Scope and Content Monthly ACA Newsletter
July 2023, Volume 4, Issue 7
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Click here if you are having trouble reading the newsletter.
Scope and Content will be published August 10, 2023. If you have any comments or feedback, please contact the Communications Committee.
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Leadership Changes
With the end of June comes both the end of terms and beginning of terms for members of your Executive Board. Please join me in giving a HUGE thank you to the amazing Anna Gibson Hollow (Vice President, 2021-2023) and Kaitlin Normandin (Secretary, 2021-2023), who both ended their terms on June 30, 2023. The contributions they made towards this association and in support of our membership are innumerable, but I would like to give a particular shout-out for Anna’s leadership in completing the new ACA Strategic Framework, 2023-2026 and Kaitlin’s leadership in finalizing the ACA’s new institutional and individual membership fee structures. Both projects were multi-year, labour-intensive endeavours, and these two stellar women knocked them out of the park – thank you!!
As well, please join me in giving a warm ACA welcome and hearty congratulations to our newly elected Board Members, who took office on July 1, 2023: Angela Fornelli (Vice President, 2023-2025), Alexandra Mills (Secretary, 2023-2025), and Amanda Oliver (Director-at-Large, 2023-2025). You may recall, Amanda Oliver bravely stepped into an acting DaL position last fall when James Roussain had to step down from the Board. Luckily for us (because Amanda is amazing!), she decided to run for office, and we now have her for another two years!
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ACA 2023 Conference: Acknowledgement & Thanks
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I hope you enjoyed this year’s ACA 2023 Conference: Belonging – Considering archival bonds and disconnects as much as I did! We had an incredible lineup of articulate speakers presenting on thought-provoking topics – not to mention the tremendous pre-conference workshops and engaging social events! Set against the absolutely stunning backdrop of Charlottetown, PEI, and welcomed by the friendliest locals, for me this conference was a truly wonderful event! Preliminary statistics show this year’s conference had 131 speakers (including session chairs) and 230 full conference registrants and 94 in-person first-time attendees! |
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Team Conference Planning: Please join me in thanking Conference Program Team Chair Lara Wilson (program.team@archivists.ca) and Host Team Chair Jill MacMicken-Wilson (host.team@archivists.ca) along with all of their incredible volunteers for their tremendous time, effort, and dedication towards making ACA 2023 the successful conference it was. |
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2023 Conference Program Team Lara Wilson, Chair
Robyn Biggar
François Dansereau
Sarah Glassford
Sara Janes
Karen Suurtamm
Kelly Turner |
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2023 Conference Host Team Jill MacMicken-Wilson, Chair
Joanna Aiton Kerr
Patti Bannister
Jonathan Bowie
John Boylan
Mark Cousins
Fred Farrell
Sarah Glassford
Katrina Swift
Jannah Toms
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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 weeks before and during this year’s conference to ensure the conference went as smoothly as it did. Thank you, Jo and Maureen! |
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Vendor Support: For this year’s conference we were fortunate to have secured the financial support of the following vendors: AM, Ancestry, Andornot Consulting Inc., Atlas Systems, Inc., Carr McLean Limited, FUJIFILM Canada, Lucidea, Preservation Technologies, Recollect CMS.
Without this financial support, conference costs would have been considerably higher for attendees. If, and when, you do business with any of these vendors, please be sure to thank them for their support and involvement in our annual conferences. Every dollar contributed through vendor engagement truly does support every conference attendee!!
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Mi'kmaq Land Affirmation & Engagement: As you may know, Epekwitk (colonially known as Prince Edward Island) is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. The Epekwitnewaq Mi’kmaq have occupied this Island for over 12,000 years. We honour the Treaties of Peace and Friendship, which recognized Mi’kmaq rights and established an ongoing relationship between nations. We recognize Elders past and present who have cared for, and continue to care for, the land. In offering this acknowledgement, we affirm the history, experiences, and resiliency of Indigenous people who are still here today. We are grateful to be able to gather and learn here, and we are committed to building relationships based in honour and respect. For we are all Treaty People. To learn more about the Mi’kmaq people, please check out the following websites: Experience Lennox Island, Lennox Island First Nation, and L’Nuey. |
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Julie Pellissier-Lush, Delta PEI, photo credit, Maureen Tracey |
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On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to acknowledge and thank the lovely Julie Pellissier-Lush – L’Nuey’s first Knowledge Keeper and PEI’s first Mi’kmaq Poet Laureate – for so graciously providing the ACA with a territorial welcome at our opening reception and the Opening Keynote address.
