Scope and Content

Monthly ACA Newsletter

July 2022, Volume 3, Issue 7

President's Message

Welcome to July, everyone!  

I’m thrilled to be able to serve ACA membership as President for another term. There are so many exciting developments on the horizon. I’m honoured to participate and excited to get started!  

Leadership Team Changes: A HUGE thank you to Andrea McCutcheon (Treasurer, 2020-2022) and Gillian Dunks (Director-at-Large, 2020-2022), who recently ended their terms as ACA Board. On behalf of the entire ACA, I wish to express my gratitude for their tremendous contributions towards our association. Also, please join me in extending a warm congratulations and a hearty welcome to our newly elected Board Members: Kyle Pugh (Treasurer, 2022-2024) and John Richan (Director-at-Large, 2022-2024). It’s great to have you on board! And last, but certainly not least, please join me in thanking Andrew Chernevych for letting his name stand for re-election to the position of Director-at-Large (2020-2022; 2022-2024). Congratulations on your re-election, Andrew! It’s great to have you back!   

John Richan, Director-at-Large 2022 -2024

Kyle Pugh, Treasurer 2022-2024

ACA 2022 Hybrid Conference: Acknowledgements & Thanks: I hope you all enjoyed our ACA 2022 conference lineup as much as I did! What an amazing array of articulate speakers and thought-provoking topics – not to mention the engaging social events! Preliminary statistics show this year’s conference had 125 speakers (including session chairs) and 389 full conference registrants, which included 147 in-person attendees! Not bad for our first in-person event in three years.

Team Conference Planning: Please join me in thanking Conference Program Team Chair Krisztina Laszlo and Host Team Chair Maxwell Otte along with all of their incredible volunteers for their tremendous time, effort, and dedication towards making ACA 2022 the successful conference it was. 

2022 Conference Team 

Krisztina Laszlo, Chair 
Renee Belliveau 
Ferrin Evans, 2021 Program Team Member 
Cameron Hart 
Krista Jamieson 
Karleen Delaurier-Lyle 
Shamin Malmas 
David Mawhinney 
Carmen Miedema 
Krista McCracken 
Andrea McCutcheon, Board Liaison 
Karen Ng 
Moska Rokay 
Adria Seccareccia, Professional Development Liaison

2022 Host Team 

Maxwell Otte, Chair 

Alan Doyle 

James Goldie 

Melanie Hardbattle 

Kayla Lar-son 

Emily Larson 
Maria Parachos 

Ashlynn Prasad

Secretariat Support: I would also like to acknowledge the herculean efforts of ACA Executive Director Jo McCutcheon and Membership Services Coordinator Maureen Tracey. These two, indefatigable women worked incredibly long hours, days before and during this year’s conference to mitigate the many, many challenges presented by the hybrid format. Thank you, Jo and Maureen!

Musqueam Archives Engagement: Thanks to the dedicated effort of the team of professionals at the Musqueam Archives (in particular Elizabeth McManus and Jason Woolman), the ACA Board of Directors was able to collaboratively push beyond static territorial acknowledgements and provide conference attendees with the opportunity to learn and actively engage in adapted Musqueam longhouse protocol. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to acknowledge and thank Elder Larry Grant for opening our conference in a good way and for teaching us about the role of witnesses in Musqueam culture, as well as offering a summarized translation of the story of how the Musqueam people got their name. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Wade Grant for closing our conference in a good way and for teaching us about matrilineal leadership in Musqueam communities and for calling the witnesses to share with us all that they had learned during the conference.

For those who could not attend the conference opening “Setting the Table,” or closing “Traveling Home,” I’m afraid these events were not recorded; however, please do visit the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Nation) website to learn more about xʷməθkʷəy̓əm culture and territory.

The Board would also like to extend its gratitude to those ACA members who kindly agreed to serve as witnesses to this year’s conference in accordance with Musqueam protocol and bring the lessons they learned back to their own communities: Genevieve Weber, Greg Bak, Kayla Lar-son, Andréa Tarnawsky, Claire Williams and Karleen Delaurier-Lyle – through your eyes, we learned much.

Post-Conference Survey: To all those who attended this year’s conference, please take a couple of minutes to fill out our post-conference survey. The information you provide helps guide future conference planning! So be sure to have your say.

