Creating Community Archives: Giving Voice to the Unheard

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-499
Author(s):  
Kelly Ahlfeld
Keyword(s):  
Community Archives

scholarly journals Public Library: A Place for the Digital Community Archive

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Copeland
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Management ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Community Archives ◽  
The Past ◽  
Digital Community ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Community Archive

Abstract This article explores the possibility that public libraries can be repositories for digital community archives. The overarching goal is to establish a case for public libraries’ developing digital community archives that are participatory and which emphasize born-digital items rather than digitized physical items. This discussion follows my own research and experience in this area to include personal information management, social media and the personal archive, and the accidental community archive, and demonstrates that public libraries can focus on communities’ current events and people rather than solely on those from the past.

Popular music heritage, community archives and the challenge of sustainability

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 476-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Baker ◽  
Jez Collins
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Country Music ◽  
Sustainable Practices ◽  
Community Archives

This article identifies the challenges community archives of popular music face in achieving medium- to long-term sustainability. The artefacts and vernacular knowledge to be found in community archives, both physical and online, are at risk of being lost ‘to the tip’ and, consequently, to ‘cultural memory’, due to a lack of resources and technological change. The authors offer case studies of the British Archive of Country Music, a physical archive, and an online Facebook group Upstairs at the Mermaid, to exemplify how and why such groups must strategize their practices in order to remain sustainable. By including both online and physical community archiving in the scope of this research, the authors find that despite key differences in practice, both archival communities face similar threats of closure. The article concludes with an overview of the general outlook for community archives, and possible solutions to this ongoing issue of sustainable practices and processes for this sector.

Providing Restricted Access to Mental Health Archives within Government Archives: The Subject Stakeholder

2021 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-188
Author(s):  
Patricia Galloway
Keyword(s):  
State Hospital ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
Central State ◽  
Sensitive Data ◽  
Community Archives ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
The People ◽  
State Psychiatric ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State Archives

ABSTRACT Since 2010, the author has been part of the Central State Hospital (CSH) Digital Library and Archives Project to digitize records from the first state psychiatric hospital for African Americans, founded in 1870 in Virginia at the pleadings of the Freedman's Bureau and run by the state since then.1 Many of the records of this hospital not yet accessioned by the Library of Virginia have now been digitized, and this project is working on a set of tools for lawful access, including one that can be used for automated redaction to protect sensitive data while responding to the needs of different stakeholder groups. Project participants were especially concerned about understanding the communities that have grown up around state-run psychiatric hospitals, as the project was done at the request of the hospital. The proposed plan is to work with the Central State Hospital and the Library of Virginia to provide the project materials to both. The records that were chosen to be digitized included the minutes of the people who first ran the hospital as well as the registers kept on the patients, which differ over time.2 In the past ten to fifteen years, professional discussion about community archives has responded to communities' desires to build their own archives so that they can be treated fairly, especially with reference to records created about them and kept by others, including records found in state archives.

Community Archives and the Creation of Living Knowledge

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Simon Popple ◽  
Daniel H. Mutibwa ◽  
Andrew Prescott
Keyword(s):  
Community Archives ◽  
The Creation

Defining the undefinable: an analysis of definitions of community archives

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 617-634
Author(s):  
Sarah Welland ◽  
Amanda Cossham
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Archival Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Archives ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Community Archive ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to explore definitions and notions of what a community archive is, and the tensions between different understandings of community archives. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a critical analysis of community archives definitions and understanding from researchers and practitioners across the wider heritage information sector. Findings Community archives are a growing area of interest for researchers because of the archives’ intrinsic link to the community and their provision of the evidence of it. While discussion often focuses on a paradigm of transformative purpose, existing definitions around community archives continue to be tenuous, reflecting different real or perceived types and practices and the perspective of the author and the sector they work within. Variations in definition can also occur because of differences in perspective around theory and practice, with many practitioner-based definitions intrinsically bound with the community they represent. This can result in community archives being defined as “alternative” based on mainstream practice or “political” based on theoretical purview, or “meeting the needs of community” by the community archivists themselves. Research limitations/implications The paper is conceptual and does not attempt to provide one definition that covers the perceived extent of community archives. It is part of work in progress on the nature of community archives and the impact such discourse may have on archival theory and practice. Originality/value This paper provides an overview of some of the key issues and themes impacting a definition of community archives, and in doing so works towards a broader understanding the nature of community archives. In most cases, the concept of “community” seems to provide a common definitive element and practitioner definitions focus on addressing the needs of self-defined community to a greater or lesser extent.

“What We Do Crosses over to Activism”

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marika Cifor ◽  
Michelle Caswell ◽  
Alda Allina Migoni ◽  
Noah Geraci
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Archives ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ethical Orientations ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Community Organizers ◽  
Using Data

Using data gleaned from semistructured interviews with seventeen community archives founders, volunteers, and staff at twelve sites, this paper examines the relations and roles of community archives and archivists in social justice activism. Our research uncovered four findings on the politics of community archives. First, community-based archivists identify as activists, advocates, or community organizers, and this identification shapes their understandings of community archives work and the missions of community archives. Second, community-based archives offer substantial critiques of neutrality in their ethical orientations and thus present new ethical foundations for practice. Third, by activating their collections, community archives play significant roles within contemporary social movements including struggles for racial justice and against gentrification. Finally, community archives are at the forefront of the profession in their engagements with activists. Community archives have much to contribute to practice and scholarship on activism, outreach, and public engagement with the past.

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