Scope and Content Monthly ACA Newsletter
March 2024, Volume 5, Issue 3
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Click here if you are having trouble reading the newsletter.
Scope and Content will be published April 5, 2024. If you have any comments or feedback, please contact the Communications Committee.
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Welcome to March everyone!
Despite waking up to -25o C this morning, the sun was out, and its’ warmth could finally be felt. The promise of spring is in the air! I know for many of you, the daffodils, snow drops and tulips have already made their appearance, but for others, this time of year often feels like a long, cold waiting game…when will winter’s grip finally loosen its’ icy hold? Wherever you reside, my wish for you this March is that hope is beginning to well within you. Hope for spring, hope for warmth, hope for change. |
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The Conference is coming!
To further energize that feeling of hope, no doubt you noticed the uptick in your inbox for calls for proposals and other messages. A sure sign that ACA conference organizing is picking up its pace. This year our annual conference, “Future-Proofing: Centring Care Now for Archives Tomorrow,” is being virtually hosted in Alberta, 10-13 June 2024. Tickets will go on sale on the 15th of March. The line-up looks fascinating, and I hope you can be a part of it! |
To volunteer or not to volunteer, that is the question.
Another way re-energize yourself, meet new people, learn new skills, and be part of your collegial community is to volunteer for the Association. Time commitments vary, but on average only 2-3hrs/month is required, and the rewards are exponential! We have many exciting committee positions that currently need filling:
The ACA Volunteer Form can be found here. |
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The ACA Board of Directors Needs You!
If you’ve ever considered nominating yourself for an ACA Board position, now is the time to do it!
Before being encouraged to put my name forward for president, I never would have thought I could possibly fill such a role (imposter syndrome is real!) But I’m so glad I took that leap of faith. Not only have I gained significant time management, project management, and communication skills, and helped guide the Association forward in a good way, I’ve also found inspiration and friendship from colleagues and fellow Board members past and present. Yes, it’s meant maybe 5-10 hours/month of my time, but what an incredible time it’s been! If I could sign up for another term I would, but I’m capped as are others on the Board, and that’s why we need you to take that leap of faith. Believe in yourself, invest in your professional development, and help lead the ACA ever onward!
The following Board positions are open for nominations.
- President
- Treasurer
- Director-at-Large (1)
- Director-at-Large (3)
For a full list of Board positions and descriptions visit this link - but feel free to connect with me directly to discuss any of these positions in more depth. To nominate yourself for one of these incredible opportunities, fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
Warmest regards,
Erica Hernandez-Read
President
acapresident@archivists.ca |
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ACA 2024 Virtual Conference
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Film Bytes
The ACA 2024 Conference Host Team invites you to be a part of "Film Bytes" for lunchtime screenings of short film and video clips (5 minutes or less) celebrating the diverse archival collections across Canada.
If you have a digitized film from a recent discovery or preservation effort in your collections that you would like to see screened as a part of this program, please send us a proposal via this form.
While the conference theme is "Future-Proofing," we welcome submissions on any topic.
The deadline for submissions is March 22, 2024, at 11:59 pm PT. Please do not send a clip of your video as a part of your proposal.
You will be informed if your clip is chosen by April 15, 2024. If your film is included, we will require you to send a high-quality MP4 (via file-sharing) no later than May 22.
We look forward to your submissions!
For any inquiries about "Film Bytes," please reach out to us at Host.Team@archivists.ca.
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City of Edmonton Stoplight Control, Edmonton, Alberta, 15 March 1961.
Photograph by Richard G. Proctor. c. Provincial Crown, Item RP596.1,
Richard G. Proctor Photography Fonds, Provincial Archives of Alberta. |
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The Program, conference website, and Pheedloop app. are currently under construction. We are looking for images to use on our 2024 Virtual conference website and apps. If you have copyright cleared images of Alberta, or Alberta archival images, please contact Executive Director, Gillian Leitch.
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ACAF Silent Auction
The ACA Foundation’s annual silent auction is seeking donations! Do you have anything wild and wonderful you want to share? Consider donating it to the ACA Foundation silent auction to be held during the 2024 ACA Virtual Conference.
The submission form is here. For more information, contact Kyle Pugh, Chair, ACAF
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Updated Conference Planning Policy
The Governance Committee is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved an updated, comprehensive Conference Planning Policy.
