SCRC offers "Archives Basics" for community record-keepers

Participants in the "Archives Basics" workshop represented 15 community organizations.

The UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center hosted 15 community archivists and genealogists for a three-hour “archives basics” workshop on March 9, 2016.  Central Kentucky non-profit organizations represented included: the African American Genealogical Group of Kentucky, Episcopal Diocese of Lexington, Faulkner-Morgan Archive, First African Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Berea, Isaac Scott Hathaway Museum/Robert H. Williams Cultural Center, Lexington Community Land Trust, Lyric Theatre, Main Street Baptist Church, Mary Todd Lincoln House, The Plantory, and U I D yoU IDentify local African American Friends and Family Facebook page. Several of the participants who attended are active in multiple organizations.

Topics included the historical value of organizational records, selecting records for permanent retention, inventorying and storing physical and digital records, providing access to researchers, digitization methods and standards, and outreach and exhibits. A break and a tour of Special Collections offered networking and small group discussion opportunities, as well as the possibility of seeing archival work in action.

The workshop built on a successful workshop that Special Collections held last November for African American church clerks and secretaries. Demand for an archival basics workshop grew as a result.

SCRC staff presenting included: Ruth Bryan, director of Technical Services and University Archivist; Nancy DeMarcus, University Records manager; Sarah Dorpinghaus, digital archivist; Reinette Jones, oral history librarian and African American studies academic liaison; Matthew Strandmark, education archivist; and Stacie Williams, Learning Lab manager. 

 “The records of community organizations and of individual community members are of great value to all of us in helping us understand who we are and what we can achieve together. Reaching out to community members and providing support for preserving and sharing those records is an important role for the Special Collections Research Center. We look forward to continuing to work together with former and future workshop attendees to advance our common mission,” said workshop organizer Ruth Bryan.