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“I Live in the Collection” Rules of Engagement: The Politics & Pleasures of “Living Archives”. Aisha M. Johnson PhD Student Co-Director/Manager of Archival Services School of Library & Information Studies Black Archives, Research Center & Museum
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“I Live in the Collection”Rules of Engagement: The Politics & Pleasures of “Living Archives” Aisha M. Johnson PhD Student Co-Director/Manager of Archival Services School of Library & Information Studies Black Archives, Research Center & Museum Florida State University Florida A&M University Amj04j@my.fsu.eduAisha.Johnson@famu.edu
Presentation Points • Collection Acquisition (traditional) • Types of Living Archives • Challenges and Benefits • Acquiring Living Archives • Review
Collection Acquisition • Collections were typically acquired after death • Typically archives protect sensitive information such as • SSN and addresses • Changes in the type of collections being acquired • Enter living collections • Collections are now being built while stored by at an archive
Types of living archival collections • Individual Collections • Literary Figures and scholars (Maya Angelou) • Organizational Records • Orphanages, churches • Political Records • Civil Rights activists of the 1950s and 1960s • Presidential papers and other political leaders • Community Archives • Digital Collections • Social media (fb, tumblr, twitter, etc)
Challenges of Living Archives • Traditional challenges still exist • Building trust for the archives • Storage (how big will the collection become) • Other necessary means of handling a collection • Donor input • Protecting those whom are living in the collection • Example: orphanages, church records, etc • Processing for access • Now or Later?
Benefits of Living Archives • Donor input • No guessing games on sensitive information • Provenance • Community Involvement! • Archives can build trust with the community and acquire more collections. • Embracing change as an opportunity instead of a challenge
Acquiring Living Archives • Policies and procedures in place specifically for living collections • Recognize what could be considered sensitive information of individuals presently “living” in the collection, if not protected or indicated by the Deed of Gift. • Examples of sensitive information • Acquisition methods
Review • Collection acquisition is changing • New wave of living collections • There are challenges as well as benefits • Archivists must embrace and understand the rules of engagement when acquiring living collections. • With the necessary precautions in place, archives can build trust with the community and acquire more living collections.