State Archives Staff

Hello all, 

I made the mistake of looking at Twitter this weekend. It's one of my sources for news in our field, but I'm usually a bit behind in my feed. The advantage of that is that usually by the time I read something, the context is there to find as was the case this weekend when I scrolled across concerns from our historian friends. What's your go-to source for archival updates? 

In our community

• Annual Meeting Update:

• Plans for the BPE-CoSA joint (un)conference (September 26-28, Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville) are continuing. Staff should be in communication with their state archivist to confirm travel plans and eligibility for travel reimbursement from CoSA.

• Committees + Programs

• Tuesday, 8/23: Advocacy Committee (12pm Eastern)
• Wednesday, 8/24: CoSA Board Meeting (2pm Eastern)
• State Archivists will soon be receiving CoSA's 2022 Archives and Records Management (ARM) survey, and they may ask you to help complete some components. The responses we receive shape CoSA's State of State Records reports, filed alongside our other publications in the "State ARM Surveys" folder. This helps shape our advocacy agenda, determine research projects to pursue, and identify educational goals to meet. I encourage you to review the 2021 The State of State Records report.

• Upcoming webinars

• Shop Talks

• AVP - NEW Date: August 25 at 3pm Eastern 

• Ancestry October 13 at 3pm Eastern

• Preservica November 10 at 3pm Eastern

• Did you know that all our past Shop Talks are shared on CoSA's YouTube channel? It's a great way to reference a past conversation or learn about a service.

• CoSA Webinar: Getting to know Enslaved.org September 22 at 3pm Eastern

• Access Denied: A SERI webinar for Electronic Records Day October 11 at 2pm Eastern

• Cultural Competency Working Groups

• Those of you who participated in the May or June Cultural Competency workshops have been invited to join working groups on key topics (Patrons, Staff & Workforce, Description, and Community Outreach). Be sure to register for the sessions in the Cultural Competency Community (login required).

• The sessions will start early September. Reach out to Michelle Gallinger (mgallinger@gallingerconsult.com) or Helen Wong Smith (smith@hawaii.edu) if you have any questions.

• Do you have a webinar topic in mind or would you like to present on a topic? The Education Committee will be planning for the 2023 calendar soon, so let us know.

Around the field

• A reminder that resources are available if you've been affected by a recent natural disaster:

• CoSA's Emergency Preparedness Resources

• Cultural institutions and arts organizations affected by the flooding can call the National Heritage Responders hotline: 202.661.8068

• Members of the public who have questions about saving family heirlooms can email the National Heritage Responders at NHRpublichelpline@culturalheritage.org

• HENTF's Save Your Family Treasures guidance is available at Save Your Family Treasures

• Society of Georgia Archivists editorial board for Provenance extended their call for article submissions (August 30). Reference their submission guidelines if you're interested.

• The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) is now inviting applications for their Archival Creators Fellowship Program. Three fellows will be selected in the 2022-23 cohort, with projects highlighting how South Asian Americans have made space for our communities in the American landscape. Applications are due September 9.

• Will you be attending the SAA Annual Meeting in-person this year (August 25-27)? Interested in meeting up? Send me a message (jbanks@statearchivists.org), and I'll see if we can coordinate an informal CoSA meet-up at the event.