Archives 101

A free, five-part webinar series running Tuesdays from 10 to 11 a.m., October 4 through November 4

This series of five, one-hour webinars provides information and instruction in the basics of archival management, including archival acquisition and appraisal; arrangement and description; creating finding aids; preservation storage and housing; and access with emphasis on best standards and practices, as well as low-cost solutions. Archives 101 is designed for staff and volunteers from historical societies, libraries, museums, archives and other cultural heritage organizations with historic record collections. Students and others are also welcome to attend.

All webinars will be recorded and made available online.

Schedule:

October 4: Part 1
Basics of Archival Acquisition and Appraisal
Martha Lund Smalley, Archives Consultant

October 11: Part 2
Fundamentals of Archival Arrangement and Description
Linda Hocking, Curator of Library & Archives, Litchfield Historical Society
Leith Johnson, Archives Consultant

October 18: Part 3
Creating Finding Aids
Brian Stevens, Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, Western Connecticut State University

October 25: Part 4
Preservation Storage and Housing of Archival Collections: Guidelines and Solutions
Tara Kennedy, Preservation Services Librarian, Yale University Library

November 1: Part 5
Making Your Archives Accessible
Diane Lee, Collections Manager, Fairfield Museum and History Center, and Connecticut Collections Project Manager, CLHO

Special Requirement: To participate in this webinar series you will need to have a Google account so you can access Google Classroom. This is a free service. If you don’t have a Google account, click here for more information about how to create one.

Questions? Contact Kathy Craughwell-Varda, Conservation ConneCTion, at CSL.ConservationConnection@ct.gov

Registration Deadline: October 3, 2022

About the Instructors

Martha Lund Smalley was Special Collections Librarian at the Yale Divinity School Library for many years and continues to do archival consulting there and elsewhere in her retirement. She has led archival training workshops throughout the U.S., Africa, and Asia, and has served as a Connecticut traveling archivist since 2016.

Linda Hocking has served as the Curator of Library & Archives at the Litchfield Historical Society since 2002 where she oversees all aspects of acquisitions, description, and access to the Society’s library and archives. She is a member of the Connecticut State Historical Records Advisory Board and the Academy of Certified Archivists, and is on the Society of American Archivists Management Section’s Steering Committee. She served as President of New England Archivists; newsletter editor for the Academy of Certified Archivists, member of the Society of American Archivists Technical Subcommittee on Describing Archives: A Content Standard, and as a member of the ArchivesSpace User Advisory Council. She holds a BA in Political Science from Marist College in Poughkeepsie NY and a MS in Library and Information Science from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Leith Johnson is a project archivist at the Litchfield Historical Society and archivist and reference librarian at the Wood Memorial Library & Museum in South Windsor. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees in history, an MLS, and a certificate in archival management and public history. Since the early 1980s, he has held positions at a variety of institutions, including corporate archives, the Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University, and Wesleyan's Special Collections & Archives, where he was university archivist. He has been active in professional archival associations and is a member of the Connecticut State Historical Records Advisory Board.

Brian Stevens began working in archives while a student at the Pratt Institute where he graduated with a Master’s in Library Science with an archives focus in 2002. Before coming to WestConn, he worked at New York University for 5 years, where he was responsible for converting nearly all of their legacy print finding aids (~600 at the time) from three of their Special Collections repositories into the industry standard EAD. In 2004, he was assigned to work on a Mellon Foundation funded initiative to create an open-sourced and comprehensive archival management software tool called the Archivists’ Toolkit, the precursor to ArchivesSpace. Upon completion of the first phase of its development, he came to WestConn. WestConn’s Archive had been in existence since 1978 but had almost no Web presence and was not in adherence with many of the industry standards for operation and description. Today, the WCSU Archives has a vibrant online presence and is much more in compliance with evolving archival best practices. He has been frequently contracted as an archives consultant in New York and Connecticut and elected to serve on the State Historic Records and Archives Board (CT-SHRAB) which promotes and advocates for archives and archival best practice around the State. Additionally, he is the founder and lead administrator of Connecticut’s Archives Online.

Tara Kennedy is the Head of Preventive Conservation at Yale University Library. She holds a MLIS and a certificate of advanced studies in Library and Archives Conservation from the University of Texas at Austin, an MS in Forensic Science from the University of New Haven, and a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Northwestern University. Before coming to Yale, she was an intern at the National Archives, and worked at the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives, and the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center/ Nebraska State Historical Society in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a Professional Associate with the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). She is an active member of the AIC National Heritage Responders, a group of conservators that specialize in emergency preparedness and response. She is co-chair of the National Heritage Responders Working Group, and former chair of the AIC Health and Safety Network. Outside of her preservation work, she is a volunteer for the Doe Network, the Online International Center for Unidentified and Missing Persons.

Diane Lee is the Project Manager for CLHO’s Connecticut Collections (CTCo), and also the Collections Manager at the Fairfield Museum in Fairfield, CT.  She has been working with the CollectiveAccess platform since 2016 so is well versed in its capabilities and assisting members with training and questions. Primarily focused on objects, Diane has been working more closely with the Archival Collections components of CTCo in readying Fairfield’s archives for public access above and beyond their existing paper finding aids. Her goal in this Archives 101 series is to help groups feel confident in working with their archival collections and to ensure that everyone has access to the archives training and support to learn best practices and enable them to organize and share their collections.

This webinar series is presented by the Connecticut League of History Organizations and Conservation ConneCTion with a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives.