The Society of Mississippi Archivists will hold its annual meeting at the Mississippi University for Women’s Fant Library on March 27-28, 2025.

Theme: “Praise the Bridges that Carried Us Over”: Mississippi Women in the Archives

Mississippi archives are brimming with women’s stories. Our collections contain letters and diaries of wealthy women who lived on the fruits of stolen labor, records and photographs of dedicated educators and home demonstration agents, notes of trail-blazing journalists, political materials saved by bold civil rights activists, scrapbooks and cookbooks produced by women’s clubs, and even sentimental keepsakes like hair and baby teeth. The record cartons in our stacks document what women in the United Daughters of the Confederacy and women in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party wanted history to remember about them.

For our 2025 meeting, we invite proposals related to women in Mississippi archives, including:

• Interesting stories uncovered while processing collections or working with researchers
• Writing finding aids and metadata that make women’s materials more discoverable
• Obtaining more collections related to women
• Exhibits (physical or digital) of materials that document women
• Working in the archival field as a woman
• Projects that research and document prominent alumnae of educational institutions
• Stories of Mississippi women preserved in out-of-state archives

Proposals are not restricted to the conference theme. All proposals related to archives will be considered.

This call is open to non SMA members, and student proposals are encouraged!
Please write your proposal in roughly 250 words and send to DeeDee Baldwin at dbaldwin@library.msstate.edu) by January 15, 2025.

Society of Ohio Archivists (SOA) Annual Meeting 2025

The Society of Ohio Archivists is planning a hybrid Annual Meeting on Thursday (virtual only) and Friday (hybrid), May 15-16, 2025. The in-person portion of the conference (Friday, May 16) will be held at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.

This year we welcome proposals that explore the theme of Show Me the Money: Sustaining Archives and Archival Programs. We encourage presentations that address any one (or more) of the ways in which archives find the support they need to sustain their operations.  

Proposals may speak to any or all of the following topics:

• How to effectively advocate for and communicate our needs to resource allocators and/or donors;
• Examples of creative kinds of fundraising activities;
• Examples of partnerships with others to raise funds (or friends) for the organization (e.g., development officers, friends organizations, board members);
• Tools or strategies for successfully writing grant applications; 
• Examples of successful grant projects, grant projects in progress, and/or your experience with the grant process; or
• Other presentations of interest to SOA members and fellow archivists.

Proposals will be evaluated on interest, creativity, relevance, diversity of content and speaker representation, and completeness of proposal. The Educational Program Committee also encourages proposals from students, new professionals, first-time presenters and attendees, individuals from related professions, as well as those from outside the state of Ohio. Deadline to submit proposals: Friday, January 31, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

Proposals must include:

• Session title and type;
• Preference (if any) for an in-person or virtual session;
• Abstract (250 words) describing the session/poster and how it will be of interest to SOA attendees, how it relates to this year’s theme, and how presenters will engage with participants;
• Session description (150 words) for the program;
• Contact information for the primary presenter and any other participants;
• A/V or technology requirements; and
• Any additional special needs.

The Educational Programming Committee encourages proposals of panel sessions, student and professional posters, as well as alternative formats such as a debate, fish bowl, lightning, mini-workshop, Pecha Kucha, world café, and other session formats that encourage interaction between presenters and attendees. Please see the proposal form for more detailed information about alternative sessions. If you are curious about the proposal form, a PDF version is available for reference.

Presentation time slots typically run 45-60 minutes. We welcome proposals from presenters who may not be able to complete a time slot on their own and will work to combine presentations, where possible. Please indicate on the proposal form if you would like to be combined with another presentation to round out a slot.

Proposals must be submitted by January 31, 2025, at 5 p.m.  

Further meeting details will be posted on the meeting website as they develop. Accepted presenters will receive a discount on registration fees at a rate to be determined.

Questions? Please contact Sara Mouch or Michelle Sweetser, Co-Chairs, Society of Ohio Archivists Educational Programming Committee. 

Follow the conversation online at #soaam25.