Archives Program – Public History at UMass Boston

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Jennifer Bolmarcich of the Archives & Special Collections at Amherst College delivers her presentation on "Heavy Small Collections" at the NEA Fall Meeting

I took a lot of notes in order to discuss Jennifer Bolmarcich's presentation on "Heavy Small Collections" with my tablemates at the NEA Fall Meeting.

Navigating Academic Conferences with Social Anxiety: The NEA Fall Meeting

By: Violet Hurst

On Friday, October 26^th, I attended the New England Archivists’ (NEA) Fall Meeting at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. The theme of the meeting was “Our Common Code: Ethics in Archives,” and it gave archivists and allied professionals the opportunity to discuss archival ethics in three areas: appraisal and acquisitions, description, and access.

As a second-year graduate student in the Archives Track of the history program at UMass Boston, I wanted to attend the Meeting in order to learn more about current ethical issues in the archival profession. I looked forward to listening to panelists discuss their experiences and share their knowledge, and I was excited to hear the plenary address by the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi. I was excited to being surrounded by a community of professionals who cared about such things as ethical issues, something that many professions overlook, or even actively ignore. But I knew that there was another, more anxiety-inducing reason that I, as a graduate student and soon-to-be job-seeker, was attending the conference: to network.

The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi. Photograph by Christopher Michel, 2016.

Since early high school, I have struggled with moderate social anxiety that flares up when I am confronted with unfamiliar, public social situations. At academic conferences, I feel a sense of inferiority as I am confronted with a sea of (seemingly) confident students and professionals. I find it difficult to start conversations with people whom I’ve never met, especially when there is the pressure to appear knowledgable, interesting, and in all ways hire-able. I feel overwhelmed by the constant need to be “on”– from when I’m making connections with professionals in the field to when I’m pouring myself a cup of coffee in the conference reception area.

Despite my anxiety, I find it both personally rewarding and professionally necessary to attend academic conferences like those hosted by NEA. At conferences, students like me have the opportunity to learn from the real-life experiences of archivists in the field. We are able to participate in conversations about the most current trends and issues in our chosen career. We can ask questions from those who have worked in the field for years, and we have the opportunity to learn from a rich diversity of people. Most importantly, we have the opportunity to introduce ourselves, for the first time, to members of the tight-knit archival community.

My name badge and program from the NEA Fall Meeting, October 26, 2018

During my undergraduate education in history, I lived under the blissful impression that networking was something that only those entering the business and finance world would have to face. It was only in graduate school that I learned that networking is an inescapable aspect of entering the professional world that very few students are able to avoid entirely. Over the past year and a half, I’ve had to attend conferences, workshops, community events, and informational interviews that took me out of my comfort zone, and along the way I’ve formulated strategies to deal with my anxiety in these situations. I share them here in the hopes that they might help others with social anxiety navigate the academic conference.

1. Look for the familiar.

When attending an academic conference or workshop, there is a lot of pressure to spend the whole day making connections with new people and entering into new spaces. It can be useful to take a minute to remember that not everything about the conference is new and overwhelming. There is bound to be a face in the crowd you recognize, or a event space or setup that is familiar– or even a brand of complimentary tea that you like. Making yourself more comfortable in a new space goes a long way toward making you ready to interact with new people.

Pavilion, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA. Photograph by Violet Hurst

At the NEA Fall Meeting, I was lucky enough to recognize several faces in the crowd from previous internships and from my graduate program. I was also very familiar with the building and the conference space at the JFK Library, having interned there from May 2017 to August 2018. These things made me feel like I was on solid ground and made me comfortable enough to engage with elements of the conference that were unfamiliar.

2. Learn the schedule.

Eliminating your uncertainty about the structure of the day is another way to make you more comfortable at a conference. At most conferences, a full schedule of programming is readily available in programs or handouts at the registration desk. Knowing in advance when breaks are and whether you will have to get up and move around for different sessions can help the day go more smoothly. I also like to look at the topics of upcoming panel discussions or presentations in advance in order to start thinking about things I may have to contribute to the conversation.

