On April 5, I became the College Archivist at Albion College.  I’ve been there two months and I have to say, I really like it.   Being a lone arranger has it’s challenges, but also many perks.  Plus, the college is a very friendly and relaxed place to work–plus and plus.

Albion’s Archives and Special Collections is unique because the archivist is actually in charge of three areas: the College Archives, Rare Books, and the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church.  Right now, I’m only working with the first two and I’m really enjoying it.  There are a lot of treasures just waiting to be discovered.

So far, I’ve done quite a bit of reference requests on past students and organizations.  I’ve also accessioned a few collections from fraternities and sororities on campus, which is fun.  I love that part of my job is documenting life on campus–from lectures and events to student organizations and activities.

I haven’t started too much of a web presence for the Special Collections yet.  I have a few blog posts in mind, but I know I have to come up with a schedule and stick to it before I begin.  I don’t just want to drop off or be sporadic (as I am on this one).   I’m thinking of starting in August with the return of school.  Wish me luck!

This past weekend, I attended Great Lakes THAT Camp. This “unconference” was hosted by my alma mater, Michigan State University.  The topic: humanities and technology.

The format was very interesting and different from what I’m used to.   We started at 8:30 AM; people shouted out session proposals and if there was enough interest, it was put on the schedule.

Most of the sessions were helpful and I made some great contacts.  I’m really excited to work with LookBack Maps.  This website overlays historic photographs on a google map to give you a geographic way to search images.  It’s very user-friendly and allows for proper citation of the photographs.  I’m looking forward to adding to the collection!

The other session I was particularly interested in was a demo of KORA, a content management system created by MSU Matrix.  I’m always interested to see the strengths and weaknesses of the different CM systems out there.  I had never heard of Kora, so it was a great learning experience.  I really like the ability to include GIS coordinates as part of the metadata.  Currently, there is no front-end web template, but that could actually be an asset.  From working with CONTENTdm, I have seen that sometimes it’s better to have web designers customize a site that fits your institution’s needs rather than try to make your site fit in a auto-generted template.  But….that gets into IT support and financial abilities; not all repositories have that option.

All in all, the conference was a great event.  I found that I really like the “unconference”….when discussion is expected, I participate much more.  It’s also more interesting to hear different opinions and viewpoints than to listen to a speaker lecture on a topic for an hour.  It will be interesting to see how archives conferences adapt to this new trend.

It’s always fun to hang out with other people passionate about history, and the AACWRT definitely fits that description!  One member sports an Abe Lincoln beard and dresses up as the former President for educational programs around the state.

After my coworker’s presentation, there were a lot of questions.  It was great to see such interest in the Seeking Michigan projects I’ve been working on (by 2011, all of the Archives’ civil war material will be online).

I have to give a “shout out” to my colleague and friend, Tom Nanzig for arranging our field trip to Ann Arbor.  It was a lot of fun!

Oh, and I ended up drawing myself in the raffle and got a book on a POW from Michigan.  Can’t wait to start reading it!

Tom and I hanging out after the show

It was fun and interesting to learn about new applications and tools being developed in my local community.  Some were more useful for me than others, but overall, it was a very well done event.  I’m very excited to try out snagit for my next presentation.

I have taken web design classes using HTML, CSS and Javascript, and so I was a little worried that the presentations would be too complicated for me to follow; I was glad to find that they were not.  I learned new CSS tricks to create custom fonts that I’m looking forward to playing around with.

There was also a demo of Seeking Michigan.  It was great to see “techies” excited about our website and what we have done.  One of the goals of the site was to make it sleek and integrate Web 2.0 technologies, and it was rewarding to get such great feedback.

The cutest part of DemoCamp?  The cupcakes! How can you beat eatable iPods?

I have to say, it’s easy to see why this film has become the industry standard.  The primary sourcing really brings the struggles of the war to life.  Also, Burns includes accounts from common soldiers, women, and minorities that give a  fuller history of the war than others that focus only on generals.

I consider myself very fortunate to have a job where I am able to learn new things on a daily basis.  I have learned so much about the Civil War–from battles and strategy to common food eaten by soldiers.  Each letter or diary I read gives me a different perspective on the battles and story of the war. I now see why this conflict has always had a pull on the American imagination.   It ripped families apart and killed so many in four drawn out years.  It marked the end of an era in American History and the beginning of a new one.

I’ve also enrolled in a class on the Civil War through the MSU Alumni Association.  It starts in a few weeks and I’m really looking forward to it!

Now that this collection is finished, I’m able to move on to our other Civil War collections.  I’m excited to expand the Civil War Manuscripts available on Seeking Michigan!

Read my full blog article here.

