New England Archivists

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Fall Meeting 1998: Meeting Program

October 30-31, 1998
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs

8:45am-10:30am

1. Hazardous Waste and the Environment: Documenting Environmental Concerns with Archives

The recent trend towards documenting environmental concerns with archives will be discussed in this session. The first speaker, Mark Jones, will address how the State Archives is documenting environmental history, the variety of records it is acquiring, and their research uses. William Uricchio will discuss the ways the records of the New Haven Railroad have been used in hazardous waste legal cases. Tom Steinke, Conservation Officer of the Town of Farifield, will talk about the ways environmental records are used by his office.

Speakers:: Mark Jones, Connecticut State Archivist
William Uricchio, Curator, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut
Tom Steinke, Conservation Officer of the Town of Fairfield, Connecticut
Chair:: Bruce Stark, Archivist, Connecticut State Library

2. Primary Sources on the Web

This session will explore the ways in which the web has been used as a tool to teach about and display primary sources. Diane Kaplan will discuss a web tutorial that a team of archivists created to introduce researchers to the concepts of archives and primary sources, and to conducting research at Yale's Manuscripts and Archives Department in particular. Peter Nelson, who is responsible for the creation of the "Perennial Blessing: Celebrating Sophia Smith" online exhibit at Smith College, will speak about the differences between an online and a traditional, on-site exhibit, as well as factors involved in putting up primary sources on the web. Lizette Pelletier will discuss a current project of mounting a database of veterans records with related image files on the web.

Speakers:: Diane Kaplan, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University
Peter Nelson, Project Leader, Five Colleges Archives Digital Access Project
Lizette Pelletier, Associate State Archivist, State of Connecticut
Chair:: Patricia Bodak Stark, Reference Librarian, Eastern Connecticut State University

3. Secrets and Confidences: Acquiring, Processing, and Referencing Legal and Political Papers

Modern political and legal collections are being donated in significant numbers to archival repositories. With them come a host of legal questions concerning such issues as accessioning, formulation of the Deed of Gift/ Document of Deposit, appraisal, access restrictions, attorney/client privilege, and publication. Panelists will discuss these and other issues which arise in their own work and share the solutions they have devised to resolve these complicated matters.

Speakers:: Akiba Covitz, Archivist, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University
Ron Patkus, Archivist, John J. Burns Library, Boston College
Chair:: Kevin Logan, Archivist, University of Rhode Island

10:30am-11:00am

Break

11:00am-12:30pm

4. Time is of the Essence: Making the most of it in Secondary School Archives

Being the archivist at a Secondary School is generally a part-time position. How can that limited time be managed to cover the needs and demands of Secondary School archives? Panelists from three secondary school archives will discuss ways to extend time, including involving students, prioritizing tasks, implementing automation, and other methods.

Moderator:: Edouard Desrochers, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire
Speakers:: Barbara Harris, Kent School, Kent, Connecticut
Shirley Langhauser, Miss Porter's School, Farmington, Connecticut
Ruth Quattlebaum, Phillips Academy, Andover Massachusetts
Chair:: Cassandra Keith, Kent School, Kent Connecticut

5. Pack Up Your Archives in an Old Kit Bag...and Smile?

What do you do when your supervisor tells you to move the archives - next week? That is a problem Phyllis Steele has had to deal with several times over the past few years. What are the similarities and differences between the "peripatetic" archives and an archive that has plenty of advanced warning before making a permanent move? Kathryn Jacobs will describe the inventory process and planning that has taken place for her archives move to New York City.

Speakers:: Phyllis Steele, Archivist, New England Finance
Kathryn Jacob, Deputy Director, American Jewish Historical Society
Chair:: Barbara Austen, Archivist, Fairfield Historical Society

6. Managing Photograph Collections

How does digitizing photographs for cataloging purposes compare to digitizing for reproduction? Volunteer and retired teacher Herb Deutsch will describe and demonstrate how a local historical society with limited resources has successfully scanned its photographs for multiple uses.

Speaker:: Herb Deutsch, Volunteer, Keeler Tavern Museum
Chair:: Susan Richardson, Archivist, Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut

7. Saving the Leviathan: Understanding the Scholarly Use of Business Records, From Ledgers to Advertising

Business records, and ledgers in particular, are often some of the least understood and most underutilized collections in an archives. This panel of historians will address these issues by explaining the use and importance of these records to researchers. Gloria Vollmers will discuss how scholars use ledgers in the field of accounting history. Marc Stern will speak on the use of ledgers and the variety of information they hold as well as comment on other types of records important for his work in business history. Regina Blaszczyk will talk more broadly about the array of business records she used in her award winning research.

