SAA’s Preservation Section hosts monthly Coffee Chats on the last Thursday of each month. These 45–60 minute sessions are virtual, not recorded, free, and open to all. We’re currently gathering topic suggestions as well as volunteers who would like to share informally about a project or subject that could spark conversation or broaden the group’s understanding of preservation-related issues at future coffee chats.
We welcome all ideas, topics, and proposals, big or small!
If you’re interested in suggesting a topic, presenting, or simply have questions, please reach out to me at jkeel@nedcc.org.
Please feel free to share this announcement widely.
Jesse Keel SAA Preservation Section Steering Committee
This colloquium is a great way to share your records management expertise and connect with your colleagues! We are seeking proposals for short presentations (6-12 minutes) on records management topics. The colloquium will be held virtually and is scheduled for Thursday, April 30, 2026 from 2-3:30 PM ET.
If you are interested in presenting, please complete the following proposal form no later than Friday, February 27, 2026. Late proposals will not be accepted. We will review proposals and notify presenters by the end of February.
The event will be free!
Send any questions or concerns to the section chair, Autumn Oakey, at oakeyaf13@uww.edu.
In issue 88.2 of American Archivist, Alex H. Poole and Ashley Todd-Diaz evaluate the efficacy of North American graduate archival education curriculum; Elizabeth Joffrion considers the history and current situation of state archives; and Sonia Yaco, Bala Desinghu, Claire Warwick, and Richard Anderson share their research findings after testing thirty-three software tools to explore how AI can be used in special collections to improve accessibility and discoverability.
This issue also includes seven reviews of recent publications in archival literature that explore historical collecting around the Panama Canal, the development of archives on the internet, disability and archives, and much more!
From the Editor
No Time (Not) to Read Amy Cooper Cary
Articles
“Putting It into Practice Is the Best Way to Really Learn Something”: Evaluating the North American Graduate Archival Education Curriculum Alex H. Poole and Ashley Todd-Diaz
Charting a Profession: A Comparative Analysis of Seven Regional Archival Journals and American Archivist, 2013–2023 Daines, J. Gordon, Coulter Gill, Ryan K. Lee, and Cory L. Nimer
The State of American State Archives (Revisited) Elizabeth Joffrion
Instilling Primary-Source Research Confidence in Undergraduate History Majors: Insight into Instructional Impact and Student Preferences Matthew Gorzalski
The Mumia Rules for Carceral Collecting Murphy, Mary O., and Amanda M. Knox
“I Despise It, But It Works”: Social Media Outreach in Special Collections Thomas, Nikki Lynn, Colleen Theisen, Juli McLoone, and Sean Heyliger
What Can AI Do for Special Collections? Yaco, Sonia, Bala Desinghu, Claire Warwick, and Richard Anderson
Reviews
From Local to Global: Variety in the Archival Literature Rose Buchanan and Stephanie Luke
Box 25: Archival Secrets, Caribbean Workers, and the Panama Canal Katie Sutrina-Haney
Scattered and Fugitive Things: How Black Collectors Created Archives and Remade History Gabrielle Dean
Averting the Digital Dark Age: How Archivists, Librarians, and Technologists Built the Web a Memory Kailyn Slater
Beyond Evidence: The Use of Archives in Transitional Justice Sarah R. Demb
Preserving Disability: Disability and the Archival Profession Moira Armstrong
We are pleased to announce that the first version of the SAA Research Agenda Draft (SAA-RAD) is now available for public comment.
The SAA-RAD aims to provide SAA and its membership with a focused, practical agenda to guide prioritized research on the archival profession’s most pressing issues over the next 5 years.
The Society of American Archivists is in search of excellence! Do you know of an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the archives profession? Or promoted greater public awareness of archives? Have you published a groundbreaking book, written an outstanding article, or developed an innovative finding aid? Click on the links below to learn more about the below awards and nominate a deserving colleague—or yourself! Please consult the specific award for submission requirements and nomination form. Note that you can apply or be nominated for multiple awards in a single cycle, but may only receive one. The deadline for nominations is February 28.
