Author Archives: soa

“I Found It In the Archives” 2015 Ohio State-wide Competition Results

Aaron Buckles is the winner of the I Found it in the Archives contest for his essay which received 39% of the total 109 votes. Aaron will be a guest at the Ohio Local History Alliance/Society of Ohio Archivists Fall Meeting on October 2, 2015 and will share more background about his essay in the “I Found it in the Archives” session following Friday’s luncheon.

Thanks to the three contestants who shared personal stories about the discoveries they made using historical records found in archival collections at the Clark County Historical Society, the Greene County Archives and the Ohio History Connection. Thank you to everyone who voted for their favorite entry and shared this opportunity with family and friends.

SOA Fall Meeting, October 2-3, 2015

The Society of Ohio Archivists is partnering with the Ohio Local History Alliance for Engage, Educate, Empower: Taking Your Organization to the Next Level. This conference will be held on October 2-3, 2015, at the Holiday Inn in Worthington, Ohio.

The SOA track will take place on Friday October 2nd and will feature the following sessions:

9:00-9:50: Ask the Archivist

10:05-10:55: Tips and Tricks to Get you Quickly from “The Disaster” to “The Recovery” with Holly Prochaska, University of Cincinnati Libraries

11:20-12:10: Digital Curation Considerations with Sasha Griffin, Denison University

1:40-2:30: “I Found It In The Archives” Contest Winner

2:50-3:40: Grants for Archives and Local History Projects with Andy Verhoff, Ohio History Connection and Fred Previts, State Archivist

Also Jennie Thomas of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be presenting in a Local History Alliance sponsored session entitled, ‘A Day in the Life’ of Jane Scott on Friday from 10:05-10:55. Attendees are welcome to attend any of the Local History Alliance sessions, luncheons, and other special events on both Friday and Saturday.

To view the conference program and to register, see conference web page at: http://www.ohiolha.org/2015-alliance-annual-meeting/

Interested in attending an upcoming workshop or to learn more about upcoming SOA educational opportunities? Contact the Education Committee Chair.

“I Found It in the Archives” 2015 Voting Begins August 17th

The 2015 state-wide “I Found it in the Archives” contest features winning essays from three institutions: Clark County Historical Society, Greene County Archives, and the Ohio History Connection. Read the 2015 “I Found it in the Archives” state finalist essays on the “I Found it in the Archives” Contest Entries page and vote for your favorite in the side navigation of any page on the SOA website. If viewing the contest on a mobile device, please scroll down to the bottom of the page to place your vote. Voting begins August 17, 2015 and ends August 30, 2015.

The “I Found it in the Archives” state winner will be featured during the SOA fall meeting, held in partnership with the Ohio Local History Alliance, on October 2, 2015. Keep a lookout for more information about SOA’s fall meeting on the SOA website.

MayDay-Protecting our Archives in Ohio

MayDay is almost here! SAA has designated May 1^st as MayDay, a day for archivists to take personal and professional responsibility for doing something small, but significant to protect their collections in the event of a disaster. Repositories in Ohio are being proactive and preparing for a potential disaster before it occurs.

MayDay Activities Across the State

Denison University will be celebrating MayDay by holding a viewing party for the Connecting to Collections webinar, “After Disasters.” The hosting group is “DERT”, which stands for Disaster and Emergency Recovery Team.

Greene County has invited local firefighters to visit the Greene County Records Center and Archives on May 1st. This visit will give the firefighters an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the facility, the types of records that are in the collection, as well as consider how they could most effectively fight a fire at this location. Greene County is also planning to go through their Disaster Kit and inventory their emergency supplies and make sure that they are prepared for a potential disaster.

The National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF) recognizes MayDay each year by preparing and distributing two different wallet sized cards. This project is led by the NMUSAF Disaster Response Team (DRT). The wallet sized cards include phone tree cards for DRT members and Disaster Information Cards for all staff that includes names and phone numbers of DRT members to call in the event of an incident.

One of the ideas listed on the SAA website is to make sure that all collections are in boxes and up off of the floor. Bowling Green University and the Akron Summit County Public Library are holding workshops on “Learning to Preserve Valuable Collections Using Basic Enclosures.” Properly constructed enclosures can provide protection from a variety of threats.

Is your repository prepared for a potential disaster? Use this opportunity to do something, no matter how simple, to protect your collections! When is the last time you had a fire drill, updated your staff emergency contact information or inventoried your emergency supply kit? Have you been putting off revising your Disaster Preparedness Plan? The time to complete these projects is before a disaster occurs!!

It’s not too late to get involved! The SOA Advocacy & Outreach Committee would like to encourage all Ohio repositories to participate in MayDay, this Friday, May 1st. Remember, even a simple activity can have a significant impact on the response to a disaster. If you’re not sure what to do, SAA provides a list of potential MayDay activities.

SOA and Congressional History Caucus Effort—Member Help Is Needed

The National Coalition for History (NCH) is trying to help create a Congressional History Caucus in the US House of Representatives. The Society of Ohio Archivists is a member of NCH and the SOA Advocacy group of the Advocacy & Outreach Committee supports the effort.

For more information on this effort, go to the NCH web site www.historycoalition.org and the related “Dear Colleague” letter in the House to see the purpose and goals for the caucus.

