Seattle Area Archivists

We hope to see you tomorrow for our Seattle Area Archivists meeting.

When: March 11, 2010 10:00-11:30

Where: University of Washington Special Collections classroom in the basement of Allen Library South

What: Short business meeting followed by presentations by Nicolette Bromberg and Hannah Palin.

Presentation Descriptions:

Discovering Viretta Denny, and how she kept growing on me–literally!
Nicolette Bromberg, Visual Materials Curator at UW Libraries, Special Collections, will talk about her experiences when she uncovered (and kept uncovering) a collection of photographs by an early Seattle photographer.

Films, Football, and Raccoons
There were always rumors about the Intercollegiate Athletic Film Collection, that a treasure trove of films documenting the UW’s athletic history was buried somewhere in Husky Stadium. In early 2009, Hannah Palin, Film Archives Specialist at the UW Libraries, Special Collections, met with representatives from the Intercollegiate Athletics Department to discuss a project to evaluate, inventory, and make recommendations for the care and storage of the department’s films. At that meeting, Ms. Palin was taken to the fabled storage room in Husky Stadium, containing hundreds of boxes filled with thousands of films and videotapes. The rumors were all true. Ms. Palin will discuss the Intercollegiate Athletics Moving Image Project in detail and will touch on issues of preservation and access in regard to large moving image collections.

Check the event flier here

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Scott Cline, City Archivist, “Treasures in the Seattle Municipal Archives”

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Paul Dorpat,“Making and Preserving Community”

_______________

Programs begin at 1pm.

INTERNSHIP AT WELLSPRING FAMILY SERVICES

Here is a chance to set up an archive almost from scratch! Wellspring Family Services (formerly Family Services of King County) has recently relocated from our longtime Pioneer Square location, and are looking for an intern to help organize a small agency archive at our new locale in the Rainier Valley. We have accumulated a wide variety of documents and other archival materials from 1892 to the present, and we need help identifying what we have and setting up procedures for labeling, storage, retrieval, and display.

TASKS

Organize a private archive for a non-profit social service organization.

Materials include approximately 30 cubic feet of boxes containing: brochures, pamphlets, documents outlining services and policy, news clippings related to the organization, as well as some videos, film, audio recordings, photographs (some oversized), and miscellaneous items.

Create a basic, workable inventory system for ongoing maintenance by non-specialists.

Put collection into appropriate temporary storage.

Materials are currently in scrapbooks, plastic sleeves in binders, file folders, etc., inside moving boxes; current labeling is inconsistent and inadequate.

Safe permanent storage is a long-term goal; intern will advise on cost-effective storage systems for future purchase.

Budget of $500 available for supplies & materials; intern will advise on purchases.

Establish (and document) a basic identification, labeling, and retrieval system.

Establish (and document) systems for creating a digital image archive of key holdings.

Intern will train staff on identifying ‘key holdings’ and creating, naming, and storing digital images so that the project can go forward as time permits.

Consult on potential for display of materials.

Long-term plans include display cabinets for revolving display of documents items from the agency archive; intern will advise on cabinets, display techniques, etc.

TIMEFRAME

8 weeks, June-August 2010; start/end date and weekly schedule (approx. 30 hrs/wk) can be somewhat flexible

STIPEND

$1000

SUPERVISION

Overall project supervision from the agency’s Executive Assistant; the intern will work independently much of the time and should also be prepared to train staff in systems and procedures.

The ideal candidate will be a competent second-year graduate student with some experience, or a post-grad student looking for a short-term project.

APPLICATION

Please send letter of interest and qualifications to

Deborah Townsend

Wellspring Family Services

1900 Rainier Ave. S

Seattle, WA 98144

dtownsend@wellspringfs.org

Because this year is saa’s 25th Anniversary, I want to include well-wishes, birthday cards, reminiscences of saa or members (past and present) in the Spring edition of the newsletter.  Although it’s saa’s birthday, this invitation is not limited strictly to members or even former members.  We welcome any comments (or articles) about saa in particular or the value of regional archival organizations in general.  Please send responses to zimmerj6@gmail.com and put “saa birthday” in the subject line.

Don’t forget about these upcoming deadlines:

February 9 (TODAY!): Deadline to submit materials to be included in the forthcoming issue of the Seattle Area Archivists newsletter.  See this previous post for more details.

February 12: Deadline for proposals for student presentations for our upcoming winter membership meeting.  See this previous post for info.