Call for Articles: Emerging History Professional Takeover of History News Magazine

Call for Articles: Emerging History Professional Takeover of History News Magazine

Emerging History Professionals are taking over the Winter 2018 issue of AASLH’s History News magazine! The issue will be guest co-edited by emerging history professionals Hope Shannon and Hannah Hethmon. Features and articles will all focus on Emerging History Professionals and reflect their insights and opinions about the field.

Anyone in the early stages of a public history career, broadly defined, is an Emerging History Professional. This includes graduate and undergraduate students, hobbyists, early-career professionals, and any other AASLH members who identify as belonging to this community.

History News exists to foster publication, scholarly research, and an open forum for discussion of best practices, applicable theories, and professional experiences pertinent to the field of state and local history. History News is a quarterly membership publication of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), a nonprofit educational membership organization providing leadership, service, and support for its members who preserve and interpret state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful in American society.

The editors are seeking submission of article abstracts. Proposed articles must:

  • Be relevant to the theme of Emerging History Professionals. Articles by emerging professionals will be given priority over those with more time in the field.
  • Not have previously been published elsewhere.
  • Be 2,500-3,000 words in length and properly footnoted and cited in Chicago/Turabian style.

Instructions and Deadlines:

The deadline for submitting abstracts is August 15, 2017.

Authors of accepted articles will be notified by the first week of September 2017. They will then have until November 1 to submit a final edited and reviewed version of their article. At that time, the article must be fit for print.

Along with the abstract (500 words max), submission must include:

  • A brief paragraph explaining how the article is relevant to the early history career/emerging history professional issues and AASLH’s mission (200 words max)
  • A brief biographical statement (100 words max)

Questions about topics and submission guidelines should be directed to Hope Shannon (hopejshannon@gmail.com) and Hannah Hethmon (info@hhethmon.com).

Ideas for Topics

Here are some suggested topics to consider when developing your abstract. These are merely suggestions, and other topics that fit the theme are welcomed.

  • Thought pieces about current issues in the history and/or museum field
    • Attracting new audiences
    • Engaging millennials in historic places
    • The role of social justice in state and local history
    • Pushing the boundaries of history and museum work, whether it be where and how we do this work, the topics we address, or the people we work with
    • Advocacy and history relevance, especially in light of potential cuts to essential federal funding
  • Professional development tips, advice, concerns
    • Publishing as a practitioner
    • Personal branding and marketing yourself, networking
    • Practical training outside of the academy
    • Self-care: avoiding burnout
  • Issues, concerns, and interests related to employment
    • Gender/racial inequality in pay, general hierarchy issues in the history field
    • The challenges (and benefits) of being a millennial in a field still run (at least at the top) predominantly by the “baby boomer” generation
    • Intergenerational conflict: working with different generations of workers
    • Negotiating salary and employment-related benefits­
    • Tips/tricks for resumes and cover letters
    • Internships and the question of unpaid labor
    • Balancing political affiliations and interests as representatives of institutions

Midwest Archives Conference Call for Session Proposals: Chicago 2018

The Midwest Archives Conference will hold its 2018 Annual Meeting March 21-24, 2018, at the Doubletree Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Illinois. The Program Committee invites session proposals on all areas of archival practice and research and from allied fields. We are especially interested in proposals that align with the 2018 theme, “Blurring Boundaries, Crossing Lines.”

Chicago has historically served as a transition area between different types of boundaries: from rural, urban, and suburban landscapes, between land and lake, as a leader in the evolution of transportation, as a home to built forms that encompass traditional and modern architecture, and even from East to West. For MAC 2018 we call archivists to a place whose official city motto itself, “city in a garden” (Urbs in Horto), invites an exploration of contradictions and contrasts.

Session Proposals

We seek proposals that explore ways in which boundaries and borders around and within archival work are blurring, transitioning, and transforming:

  • Blurring boundaries
    • between archival work and related work (data management, records management, digital humanities, etc.)
    • between archivists’ professional responsibilities and social responsibilities
    • between what you were hired to do and what your job has become.
  • Exploring transitions
    • between the types of documentation of political movements
    • between different careers and career stages.
  • Breaking down borders
    • between professional archives and community archives
    • between archivists and allied professions
    • between different groups in the community or society.
  • Transforming organizations
    • when mergers of departments or organizations have led to unforeseen consequences
    • when organizations determine they need an archives or records management program
    • when new duties have forced archivists to develop creative solutions.
  • Transforming archives
    • when past collection development reflected a dominant culture or status quo
    • when technological changes have expanded possibilities
    • when you have discovered a new, better way to do something at work.