Moderator:: Fred Carstensen, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Connecticut
Speakers:: Gloria Vollmers, Associate Professor, University of Maine School of Business
Marc Stern, Associate Professor, Department of History, Bentley College
Regina Blaszczyk, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Boston University
Chair:: Cindy DeLottie, SNET Project Archivist, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut

12:30pm-2:00pm

LUNCH - Speaker - Cornelia H. Dayton

Cornelia H. Dayton graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe College in 1979, magna cum laude in history and government. After receiving her Ph.D. in History from Princeton University in 1986 where she worked principally with Stanley N. Katz and John Murrin, Dayton held a two-year postdoctoral fellowship and assistant professorship at the Institute of Early American History and Culture at the College of William and Mary. She was on the History faculty of the University of California at Irvine between 1988 and 1997. Her current research focuses on concepts of self, mental illness, and other forms of incapacity in pre-asylum New England. Her publications include: Women Before the Bar: Gender, Law, and Society in Connecticut, 1639- 1789; "Turning Points and the Relevance of Colonial Legal History; "Taking the Trade: Abortion and Gender Relations in an Eighteenth-Century New England Village".

2:00pm-3:00pm

8. Planning for Historical Records in Massachusetts: A Discussion

The Massachusetts Historical Records Advisory Board has been engaged in an eighteen-month strategic planning project that will conclude in October 1998. During the project, board members and project staff met with hundreds of archivists, librarians, curators, researchers, and government officials, developed a draft plan, initiated demonstration projects, and analyzed results. In this session, State Historical Records Coordinator Kathryn Hammond Baker will provide and overview of the strategic plan and demonstration projects. She will focus on the next steps and how interested persons can participate in ongoing activities. The majority of the session will be dedicated to a discussion of historical records issues and concerns. Attendees are encouraged to visit the board's website (http://www.state.ma.us/sec/arc/arcaac/aacintro.htm) to review the strategic plan and related information prior to the session.

Speaker:: Kathryn Hammond Baker, Deputy Archivist, Massachusetts Archives
Chair:: Barbara Trippel Simmons, Archivist, Amherst College Library

9. Information Policy: A Role for Archivists

Most institutions of higher education lack encompassing information policies that articulate the responsibility to create, manage, preserve, and provide access to information. Existing institution policies are often incomplete, as they deal primarily with privacy, responsibility, archival or data management issues. In addition, "information" is generally left undefined. When information is defined as a full continuum of sources that embody the entire administrative and intellectual life of colleges and universities, then it becomes a key institutional asset and the policy sets forth the guiding principles to manage that asset. Helen Samuels will discuss how archivists' understanding of this continuum and the vale of this information suggests a key role for our profession.

Speakers:: Helen Samuels, Special Assistant to the Associate Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chair:: Diana Smith, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University

10. Strategic Planning

Strategic planning for small archives involves defining tactics to ensure a successful program. Susan Keats will draw on her experience with the Thoreau Institute Archives and discuss the challenges of working with desparate groups with individual agendas. Deborah Shea will describe the development of the Burson-Marsteller Archives from the personal files of the Founder-Chairman to a company-wide resource.

Speakers:: Deborah Shea, Winthrop Group
Susan Keats, Archivist, Fidelity
Chair:: Greg Colati, Archivist, Tufts University

3:00pm-4:00pm

Tours of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center

Finished in 1995, this 55,000 square foot building, supports the research and academic needs of University of Connecticut students and faculty and serves as a focus for public programs of interest to the campus and to the wider Connecticut Community. The Center cost $10 million and houses the University Libraries' Archives & Special Collections as well as two academic centers with complementary goals: the Center for Oral History and the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life. It also has an exhibit gallery used to highlight the many materials housed in the collection as well as public spaces such as the Doris and Simon Konover Auditorium which seats 185, a public lounge and a conference room. Major collections at the Dodd Center include the Northeast Children's Literature Collection, the Connecticut Business, Labor, Politics and Public Affairs Collections, the Alternative Press Collection, Railroad History Collections, University Archives, the SNET Historic Collection, and many more. With a climate controlled stack and technical services area and 20 miles of mobile shelving for the storage of our rare and unique collections, a tour of this impressive building will be worth your time.

3:00pm-3:30pm

Goodbye with snacks for the ride home

Don't miss this, we'll have an ice cream bar with UConn's famous ice cream!