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Saving Historically Significant Records for the City of Austin. Susan K. Soy. What is the Austin History Center?. City of Austin, Austin Public Library Official repository for the City Photographic images, oral histories, city reports and documents, video tape, cemetery ledgers, and more!.
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Saving Historically Significant Records for the City of Austin Susan K. Soy
What is the Austin History Center? • City of Austin, Austin Public Library • Official repository for the City • Photographic images, oral histories, city reports and documents, video tape, cemetery ledgers, and more! Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Credibility and trustworthiness • Security of the archives • Integrity of the archives Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Significance of the archives • History is happening every day • We are part of history • What we determine to keep and the care given to keeping it is a deliberate choice that determines future interpretations of society Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
http://www.cityofaustin.org/ library/ahc Click to view the video Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Downtown location • 810 Guadalupe Street • Next to the Central Library Building • 512-974-7480 • Ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Archival appraisal • The process of determining the value and thus the disposition of records based upon their current administrative, legal, and fiscal use; their evidential and informational value; their arrangement and condition, their enduring value,and their relationship to other records Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
City staff performs critical first step • Systematic record keeping • Documentation strategies (Samuels) Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Goals • Avoid wholesale destruction • Recognize when to consult with the archivist • Add to the community’s collective memory Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Historical significance • Unique and unavailable elsewhere • Documents a side of a controversial issue • Is legible • Documents the early years of Austin’s history • Pertains to a unique event in our community • Is an official publication for the City of Austin Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Historical significance • Biographical information about officials, staff, local celebrities • Topic that is under documented at the AHC • Map that indicates boundaries - precincts, city, school districts, watersheds Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
How do we find this material? • Employees alert us • Customers alert us Pre-1910 Congress & 6th Street [PICA 19984, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library] Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Examples • APD - Whitman Papers • PARD - Cemetery ledgers • Health and Human Services - Vital Records • Families - Pease Family Papers; McCallum Family Papers • Individuals - Poster artists Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Care of materials • Call with questions • People • Light • Dust • Pests • Temperature Control Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Discussion • We are everything Austin, Texas Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Staff • Photo Curator -- Margaret Schlankey 4-7386 • Video -- Tim Hamblin 4-7305 • Print -- Virginia Kniesner 4-7346 • Maps -- Eric Travis 4-7392 • Sue Soy -- Archivist 4-7388 Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
Thanks to you We will preserve our city’s history Susan K. Soy ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us