In addition we welcome proposals that take an archival approach to local and regional Midwestern historical events that embody a spirit of resistance, which may be inspired by Chicago’s diverse racial and ethnic communities, social movements, and confluence of local, state, and federal politics and policy. 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, with its riots, tear gas, and “Chicago 8” trial, and we encourage proposals that offer new insights into protest documentation–whether in Chicago or elsewhere in the Midwest.

The deadline for session proposals is Tuesday, August 22, at 5 p.m. Central Time. A separate call for poster proposals will go out later in the year.

 

Possible Session Types

  • Standard Presentations: Two to four speakers present on a common theme. May include a moderator to steer discussion and/or introduce speakers and theme.
  • Open Forum: Topical discussion with moderator leading discussion with everyone present. May include additional moderator(s) to direct breakout conversations.
  • Roundtable Discussion: Three or four participants make very brief remarks, then discuss a topic together. Includes a moderator to steer discussion.
  • PechaKucha: Each presentation consists of 20 slides or images displayed for 20 seconds each, with comment. Each presentation lasts 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
  • Lightning Talks: Like PechaKucha, but without a set format. May or may not include slides or images. Presentations may be from 3 to 10 minutes long, with the time allotted depending on the number of presenters.
  • Debate: Moderator announces the topic, and two other people debate. May include more than one topic and additional debaters.

Speaker Representation

The Program Committee seeks a diverse slate of presenters representing a variety of personal and institutional backgrounds, perspectives, and voices. We seek to foster a culture of inclusion in the MAC program and encourage submissions from anyone who is interested in presenting, including students, new professionals, first-time presenters, and those from allied professions.

To facilitate collaboration among those brainstorming session ideas, the Program Committee encourages use of the MAC Facebook page and the spreadsheet for brainstorming session proposal ideas.

Proposal Evaluation

The Program Committee will evaluate all proposals submitted by the deadline using the following criteria:

  • Merit and clarity of the 250-word abstract;
  • Completeness of the proposal, particularly having well-developed content and sufficient speakers to address all relevant aspects of the topic;
  • Originality of proposed topic;
  • Diversity of the content and speaker representation;
  • Appropriateness of proposed format with session content; and
  • Completeness of proposal and presenters.

All proposals will be considered in the context of the overall structure of the meeting and availability of time slots for proposed sessions.

When submitting proposals, please have ready a session title, 250-word abstract, names and contact information for all speakers, the type of session format being proposed, and any A/V or special consideration requests for your session.

All individuals involved in an accepted proposal must sign a presenter agreement.

Proposal Submission

The deadline for submitting proposals for the 2018 MAC Annual Meeting is Tuesday, August 22, at 5 p.m. CDT. Use the CFP form to submit your proposal.

If you have any questions about the proposal process, please contact the 2018 Program Committee co-chairs, Daria Labinsky and Eira Tansey.

Journal of Archival Organization: Call for Submissions

The Journal of Archival Organization is an international, peer-reviewed journal encompassing all aspects of the arrangement, description, and provision of access to all forms of archival materials.

JAO addresses a broad range of issues of interest to the profession including archival management and staffing, archival technologies, the arrangement and description of records collection, collection growth and access, diversity and gender, grant-funding, and institutional support. Articles addressing academic, public and special/corporate libraries, museums and governmental agencies are all welcome.

How to submit:

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to Marta Deyrup at  martadeyrup@gmail.com

The separate abstract page should be single-spaced to include a 100-word abstract, list of keywords for indexing purposes, and author(s) footnote (name, title, affiliation, address, and email address), with identification of the corresponding author.

References, citations, and general style of manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the APA Publication Manual, 6th ed. Cite in the text by author and date (Smith, 1983) and include an alphabetical list of references at the end of the article.

For more information about the Journal of Archival Organization, please visit the journal’s webpage: www.tandfonline.com/WJAO

CFP: Journal of Archival Organization

The Journal of Archival Organization is an international, peer-reviewed journal encompassing all aspects of the arrangement, description, and provision of access to all forms of archival materials.

JAO addresses a broad range of issues of interest to the profession including archival management and staffing, archival technologies, the arrangement and description of records collection, collection growth and access, diversity and gender, grant-funding, and institutional support. Articles addressing academic, public and special/corporate libraries, museums and governmental agencies are all welcome.