Contact Me: As always, please feel free to email if you have any concerns about the ACA or any suggestions on how to make your association better. We always appreciate your feedback! 

Warmest regards,   

Erica Hernández-Read, ACA President  

acapresident@archivists.ca 

ACA Strategic Plan Survey Results

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the survey that was circulated in May. The results are in and the Board is pleased to report that overall satisfaction with the ACA has improved since 2017! We will put a copy of the report on the ACA website soon. Until then, below is a summary table of the satisfaction results.

NB: Of the 690 members that received the survey, we received 129 responses, giving us an overall response rate of 19%.  

While we are pleased with these results, we know that there is still more work to do to improve services and member satisfaction. Now it is time to create a plan for the next 3 years, and we will be looking to members to help us craft the new plan. In the fall, we will put out a call for volunteers. If you are like me and love strategic planning (seriously, I do!), then please consider volunteering. Have a great summer, everyone! 

Sincerely, Anna Gibson Hollow, Vice-President

Post-Conference Survey

To all those who attended this year’s conference, please take a couple of minutes to fill out our post-conference survey. The information you provide helps guide future conference planning! So be sure to have your say.

ACA 2023 Conference Program Chair 

As you may have heard, ACA 2023 will take place in Charlottetown, PEI. The dates for next year's conference are a bit later than usual to follow the ebb and flow of Atlantic Canada tourism. We look forward to seeing you from the 28th of June to July 1st, 2023.

At a special meeting of the ACA Board of Directors, Lara Wilson, Archivist for the University of Victoria was confirmed as next year's Conference Program Team Chair. Thank you to all who have raised their hands to be part of the team. You will be contacted in the coming weeks, and a call for papers will be out to the community in late summer.

Volunteers Needed

The ACA is a member-driven association for archives and records professionals across Canada and abroad. All Individual Members are encouraged to participate in ACA activities. A number of volunteer positions are open, including supporting the work of the Finance Review Committee, the 2023 conference, and Archivaria. Keep an eye on the ACA Volunteer page for opportunities and application information.  

The ACA believes that a professional and intellectual community is enriched and enhanced by diversity along a number of dimensions, including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity and national origins, gender and gender identity, sexuality, class, and religion. We are especially committed to increasing committee participation by members from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the records and archives profession. We encourage participation from ACA members at any stage of their careers and from all backgrounds. 

Together we can build a strong ACA and enrich the archives and recordkeeping profession for the benefit of all.

Archivaria News

SSHRC grant 

The Archivaria team is pleased to announce that our application for a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Aid to Scholarly Journals (ASJ) has been successful and we are the recipients of a $55,000 grant. This achievement is the result of the hard work of the ACA Board and Secretariat, and past General Editor, Fiorella Foscarini. Innovations introduced in the past few years (including shortening our embargo period) coupled with the continuous efforts to maintain the high quality of the journal were key factors in our success. This new funding will be geared towards increasing our knowledge mobilization efforts.

The Archivaria Editorial Board is seeking members

Archivaria invites expressions of interest from members of the broad archival community for a variety of positions on the Editorial Board. 

1. General Board member(s) 

2. Film and Exhibition Review Editor 

3. French Language Editor 

More information on eligibility and responsibilities for these roles, along with details on submitting an expression of interest, are available on the Archivaria website. 

The ACA believes that a professional and intellectual community is enriched and enhanced by diversity along a number of dimensions, including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity and national origins, gender and gender identity, sexuality, class, and religion. We are especially committed to increasing committee participation by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) professionals. We encourage applications from ACA members at any stage of their careers and from all backgrounds. All members of the Editorial Board must be members in good standing of the Association of Canadian Archivists; however, if you are facing any barriers or challenges with regard to membership, please reach out to either the ACA Vice-President or Executive Director.

Archivaria Prize Winners 

The winners of the W. Kaye Lamb Prize and Hugh A. Taylor Prize for 2021 were announced at the ACA conference in June 2022, and the full citations are available online. 
 
The W. Kaye Lamb Prize is the senior award of the journal for the best article overall, awarded annually to honour the author of the Archivaria article that, by its exceptional combination of research, reflection, and writing, most advances archival thinking in Canada. The winners of the Lamb prize are Kirsten Wright and Nicola Laurent, "Safety, Collaboration, and Empowerment: Trauma-Informed Archival Practice," Archivaria 91 (Spring/Summer 2021). 
 