Ms. Pellissier-Lush is a multi-published author, poet, actress, photographer, and activist who has made it her life’s creative mission to further preserve and share the history, culture, and traditions of the Mi’kmaq peoples for future generations. After her warm reception welcome, we were further honoured with a performance by Julie’s award-winning youth theatre troupe, Mi’kmaq Legends, through which we were able to experience some of the traditional legends of the Mi'kmaq people through the artistic disciplines of poetry, music, dance, and theatre. It was such an amazing performance by some incredibly talented children and youth!
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Mi'kmaq Legends, Delta PEI, photo credit, Maureen Tracey
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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.
The deadline to submit your feedback is July 31, 2023.
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Online AGM and Election Results
As
you may recall, this year’s election for the 2023 Board of Directors
ran from June 1-13, 2023, just ahead of our virtual AGM held on
Wednesday, June 14, 2023. All voting members received an online Simply
Voting ballot via email, and all members received an invitation to
attend the 2023 AGM via Zoom. As a result of this online voting and AGM
meeting format, 25% of ACA electors voted in this ballot and 5% of
members attended our AGM. These may seem like smallish
numbers, but these figures actually demonstrate a tremendous turnout
and increased engagement due to the more accessible virtual format.
Thank you all for taking the time to cast your ballot and attend your
AGM! |
VOLUNTEER CALL: 2024 ACA Conference Program Team Chair
We are already looking ahead to the 2024 ACA Conference! Our next conference will be entirely virtual to align with our Equity Commitments. With that in mind, the ACA is seeking expressions of interest from folks who are interested in Chairing the Program Team for the 2024 ACA Conference. The Program Team Chair must be an ACA member in good standing, preferably with previous experience on the ACA Board of Directors, a Program Team, a Host Team, or other ACA-related project planning experience. The Chair must also be able to attend the conference they are planning.
To give you some idea as to what such chairship duties entail, please review the Draft Terms of Reference for the Conference Host Team and the Conference Program Team. Any additional questions can be sent directly to Erica Hernandez-Read, ACA President, or Jo McCutcheon. Volunteer forms can be found here. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, develop conference planning skills, and contribute to the development of the most exciting ACA event of the year! |
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 |
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ACA Hashtag Party
You’re invited to the ACA Hashtag Party! On the last Thursday of every month, the ACA Social Media Team organizes a hashtag party, which takes place virtually on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. There is a different theme for each month, which we announce on social media and Arcan-l in advance. On the day of the party, you can share materials in your collections related to that theme, tag us and use the hashtag, and we’ll re-share your post. The goal of the parties is to engage more with institutions across Canada, see what kinds of materials other institutions have, and promote weird, fun, and interesting items from your own collections.
Last month’s party took place on Thursday, June 29, and the theme was #ArchivesTransportation! We truly enjoyed seeing these treasures from your collections. Thank you to everyone who participated!
The next party will take place on Thursday, July 27, and the theme will be #ArchivesBeaches! Help us celebrate summer by sharing the best examples of sunshine-y fun in your collections. On the day, don’t forget to tag us @archivistsdotca on Twitter, @aca_canada on Instagram, and @AssociationofCanadianArchivists on Facebook so we can see what you’ve got!
Here are the themes and dates for the next couple of parties:
- August 31, 2023: #ArchivesLabour
- September 28, 2023: #ArchivesFashion
- October 26, 2023: #ArchivesFavouriteFormats
- November 30, 2023: #ArchivesActivism
For more information about each of the themes, keep an eye on our social media and Scope & Content in the weeks leading up to the party. For any questions, email us at communications@archivists.ca. |
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Special Interest Section on Religious Archives
Mary Grace Kosta has completed her term as SISARO Chair, and Carol Hollywood is the new Chair. The Chair-Elect is Dez Nacario. |
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ACA 2024 Virtual Conference - Program Team Volunteers Needed!
The ACA is still looking for volunteers for the ACA 2024 Virtual Conference to be hosted by the Province of Alberta. We are in need of that all-important Program Team Chair and Members to help us craft our theme, select presenters, session chairs and commentators, and oversee the delivery of program sessions over the duration of the conference. As the 2024 conference is virtual, no travel by Program Team volunteers is required, and the anticipated volunteer time commitment is between 2 to 2.5 hours per month. While still maintaining creative autonomy, the Conference Program Team will be supported in their work by the Conference Planning Committee – after all, a successful team is a group of many hands and one mind!