C.F.W. Coker Award (for finding aids, tools or projects that involve innovative development in archival description)
Waldo Gifford Leland Award (for writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the field of archival history, theory, or practice)
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 – Saturday, August 1, 2026
New Orleans, Louisiana
We are living in a period of momentous change for the archives, records management, and cultural heritage professions. These changes have affected everything from workflows to community engagement, and from personnel issues to sustainability. Different types of repositories have experienced these political, technological, cultural, and environmental forces in diverse ways. ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2026 gives us an opportunity to take stock, to explore innovative solutions to the problems we are encountering, and to assess our professions’ history, practices, assumptions, and training.
The Program Committee seeks perspectives from across our profession that help us strengthen our professions’ diversity, our institutions, and our people. We encourage proposals that demonstrate the amazing variety of ways to be an archivist and to participate in the archives profession. The Committee recognizes that creating a sustainable and bright future for our profession involves creating a diverse program in which participants can freely choose the topic they wish to share. Therefore, instead of specific topic suggestions, we pose the following questions to hopefully prompt some ideas for your session proposals.
How can the histories of our professions inform our current situation?
What are the impactful practices you have implemented in appraisal, processing, access, community engagement, preservation, or management in response to recent changes?
What types of technological changes have you implemented at your institution, and how were you successfully able to advocate for those improvements?
How do you appraise, gather, store and provide access to data, and how do you determine whether your practices are ethical?
How does archival training and professional development need to change to adapt to changes in our professions?
How can workplaces be more responsive to the needs of employees, including such issues as disability and trauma?
We welcome proposals on all topics related to archives and archival work.
Proposal Evaluation
The Program Committee invites submissions for 60- to 75-minute sessions (live and/or hybrid) and poster presentations. Proposals are welcome on any aspect of archives, records, and information management—local, state or territorial, national, and international—especially their intersections with other professions and domains. Each proposal will be evaluated on its completeness and the strength of the 150-word abstract and other statements. Proposals should incorporate one or more of the following:
Statement of potential impact on archives, records, and information management;
Diversity of presenters, including but not limited to racial diversity, gender diversity, experiential or professional diversity, institutional diversity, diversity of ability, and/or geographic diversity;
Relevance of the topic for SAA members and other interested attendees; and/or
A plan for, or description of, how the session will incorporate interaction and engagement with session attendees.
We expect program sessions to reflect SAA’s core values as well as their commitment to a diverse and inclusive program and profession. Each session should include individuals and/or organizations with varied personal and professional experiences, perspectives, and identities. Please indicate—in a summative way—how your proposal reflects individual, organizational, or geographic diversity and/or supports the development, inclusion, and stewardship of a diverse profession or cultural record. This could include positionality statements that reflect on the unique identities of the panelists in relation to the work they will discuss, a recognition of dominant positionality inherent in your identity or organization, or the ways in which privilege and power manifest in the session and how you will use or respond to it.
Session Formats
The Program Committee encourages submission of proposals that may include, but are not limited to, the following formats:
Panel Presentation. Session consisting of a panel of three to five individuals discussing or presenting theories or perspectives on a given topic. Session may consist of a series of prepared presentations or a moderated discussion and should include time for audience feedback. If giving prepared presentations, presentation titles should be provided and will be included in the program. A moderator is required (this role may be performed by the chair); a commentator is optional.
Professional Poster Presentation. Report in which information is summarized using brief written statements and graphic materials, such as photographs, charts, graphs, and/or diagrams mounted on poster board (if in person) or in a PDF document (if virtual). Presenters will be assigned a specific time during which they must be with their poster to discuss it with attendees if presenting in-person.
Lightning Talks. Session consisting of eight to ten lively and informative 5-minute talks. The session chair secures commitments from speakers and compiles all presentation slides into one single presentation to ensure timely speaker transitions.
Mix and Match. “Mix and Match” allows individuals to propose an individual talk rather than a full session. Similar or complementary proposals will then be combined into one session. We hope this option will encourage individuals who have not previously submitted a proposal to do so, as well as provide an opportunity to connect archivists who might not have otherwise met one another. We will accept proposals for 5 or 20-minute presentations.