The Committee reviewed the policy when the Board requested that it be revised to: 1) reflect the Association’s organization and delivery of a biennial virtual conference, alternating with the traditional in-person conference format, 2) embody the ACA’s equity commitments to ensure that conference operations incorporate these principles, and 3) support the volunteers who plan, organize and deliver the annual conference by updating their roles and responsibilities.
The Committee undertook a detailed comparative analysis of In-Person, Virtual and Hybrid Conference formats based on the planning, delivery and results of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 conferences. The Board, Conference Planning, Financial Review, Professional Development and Communications Committees were consulted, all of whom perform key roles with respect to the conference.
To view this and other ACA policies, please see the Policy and Codes page on the ACA website. If you have any questions about the activities of the Governance Committee, please contact executive.director@archivists.ca.
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Monthly Donations Campaign
The ACA is starting a new monthly donation campaign this month and you are invited to participate!
Monthly donations are a great way to make a big impact and help us achieve our goals for the year. With your help, we can continue our work of supporting the educational and research needs of the Canadian archival profession. For a limited time, we can help increase the impact of your gift.
Throughout March, create a new monthly gift of $20 or more in support of the ACA Foundation through CanadaHelps, and CanadaHelps will make a one-time extra $20 donation to our charity! You can read more about the full terms and conditions here.
Please consider creating a new monthly gift of $20 or more through CanadaHelps to help us achieve our goals and make a big impact. Thank you for your support!
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Nominations open for the Board of Directors election and for ACA awards
The Nominations and Awards Committee (NAAC) is now accepting nominations for both the Board of Directors and for ACA awards.
Board of Directors
The NAAC is seeking nominations for the following ACA Board of Directors positions that are up for election in 2024:
The deadline for nominations is April 5, 2024, at 11:59 pm PDT. Nominations can be submitted through the Nomination Form.
See the ACA website for more information about the nomination and election process. Full descriptions of the Board positions and the commitment required for each elected position are also available on the ACA website. See also the ACA Nominations and Elections Policy.
Online voting will open June 12, 2024 and close on June 18, 2024 at 11:59 pm PDT. All members in good standing will receive an online ballot via email. The term of office for these positions is two years and will begin following the AGM on June 19, 2024.
Awards NAAC is also inviting nominations from the Canadian archival community for the following honours:
The closing date for nominations is April 19, 2024. Information on each award as well as the nomination process can be found on the Honours and Awards page.
Questions about Board of Directors elections or awards should be directed to Alice Albarda (NAAC.Co-Chair2@archivists.ca) or Shannon Hodge (NAAC.Co-Chair1@archivists.ca), co-Chairs, NAAC. |
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ACA Membership Committee The Membership Committee is pleased to say that matches have been made and distributed for the 2024 Mentorship cohort. This year's group consisted of a record-breaking 84 participants! The committee would like to thank everybody who got involved. If you have not yet heard from your mentor or mentee, please contact the committee at mentorship.program@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 X (formerly 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, February 29, and the theme was #ArchivesBlackHistory! Thank you to everyone who shared materials from their collections that helped lift up the histories of Black Canadians.
The next ACA Hashtag Party will take place on March 28, 2024, and the theme will be #ArchivesFeast! We are excited to see your best food photographs, recipes, and anything else that might get our mouths watering (or might make us cringe – Jell-O salads, anyone?). On the day, share your best materials related to food anddon’t forget to tag us and use the hashtag so we can reshare your posts.
The upcoming themes for the ACA Hashtag Parties will be:
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April 25, 2024:ArchivesVolunteers
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May 30, 2024: ArchivesFavouriteFormats
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June 27, 2024: ArchivesPlans
Keep an eye on future issues of Scope and Content and on all our social media accounts to learn more about what we’re interested in for each of these themes!
For any questions or feedback, or if you have initiatives that you would like the ACA Hashtag Party to support, please email us at communications@archivists.ca.
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Nominations and Awards Committee (NAAC)
The ACA is looking for volunteers for the Nominations and Awards Committee to be a part of the process to recognize and celebrate ACA members.
The mandate of NAAC is to manage the ACA Honours and Awards program as well as to support the succession of qualified members to serve on the ACA Board of Directors and its committees by facilitating the transparent search, nomination, and election process.
If this sounds like something that would be of interest to you and if you are an ACA member in good standing, please contact Angela Fornelli, Vice-President of the ACA (vicepresident@archivists.ca), or fill out the ACA Volunteer Form here! |
ACA Governance Committee
The ACA Governance Committee is embarking upon a membership renewal phase and requires several new members in the upcoming months.