If you are an ACA member in good standing and are interested in participating on the 2024 Program Team, please contact Angela Fornelli, Vice President of the ACA at vicepresident@archivists.ca or fill out the ACA Volunteer form here! |
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BIPOC Special Interest Section
In lieu of the BIPOC Forum, the ACA BIPOC SIS is hosting a Meet Your Community panel event. This online session is open to BIPOC archivists and memory workers. It is an opportunity for you to meet three of your colleagues and learn about their career paths in the archival profession. The first of many sessions to come, please join us on July 24, 2023 from 5:00 to 6:00 pm ET. Please register here.
MELISSA J. NELSON is a Jamaican Canadian archivist, writer, and educator who is based in Toronto, Ontario. Her work and research interests include the preservation of Black cultural heritage and ethics of care in the preservation of anti-Black archival materials. Melissa is recognized as a leader in the fields of anti-racist and person-centered archival praxis. She is the recipient of the 2023 ACA New Professional Award and Ancestry Award. Melissa explores her interests in history and archives on her blog melissajnelson.com. She is the author of “Archiving Hate: Racist Materials in Archives.” This post has been referenced by collecting institutions in their commitment to equity practices, including Baker Library of Harvard Business School in “Guiding Principles for Conscious and Inclusive Description.” Melissa is currently an Archivist for the Archives of Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History, with a minor in Sociology, from Carleton University. She also completed a Master of Information Studies at McGill University.
JUNE CHOW is an archivist working in Chinese Canadian records, community archives, archival equity and justice, documentary heritage, and the tangible and intangible living heritage of Chinatowns. Her experience with Chinese Canadian archives spans personal, community, academic, library, church, and government contexts. As a graduate student and community archivist for the Vancouver-based grassroots project, The Paper Trail, she spent time at UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections and at Library and Archives Canada aligning institutional resources to meet archival preservation, access and equity needs for community commemoration of the Chinese Exclusion Act in this centennial year of the legislation. She is currently also a special collections archivist with the Chinese Canadian Archive of the Toronto Public Library where she is developing and testing community archives best practices in partnership with members of the city’s Chinese Canadian community. June speaks on the role of archives in community activism, heritage preservation and cultural redress work happening across Chinatowns. She is a co-author of “Come Correct or Don’t Come at All:” Building More Equitable Relationships Between Archival Studies Scholars and Community Archives (2021). She continues to research Chinese Canadian in archives as a new graduate of the Master of Archival Studies program at the UBC School of Information through a Mitacs internship and as a collaborator on a UBC Research Excellence Cluster.
MOSKA ROKAY is a PhD student at the University of Toronto Faculty of Information. Her research interests lie in the interdisciplinary crossroads of archives, critical refugee studies, media studies, and memory studies, especially in the contexts of refugee and diaspora communities of war and violence. She is an advocate for community-centered, activist archives and completed her Master of Information in Archives and Records Management from U of T’s Faculty of Information in 2019. A former refugee, she is actively involved in the Afghan-Canadian diaspora community and has been an archivist for the Muslims in Canada Archives at the University of Toronto since 2019. |
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Membership Committee – Meet-Up Update and Thank You
The Membership Committee wishes to thank everyone who participated in the virtual mentorship meet-up in May. We had a great turnout of mentorship participants from across the country and really enjoyed the lively and informative discussions.
We’d like to specially acknowledge those from our general membership who stepped forward to volunteer as mentors and help us sustain this important program. And most importantly, we hope the mentees enjoyed the experience! The meet-up was such a success that we hope to host another in the fall, so to all our 2023 participants, stay tuned for news on that!
And if you’d like to get involved as a mentor or mentee in 2024, program details can be found here. |
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Carr McLean Discount Available for 2023
The Carr McLean 10% discount is available for both Individual and Institutional ACA members for the entire membership year. This discount can be applied to any order over $100 and is non-transferrable. Contact the ACA Secretariat at executive.director@archivists.ca for the new discount code that will remain effective until December 31, 2023.
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At the 2023 Annual
Conference, members of the community were recognized for their
contributions to the ACA. Thank you to all who took time to nominate and
support volunteers who undertake important work throughout the year for
the Association. Congratulations to the Emerging Professionals who presented their work in Charlottetown. For a list of the winners with citations, see here: https://archivists.ca/2023-ACA-Awards |
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ACA 2023 Award Winners (L-R): Michael Carelse, Adam Williamson, Al Cunningham-Rogers, Melissa J. Nelson, Jennifer Mohan, Christina Nichols, Greg Bak
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Membership Recognition: Jennifer Mohan
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New Professional: Melissa J. Nelson
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Honorary Archivist: Christina Nichols
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Larry Dohey Award: Association of Manitoba Archives’ New Home for the City of Winnipeg Archives Committee |
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This summer has been a busy and exciting time for the ACA Foundation!
