Our Mission
AHA! is the premier archivists organization of Southeast Texas. We exist to increase contact and communication between archivists and those working with records, to provide opportunities for professional development, and to promote archival repositories and activities in the greater Houston, Texas area. Our members hail from College Station to Galveston, and from Liberty down to Lake Jackson.
Our History 
The Archivists of the Houston Area (AHA!) organization was initiated in Fall 1998 by Gerrianne Schaad, Lesley Brunet, Shelly Henley Kelly, and Mark Martin, who styled themselves the Gang of Four. After crafting a mission statement and surveying members for meeting times, AHA! hosted its first meeting on April 7, 1999 at Rice University with 21 attendees. They met consistently throughout 1999 creating a newsletter and early website. Fewer meetings took place in 2000, but regular meetings resumed after Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, when AHA members gathered in July to discuss initiating a disaster response reciprocal agreement between Houston area archival repositories.
During the Summer 2002, an ad-hoc committee led by Mark Lambert, with Dennis Moser, Sarah Canby Jackson, Dick Dickerson, Lorraine Stuart, and Andy Hempe drafted the first AHA! Bylaws. The new Mission Statement and By-Laws were adopted on August 7, 2002 and AHA elected its first officers and implemented dues in Dec. 2002. The organization flourished, hosting socials, Archives Week events, professional development training, and disaster planning meetings.
Today, AHA! continues to bring together archivists and others interested in or involved with local history. The organization fosters collaboration and shares common interests and concerns, such as advocacy, preservation, and disaster planning. The Archivists of the Houston Area archives are housed at Rice University.