How to submit:

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to Marta Deyrup: martadeyrup@gmail.com

The separate abstract page should be single-spaced to include a 100-word abstract, list of keywords for indexing purposes, and author(s) footnote (name, title, affiliation, address, and email address), with identification of the corresponding author.

References, citations, and general style of manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the APA Publication Manual, 6th ed. Cite in the text by author and date (Smith, 1983) and include an alphabetical list of references at the end of the article.

For more information about the Journal of Archival Organization, please visit the journal’s webpage: www.tandfonline.com/WJAO

New Issue: Practical Technology for Archives

Issue no.8, July 2017

Articles
Data-Driven Reporting and Processing of Digital Archives with Brunnhilde
Tim Walsh
This article introduces Brunnhilde, a command-line and graphical user interface (GUI) tool written in Python that creates reports to aid in appraisal, arrangement, and description of born-digital archives. Developed to fill a perceived gap between robust existing file format identification tools and the practical process of triaging digital files in archival repositories, Brunnhilde is included as a standard utility in the open source digital forensics suite BitCurator as of v1.8.0 and has become part of the triaging and processing workflows in several archival repositories, including the author’s own Canadian Centre for Architecture.

Streamlining Archives Reference through Online Task Management
Jaime Marie Burton and Daniel Weddington
Following an organizational shift that flattened the hierarchy and prioritized security, use, and collection management, research services at UK Libraries SCRC continued to face logistical roadblocks to meeting patron reference and research needs. Specifically, SCRC relied on an often chaotic system of listserv streams monitored by 10-15 team members to manage patron interaction and internal communication. This approach left no easily discernible way for the research services team to assign tasks, facilitate collaboration, monitor progress, or derive statistics. This article will discuss how SCRC successfully implemented a streamlined, task management approach to archives reference using freely available online tools.

Apply to join the bloggERS Editorial Team!

bloggERS! (https://saaers.wordpress.com/), the blog of the Electronic Records Section (ERS–get it??) of the Society of American Archivists was founded to foster communication and collaboration within the ERS and across the wider archival community. bloggERS! features:

  • Aggregations of news, information, and resources on electronic records issues
  • New content including case studies, interviews, surveys, reviews, and other writings of interest to archivists and electronic records professionals
  • Forums for discussion and collaboration, to help archivists communicate and learn from each other and those outside the field.

It’s a fun way to keep up your professional involvement and work along side like-minded archivists.

Apply by 8/1 to join the bloggERS Editorial Team! We’re seeking an Assistant Team Leader and 4 Team Members. Access the application here: https://goo.gl/forms/BlKt91WXa7kPnZR63

Call for Book Reviewers: AASLH

Four times a year, History News magazine brings you the latest discussions, developments, and innovations in the field of state and local history. That mission includes reviewing books on theoretical and practical topics that our members and readers are talking about and using in their daily work. AASLH is building our pool of book reviewers for History News, and we want you to get involved.

Apply to be a book reviewer and share your expertise with the field. We will match you with a book according to your interests, and send you a complimentary copy to review.

Our reviewers:

  • Have expertise and experience in the book’s topic or sub-field
  • Can discuss how the book will contribute to public history and relate it to similar works
  • Commit to writing a 500-word review that summarizes and analyzes the book’s thesis or topic
  • Work with our editors to meet deadlines and craft a great review

Here are some of the titles we’ve reviewed recently:

Apply online: http://blogs.aaslh.org/aaslh-call-for-book-reviewers/

Call for workshop papers: Computational Archival Science

The workshop will be held on Wednesday, December 13, 2017 in Boston, MA, USA, in conjunction with the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (IEEE BigData 2017).

The large-scale digitization of analog archives, the emerging diverse forms of digital records and systems, and new ways of engaging with archival material using technology, are resulting in disruptions to traditional archival theories and practices. Increasing quantities of ‘big archival data’ present challenges for the practitioners and researchers who work with archival material, but also offer enhanced possibilities for use and scholarly exploration through the application of computational methods and tools.

This workshop will explore this conjunction of emerging methods and technologies around digital records and big data with archival theory and practice, and will examine new forms of records generation and historical, social, scientific, and cultural research engagement with archival institutions. We aim to identify and evaluate current trends, requirements, and potential in these areas, to examine the new questions that they can provoke, and to help determine possible research agendas for the evolution of computational archival science in the coming  years, as well as addressing the questions and concerns scholarship is raising about the interpretation of ‘big data’ and the uses to which it is put.

