In this panel, three speakers will discuss their experiences preserving cultural heritage material in their communities when they saw a need that was not being met. The panelists are engaged in building better models for preservation, responding to the ways that existing standards and best practices create barriers for their communities and promote extractive practices.
Cultural Competency’s Role Toward Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Goals
Archivist Helen Wong Smith is presenting this session that will challenge you to examine personal perceptions that might surprise you and introduce strategies that will increase your awareness, values, and behaviors to increase DEIA. Three skills required to apply Cultural Competency and the four stages individuals and organizations can implement to improve relations with internal and external communities.
Public Archive Spotlight: The Art+Feminism Archive
When it comes to whose and which stories have been captured by the historical narrative, women have been disproportionately left out. A 2018 survey from Wikipedia across 12 different language versions found that 90% of the respondents reported their gender as male with just 8.8% identifying as female and 1% as other. In addition, a 2021 study found that although biographies of women only make up 17% of those on Wikipedia, 41% of the biographies nominated for deletion were about women. This gender bias affects the creation and content of the pages on Wikipedia, with some non-male participants feeling like there is a barrier to participating due to factors such as gatekeeping, harassment, and frequent …
Gathering & Transferring Your Digital Materials in One Place
Transferring digital materials from external devices to a central location is an important step in getting your materials ready to add to your Permanent archive. Here’s a step-by-step guide and considerations to help you through the process. Gather digital assets and make a list. Many people have digital files, photos, and assets in a range of formats, on multiple devices, and in various cloud services. You’ll want to gather any devices that have materials you want to transfer living on them, as your first step. This could include USB drives, external hard drives, memory cards, smartphones, or any other storage devices. Additionally, you’ll want to make a list of the other places you know your …
Kathy’s Corner: Digitizing that collection of inherited family photos
This popular monthly session focuses on a challenge for every family historian: Sorting and digitizing collections of inherited family photos and artifacts. Our speaker, Projectkin member Kathy Stone has decades of experience as a professional photo organizer and is now working on her family history projects. As a pro, she appreciates the challenge of actually getting projects done. In these “Corner” events, she answers questions and coaches members as your personal “sherpa over Mt. Inertia.” Our programs build on the 8-step approach she shared in a post and the 2023 Kathy’s Corner series. (Projectkin members have access to event recordings through the Members’ Chat Room in the Projectkin Forum.) Now the focus will be on …
Discover Your Past: The Chosen Families Project
Several years ago, genealogist Julian Rebelo created The Chosen Family Project (https://www.julianrebelo.com/blog?offset=1652374506063) out of his passion for collecting orphaned family photographs and documents, whilst trying to reunite them with their respective families. Julian shares some of the fascinating stories associated with this project and also advises how to preserve your own historical family photos. For details see alpl.librarymarket.com/event/discover-your-past-chosen-families-project-36711
Tips for Preserving Your Physical Materials
Even if you preserve your digital materials on Permanent.org, there’s still something undeniably special about physical archives. Whether it’s a collection of family photographs, historical documents, or cherished memorabilia, these tangible pieces of history hold unique significance and should not be discarded. However, ensuring their longevity requires proper care and preservation techniques. By following a few simple tips, you can safeguard your physical materials and pass them on to future generations in the best condition possible. Handling and Preparing Your Materials It’s crucial to understand how to handle and prepare your materials properly before you even decide where and how to store them. These simple precautions can make a world of difference in preserving your …
Kathy’s Corner: Digitizing that collection of inherited family photos
This popular monthly session focuses on a challenge for every family historian: Sorting and digitizing collections of inherited family photos and artifacts. Our speaker, Projectkin member Kathy Stone has decades of experience as a professional photo organizer and is now working on her family history projects. As a pro, she appreciates the challenge of actually getting projects done. In these “Corner” events, she answers questions and coaches members as your personal “sherpa over Mt. Inertia.” Our programs build on the 8-step approach she shared in a post and the 2023 Kathy’s Corner series. (Projectkin members have access to event recordings through the Members’ Chat Room in the Projectkin Forum.) Now the focus will be on …
Informal Archives: Capturing Family Memories
This workshop aims at collectively exploring different shapes and forms of informal family archives and oral histories’ role in keeping family memories alive. Informal family archives could include (but are not limited to): letters, photographs, clothes, audio recordings, videos, etc. Participants are encouraged to bring along and share one item from a family collection and share memories and stories associated with it. We will be discussing: tangible and intangible memories, what is an archive? And what we practically need to create one. For details see www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/informal-archives-capturing-family-memories-tickets-723721609817
Resources for Organizing and Digitizing Your Materials
Getting started with organizing and digitizing your materials can be a challenge. Do you feel overwhelmed by pulling all your materials together and organizing them? Do you have lots of photos in scrapbooks, documents in folders, home videos on VHS tapes, or other media that you don’t even have a player for? What equipment do you need to digitize your materials? What settings are best for different media types? We’ve compiled some resources for organizing and digitizing your own materials to help you get started. It’s hard to find comprehensive resources for organizing and digitizing your materials at home. We’ve done the research for you so you can focus on the important work of organizing …
