GLOBAL ARCHIVES FALL SOJOURN – WEEK 1 REPORT

A team of colleagues gathered last Monday and they have been stepping up to the task. Around the tables and in and out of the basement, people were engaged not only in archiving assets, but also beginning to curate collections and to write stories for our emerging collections.

Did we just find a gem in the "deep" Archives? (From left: Jean Long, Paul Noah, Bud Ames, Frances Moore)

Among the 18 people working on the sixth floor of 4750 N. Sheridan are Christina Wolf of Oklahoma City University (a professional archivist); Beret Griffith of Northfield, MN; Jack and Judy Gilles of Litibu, Mexico; Steve Harrington of Costa Rica; Bud and Jan Ames of Corvallis, OR; Oliveanne and Jim Slotta of Denver, CO; Frank Knutson of Redlands, CA; Ken & Ruth Gilbert of Champaign, IL; Paul Noah of La Junta, CO; Marge Philbrook, Rosemary Albright, Sally Fenton, and Jean Long of Chicago; and Frances Moore of Omaha, NE.

Here is Paul Noah with our "Victory Wedge of the Week." (Paul standing, Jim Slotta sitting)

The task of making collections involves both Archiving and Curating.

Accomplishments for the first week are:

Accessioning Assets

• The last 41 file cabinets in the basement accessioned (we know what is in each drawer)
• 22 boxes of additional files accessioned including four huge boxes from Hong Kong
• 100 audiotapes accessioned
• National Town Meeting ‘76 files were sorted into 19 categories
• Nine inches of 5th City slides and 13 inches of Town Meeting slides digitized
  
  

Curating Collections

• Identified more than 75 collection themes like Academy and Imaginal Education.
• Wrote a TM '76 Collection Curator Future-Focus 1st draft and identified some possible new user groups like the Transition Towns Movement.
• Making stories.
• Practiced writing storyboards for collections with an image, a theme and using less than 40 words.
• Listened to some Aboriginal stories about "traveling down the songlines."
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The Archives Team is looking for new people to join the Sojourn for October. The team is urging everyone to consider coming to help, even for a day or so over the next month. They are truly discovering "What is the Future of our Past?”