The Hugh A. Taylor Prize is awarded annually to the author of the Archivaria article that presents new ideas or refreshing syntheses in the most imaginative way, especially by exploring the implications of concepts or trends from other disciplines for archival thinking and activity, and by extending the boundaries of archival theory in new directions. The winner of the Taylor Prize is Harrison Apple, for "'I Can’t Wait for You to Die': A Community Archives Critique," Archivaria 92 (Fall 2021). 

In the Field: The ACA Blog

There has been a lot happening on the ACA blog this past month.   

Throughout early June we featured the profiles of five conference presenters: 

• Gabrielle Nishiguchi 

• June Chow 

• Daochun Li 

• Michael Marlatt 

• Csaba Szilagyi. 

We're also thrilled to have a brand new post about the ACA@UBC’s 13th Annual Seminar and Symposium. 

Do you have an idea for a blog post? Please complete our submission form!

ACA Financial News 

Finance Review Committee Update and Call for Volunteers 

The Finance Review Committee welcomes Kyle Pugh, incoming ACA Treasurer, as new Chair of the Committee. We would also like to extend a call for new volunteers at this time. The Finance Review Committee meets monthly to review and support the ACA Board of Directors' financial decision-making matters. Volunteers looking to lend or gain experience creating budgets and help brainstorm cost-effective and value-based decisions that align with the ACA's strategic plan and equity commitments are encouraged to submit an application using the volunteer form. All levels of experience are welcome.

ACA 2022 Auditor Selected at ACA Annual General Meeting 

This year, the ACA Secretariat solicited three bids to select an auditor for the ACA’s 2022 Financial Statements. These offers ranged in price from $3000.00 + additional fees for each non-standard followup required, to $6,000.00 with our current firm, and $10,000.00. With this due diligence completed, considering the current firm’s familiarity with our reporting systems and one of the other firm's involvements in our day-to-day operational accounting support, the Finance Review Committee, ACA Board, and ACA Secretariat recommended the membership appoint the current firm, Ouseley Hanvey Clipsham Deep LLP, to conduct the audit of the ACA 2022 financial statements. ACA Board Treasurer Andrea McCutcheon moved the motion to appoint the recommended firm at the recent ACA Annual General Meeting, and this motion passed.   

Members are always welcome to contact the ACA Secretariat to access copies of the ACA's Audited Financial Statements or inquire about ACA financial matters by emailing the ACA Executive Director and ACA Treasurer. 

ACA Foundation Update

You’ve read in the ACAF report submitted in The Bulletin of the generosity of our membership over the past year and the work of the ACAF Board to reinvigorate ACAF traditions as we emerge with learnings from two years of virtual re-arrangements. You've also read of the challenge we encountered with our 2019 statement year filing to maintain our charitable status. As Chair of the ACAF Board, when I first heard about the revocation of our status for failure to file a statement on time, my reaction was likely similar to your own: How could this have happened? After considering the time and circumstances the ACA, and indeed everyone, was encountering in the fall of 2020, I came to the conclusion that though a mistake was made, the response of the Secretariat was swift, and our affected donors’ replies to our apologies sufficient to move ahead and correct the error. To that end, the Secretariat has been in contact with the CRA on several occasions. We were most recently advised Monday, June 27, that our submission is complete, in queue, and will be addressed in turn. News on the charitable status of the ACAF will be shared with membership as it becomes available, and we encourage members to reach out to the ACAF Board or ACA Secretariat with questions or input on this or any ACAF matters. 

Respectfully submitted, Andrea McCutcheon, Past ACAF Board Chair 

Ukraine Fundraiser Update

We are blown away by the incredible support of archival and heritage professionals across this country for the ACA Fundraising Campaign to Help Rebuild Ukrainian Archives! Thanks to you, we’ve raised over $5,000 to give to the State Archival Service of Ukraine for distribution to archives across Ukraine to help rebuild their damaged structures and collections once this horrific war ends. Well done, all! Here is some information for those who participated in this campaign: 

Auction Winners: If you were the lucky winner of an auction item(s), please make sure you complete your payment, and don’t forget to send your mailing address to our Executive Director, Jo McCutcheon. 

Auction Donors: If you were one of the kind souls who donated items to this auction, a volunteer will be in touch with you soon with the address of the winner of your donated item.  