3. Take notes.

I never used to know what to say when starting a conversation at an academic conference. It can feel so unnatural or even awkward to walk up to someone you’ve never met and start a conversation. Fortunately, conferences provide you with plenty of material to talk about. I find that it’s useful to take notes about things that spark my interest during presentations and discussions. Then, during breaks, lunch, or other unstructured time, I can turn to someone and say something like “It was so interesting when ___ talked about ___. Have you encountered a similar situation in your work?” If I’m feeling really bold, I’ll even seek out a presenter to ask a question or have a discussion about the themes of a particular presentation.

I took a lot of notes in order to discuss Jennifer Bolmarcich’s presentation on “Heavy Small Collections” with my tablemates at the NEA Fall Meeting.

Despite my fears, I’ve found that most people are excited to talk more about their work and their experiences.

4. Don’t be afraid to take a break during breaks.

This may sound non-controversial on its face, but traditionally, breaks at conferences are considered the time to network. If you’re comfortable enough to network during breaks, go for it! But if you need to take some time for yourself, absolutely do that. Find a quiet spot to clear your head and decompress for a minute– even if that quiet spot is in your car or a bathroom stall. Taking time to recharge will make you more ready to go out there and network at other times, like during lunch or transition periods.

5. Hold onto perspective.

If you walk away from a conference kicking yourself for your inability to network, remember that it’s still good that you went. If all you do at a conference is listen and learn, you’ll likely walk away from the day with new ideas, perspectives, and questions that will make you a better professional in the long run. Perhaps you’ll even emerge with a better sense of which people and institutions are doing work that aligns with your interests.

It’s also important to remember that not all networking happens at the day of the event. You may meet presenters or participants at some point down the road (it’s a small [archives] world, after all), and you’ll be able to refer back to having heard or encountered them at a previous conference, workshop, or community event.

Wheels, Genealogy, and Baby Hair: An Internship with the PEM Library

March 19, 2018 / Heidi Gengenbach / 0 Comments

By: Rachel Sherman

“To celebrate outstanding artistic and cultural creativity by collecting, stewarding, and interpreting objects of art and culture in ways that increase knowledge, enrich the spirit, engage the mind, and stimulate the senses” This passage is the first sentence of the mission statement for the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), an internationally recognized art and cultural museum located just north of Boston, Massachusetts.

As a student of public history also pursuing an archives certificate, I knew from the start that I needed multiple internships to gain the professional experience. As a resident and lover of the North Shore area (the cities north of Boston, mostly in Essex County), I wanted to bring my skills in helping cultivate the history of my home. All of this cumulated into an internship at the Phillips Library, part of the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM).

The Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

Known as the PEM Library or the Phillips Library, this archive stores the millions of manuscripts donated throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century to promote the understanding of the culture of the North Shore and its community members. The archival collections vary from maritime shipping logs, business logs, unpublished books, maps of the New World before the establishment of the United States, and so much more.

Under the supervision of the head archivist for the Phillips Library, Tamara Gaydos, I got to get my hands dirty (not literally!) and process three collections, as well as write brand new finding aids for the collections: the Archibald Wheel Company Records and Edward A. Archibald Papers, the Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection, and the Almy, Butler, and Robson Papers.

Each collection varied in multiple regards: size, material, historical period, and level of necessary processing, to name a few. Each collection also brought new challenges I never faced before, and after all the new folders went into their new boxes and placed amongst the thousands of other archival collections, I left having learned more than I predicted before my first day.

The Archibald Wheel Company Records and Edward A. Archibald Papers was my first collection, and the easiest. The collection consists of business papers relating to the Archibald Wheel Company, a wheel manufacturer active between 1867 and 1910, and its founder, Edward A. Archibald, a Canadian immigrant who immigrated to Boston in 1852, started his wheel company in the late 1860s, patented a machine for creating a new wheel, the iron-hubbed wheel, and successfully served clientele across the United States until his death.

The Martha Jane (Weston) Averill Collection was my second collection and my first actual challenge. The collection consists of extensive genealogical research on multiple New England families conducted by Martha Jane (Weston) Averill (1838-1908), a Middleton woman, over the course of her life. These families include both local families, such as the Curtis, Putnam, and Wilkins families, and her own familial connections, such as the Averill, Gould, and Weston families. The documents collected by Martha on these families include legal documents, bills, receipts, accounts, family trees, and correspondence.

The Almy, Butler, and Robson Collection contained hundreds of unopened envelopes. Each had to be opened and examined over the course of processing.

