The ACA@UBC Conference team is thrilled to invite proposals for our February 2027 Conference that reflect on, expand on, or challenge the theme of “Archiving ‘Wrong.’” The conference provides a venue for archivists, librarians, records managers, information professionals, students, and all interested to share their research and experiential case studies.
Topics and prompts could include (but are not limited to)
- Is there a “right” or “wrong” way to archive?
- Instances when it may be necessary or beneficial to archive using methods that are not sanctioned by official standards or theory
- Strategies for working with archival materials that record histories of wrongdoing or harm
- Strategies for working with archival materials that could themselves cause harm
- Making mistakes in the archives, or encountering mistakes made by others
- Working in the archives without a recognized archival education; “rogue archives”
- Archival projects undertaken by non-archivists
- Archiving “against” the theoretical canon
- “Good enough” archiving: doing the best you can without enough resources/knowledge
- Expanding archival user groups or challenging “traditional” notions of who archival users are
More about Archiving “Wrong”…
The professionalization of the archival field over the twentieth century came with the increasing entrenchment of a body of “canonical” archival theory and the consolidation of professional standards and practices. Not all archival practice followed suit, however, and scholars continue to identify a tension between theory and practice in the archival field.
This disconnect is also invoked when archivists reflect on the many situations in which their archival theory education is inadequate or even unsuitable in practice. Archives that employ workers without traditional training, that utilize nonstandard tools, supplies, and methods of processing, or that adopt alternative modes of stewardship, may not conform to sanctioned notions of what an “archive” is, but in doing it “wrong,” still perform a vital, and essentially archival function.
Archiving “wrong” could also refer to the task of preserving evidence of wrongdoing. While archives can function as instruments for accountability by maintaining records of “wrongs,” attendant discussions consider questions of the ideal ethics and standards for providing access to such materials, and identify the harm these records can still do, including to archivists themselves.
With growing political unrest and direct challenges to the ability of information organizations under governmental control to fulfill socially progressive mandates, archiving wrong may take on a new dimension, acknowledging the inability of governmentally-directed institutions to respond effectively to those whose needs they serve.
Some archivists have advanced strategies of archiving beyond the institution—and even against the law—as an important act of care and resistance. “Doing it wrong,” in this sense, might mean a willful rejection of what tradition has deemed the “right” way to archive.
Submission deadlines
September 18, 2026 — General proposal deadline (all non-student submissions)
October 16, 2026 — Student general proposal deadline *
November 27, 2026 — Student poster proposal deadline *
* The student deadline applies to all students at any College or University, including those in MAS, MASLIS, MLIS, MACL, and PhD programs. Students in other undergraduate or graduate programs are also welcome to submit for this deadline.
Publishing in the Archives Profession 