Full papers, of up to 10 pages, should be submitted via the online submission system at https://wi-lab.com/cyberchair/2017/bigdata17/scripts/ws_submit.php. We also encourage submission of short papers (up to 6 pages) reporting work in progress. The submission deadline is October 10, 2017. All papers accepted will be included in the proceedings published by the IEEE Computer Society Press.

The workshop builds on a number of recent developments in Computational Archival Science (see: http://dcicblog.umd.edu/cas/), and in particular on the 1st Computational Archival Science workshop at IEEE Big Data 2016 (see: http://dcicblog.umd.edu/cas/ieee_big_data_2016_cas-workshop/), which attracted a range of professionals and researchers, both from the DC area and internationally.

For more information, see the full workshop Call for Papers at http://dcicblog.umd.edu/cas/ieee_big_data_2017_cas-workshop/

Let’s Do Lunch at ARCHIVES 2017

Dive into a lunch discussion of the professional literature with your colleagues during ARCHIVES 2017!

  • Article exploration: Get a peek at a forthcoming American Archivist article—“Surveying Archivists and their Work toward Advocacy and Management, or ‘Enterprise Archiving’” by Sarah A. Buchanan, Jane Gruning, Ayse Gursoy, and Lecia Barker—during a Brown Bag Lunch on Thursday, July 27, 12:15 p.m.–1:30 p.m. Discussion will be led by American Archivist Editor Greg Hunter. RSVP by emailing Abigail Christian at achristian@archivists.org (subject line: “American Archivist Brown Bag Lunch”). Article will be forwarded to you.
  • Book Discussion: How can archivists create a diverse record or recruit and retain a diverse workforce? Whose stories are being told—and by whom? Where are the silences in the record? These questions and more are at the heart of the 2017 One Book, One Profession selection, Through the Archival Looking Glass: A Reader on Diversity and Inclusion, edited by Mary A. Caldera and Kathryn M. Neal. Join Camila Tessler of Yale University who will lead a Brown Bag lunch discussion on this acclaimed collection of essays on Friday, July 28, from 12:45 p.m.–1:45 p.m. RSVP by emailing Abigail Christian at achristian@archivists.org (subject line: “Through the Archival Looking Glass Brown Bag Lunch”).

New Book: Women in the Museum: Lessons From the Workplace

From the authors:

Museums are complex workplaces.  Guardians of America’s patrimony, they are simultaneously thought of as traditional, boring and irrelevant, but also progressive, fun and important. With collections and exhibitions lauded and vilified, museums are both significant economic drivers and astoundingly vulnerable organizations.  Collectively United States museums employ nearly 353,000 people, almost half of them women.  There is no denying that most museums are stimulating and wondrous, one-of-a-kind, work environments, but two years ago we could not have imagined the gender inequity lying beneath their placid exteriors.
Women in the Museum explores the professional lives of the field’s female workforce, a cohort that grew exponentially from the late 19th-century to the present. It chronicles the challenges working women in the museum field face today, as well as their responses to widespread entrenched and unconscious gender bias.  In doing so, we hope it clarifies how women’s work in museums is different from men’s, and why we think museums must create, foster and protect a level playing field.
Along the way, we asked ourselves these questions:  Are workplace challenges more acute for women if a field is under-resourced, under-appreciated, or in some instances, under-utilized? How is leadership and internal decision-making different in female dominated museums?  Do public perceptions change toward fields where females make up half or more of the workforce?
It is difficult to write about women in the workplace and not write about diversity, and we have been taken to task for that.  It’s especially difficult in a field that since its founding has been a bastion of white, middle and upper-class men and subsequently women.  While issues of racial and ethnic diversity, sexual orientation, age, physical ability and class are often aligned with gender equity, we’ve chosen to take a bite out of the broadest and most basic of topics in one of the narrowest of fields — an environment almost exclusively nonprofit, under-resourced, and little understood by the public.  Our intent is to pull back the curtain on a long-standing and unresolved gender issue:  equity.  What we’ve written is an opening salvo deserving wider and deeper scrutiny.
We believe museums create communities. Those communities include women as subjects of collections, exhibits and programming, women as audience members and supporters, and as employees.  That said, we would like to suggest that for us diversity is the presumption that everyone has a place at the table. If you think those ideas are remnants of the 1970’s, read on. We believe there is still much work to do. And for us, inclusion as well as equity are what is important, and making sure women are represented is the place to start.