News & EVENTS

NEA seeks interested individual(s) to assist the Massachusetts History Conference (MHC) in planning an archives track at their annual conference in June 2016.

The Massachusetts History Conference's purpose is to support public local history. The conference features panel discussions and workshops on topics of interest to small museums and other historical organizations and people who work with them. Over 100 people, representing public history in the state of Massachusetts, attend this event at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA every year. Recent speakers at the MHC have included Professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, filmmaker Ian Cheney, Professor Jill Lepore, and author Ray Raphael. The 2016 MHC, as it did in 2015, will feature an archives track within the program and has  again given New England Archivists the opportunity to organize this portion. This is an incredible opportunity to help shape a vital and interesting conference and advocate for the role of archivists and archives to our region's public historians.  

Planning for the Conference has just begun and will conclude in early June (2016) with the Conference itself. If you are interested in this opportunity or have further questions, please contact NEA President Colin Lukens (colin_lukens@harvard.edu). Deadline to express interest is Tuesday, October 13, 2015.  

Further information on the MHC can be found here: http://masshumanities.org/programs/mass-history/history-conference/

NOVEMBER IS ELECTION MONTH

Mark your calendars now for the 2015 NEA Election: November 2nd through 13th. During October, we will introduce you to our round of candidates (listed alphabetically). Or you can check out the candidate's statements at anytime on the NEA website. Private and secure voting will take place online through votenet.com.  Please look for an e-mail on November 2nd with your unique user name and password to vote.

Vice President/President Elect
   -- Karen Adler Abramson
   -- Ellen Doon

Secretary
   -- Caitlin Birch
   -- Adrienne Pruitt

Representative-at-Large
   -- Abigail Cramer
   -- Liz Francis
   -- Ben Johnson
   -- Betsy J. Spekke

A couple of other important things to know….

To be eligible to vote, you must renew your membership by noon on October 26th. Please review your email address in the membership directory and make sure it is correct.  It is this email address that will be linked to your ballot.

EXPLORING THE EYE OF HISTORY: NEA SYMPOSIUM ON 19TH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY

There are still spots available to attend the afternoon symposium portion of “Exploring the Eye of History,” the New England Archivists’ Fall 2015 Meeting at the Providence Public Library in Providence, Rhode Island. The symposium will include talks and workshop-style sessions devoted to the identification and description of 19th-century photography. The day will culminate with a collaborative performance of a magic lantern show by Providence's Wonder Show.

STRANGE SITES AND UNTOLD STORIES: JUST WHAT IS A WONDER SHOW?  

The Wonder Show is a group of artists who explore new ways of viewing, storytelling and community-building through contemporary reinterpretations of the Victorian magical lantern show. Anya Ventura (emeritus) and Carolyn Gennari describe why lantern slide shows appeal to them as artists: "Seemingly composed of nothing but light and shadow, projected images suggest a certain wavering faithfulness to reality but only an ephemeral, and perhaps deceptive, one. The projected image challenges the relationship between the seen and unseen, reality and representation, and reason and belief. As we thought about what a 21st-century magic lantern show might look like, we became interested in how the idea of sympathetic magic might be applied to the idea of art-making itself. We researched magic lantern shows, Phantasmagoria or ghost shows, Spiritualist séances, and magician's conjuring tricks—all to uncover something about the nature of illusion, and the magic of giving form to the spirit, the invisible, the ghosts of history."

For the NEA Fall 2015 Meeting, The Wonder Show will present an abbreviated version of their performance "Strange Sites and Untold Stories." For this show they worked with the Providence Public Library's special collections, reproducing—using 19th-century photographic techniques—an enigmatic collection of snapshots documenting life in Rhode Island at the turn of the century. The show features a series of readers performing original stories as the photographs are projected behind them with the magic lantern.

Visit https://thewondershow.wordpress.com/shows/ or http://www.provlib.org/exhibitions/wondershow for more information.

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The Fall 2015 Meeting Committee has worked diligently to bring you a completely unique meeting experience, so reserve your space before it fills up.  For more information about the program, local resources (such as parking, hotels, and restaurants), and the registration process, see the NEA website or follow us on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #NEAfall15.

Looking forward to seeing you in Providence!

Fall 2015 Program Committee
New England Archivists

NEA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
Friday, September 25th

Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS)
1145 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02215

All NEA members are welcome to attend the NEA Executive Board quarterly meeting on Friday, June 26th.  If you are interested, please contact Anna Clutterbuck-Cook at MHS: acook@masshist.org

Unable to attend the September 2015 board meeting in person? NEA is committed to making our board meetings open to all members. If you would like to request remote access to part or all of the September meeting, please contact the Inclusion and Diversity Coordinator, Anna Clutterbuck-Cook (acook@masshist.org / 617-646-0561) and we will do what we can to accommodate your request.

You can read the board meeting agenda on the NEA website: http://www.newenglandarchivists.org/news/3393012.

New England Archivists
Communications Committee

The morning photo workshop at AS220 for the New England Archivists Fall 2015 Meeting, "Exploring the Eye of History" is now full. Good news though: there are still spaces left for the afternoon symposium, but make sure to reserve your spot early.

Because of the great interest in this workshop (it sold out in one day!), NEA workshop coordinators are working with AS220 to try and offer it again in the spring. Look for more announcements in the next few months.

If you are still interested in attending the workshop during the Fall Meeting, you can put your name on a wait list. Email NEA Registrar Emily Atkins.

See you in Providence!

EXPLORING THE EYE OF HISTORY: NEA WORKSHOP AND SYMPOSIUM ON 19TH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY

We are excited to announce that registration is now open (symposium only or workshop and symposium) for the New England Archivists' Fall 2015 New England Meeting, "Exploring the Eye of History." This unique meeting promises to be a fascinating experience so make sure to reserve your space early.