NCH’s goal is to have 50 members signed on before Congress breaks for the Memorial Day recess. The SOA Advocacy group would like to see SOA members to invite members of the Ohio delegation to become members of the caucus. We need for SOA members (plus friends and associates too) to contact your representatives—or their staff members—to encourage them to join. Phone calls, e-mails, visits to the district offices are all good. We ask that you make the contacts before the SOA spring conference. For information on House members from Ohio go www.house.gov/representatives/ and to the list for Ohio. Most members have a web site that includes phone numbers for both the DC and district offices. And once you do make the contact please let either Robin Heise ([email protected]) or George Bain ([email protected]) know so we can assess how well we are doing and what we can expect from this. Thanks.

SOA Award Recipients 2015

Congratulations to the recipients of the SOA Merit Awards, New Professional Scholarships, and Student Scholarships to the SOA Annual Meeting! The awardees will be recognized at the upcoming Annual Meeting on May 15^th, at OCLC in Dublin, Ohio. Their hard work and accomplishments are greatly appreciated by Ohio archivists, and they serve as excellent role models in our profession.

New Professional Scholarships:

Shawnee Yvette Murrain
Maren McKee

Student Scholarships:

Nina Ann Herzog
Shelby Dixon

Merit Awards:

Gillian Marsham Hill
Janet Carleton

Register for the 2015 SOA Annual Conference

The Society of Ohio Archivists invites you to attend the 2015 Annual Spring Conference to be held on Friday May 15 at the General Session Room at the OCLC Conference Center in Dublin, Ohio.

This year’s theme, Archives Amplified, will explore ways in which archivists are increasing outreach, challenging issues of space, and making digitized records more accessible to researchers. We are pleased to announce that Jenny Robb of The Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum will serve as our plenary speaker. Robb will discuss the Cartoon Library and Museum’s new $14 million facility and their ambitious exhibition program. As always, the conference will also feature a silent auction benefiting student and new professional scholarships. New this year will be a Speed Networking session to encourage conversation and collaboration among attendees.

To register, please visit http://www.ohiohistorystore.com/soa/2015-annual-conference.aspx. The registration fee is $45 for members, $65 for non-members, and $30 for students. Continental breakfast, lunch, and beverages are included in the cost of the conference, but advanced registration is necessary to guarantee lunch. Advanced registration ends Friday, May 8. To see the complete program and session descriptions, visit the meeting website at Annual Conference page

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact the Suzanne Maggard Reller at [email protected] or Kristin Rodgers at [email protected].

Advocacy & Outreach Committee Participates in Statehood Day

Several members of the SOA Advocacy & Outreach Committee will be participating in Statehood Day on March 4, 2015 in an effort to promote and support the CARMA (County Archivists and Records Managers Association) Legislative Committee’s proposal to amend ORC 149.43. This proposal would lift any access restrictions on records with permanent retention after 100 years from the date the record is finalized and closed.

Statehood Day is a day to celebrate the history of the State of Ohio as well as a day to advocate on legislative issues that may impact archival repositories throughout the state. Committee members will be available and working with the CARMA Legislative Committee to promote their proposal and answer any questions that participants may have. Committee members will also be encouraging participants to bring this issue to their local legislative representative and to explain the importance of this proposed amendment.

Important records such as: Adoptions, Lunacy, County Home Registers, Children’s Home Registers, Witness Dockets, Juvenile Court Cases, and Veteran’s Relief Records are some of the records that would become open to the public if this proposal is adopted. These records are important to researchers as they provide valuable insight into our collective history as a state, as a society, and as families. For more information on the CARMA proposal, please visit the SOA Advocacy & Outreach Committee at Statehood Day.

For more information please visit Ohio History Connection’s page for Statehood day.

DEADLINE EXTENDED! SOA Call for Posters and Session Proposals

We’ve extended the deadline to submit both poster proposals and session proposals for the SOA Spring 2015 meeting! Poster and session proposals from both students and professionals are welcome. Please submit your proposals by Friday January 23 at 5:00 pm.

Call for Session Proposals and Posters

Archives Amplified

Society of Ohio Archivists Spring Meeting

Friday May 15, 2015

The SOA 2015 Program Committee is seeking a broad array of creative proposals related to archival work today and into the future. This year we are accepting both session proposals and poster proposals at the same time. All proposal topics are welcome. Possible ideas include, but are not limited to:

Tools for Archival Discovery, Maintenance, and/or Marketing
Outreach and Instruction efforts
Student, Intern, and Volunteer Experiences and Projects
Funding for Archival Projects or Archival Facilities
Unique Collection Development Ventures
Preservation, Description, and Access to Traditional, Born-digital, or Hybrid Collections

Proposals of traditional panel sessions, student and professional posters, and alternative formats such as lightening rounds, pecha kucha, fish bowl sessions, and other session formats that allow for interaction between presenters and attendees are encouraged.

The Program Committee encourages proposals from students, new professionals, first time presenters and attendees, as well as individuals from related professions.

The deadline for proposal submission is Friday December 12, 2014. DEADLINE EXTENDED to Friday January 23 at 5:00pm.

Proposals must include the following information:

Session or Poster Title
Session Type (Traditional Panel, Student Poster, Professional Poster, Fishbowl, Lightening Round, Debate, Mini-workshop, World Café, etc.)
Abstract of 250 words or less describing the session or poster and how it will be of interest to SOA attendees
Session or Poster Description for the SOA program (50 words or less)
Session Contact Person (Name, Institution, Title or Degree Program, Telephone Number, Email Address)
Other Participants and Contact Information (Name, Institution, Title or Degree Program, Telephone number, email address)
A/V or Technology Requirements
Additional Special Needs

Please submit the above proposal information via email to Suzanne Reller at [email protected] or Kristin Rodgers at [email protected]