The role of the Governance Committee is to assist the Board of Directors in creating an operational framework for the ACA that provides transparency, is accountable to the membership, and achieves the strategic aims of the ACA.
While this assistance may take the form of advice to Board members on governance-related issues, the work of the Committee is primarily focused on the development and revision of policies, procedures, forms, and other documents that guide the work of the ACA’s Board and Committees. The Committee meets monthly for approximately an hour via Zoom to discuss governance issues and review the policies drafted by Committee members.
If you are interested in joining the Governance Committee, please visit the Volunteer with Us page on the ACA website for more information. If you have questions about the Committee’s mandate and activities, please contact Ian Forsyth, co-Chair, at iforsyth@sfu.ca.
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ACA Financial Review Committee (FRC)
The ACA’s Financial Review Committee (FRC) is looking for volunteers for a two-year term. The FRC is responsible for reviewing financial policy, budgets, and safeguarding the financial assets of the Association. These positions are open to all members. Early-career professionals looking for financial management experience may benefit greatly. If you have questions, please contact Kyle Pugh, treasurer@archivists.ca.
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Carr McLean Discount Available for 2024
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, 2024.
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In the Field: The ACA Blog
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From municipal and federal government to universities, from religious congregations to community organizations, archivists work in a variety of settings. This year, the ACA blog, In the Field, is setting out to talk to archivists across Canada about the unique joys and challenges of their work environments. We will feature a different type of archives each month, with the objective of showcasing the rich spectrum of archival work.
The Archives Spotlights series began in February with a spotlight on community archives. Head to the blog now to read our interview with community archivist, Melissa J. Nelson of the Black Memory Collective. In March, we’ll be diving into the world of religious archives so keep an eye out for upcoming articles.
In the Field is always open for submissions! If you’d like to share your thoughts about community archives (or another topic!), or if you want your archives to be featured, reach out to us using the blog submission form.
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ACA Student Chapter and Librarians Without Borders at the University of Toronto - 9th Annual Human Library
The ACA student chapter and LWB at the University of Toronto invite you to the 9th Annual Human Library to meet with archives and library professionals!
The Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) Student Chapter and Librarians Without Borders (LWB) teams have been working hard to prepare this wonderful networking event for the University of Toronto's iSchool (Faculty of Information) students. The Human Library is a networking event that provides students in the Master of Information program at U of T with the opportunity to speak one on one with professionals located in or near Toronto, and in their desired field.
This year, they are honoured to welcome everyone back to the iSchool (Claude T. Bissell) building again to have these networking opportunities for professionals and students alike.
They are expecting 10 wonderful librarians and archivists with various backgrounds tied to the University of Toronto Libraries, iSchool, the Institute of Islamic Studies, York University, the Sufra Archive, Archives of Ontario, and Hamilton Public Libraries. Please stay tuned for more information by following their Instagram at @aca.uoft!
Event Details
Target Audience: MI and MMST students, but open to all interested students across UofT
Date: Friday, March 15, 2024
Time: 5pm to 7pm EST
Location: Claude T. Bissell Building Learning Hub (4th Floor, Meet at Sandbox area) on 140 St George Street
Light refreshments and food will be provided.
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SAVE AS Conference
The International Film Festival of Ottawa (IFFO) will gather Canadian and international film archivists, distributors, and filmmakers for the third annual SAVE AS, a day-long conference dedicated to examining issues of preservation, restoration, distribution, and exhibition of the always-endangered heritage cinema. SAVE AS consists of expert panel discussions, case studies of restored cinema classics, and special public screenings of those restored classic films.
Date: Thursday, March 21, 2024
Location: Arts Court Theatre, 2 Daly Ave.
This year's program includes a spotlight on Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and restoration case studies on Guy Maddin’s Archangel and Timothy Findley’s The Wars directed by Robin Phillips.
View the full SAVE AS program here.
Passes are $20 and include access to all panels and more.
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Save the Date: Muslims in Canada Archives webinar
S.I.S.A.R.O. invites you to a Webinar exploring the work of the Muslims in Canada Archives (MiCA).
Join them on Thursday, May 2 at 3pm ET to hear how this participatory archive was founded, as well as its philosophy, processes, and objectives.
Register here.