Alternative Format. Don’t feel confined by the prescribed formats—suggest an alternative or create your own! Alternative format sessions may take a variety of forms. Examples include world café and fishbowl discussions. Propose a moderated debate offering opposing points of view, or an “experiential” format involving simulation, role play, or games to convey key principles and learning objectives. We welcome your creative ideas about how your topic might best be addressed! Proposals in this category must: 1) specify the format and session facilitator and 2) describe briefly how the format will enhance the presentation of the material. You may suggest up to four presenters for the session.
Your format choice will not affect the Program Committee’s decision. The Committee may, however, recommend the proposed format be changed if it believes that a different format may better serve the session’s learning objectives or desired audience.
We are bringing back Pop-Ups! A separate call for Pop-Up proposals will be issued in the spring of 2026. Do not use the session proposal form for Pop-Ups.
Reminder for Proposal Submitters and Session Participants
Archivists and records administrators who participate in the program (including in Pop-Up sessions) must register and secure institutional or personal funding. Participants whose employment does not involve performing, teaching, or managing any aspect of the archival or records administration function, or who are from outside the United States and Canada, may be eligible for complimentary registration upon request. SAA cannot provide funding for speakers, whether they are international, non-archivists, non-records administrators, members, or nonmembers.
Proposal Submition
Proposals for the 2026 Annual Meeting are due on Friday, December 5, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. CT. The Program Committee will not consider proposals received after the deadline.
Submission Form will be available by mid-November.
Review the submission form questions (PDF) before submitting your proposal. Note: Submissions will only be received through the online submission form not the PDF.
The 2026 Program Committee has created a Google spreadsheet to be used as an informal tool to connect individuals who are seeking ideas and/or collaboration on session proposals for the 2026 Annual Meeting. It is not monitored by SAA or the Program Committee and is not part of the official submission process.
Questions? Contact the Conference Office at conference@archivists.org.
In issue 88.1 of American Archivist, Helen Wong Smith urges the profession to increase collaboration in her Presidential Address from the 2024 Annual Meeting; Megan K. Friedel offers pathways for archivists to apply reparative description practices to disability histories; and Alexandra Chassanoff, Eliscia Kinder, and Elliott Kuecker share experiences teaching MLIS students to use regional primary sources to construct digital history exhibits. Also in this issue, discover six excellent reviews on recent archives publications.
This issue also features a Special Section on Accessioning edited by Rosemary K. J. Davis, Audra Eagle Yun, and Rachel Searcy. The section contains five articles on a diverse range of topics, including a case study confronting the challenges of accessioning in a repository with limited resources, a case study detailing the process of starting a born-digital archival accessioning program and designing workflows scalable for a small institution, excerpts from the National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group’s Archival Accessioning Best Practices, and an introduction from the co-editors of this special section.
On the Cover: Accessioning-themed embroidery art created by guest editor Rachel Searcy. Based on the iconic “Mom Heart” tattoo motif from the American traditional tattoo style, the banner reads “Accession.” Leaves and flowers around the heart symbolize the growth of accessioning practice in recent years, and the bird represents its flight to new heights. Created by hand with needle and thread, this piece demonstrates the craft of accessioning and highlights the labor required to do accessioning work. Read this issue’s Special Section on Accessioning starting on page 10. Photo courtesy of Rachel Searcy.
American Archivist 88.1 (Spring/Summer 2025) Table of Contents
The Teaching with Primary Sources subcommittee of RAO would like to invite you to attend our next article discussion, held in conjunction with TPS Fest 2025. Join us for a discussion of the article “Teaching with Archival Materials Using a Trauma-Informed Framework” by Jennifer Follen, 2025 (click here for a free copy https://doi.org/10.29173/cais1924). We ask that you read the freely accessible article before this session and come ready to discuss this article. We will provide questions and prompts for you to think about, but we welcome any insights and discussions this may lead to. All practitioners of TPS are welcome! Register for Session R3c HERE
Publishing in the Archives Profession 