One day of the conference was spent at Microsoft headquarters.  It was really interesting to hear where Microsoft thinks the future of technology is headed.  In their  virtual home, the house computer knows what food is in the house, what homework students have, and the schedule of everybody in the family.  Personally, I found it a tad creepy, although I can see how some of the ideas could become mainstream in ten years.   The virtual office is under construction, so we didn’t see too much of that exhibit.  Mostly, it consisted of a video demo with Surface units to play around with.  The surface units are neat, but I don’t see any difference between it’s features and those on the iPhone.  Again, I see how we are heading into a mouse free age, but I’m not sure if Microsoft is at the head of innovation anymore.

I presented on the NHPRC grant the Archives of Michigan received last year.  We were the last session of the conference, so we were surprised to get around 25 people.  The talk went well and I made some contacts–win, win in my book!

Seattle itself is a beautiful city.  It’s always fun to stay downtown and explore.  I shopped downtown, visited the Klondike  Gold Rush National Park,  the Experience Music Project, and the Needle, and explored the various neighborhoods of the city.

Next year, NAGARA will be joining with COSA and SAA for a joint annual meeting in Washington, D.C.  I’m really looking forward to attending!

I’ve lived around Lansing all my life, but have never visited the house.  When I visit historic homes, it usually was usually owned by a famous family.  This tour was interesting because although the Turner family figures prominently in Lansing history, they are virtually unknown outside of Ingham County.  It was a nice experience to tour a home that has a connection to buildings, streets, and parks that I see on a daily basis.

The tour also included tea time complete with raspberry tea and cookies.   It was quite scrumptious!

All of the sessions I went to were very informative.  I attended sessions on DSpace, The Archivist Toolkit vs. Achron, and Documenting the Undocumented.

I had never heard of DSpace prior to the conference and was amazed to learn how many institutions use it.  It’s great to have an open source digital asset manager, but I hope they improve the public interface.  Currently, everything looks muddled and is difficult to search through.  It made me thankful that the Archives of Michigan uses CONTENTdm and has been able to customize it so heavily.

As an archivist, I’ve heard The Archivists Toolkit and Achron around on listservs and such, but never had a clear idea of what they do and how they differ.  The presenters at MAA did a great job breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of each and showing how both make an archivists job much easier.  It was very cool to see software developed specifically for archives and I hope to use either of these programs (or something new!) in the future.

Documenting the Undocumented was a very fun session about how archivists are collecting materials on populations that are left out of most histories.  The presenters discussed (1) Circus and Carnival Performers,  (2) Minority Student Groups at Michigan State University (my alma mater!), and (3) Minority groups in Boston.  The talk on circus performers was very interesting and I learned new things about a fascinating topic.   The “professional” lesson I took away from this session was (1) visuals are very important and (2) don’t talk too fast!

Giving my presentation

The session I spoke in was, of course, first in the program.  I discussed the various Civil War collections that the Archives of Michigan is uploading onto Seeking Michigan.  These collections include Civil War service records, manuscripts, and photographs.  The service records and photographs are already uploaded and I am currently working on the manuscripts.  Stay tuned for my progress!

I also took a few tours while at the conference.  The Local Arrangements were a little disorganized, but I was able to see everything I signed up for.  The tour included visits to the Magic Museum, GAR Hall, and the Postal Museum.  Of the three, the Postal Museum was my favorite.  I went in thinking it would be really boring, but it turned out to be really interesting.  I think part of that is we all use the mail and thus, have a personal connection to draw us in.  Plus, the curator there is VERY enthusiastic and his enthusiasm spreads quickly.  I should also note it was the only museum with air conditioning, so that may have played a factor as well. 

Group outside of the GAR Museum

All in all, the conference was another great experience.  I am feeling much more comfortable with public speaking and it’s really fun to reconnect with archivists from across the state.  I met new people, saw old friends, and had a blast.

Next up–NAGARA in 2 weeks!

A few months ago, The Digital Archive Blog posted “15 People all Archivists Must Follow on Twitter.”  Although I didn’t make the first cut, I was added to the list a few days later.  Before that article, I had around 20 followers, but now I’m at 66–wow!

Most people I talk to tend to shy away from Twitter, considering it a waste of time or just pointless.  Two common thoughts are “why would anyone want to read about what I do all day?” or “I don’t have time”.  Following other archivists has been a great way to expand my network.  Do I know most of these people on a first name basis?  No, but when I see their names pop up at various conferences or on listservs I feel more connected.  Plus, with everyone tweeting about what they’re working on or pondering, it’s a great place to exchange ideas.

I feel I’m a case in point for the “I don’t have time” arguement.  It is MUCH easier to update in 140 than write an entire blog post.  I’m on twitter everyday, but this blog tends to get pushed aside.  Why?  Because writing 140 characters is much less daunting.  If I have on comment, I can write it, without having to think of related material to fill up a post.

I’ve found twitter to be a great place for networking with other archvists and greatly prefer it over facebook or LinkedIn.  I learn about other archives throughout the world and get to know some “quirks” of others that lead to personal connections.  Although, I still think I’m the only archivist out there that enjoys listening to the princess of pop herself, Ms. Spears.