This year we established a new travel bursary for students and emerging professionals, which enabled three professionals to attend the ACA 2023 conference in Charlottetown and to present on their work. At the conference, the Emerging Voices panel, consisting of Michael Carelse, Al Cunningham-Rogers, and Adam Williamson, gave incredible presentations that the audience thoroughly enjoyed!
The Foundation is also excited to announce that we raised nearly $1500 from the silent auction and an additional $367 from the 50/50 draw (won by the fabulous Maureen Tracey). Funds raised from these events will be going to provide financial assistance to archival students!
Merchandise: The Foundation is also excited to say that we have added our purchasable merchandise to the ACA store! If you’d like some archives swag, the materials can be found here: https://archivists.ca/ACA-Foundation_Fundraiser
Ancestry Award: In June, the ACA Foundation Board met and awarded Melissa J. Nelson the Ancestry Award. Melissa Nelson, Archivist at the Archives of Ontario, is a noted and respected anti-racist educator and the winner of the ACA’s 2023 New Professional Award. Wishing you health and wealth,
Kyle Pugh, ACA Foundation Chair |
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In the Field: The ACA Blog |
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To celebrate International Archives Week (June 5-9), ACA’s Public Advocacy and Awareness Committee brought together a blog series featuring five professional archival associations from across Canada. AABC, ASA, CANB, SCAA, and AAQ contributed pieces highlighting their recent activities and initiatives.
In the weeks leading up to the ACA annual conference, In the Field also published a series of interviews with conference presenters. We chatted with graduate students Sarah Hanahem (McGill University), Adam Williamson (University of Toronto iSchool), and Simon-Olivier Gagnon (Université Laval), as well as with international presenters Shadreck Bayane (Botswana Investment & Trade Centre) and Madelynn Dickerson and Christine Kim (University of California, Irvine and the California Digital Library) about their conference papers, research interests, and approaches.
Contemporary archivists are engaged in a broad range of work within the field of archives. In the Field is a place for discussion about the wide range of issues encountered and raised in these spaces related to archives, archival education, and archival interventions. We welcome submissions from students and new professionals. In line with the ACA's Strategic Plan and Progress toward A Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan, the ACA blog focuses on publishing posts that explore “frameworks, strategies, initiatives, programs and actions” undertaken across the archival realm to “address issues of inclusion, access, diversity, multiculturalism, and regional, national, global and intercultural engagement.”
Blog posts should be between 500 and 2,000 words and be accompanied by an author bio of 40-50 words. We use APA citation style. For more information on proposing or submitting a blog post please read and complete the submission form. We look forward to reading your contribution! |
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Ancestry Digitization Fund
Notification of the Ancestry Grant Program 2023
(Canada)
During 2023, Ancestry is offering a series of grants to support the family history & archival community within Canada.
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2 x Gold Grants up to the value of $100,000 CAD for digitization services to be awarded within Canada to assist with digitization within the archival & family history community. Also included is five years of free Ancestry access. The individual grants have a maximum value of $100,000 CAD but can also cover works of any lesser amount up to that total figure. The grant will be for imaging of records only, meaning that the services provided are for scanning of paper or microform collections.
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2 x Silver Grants up to the value of $25,000 CAD for digitization services to be awarded within Canada to assist with digitization within the archival & family history community. Also included is five years of free Ancestry access. The individual grants have a maximum value of $25,000 CAD but can also cover works of any lesser amount up to that total figure. The grant will be for imaging of records only, meaning that the services provided are for scanning of paper or microform collections.
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1 x Bronze Grant up to the value of $15,000 CAD for digitization services to be awarded within Canada to assist with digitization within the archival & family history community. Also included is five years of free Ancestry access. The individual grant has a maximum value of $15,000 CAD but can also cover works of any lesser amount up to that total figure. The grant will be for imaging of records only, meaning that the services provided are for scanning of paper or microform collections. The Bronze Grant can also be used for philanthropic causes that may not align to typical family history digitization.
The grant submission period will begin on July 3, 2023, and your submissions are encouraged. The submission period will remain open until the end of August 2023.
See the ACA website for more details: https://archivists.ca/Latest-News-Announcements/13227393
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Join SAA and CoSA for their Joint Annual
Meeting!
