Mark your calendars for February 1, 2023 at 11:00 am CT (US and Canada) for a discussion with Riley Linebaugh and James Lowry on “Archival History and Colonial Afterlives.” Linebaugh and Lowry will build on their award-winning article “The Archival Colour Line: Race, Records and Post-Colonial Custody” to share their progress along two related but distinct lines of... Continue Reading →
Recap: SAA’s 2022 Annual Section Meeting
The annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists’ Archival History Section continued the trend from the last two years, being held virtually on August 8, 2022. In addition to our business meeting and reports of work during 2021-2022, the meeting featured two speakers from the Boston area, thus acknowledging that the overall annual meeting would soon... Continue Reading →
Cultural Heritage in Peril: Ukraine
Two articles in the news: (1) Harding, Luke, and Harriet Sherwood, "Ukrainians in race to save cultural heritage," Guardian (March 9, 2022) 1:00 EST. (2) Reid, Anna, "Ukrainian heritage is under threat – and so is the truth about Soviet-era Russia," Guardian (March 15, 2022), 4:00 EST. "The physical effects of war on public archives... Continue Reading →
Recap: SAA’s 2021 Annual Section Meeting: Archival History and Pandemics
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists' Archival History Section continued the trend from last year and went virtual once again. The meeting featured two presentations focused on pandemics and the response of the archival community. The 2020-2021 Archival History Section Chair, Sebastian Modrow (Curator of... Continue Reading →
Upcoming Conference on Archives during Wars and Rebellions, from Milan: Available LIVE and EARLY — November 3-6
TUNE in to the Facebook or YouTube livestream of the State Archives of Milan (ITALY) on the following dates this week: Conference Program: https://www.archiviodistatomilano.beniculturali.it/getFile.php?id=2598 Conference Schedule (converted to Eastern Time, United States) Nov. 3 (Wednesday)6:00-6:30am Introduction/Greetings from Milan State Archives 6:30-8:00am Session 1 - Archives, wars and diplomacy. Carmela Santoro Chair Carmela Santoro, Giovanni Vittani,... Continue Reading →
Result of Special Vice Chair Election
Dear section members, I am happy to announce that Susan Tucker has been elected as the section's new vice chair/chair elect. Susan comes to us with a wealth of SAA steering committee and task force experience and will take over the section's leadership after this year's annual meeting. Congratulations, Susan! Sebastian Modrow, Chair
New book: Record-Making and Record-Keeping in Early Societies
A new book by Geoffrey Yeo, Record-Making and Record-Keeping in Early Societies (published this week), investigates the beginnings of human recording practices and provides a survey of early record-making and record-keeping in societies across the world. It investigates the ways in which human activities were recorded in different settings using different methods and technologies. Many archivists... Continue Reading →
ICHORA 2020, DAY 1: Marisa Elena Duarte, “How the Archives…Remind Us Who We Are”
Note: This presentation was one of three Keynote Addresses delivered at ICHORA 2020. Marisa Elena Duarte’s (Arizona State University) poetic keynote, “Meditations on the Screen: How the Archives Around Us Remind Us Who We Are,” addresses the many complex issues that arise with the ease with which digital information is accessed on a myriad of... Continue Reading →
ICHORA 2020, DAY 1: Michael Riordan, “Copying and Surrogacy in English Archives”
Note: This presentation was part of a three-person panel entitled "Re-Imagining Materiality: Three Histories of Archival Technologies." The panelist is also a member of Archival Discourses, an international research network for the International Intellectual History of Archival Studies. Michael Riordan (Oxford University) provides a fascinating review of the history of copying of archival documents in a presentation entitled “Pre-digital... Continue Reading →
ICHORA 2020, DAY 1: James Lowry, “Registration across Technologies”
Note: This presentation was part of a three-person panel entitled "Re-Imagining Materiality: Three Histories of Archival Technologies." The panelist is also a member of Archival Discourses, an international research network for the International Intellectual History of Archival Studies. In a presentation on “Registration across Technologies: The Inscription of Value in Paper and Digital Records Systems,” James Lowry (City University... Continue Reading →
Archival History News 