literary manuscript collections at other repositories. If your institution has such collections and you would like to participate in the Portal, please contact Project Assistant Jenni Brady (
) or Susan Potts McDonald (
). For more information, please see http://irishliterature.library.emory.edu/doc-home.
Rufus Woods Papers Dieter C. Ullrich, James Brooks Library University Archives
Central Washington University
Rufus Woods posed before the Grand Coulee spillway.
The Special Collections and Archives at Central Washington University wishes to announce to the research community the acquisition of the Rufus Woods Papers. The collection contains twenty-eight cubic feet of personal papers from Rufus Woods and numerous subject files related to the building of the Grand Coulee Dam. The entire collection spans the time period from 1896 to 1980 with the years between 1918 and 1950 offering the most representation. The collection includes letters, meeting minutes, a vast array of newspaper clippings, special editions of newspapers, photographs, negatives, and congressional legislation related to the dam. The Rufus Woods Papers were donated to the Central Washington University by Wilfred Woods, the son of Rufus Woods, in the fall of 2005.
A finding aid and descriptive inventory can be found at http://www.lib.cwu.edu/archive/Manuscripts/MS001-06-01.htm. For further information about the Central Washington University Archives please contact Dieter C. Ullrich at
or (509) 963-1717.
Portraits of a City
John A. Fleckner, Archivist
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
"Portraits of a City: The Scurlock Photographic Studio’s Legacy to Washington, D.C." is the most recent addition to the web pages of the National Museum of American History’s Archives Center: http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/scurlock/index.html
Charles Drew with Dunbar High School basketball team [photoprint, ca. 1922].
"Portraits" presents some 2,000 photographs of Washington DC's African American communities. The images span more than a half century, introducing viewers to celebrities and everyday citizens, life at home, at work, and in the neighborhoods. These images are a small sample from the Scurlock Studio Records, which include prints and negatives, business records, and studio artifacts. With support from Save America's Treasures and private donors, the Archives Center will continue to build this unique historical resource.
Historic Huguenot Street Translates Historic Account Books written in French and Dutch
Eric J. Roth, Interim Director
Historic Huguenot Street
Through generous funding provided by the Huguenot Society of America and private donors, three language consultants have completed the translations of four 18th-century account books kept by New Paltz residents. Two of the account books were kept by two immigrant tailors from Switzerland, Francois Pierre Roggen and Johan Jacob Roggen. The accounts, written in a bewildering mix of French, Dutch, and German, are extremely useful for a variety of research pursuits, including economics and trade, material culture, historic clothing, ethnic mixing, recordkeeping, slavery and Black history, and the Revolutionary War. The other two account books were kept in Dutch by Jannetje DuBois, a seamstress, and her son Hendricus DuBois, a shoemaker.
The Art of Processing Manuscript Collections - SAA SAA Pre-conference workshop
Solveig De Sutter
, Director of Education
Society of American Archivists
This 2-day workshop focuses on the day-today decisions you’re making in arranging and describing manuscript collections, including developing processing work plans, identifying common arrangement schemes for particular types of collections, physically organizing materials, and basic preservation practices during processing. Essential elements of a finding aid, applying descriptive standards, and the creative construction of container lists will be highlighted as well.
Upon completion of this workshop, you’ll be able to:
Understand the concepts and principles of arrangement;
Identify basic preservation practices during processing;
Figure out how to arrange various types of manuscript collections and formats;
Identify the essential elements of a finding aid;
Discuss the application of archival descriptive standards; and
Demonstrate an understanding of best practice.
Who should attend?
Novices and seasoned archivists who want to learn more about processing manuscript collections effectively and efficiently.
Archivist Eric J. Roth Appointed as Interim Director of Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz, New York
The Board of Trustees of Historic Huguenot Street, a museum site in New Paltz, NY announced on April 12 that Eric Roth was appointed Interim Director of the organization, which has been undergoing a Director Search since July 2005. The previous Interim Director, John Carnahan, has resigned. Eric Roth already had assumed the responsibilities for the Development activities in addition to being Head of the Library and Archives.
