In March, as part of our UM-SAA Spring Events schedule, a group of UMSI students visited The Henry Ford Archives at the Benson Ford Research Center. The Archives house a wide variety of collections ranging from original Ford Motor Company car part drawings to photographs of the first flight taken by the Wright brothers in 1903. The Digital Access and Preservation Archivist, Brian Wilson—a UMSI alum—gave us a tour through the archives stacks and showed us some unique items from the archives, including a collection of lantern slides from the World’s Fair and conceptual drawings for the San Francisco BART trains.
After the tour, we had the opportunity to walk through the museum. Brian demonstrated some of the interactive displays that were stationed throughout the exhibit. The displays are a joint effort of the museum and archives to connect museum exhibits to archival materials in order to engage visitors and introduce them to primary source materials. Our visit gave us a glimpse into the exciting and multi-faceted collections of The Henry Ford.
On any given day that ends in a 5 you can find one, or more, of our members participating in SNAP Roundtable’s “Archives on the Fives.” You can typically find them nestled at home, taking break from homework, or even somewhere else in the country. Our chapter had a thought: if enough of our members are participating, why not host a place for everyone to do so together. That’s how Tweets and Eats was born!
Tweet screenshot of our pizza buffet!
On March 25, 2015, members of the chapter gathered to participate in SNAP Roundtable’s Twitter chat. The event was opened to members of the UMSI community, whether or not they had a Twitter account. Using the chapter’s Twitter account everyone’s answers were curated together and shared using #snaprt. Some members followed along with their own accounts in the room.
@mich_archives in action using the #snaprt tag.
Overall the event was a success. The chapter garnered a few favorites and retweets. We were even able to chat with a UMSI alum! Follow us at @mich_archives to see us in action at a future Tweets and Eats!
In the fall of 2014 SAA at U of M decided to celebrate archives month a little differently. We reached out to the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and organized an Archives Blitz. Similar to an event the Yellowstone National Park Archives began hosting this year, the idea is to bring in a group of people to an archive that traditionally does not have access to a large staff or consistent volunteer base. This group will work on important projects for a proscribed period of time (i.e. a week) and make a huge impact in a relatively short amount of time.
Students at work in the Kelsey Museum Archive
Our chapter took this idea and adjusted it to fit the graduate students studying archives and records management. Working with the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, this student chapter organized a four hour event where archives students could put their knowledge and skills to use while also giving back to an institution in the community. Students divided up to work on a number of different projects. During the four event, students managed to create 3 finding aids for existing collections, improved the information available about the locations and descriptions of over 20,000 photographs and negatives, and created an inventory of about 40 maps, documenting both their condition and dimensions (ranging from a few inches to over 30 ft long!). Students also worked to appraise 7 linear feet of newly acquisitioned materials and provided a preliminary inventory and suggestions for how to proceed with processing those materials.
A truly impressive amount of work was accomplished during this event. The event was deemed a success by both students and the Collections Manager of the Kelsey Museum and the two groups are working to organize further Archives Blitzes in the future.
With officer positions in the UMSI student orgs transitioning each year to a new batch of officers, keeping organized records has proved enormously challenging. That’s why the SAA officers organized a Records Dive, an opportunity for officers of students orgs to gather together and figure out the mess that was most of our records. SAA officers provided some tips on best practices for naming conventions and foldering (shout out to SI 528), while groups also shared their methods with each other. Feedback from this event was very positive and there was a definite interest expressed in repeating this event in the future.
After the tour, we had the opportunity to walk through the museum. Brian demonstrated some of the interactive displays that were stationed throughout the exhibit. The displays are a joint effort of the museum and archives to connect museum exhibits to archival materials in order to engage visitors and introduce them to primary source materials. Our visit gave us a glimpse into the exciting and multi-faceted collections of The Henry Ford.