The Society of American Archivists (SAA) and the
Council of State Archivists (CoSA) are meeting this summer, July 27 to July
29, in Washington, DC, and online for ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2023! This is
the first time SAA and CoSA have held their meeting together since 2018 and the
first time ever that the Joint Annual Meeting has been hybrid. Registration for
the meeting is open until July 19, so register
now to join hundreds of
archives and records professionals for opportunities to learn, grow, and
connect.
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The Society of American Archivists – Archivists of Religious Collections Section
The Society of American Archivists – Archivists of Religious Collections Section is hosting these upcoming Lunch and Learn webinars:
- Access and Accessibility: Transcribing Handwriting with From the Page, Jeremy Heil, Queen’s University, Thursday, July 20, 2023, 3:00 pm ET
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Promoting the archives with video with Russell Gasero, Archivist Emeritus, Reformed Church in America, Thursday, August 3, 2023, 3:00 pm ET
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Copyright (Canada) with Lisa Macklem, Western University, Thursday, August 17, 2023, 3:00 pm ET
To register for these webinars, visit the Society of American Archivists’ website.
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ASA Conference: Rising to our challenges: archives at the ‘G
ACA members are able to take advantage of discounted member pricing for the Australian Society of Archivists’ upcoming conference, which will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from September 4-7, 2023. In-person and virtual attendance opportunities are available. ACA members will receive a direct email with the code to use for registration. There is also a discounted rate for student/concessional members.
The program is available on the conference website. An inspirational lineup of keynote speakers will include Professor Eleanor Bourke, Maree Clarke, Dr. Frances Edmonds, a panel from the AQuA Community Archives, Pia Andrews, and Barbara Reed. Read more about our keynote speakers here. |
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Access Conference 2023
Tickets for Access Conference 2023 are now on sale!
Access is Canada's leading library technology conference, taking place in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Prince George Hotel, October 23-25, 2023. It's a must-attend event for librarians, technicians, developers, programmers, and managers from all library sectors. The conference offers a single stream experience, including a variety of keynotes, presentations, panel discussions, lightning talks, a Hackfest, and pre-conference workshops. Connect with peers, learn about the latest library tech, and join the conversation. Learn more and purchase tickets here. |
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Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project
The Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project (MITHP) has released a draft version of the Missing Patients Research Guide, available in both a PDF and online format here.
The goal with this archival research guide is to help people navigate archives and records while looking for information on burials of individuals who were sent away for tuberculosis (TB) treatment and did not return. MITHP is actively seeking feedback before a more final version of this Research Guide is released later this year. If you have information, comments or suggestions to share after reviewing the draft Research Guide, please email feedback to tbphotos@uwinnipeg.ca. |
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Release of the 2021 Survey of Heritage Institutions
The Department of Canadian Heritage is pleased to announce the release of the 2021 report on the Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions (GCSHI), which collected financial and operating information for the 2020 data year on not-for-profit heritage institutions, including museums, art galleries, archives, historic sites, zoos, and botanical gardens. The 2021 survey recorded the initial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated public health measures which forced the temporary closure of heritage organizations across the country.
The Department would like to thank all heritage institutions who responded to the 2021 survey. Your input contributed to making the survey a success.
Please take a moment to discover some of the latest results from the 2021 GCSHI report here. To see highlights from the survey, visit the ACA website here: https://archivists.ca/Latest-News-Announcements/13229015
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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.
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As announced by Paul Henry, John Lund passed away on July 5, 2023, in his 54th year, following several months of illness. For the past 13 years, John had been a senior archivist at the City of Ottawa Archives, serving in all portfolios — civic government, digital, and private records. He had previously held positions at the City of Red Deer Archives and the Provincial Archives of Alberta.
Originally from Salmon Arm, BC, he was a 2005 graduate of the MAS program at UBC and of the University of Victoria, where he completed his MA and BFA.
John is well known within our profession, whether serving as long-time president of the Eastern Chapter of the Archives Association of Ontario, attending AAO and ACA conferences, or presenting on subjects ranging from digital and audio records management to photography and copyright. He was a mentor, a friend, an ally, and the one you turned to for advice.
Privately, John was a punk and activist. His vinyl collection is legendary, his photos inspiring, and his poetry thoughtful and reflective. He leaves many friends and colleagues, within the archives world and without. And though ours will be sadder for his absence, he would be the first to remind us that though he has seen things people wouldn't believe, "all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain." See John's interview regarding oral history here.
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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.
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Archivist (Casual), University of Toronto Scarborough
Deadline: July 23, 2023, 11:59 pm ET |
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Digital Collections Specialist, Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at the University of British Columbia (UBC)
Deadline: August 3, 2023, 11:59 pm PT
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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!
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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.
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