Welcome to the first episode of Archiving AK. In this episode, your three hosts, Veronica, Gwen, and Arlene, interview each other and answer questions about Archives. In the first part of the episode, we explore some broader questions: What do archivists do and how do they differ from librarians and…
March has been a busy month for us! Must be all that extra light we’re getting right now that’s letting us get all this work done! Collections described: Ruth Hart papers; 1964-2003. HMC-1279. The collection contains the papers of Ruth Hart, which mostly relate to her years designing costumes and…
Occasionally when we are filling reference requests, describing photographs for Alaska’s Digital Archives, or describing new collections, we come across photographs, documents, and audio recordings that lead to more questions than answers. Like what are those two little boys in the background of the photograph fighting about? Why is the…
Wondering what we could possibly offer this spring to outdo our past years’ Eating From the Archives events? Do we have a doozy for you. Perhaps you may remember, with varying degrees of fondness or lack thereof, some of our past food events. The Convalescent’s Banquet. Alaska Lunch. Lunch on…
At first glance, February does not appear as busy as January, but all three of us are currently in the middle of various projects, and both Gwen and Veronica have been busy writing grants. We also interviewed and hired two new student workers: Bri and Conner. They will be doing…
Welcome to the first installment of “New in the Archives,” a series of monthly updates about what’s going on in Archives and Special Collections. “New in the Archives” will feature newly described collections, items recently uploaded to Alaska’s Digital Archives, exhibits, and events that we have hosted or participated in.…
When I teach class sessions on archival research and I’ve been asked to discuss primary sources, this letter is one of the standard ones I use. I pass copies out to the students, give them a few minutes to read it, and then ask: okay, is it primary or secondary?…
Do you have photos of Fairview? From either yesterday or 50 years ago (or more)? Are you interested in sharing them? We’ll be at the Fairview Community Council meeting Thursday, December 14. Why? As part of our Sharing Community Images project. What is the Sharing Community Images Project? As part…
We had an Open House on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate Archives Month and because we love just hanging out with our researchers, donors, colleagues, supporters: they’re friends! And we’re very thankful for them. We’re also thankful for Northwest Archivists, our regional professional association, for their financial support that allowed us…
It’s May, which means it was time for our Fourth Annual “Eating from the Archives”. This year we decided to feature military menus from our collections. Most of the menus, however, were from Thanksgiving or Christmas, with two being from special events. So while this was not our most exciting…