Print-on-Demand Mugs: For those who placed orders for the amazing print-on-demand mugs made available as part of this fundraiser, orders will be placed this week. You will receive an email soon thereafter with an approximate delivery time.  

If you missed the fundraising event but would still like to donate funds towards this important cause, please send an email to: acapresident@archivists.ca. 

More news to come when funds are ready to transfer to the State Archival Service of Ukraine via the Galt Museum and Archives, so stay tuned!

ACA Fellow

In recognition of outstanding commitment and leadership to archival scholarship at home and abroad and for her pioneering vision, contributions, and dedication to the study of the photographic record of Canada, the Association of Canadian Archivists is proud to announce the induction of Dr. Joan M. Schwartz as the 2022 ACA Fellow. 

Dr. Schwartz’s distinguished leadership and contributions to the Association of Canadian Archivists has supported excellence in archival scholarship in Canada for over 30 years. Dr. Schwartz served as a member of the editorial board for Archivaria 17 through 22, as the Associate Editor for Archivaria 17, and Assistant Editor for Archivaria 6 through 18. Her contributions to Archivaria further included acting as a guest editor for the special section in number 61, “Archives: Space and Power”. More recently, Dr. Schwartz served as the co-editor of the joint ACA/SAA publication of All Shook Up: The Archival Legacy of Terry Cook (2020). For her own research and writing, Dr. Schwartz has twice been the recipient of the ACA’s W. Kaye Lamb Prize.  

Dr. Schwartz’s research and extensive publications, in Canada and abroad, are widely recognized for their excellence. Long known as an international leader in her research areas, her impact and influence in the fields of archives, art history, and photography topics is considerable. During her time with the then-Public Archives of Canada, Dr. Schwartz was an early leader in the study and establishment of multimedia records as archival materials in themselves and not merely as accompanying objects to textual records. Her work and research helped to forge foundational study of the functional context of media archives.   

Her pioneering contributions to the study of the history of photography in Canada is keystone reading for emerging archivists, and she has continued to publish and lecture widely in Canada and abroad. She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2016 and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2012.  

Dr. Schwartz is currently the Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the Centre for GeoHumanities, Royal Holloway, University of London as well as a Professor in the Department of Art History and Art Conservation at Queen’s University. She currently holds honorary appointments at the Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Member, International Advisory Board); Carleton University, Department of History (Adjunct Research Professor); and the Carleton Centre for Public History (Research Fellow). 

Alice Albarda and Shannon Hodge  

Co-chairs, ACA Nominations and Awards Committee

Dr. Joan Schwartz, ACA 2022 Awards Ceremony.  Photo Credit: M. Tracey

Dr. Greg Bak, ACA 2022 Awards Ceremony introducing the newest ACA Fellow, Dr. Joan Schwartz. Photo Credit: M. Tracey

Archival Community News

The Julia Hendry Memorial Award: Julia Hendry, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the Wilfrid Laurier University Library, passed away on April 3, 2020 after a courageous battle with cancer. In 2010, Julia began at Laurier in the position of Head, Archives and Special Collections. During this time, she helped expand the scope of the archives collections; enhanced collection-management and access systems; furthered the digitization of the archive collections; and sought funding and built partnerships internally and externally. Throughout her career, Julia especially cherished the time she spent inspiring students and researchers to work with primary sources. In tribute to her memory, her life’s work and her passions, Wilfrid Laurier University is raising funds to celebrate her far-reaching legacy. Donations will help establish an annual award to recognize a student who demonstrates an interest in sustainability either at Laurier or in the community with a first preference for a student who self-identifies as Indigenous. More information about The Julia Hendry Memorial Award and donating is available online.

Registration is now open for the 10th International Conference on the History of Records and Archives (ICHORA), which will be held online during the week of July 25-29, 2022, hosted virtually by The National Archives (UK) and the Forum for Archives and Records Management Education and Research (FARMER). The conference programme includes a wide range of themes for discussion, among them 'Data Histories,' 'Reflecting on collecting and collectors,' 'Contested Histories,' and 'Reflecting on the shape(s) we give things.' Plus, don't miss our Postcards from the past, a series of short pieces which reveal lesser-known stories from the history of recordkeeping. Register for the conference now, and any questions can be directed to research@nationalarchives.gov.uk. 