The Almy, Butler, and Robson Collection, my third collection, proved to be the greatest challenge yet because, besides previous research conducted by Tamara, there was little to no processing done in this collection; no one knew what was inside the hundreds of unopened envelopes (which I had the pleasure of opening!) The collection consists of documents pertaining to various members of the Almy, Butler, and Robson families, members of the founding family of the Almy Department Store (Salem, Massachusetts), and all of whom were related by blood or marriage. The collection consists predominantly of personal correspondence between family members and close friends; however, the collection also contains photographs, ephemera from travels, cards, drawings, shipping papers, writing samples both written by and about family members, court papers, tax records, and even baby hair! The collection contains documents in English, French, and German. Also accompanying the collection is a family tree to better understand the family.

A lock of baby hair found in the Almy, Butler, and Robson Collection.

Although these three collections by themselves do not change the course of history, they do stand their own ground as gateways into the lives of those who once lived in the communities some call home. The Archibald Wheel Company presents the story of an immigrant who lived the American dream of success. Martha Jane Averill set out to understand her family and her community’s story. The Almys, Butlers, and Robsons kept hold their familial correspondence, pictures, and papers to treasure their relationships. Altogether, these collections present various histories and stories that can be appreciated by a broad constituency of researchers and members of the public.

As an institution of knowledge, preservation of history, and the enrichment of the community, the Phillips Library holds itself to a standard of safe holding and presenting the tantalizing stories of those who once shared the same land as our present communities. To maintain community relations and to allow further accessibility, the Phillips Library digitizes its collections for all to treasure, and this includes the previously mentioned collections processed over the summer.

During the summer, while I sat in the corner processing these valuable collections, the Phillips Library staff secretly prepared for their journey to a permanent home for the archival collections. Only recently did the news break out that despite previous promises made to return the PEM Library back to Salem, Massachusetts, the Phillips Library instead planned to house its archives in Rowley, Massachusetts. This news shocked those who eagerly awaited the day that, after six years of housing in Peabody, the Phillips Library would return to its ancestral home in Salem. Instead, the building would become office space, as the collection moved to a new location in another town.

Angered Salemites gathered in the snow to protest. Some created and signed petitions to “Preserve the Phillips Library.” Thousands wait to see what will happen to both the beloved Phillips Library and the PEM Library collections. Yet, regardless of what happens, the issues that the PEM staff face now are part of the archives profession. Archivists must be flexible enough to carry out their work despite resource constraints and sweeping institutional decisions. As long as the wheels keep turning, community members keep researching, and families continue to preserve their stories, history will move forward.

Postscript: The Phillips Library has released a statement about its move. You can read it here.

Marilyn Morgan and Lauren Prescott reviewing collections at Boston City Archives, 2016.

Reflecting Back, Moving Forward

January 21, 2018 / Heidi Gengenbach / 1 Comment

by: Marilyn Morgan

With some heaviness in my heart, I recently announced my decision to leave my post as director of the Archives Program to apply my skills and passion for educational technology as an Instructional Designer at the Harvard Business School.

Graduate students working as a team to appraise a collection in “Intro to Archives,” fall 2017.

When I stepped into my role as the director of the Archives Program in September 2014, I felt honored to assume leadership of a program that provides affordable and high-quality graduate education in archival studies.

With support from my extraordinary colleagues of the University Archives and Special Collections (UASC) and the help of skilled and selfless archivists, including Marta Crilly, Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, Alfie Paul, Jenny Gotwals, and Juliana Kuipers, the program has transformed. Together, we shaped a program that prepares students by blending archival theory with practical hands-on education.

Graduate students in History 627, processing archival collections, thanks to a collaborative arrangement with the UASC.

Thanks to the ongoing support of Joanne Riley, Interim Dean of University Libraries at UMass Boston, and UASC processing archivist Meghan Bailey, graduate students in the program gained the unique opportunity to process archival collections, producing online finding aids that enable researchers to use collections. The Archives Program could not have succeeded without this collaborative ongoing arrangement.

Katie Burke, processing the records of the Massachusetts Federation for Fair Housing in “Archival Methods and Processing,” spring 2017. The collection is housed at the UASC; access the finding aid online.

Over the past three years, the program forged critical new collaborations with local institutions including Boston City Archives; the Massachusetts Historical Society, the National Park Service, Boston; and the National Archives at Boston.

