All about Archives

My goal this week was to learn more about archives. I began my quest with the folks in special collections.

An archivist recently joined our staff within the last year. I thought she would make a terrific starting point for my archival quest and I was right! Not only was she pleased that I asked about her job, but she was more than willing to share her work with me.

Currently she's working on the Breece D'J Pancake papers. Pancake was a highly regarded short story writer from West Virginia. His death is largely considered a suicide but others believe it was an accident. She's promised to show me how she processed the collection and created the finding aid.

We talked about some important concepts in the archives world, such as EAD and DACS. She also loaned me a book from her library, Arranging & Describing Archives & Manuscripts by Kathleen D. Roe. She said Roe's book is a good introductory text. It will serve me well as a starting point. I'm looking forward to delving into the book and familiarizing myself with the principles of archival work.

I also learned that there's an archives course offered at WVU through the public history program. That may be an option for me to consider. The special collections archivist taught courses in archives at her previous institution. In short order I've been able to locate some excellent resources for a little archival education right in my own back yard.

I also checked out the SAA site, http://www.archivists.org/, The Society of American Archivist. SAA offers some continuing education woekshops. There's one planned for August 24th at the conference in San Francisco called Understanding Archives: An Introduction to Principles and Practices. I'd love to enroll in that session. Unfortunately the conference is held during the first week of class for USC. I'm sure there'll be other opportunities in the future. But I've got lots of opportunities available to me right now.

Last but certainly not least I can check into course offerings at USC. One of my professors for the fall term is an archivist and she'll be a good resource too. It looks like I'm going to learn a lot about archives!