The AABC is pleased to present the 2-day workshop “Archives 101: Archival Practice for Indigenous Organizations”, which will be of interest to Tribal/First Nations Government administrators, archivists, cultural memory keepers, and community members and students working to support Indigenous archives programs. With the support of the BC Arts Council, there will be two offerings of this workshop scheduled – one in Fall 2022 and one in Winter 2023. 

The Toronto Area Archivist Group (TAAG) is seeking presenters for workshops for the 2022-2023 year. Workshops should be 2-3 hours in length, with the goal of providing attendees with skills or knowledge on a particular topic. Examples of past topics include digital record preservation, storage & environmental conditions for audiovisual materials, dismantling white supremacy, and grant applications. We are open to any topics that you feel will be of use to the archival community. The workshops can take place online, but a hybrid or in-person event will be considered. An honorarium will be provided. If you are interested, please send an email with the following information to taag.chapter@gmail.com by Friday, July 8:    

• Name, Title  

• Email address or other contact information  

• A brief description of the proposed workshop topic  

• If you would prefer online, in-person, or hybrid   

• Optional: If you have a preferred time of year to present.  

We are also interested in institutions who would like to provide tours for TAAG members. If your institution would like to host a tour, please send us an email with the name of your institution, what types of holdings you have, and the approximate length that a tour would take.

The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, at the University of Toronto, is holding a webinar on Preserving Ukraine's Cultural Heritage and Historical Record this Friday, July 8, from 12:00-1:30 PM (ET). Speakers will include Anatolii Khromov (Head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine); Anna E. Kijas (Head of Lilly Music Library, Tufts University and Co-founder, Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online); Oksana Kuzmenko (Leading Research Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology, The Ethnology Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine); Bohdan Shumylovych (Art historian, Head of Public History Programs,  Center for Urban History & Associate Professor, Ukrainian Catholic University); Catarina Buchatskiy (Co-founder, Shadows Project); and Ksenya Kiebuzinski as Chair (Co-Director, Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine & Head of the Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre, University of Toronto Libraries).

The Society of American Archivists – Archivists of Religious Collections Section is hosting the following upcoming Lunch and Learn and Archival Chat sessions.The registration for all these free sessions will be posted on the SAA ARCS discussion board and on listservs. 

• Lunch and Learn: The Construction of an Archival Vault, Junia Yasenov, Capuchin Province Archives, July 8, 3:00 PM (ET) 

• Archival Chat: Sharing Collection Highlights, Janice Rosen, Canadian Jewish Archives, July 14, 3:00 PM (ET) 

• Lunch and Learn: Outreach Lesson Planning, Scott Keefer, Daughters of Charity, August 12, 3:00 PM (ET)
  

CRKN Conference and call for proposals: The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) is excited to announce that the 2022 CRKN Conference will be our first hybrid conference! Join us from October 3-7, 2022 online and from November 1-2, 2022 in Montreal. The CRKN is extending its call for proposals for the 2022 CRKN Conference until Tuesday, July 12 at 5:00 PM (ET). If you have been thinking about submitting a conference proposal, now is the time! We welcome conference presentations from 10 to 60 minutes on a variety of topics relevant to the library and digital heritage sectors and encourage individuals of all career levels to submit. Full details on the call for proposals are available at the CRKN website.

A heartfelt congratulations to Karen Suurtamm, ACA's Communications Committee Chair. She has been appointed, University Archivist and Head, Special Collections at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. She will begin this new role August 1, 2022.

Do you know a member who's made big news? Is there something going on that you think the Canadian archival community should hear about? Don't hesitate to forward stories to the Communications Committee, and we'll help spread the word.

Job Opportunities

Submit your job opportunity here and it will be posted to the ACA website. We will also share this opportunity on our social media channels.

Assistant Archivist, The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada 

Deadline: July 20, 2022

Summer Archives Clerk, Anglican Diocese of Huron 

Deadline: Applications accepted until positions filled

Follow the ACA on our social media channels:

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram

Do you have news you’d like the ACA to share via its social media channels? The Communications Committee has created a form you can use to give us the details! 

Contact Us

Suite 1912-130 Albert Street

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4

Tel: 613-234-6977

Email: aca@archivists.ca

www.archivists.ca

The ACA office is located on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.