Marta Crilly, Archivist for Reference and Outreach at Boston City Archives, shared her expertise with students in all archives courses. Our ongoing collaboration enabled students in the course, “Transforming Archives & History in a Digital Age,” to gain invaluable experience digitizing records pertaining to the turmoil surrounding the desegregation of Boston Public Schools in 1974.

Archives students working together on a project during a class held at Boston City Archives.

That hands-on experience gave our students the chance to participate in digital projects, create metatdata, and design robust, engaging online exhibits that received local and national recognition. The digital exhibits students created in Omeka provided public access to many historical documents that were previously inaccessible.

Screenshot of the course site displaying online exhibits designed by students in “Transforming Archives and History in a Digital Age.”

In 2016, the Center for History and New Media recognized the online exhibits designed by graduate students in the Archives Program and the course site remains as a featured site in Omeka’s showcase. I could not be more proud of our students and recent graduates!

Alfie Paul (right) sharing his collection knowledge with students of H 630 as they investigated the desegregation of Boston Public Schools, spring 2016.

During the search for the next Archives Program director, it’s my pleasure to report that two seasoned and passionate leaders in the profession will begin teaching archives courses in the spring semester. Alfie Paul, Director of Archival Operations at the National Archives at Boston will teach “Archival Methods and Processing” while Veronica Martzahl, Digital Records Archivist at the Massachusetts Archives, will begin teaching “Transforming Archives & History in a Digital Age.”

Through determination and commitment to quality education, the program has grown more robust over the past three years. We have advanced a culture of practical education and performance that distinguishes our students. Graduates of the program promise to become future leaders in the profession.

For these reasons and more, I will truly miss having the honor of educating the graduate students of the Archives Program at UMass Boston. I have learned as much as I have taught. I look forward to hearing of our students’ future successes and achievements.

Flickr page of the Boston City Archives.

Dual Degrees and Dead Chickens: Municipal Records and Challenging Archival Stereotypes

December 3, 2017 / Heidi Gengenbach / 0 Comments

By: Anthony Strong

“People are weird and you get all of that with city records. It’s great.” These were the words of Marta Crilly, Archivist for Reference and Outreach at the City of Boston, at the beginning of our exchange in October 2017. Her words especially resonated with me that morning, and I agreed wholeheartedly that people certainly are weird with myself being no exception. Being a first-year graduate student on the History track at UMass whose twenty-four-hour shift for the Boston Fire Department had ended just two hours prior, it was weird that I was sacrificing valuable sleep to meet with a woman I had no connection to, regarding a career I was not actively pursuing. It was weird that I had never conducted an interview before. It was even weirder that I had never stepped foot inside of an archive, let alone spoken with an archivist. Prior undergraduate work had led me to believe that institutional archives were largely obsolete due to the widespread availability of digital records – why go to an archive when I can find what I need online? This in turn dominated my opinion of the latter as I assumed the stereotypical image of the archivist as an older, unapproachable individual who spent a majority of their day muddling over dusty boxes in the dark recesses of a warehouse.

Pulling up to the Boston City Archives certainly did not do much to dissuade these preconceived notions. Tucked away on an industrial road behind a West Roxbury Home Depot, the City Archives occupies a building formerly owned by the gas company.

Exterior of the Boston City Archives, West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Although you can tell that some remodeling efforts had been undertaken in recent years, the bleakness of the loading dock and desolation of the parking lot seemed to affirm my earlier conclusions. Upon entering the building, I was instantly greeted by an older gentleman sitting behind a desk which contained an empty sign-in sheet; my suspicions appeared confirmed. Within thirty seconds I found myself in the reading room of the City Archives and that is when my perspective of both the archives and the archivist began to change.

Archivist Marta Crilly (right) helping a patron in the Boston City Archive reading room.

Marta emerged to greet me; a woman not much older than myself with a small tattoo on her forearm and a personable demeanor. Contrary the air cast on her leg, this was not the old and unapproachable archivist I had assumed I would be interviewing. Rather, Marta proved enthusiastic, outgoing, and knowledgeable about her profession and the collections contained within the archives. After some small talk, we began a tour of the facility which proved more extensive and technologically advanced than I had imagined. Although she joked about the primitiveness of their microfilm reader, to my novice eyes this was a stark contrast to the dusty boxes I had pictured. It was during this tour that I received a crash course on administrative archival tasks and how they were conducted at the City Archives. The most rewarding experience, however, came as we entered the Records Room.