The two-part day will begin at the AS220 studios with a small morning workshop, where thirty participants will gain hands-on experience developing images using several 19th-century photography processes like cyanotype and wet plate collodion photography.

The afternoon session, a larger symposium at the Providence Public Library, will include talks and demonstrations devoted to the history and techniques of 19th-century photography. The day will culminate with a collaborative reinterpretation of a magic lantern show by Providence’s Wonder Show.

All presentations will be geared toward those who manage large photographic collections as well as those who work with these materials just occasionally -- novices and seasoned archivists alike. Whatever your level of experience, this meeting will have something for you. Enthusiasm is the only prerequisite!

Registration opens today, Monday September 14th. For more information about the program, local resources (such as parking, hotels, and restaurants), and the registration process, see the NEA website or follow us on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #NEAfall15.

Looking forward to seeing you in Providence!

Fall 2015 Program Committee

The New England Archivists (NEA) Executive Board is pleased to announce a new student meeting and travel scholarship to honor late NEA member Susan J. Von Salis.

NEA is committed to the professional development of its members and recognizes the importance of attending the annual spring meeting to engage with colleagues. To this end, the Executive Board voted to dedicate funds to two permanent scholarships intended to help NEA student members attend the spring meeting. One will provide funds to assist three individual members of NEA in attending the spring meeting, while the second will provide funds for two student members to attend the spring meeting. The latter has been named in honor of Susan J. Von Salis.

The Susan J. Von Salis Student Meeting and Travel Scholarship honors the memory of Susan Von Salis, an active and influential member of New England Archivists from 1989 to 2012. Susan held positions within NEA as Membership Secretary, Representative-at-Large, Chair of the Hale Award Committee, and member of the Outreach Committee and the Task Force on Organizational Efficiency. Von Salis received NEA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2012.  Susan was a graduate of Smith College, received a BA in Religion and Afro-American
Studies and an AM in History/Public History, and held positions at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library and Harvard Art Museums Archives. Susan was a vocal advocate for NEA’s success, and many archivists in our community count her as a mentor. This scholarship is a fitting way to honor her impact.

More information about this and NEA’s other awards and scholarship may be found here.  Applications for all awards open on December 1st.

Help support the new Susan J. Von Salis Student Meeting and Travel Scholarship with a tax-deductible gift. Your support will help foster and strengthen NEA awards and scholarships, which recognize efforts in advocacy, service, professional development, and collaboration . Donations may be made on the NEA’s donation page. Thank you.

NEA Executive Board

This summer NEA's Constituencies Task Force (CTF) sent out a survey to identify the various constituent groups among the membership and among all relevant groups in the region. Our goal was to investigate NEA's needs for professional development and the exchange of ideas.

We are pleased to report that the CTF survey was a great success! The survey was filled out by 100 members and more than 200 non-members who answered questions on demographics, professional associations, professional development and NEA services.

For the survey directed to our members, we offered an incentive: the chance to win a free year’s membership in NEA. We are happy to announce the winner of the incentive was Mary LaBombard. Congratulations, Mary!

The survey results will inform the CTF's upcoming report on how NEA can reach out to the diverse array of organizations holding archival materials in New England, enlarge and broaden our membership base, and collaborate with related state-based associations to provide needed services to NEA constituencies.

If you have any questions, contact CTF co-chair, Tom Doyle at tdoyle@minlib.net.

Dear NEA Members,

The NEA Board seeks volunteers to plan the Fall 2016 meeting. We are looking for 5 to 6 people who can come together and plan a half-day symposium. The format is flexible, and we welcome all ideas. If you would like to nominate yourself, or a colleague, please send an email by Monday September 21 to vp@newenglandarchivists.org. 

Yours sincerely,
Jennifer King, NEA VP/ President-elect

Dear members of NEA:

Thank you for responding to the recent membership survey. We received 176 submissions with thoughtful comments and suggestions.  Our survey incentive, a free year of NEA membership, was awarded to Annalisa Moretti. My congratulations to Annalisa!

I wanted to update you on a few details around the survey results.  

The data from the 2015 was collated and presented to the NEA Executive Board by the Membership Committee on at the quarterly Board meeting held on June 26, 2015. All survey data was discussed and will help shape priorities and strategic goals for NEA.

Data collected from questions regarding the Roundtables has been passed to the Chairs of the respective Roundtables. Data around workshop and education opportunities has been digested by the Education Coordinator and the Education Committee.

Your comments on strategic priorities will be reflected in the forthcoming NEA strategic plan. The strategic plan will begin this year and run until 2020. More details on this plan will be available this winter.

Your welcome feedback on our recent trial with a new meeting structure was also helpful. There was overwhelming support for the longer spring meeting and the Board voted in June to keep this format. Since responses to the fall meeting were mixed, the Board has decided to take more time to realize the full potential of a fall event. NEA will need your help in shaping the fall meeting. If you have questions or comments about the meeting structure, let me or any Board member know.

Other interesting results from the annual membership survey:

•  40% of responders have been members for 1-5 years. 16% have been members for 15 years or more.

• 70% of respondents work in MA, 15% in CT, 4% in RI, 3% in NH, 3% in ME, and 2% in VT (97% of respondents reported location in survey)

• 80% of respondents are employed full-time; 20% said they were looking for a job.

• 52% of respondents work in an academic setting, followed by 15% for non-profit, and 15% for government.

• Most respondents (86%) are satisfied with how NEA communicates with membership; most respondents prefer the listserv and newsletter as means of communication.  

A summary of the survey may be found on the NEA website here. We hope you will take the time to voice your ideas and concerns next year in the 2016 Annual Membership Survey.

Colin B. Lukens

NEA President