2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists—a milestone that offers a unique opportunity to reflect on five decades of archival practice, community-building, and collective professional growth. To celebrate, the ACA Blog team is launching a special interview series to spotlight the voices, experiences, and insights of ACA members past and present through intergenerational conversations. Students and emerging professionals will interview longtime members, offering a space to share personal reflections, institutional memory, and the evolving landscape of archival work in Canada.   

In today’s feature, Lily Liu chats with Shelley Sweeney—former Head of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections and an ACA Fellow, among other accomplishments—for an insightful conversation.

What brought you to the field of archival studies and practice?  

I did not have any real understanding of archives when I began. I did a Bachelor of Arts in Latin and was going to go down to the States and continue with classical studies. One of my Latin professors asked what I was interested in and he said they had students who became rare book librarians. So I went to the rare book library and asked the person behind the counter if I could talk to the rare book librarian. She said: “Well, the rare book librarian isn’t here today, but the archivist is; do you want to speak to her instead?” I said, not having any idea what it meant, “Sure, I’ll talk to her.” I talked to Laurenda Daniells, the Archivist for the University of British Columbia, and after I had spoken with her she said: “You don’t want to become a rare book librarian; you want to become an archivist. The first archival studies program in North America is starting this fall and I think you should apply.” So I did apply and I did get into the program and was one of the first ten students enrolled in the Masters of Archival Studies program. That was the first full-time MAS in North America. That was in 1981. 

How has your work as an archivist evolved over the course of your career, and what role has the ACA played in that journey?

When I retired from the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, I asked them to not give a traditional party; I gave a talk, and that was kind of my last hurrah. And I remember how shocked people were when I described what the profession was like when I started. I started using a typewriter. We didn’t have computers; we didn’t really deal with copyright; there was no privacy legislation at the provincial level when I started in 1983 at the University of Regina Archives. There wasn’t really any understanding of contracts or contract law.  

The profession, for us, was far simpler. I had a chance to get my feet under me without having to deal with critical issues like privacy, oral histories, interviews, copyright. There are so many layers now—electronic records, born-digital records—we didn’t have any of that. So if you talk about the archival field evolving, we did it with the ACA. I went to pretty much every ACA conference and I would hear about what was coming down the pike, and how people were dealing with it. It really kept me in the loop of what I needed to do. And that kind of gets back to the archival studies program—we were given the theoretical basis, and then we were able to use the ACAto augment our basic knowledge by being exposed to what was going on in the archival world. The ACA conferences were integral to my understanding of the archival world. I found it was not just the presentations but meeting other archivists in the same situations that you are. We were able to get together and discuss what the issues were that pertained to our spheres. That made a huge difference in helping me grow as an archivist.

The ACA has long served as a space for dialogue, debate, and collaboration. Are there any discussions or shifts within the Association that you feel have had a lasting impact?

Yes. I think if you’re looking at what the profession is dealing with today, it has continuously changed. The Association has changed. Reconciliation, for example; an emphasis on community archiving; the representation of marginalized groups within the archives; and understanding our role in facilitating the contributions of others so that we’re not gatekeeping but are more facilitators. There were also a lot of viewpoint changes on the need for equity between not just the researchers, but also between donors and archivists, and to be more representational. The education has changed with these priority shifts. 

How did you, alongside colleagues, come to write the first Code of Ethics for the Canadian archival profession? What were the contexts and/or reasons that drove its creation?

It was an accidental occurrence. I think it was Debra Barr who was supposed to lead that activity, but she was not able to take it up and I ended up looking after the committee. When I entered the profession there was a lot of competition for archival collections between different institutions in Canada. There were acquisition conflicts, and we didn’t really understand privacy so we weren’t handling privacy properly; there were lots of potential areas for conflicts to arise. The profession was interested in developing ethical guidelines that would help archivists in their daily lives. Hence the section that spoke about individual situations.  

Thus, the end result was that we had a preamble which had the ethical principles, followed by the text, which was very much taken from the Society of American Archivists’ Code of Ethics. Now, with Zoom, unlimited calling, emails, the rest of it—it’s so much easier to communicate in a way that we didn’t have. And I think had we been able to get together on a regular basis, the final outcome would have been a better reflection of the community. I think we had one meeting. It was expensive to fly across Canada to get together back then. It was still a worthwhile endeavour, and I think it showed that the profession through the ACA was developing mechanisms and tools that would assist archivists in their daily functions. 

Are there any memorable moments of joy and/or purpose you’ve experienced during your career that sustained and/or affirmed your dedication to the archival profession?

I can think of a couple of moving experiences that indicated to me how important it was that we, as archivists, are involved in this profession. The first was a man who came to the University of Regina Archives. He was looking through yearbooks. These were the years where there was no possibility for adoptees to make any contact with their birth parents. He was looking for somebody who looked like him. It was such a powerful memory for me seeing how important it was for people to be able to access information about themselves and the world around them.  

The other instance was a young man. He was interested in images of the water tower that used to be on the University of Manitoba campus. Each time we found something, he would want a copy of it. He said that he used to be in a facility for children with developmental disabilities; he was across the river from the University and could see the water tower from his room and this watertower was a source of comfort for him. It was both poignant and yet there was an element of joy, being able to provide something of meaning, something that would provide comfort to someone. So that particular encounter has always stayed with me. But there havebeen many encounters.  

Looking ahead, what do you hope the ACA will prioritize or continue to build upon in the next 50 years?

I think the ACA’s role is to prepare its members for new challenges and for what’s coming next and what they should be doing to stay relevant. I mean—this whole thing with AI, authenticity, and what information means when there is so much disinformation and inauthentic or made-up records—so I look to the ACA to be at the forefront of that. And how it does that is not the actual ACA structure or office; it’s the members themselves—it’s the members who write, present papers at the conferences, or publish in Archivaria or Scope and Content, make announcements… it’s keeping everybody apprised of what’s going on and how we should be dealing with this. So that’s where I see the ACA as critical—the ACA will become more relevant over time. 

What advice would you offer to early-career archivists or new ACA members who are just starting to engage with the profession?

Volunteer in the profession—it’s the easiest way you can make important connections. It’s the connections that you make with other archivists in Canada that really give you support in your day-to-day work. If you run into a problem, you can phone somebody or put out a question on Arcan-L… a lot of the situations you encounter will not necessarily be encounteredby other archivists in your province. So when you’re able to make contacts across Canada, you might find that one person who’s dealing exactly with what you're going through. You need to get to know other people and those people will put you contact withothers and you will be able to use that network. It’s kind of an obvious thing, and yet, people don’t realize how important it is to have those networks. For new professionals, getting involved in the ACA is a good way to broaden your contacts and help build your professional confidence and you know you’re helping others. You're participating in something worthy.