Interior views of the records room, City of Boston Archives.

Interior view of the Records Room, City of Boston Archives.

Another view of the Records Room, City of Boston Archives.

Clearly observing my amazement at the organization and breadth of the collections, Marta remarked: “I don’t think people understand how fascinating municipal records are.” She was right.

Returning to the reading room, the hard part was about to begin.

Though I had prepared several questions that I thought would fulfill the technical aspects of the assignment, I realized I no longer cared about simply “checking-the-box” and getting a good grade; I now had a legitimate interest in what I had just observed and the stereotypes that had just been challenged.

I was less concerned about annual processing statistics and was more intrigued by what she did as an archivist. Describing her typical day as a “mix of social media, working with researchers, and then using any extra time to work on digital records,” I realized an archivist is a lot less dusty boxes and a lot more interaction and technology. Not only does Marta maintain a twitter feed for the City Archives, but she also tries to keep the public engaged by posting a “mystery photo of the day” while actively blogging on behalf of the archive.

What really interested me, however, was how her formal education factored into her role as an archivist. Marta possesses Bachelor’s degrees in History, English Literature, and Spanish from the University of Tennessee, as well as Master’s Degrees in both History and Library Science (with a concentration in Archives Management) from Simmons College. Regarding my own situation, I was curious how her degree in History impacted her role as an archivist and if this was a career she just stumbled upon, or if it was her long-term objective after leaving Tennessee. Though she joked that she was “highly motivated to get out of Tennessee,” she explained that her undergraduate experience had nurtured an interest for the archives and that was a determining factor when applying to graduate school. Boston is home to an abundance of archives, and Simmons seemed a good fit for her as it offered many internship opportunities and a chance for her to network within the profession.

Why not just get a graduate degree in Archives? Why put yourself through the extra work and expense of attaining two graduate degrees? Quick to note that “not everyone would agree,” Marta feels as if having a history degree “is really helpful to understand the historical context of the records that you’re working with, especially when you are working with researchers.” This historical background appears to complement almost every aspect of her role as an archivist. Considering the appraisal process, for example, Marta reflected how “if you have a historical background you recognize the value in things that someone with just an archives background might not necessarily recognize.” Although her historical specialty while at Simmons of Gender and Religious History did not necessarily aide her work as a City Archivist, she was quick to credit the “writing and research skills” she developed while a member of their program.

Marta maintains the social media channels for Boston City Archives, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Tumblr. Screen shot of BCA’s Tumblr page.

Writing and research skills have certainly paid off for Marta, as she is a frequent collaborator and initiator of digital projects and collections for the City Archives. Although the website for the digital records of the City Boston is somewhat difficult to navigate (you can find it here), the extent of the available collections is impressive. Marta is an active proponent of the City’s “Digital Access Initiative” – a program aimed at digitizing some of their “most interesting or best-known records.” While Marta lightheartedly states that making all of the records in the City Archives available digitally is unrealistic, she believes that the information they have digitized will draw more researchers into the archives. A perfect example of this is the desegregation records she has overseen the digitization of, which she concludes has “allowed her to a part of some groundbreaking research.” When researchers browse these desegregation records it is frequently followed with a phone call to Marta, during which she informs them that the archives houses about ten times more than what they are seeing online. This bait-and-hook tactic has proven effective, and has led her to aspire to conduct a similar project regarding Boston’s immigration history in the 1900s.

Flickr page of the Boston City Archives.

Marta’s work, however, is not solely aimed at academics and researchers; she hopes to engage public participation in the City Archives. The extensive use of FlickR on projects such as the “Ray Flynn Collection” have proven perhaps the most effective means of achieving this; the “granular information” that public participants provide is just an added benefit. Considering my personal situation and how I never had an interest in the archives until I had actually been there and seen one for myself, I questioned how she would convince someone to want to come to the archives? What would make Joe Schmo want to give up his Tuesday morning to examine the collections? Marta, after a brief moment to collect her thoughts, summed up her sales pitch in the simplest of terms by stating: “We have the history of your neighborhood. We have the history of your family. And for some, we have the evidence you need to hold the city accountable.”