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NEDCC Webinars and Workshops
Multi-session courses in the upcoming months: - June 6, 2024: Writing A Disaster Plan Course (2 sessions)
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Society of American Archivists - Archivists of Religious Collections Section
Here are the upcoming SAA events from the Society of American Archivists - Archivists of Religious Collections Section:
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Lunch and Learn: Ancestry Digitization Program: Thursday, March 21, 2024, 3:00 pm EDT
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Lunch and Learn: More Product, Less Process: Thursday, April 11, 2024, 3:00 pm EDT
Archival Chat: Community Archiving with Madonna House, Kathy McVady, Thursday, April 18, 2024, 3:00 pm ET
Archival Chat: Muslims in Canada Archives, Aly Rattansi, Muslims in Canada Archives, Thursday, May 16, 2024, 3:00 pm ET
Archival Chat: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Archives, Jeff Anderson, Thursday, May 23, 2024, 3:00 pm ET
To register for any of these events, visit the SAA's website.
Visit their YouTube channel.
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Archives as Data: An Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities for Archivists and Historians
The Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) at Columbia University is coordinating a digital humanities workshop this upcoming summer entitled Archives as Data: An Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities for Archivists and Historians.
Organized by Matthew Connelly, Professor of History, and Courtney Chartier, Director of the Columbia Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, this National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH)-funded program will offer practical training for historians and archivists in processing and analyzing textual data. Participants in the Archiving Digital Records workshop, designed for archivists, will learn how to use new technology to improve the description and arrangement of digital or digitized records, especially PDFs, and provide users with new ways to access them.
Participants will come together in seminar-style discussions on the novel challenges posed by doing archival research in the age of “big data.” The workshop will occur from June 10-21, 2024, at Columbia University. Attendance is free and the ISERP are funding travel and accommodation for participants in need.
Click here for more information and to apply.
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Merchandise: The Foundation is 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.
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The Hamilton Family Séance Collection The recently released book, The Art of Ectoplasm: Encounters with Winnipeg’s Ghost Photographs (2023), edited by Dr. Serena Keshavjee, takes readers on a unique archival journey, one that will likely be interesting for archivists. The book centres on the archives of the Hamilton family, records created around the beginning of the last century during the family’s investigations into life after death. TG Hamilton and his wife Lillian, both medical professionals, began in 1918 with investigations of telepathy but these lapsed before the death of their three-year-old twin son Arthur during the Influenza Epidemic in 1919. The family returned to testing telekinesis from 1920 to 1927. From 1928-1934 however the research turned to ectoplasm, a “strange, white substance through which ghosts could apparently manifest.” After T.G. Hamilton’s death in 1935, Lillian Hamilton continued the investigations until 1944. The book begins with a historical perspective of the Influenza Pandemic in Winnipeg and the tragic aftermath for many families as a backdrop for the Hamilton family’s lifelong interest in discovering if there were life after death. The family’s early use of various photographic methods to capture powerful images of tables flying through the air, mediums and sitters alike experiencing trances, and ectoplasm seemingly conjured from the air, produced over 700 images that now reside at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections along with 2.5 metres of textual and other records. The photography is exceptional, the photographs compelling. They have inspired artists all over the world to create their own ectoplasmic manifestations. These artistic renderings are also explored in the last chapter of this book. Three senior archivists have contributed to this volume. The first chapter by Walter Meyer zuErpen provides biographical snapshots of the Hamiltons, their mediums, and some regular participants of their psychical research group that Meyer zu Erpen compiled through personal interviews. Dr. Shelley Sweeney of the University of Manitoba Archives explains how the archive was promoted and how the promotion in turn affected use of the fonds. Her colleague Dr. Brian Hubner explores how this fonds has had a lasting and profound effect on the Winnipeg community through television documentaries, plays, novels, music, and even jewelry! Three other chapters cover female contributions to the exploration of life after death, films that include ectoplasm, and an Indigenous artist inspired by the fonds. The Art of Ectoplasm: Encounters with Winnipeg’s Ghost Photographs can be ordered from the University of Manitoba Press 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, Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, Toronto, Ontario Deadline: March 10, 2024
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Archivist, 2 year contract, The Hospitaller Order of St John of God in North America, Hamilton, Ontario
Deadline: March 31, 2024
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Archivist, Villa Maria Pastoral Centre, St. Paul, Alberta Deadline: Until position is filled
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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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The next issue of Scope & Content will come out on
Thursday, April 4, 2024. See you then!
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Contact Us
Suite 1912-130 Albert Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4
Tel: 613-383-2009
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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