“#Mystery Photo,” one of the most successful social media initiatives Marta implemented at Boston City Archives, using Twitter.

More interesting to me was the realization that nowhere else could you find a well-maintained record of how city of Boston residents interacted with their government. Where else could you find a letter to the Board of Alderman complaining that a neighbor’s dog killed his chickens?

Our interview concluded with some general advice about the profession, as well as some things Marta personally wishes she had done differently. Stressing “technical skills and digital classes,” her insight certainly suggested that the future of the archivist is increasingly focused on the digital realm. Rather than try to convince me to become an archivist, Marta offered credible and honest advice:

“Being an archivist is not for everyone and it can be a really difficult job sometimes. But what’s wonderful about being an archivist is that you get to see history in people’s own words; it’s not filtered through someone else.”

Whether or not I pursue an archives certificate is still a personal decision I have yet to make. If you are someone reading this however, don’t take my “filtered words” as gospel; this was just a small account of my brief interaction with the City Archives. Take an afternoon, visit the City Archives, and be surprised at what you might find there (just be sure to make an appointment).

“What’s An Archivist to Do?”: An Exercise in Appraisal

October 19, 2017 / Heidi Gengenbach / 0 Comments

By Violet Caswell

Graduate students enrolled in Professor Marilyn Morgan’s “Introduction to Archives” class do a lot of reading. We read about the history of archives, core archival principles, and about challenges that modern archivists face. And we read theory- lots of theory. Information from books, journal articles, and even blog posts swirl around in our heads as we to get a handle on the essential practices and principles of the profession. The process can be frustrating– like when we have to reread the same dense sentence five times to ascertain its meaning– but it can also be immensely rewarding, especially when we get to apply our knowledge to real-world situations.

Enter Juliana Kuipers, Senior Collection Development Curator and Archivist at the Harvard University Archives.

Guest speaker Juliana Kuipers leading graduate students in the Archives program in a discussion of appraisal based on real experiences.

Juliana visited our class recently, to talk about her experience in the field and also to lead a short exercise in appraisal. A week in advance, we broke into teams and, in addition to reading published articles about selection and appraisal, Marilyn assigned us a document containing five appraisal scenarios drawn from Juliana’s experience at the Harvard Archives. Our task was straightforward: after contemplating the theoretical readings, we were to put ourselves in Juliana’s shoes, and decide whether or not to accession materials for the Archives.

Faith Plazarin, Taylor Finch, and Iona Feldman debate whether or not the Archives should accession the personal papers of an alumnus from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that this assignment was more complicated than it seemed at first glance. There were all kinds of questions to consider, from issues of provenance to ethical dilemmas to everything in between. Similarly, there were a host of materials involved in the scenarios, including diaries, correspondence, artwork, scrapbooks, and artifacts. As we weighed the benefits and drawbacks of accessioning each collection, we remained cognizant of the Archives’ Collection Policy, a document which clarifies much but also contains ambiguity.

Juliana Kuipers shares her experience with archival selection.

What did it mean, some of us wondered, that the Archives sought “to gather an accurate, authentic, and complete record of the life of the University”? Did that mean that the institution should purchase or accept any collection remotely relating to Harvard? Were some materials more conducive to this end than others? What about resources? Should collections that require fewer resources (finances, personnel, space) take precedence over materials that are more costly? And if the archivist decided not to accession the collection, what then? Did he or she have an obligation to suggest other avenues for the donor to pursue? The Archive’s Collection policy provided clues, but no hard-and-fast answers.

Grad students Chris Norton, Nina Rodwin, and Maddy Moison, with guest speaker Juliana Kuipers, discussing selection challenges and how to navigate tricky acquisitions issues.

Juliana smiled and nodded as we expressed our uncertainties. In many ways, she told us, uncertainty is one of the hallmarks of the accessioning process. The determinations that archivists make on a day-to-day basis require background knowledge, critical thinking, and even a little creativity. They argue for and against the accessioning of materials whose incorporation into the Archives is in no means inevitable. Juliana encouraged our class to keep working to develop the skills that will allow us to make informed decisions that will enhance the collections of our future institutions.

Our sincerest thanks to Juliana Kuipers for sharing her time and experiences with us. Stay tuned for updates on the ways in which our class continues to learn about archives and think as archivists!

Public History at UMass Boston