Author Archives: Houston Archivist

Job Posting: NAL Space History Collections Intern, UHCL Archives and Special Collections

Description: The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) Archives and Special Collections is seeking to fill the position for a paid internship working with archival collections documenting human space flight history held within the Archives. This internship is funded through an endowment by the NASA Alumni League, Johnson Space Center Chapter (more can be learned about the program here: https://blog.uhcl.edu/news/uhcl-nasa-alumni-league-launch-human-space-flight-archive-internship-endowment). Interested applicants can learn more about the UHCL Archives by exploring this LibGuide research guide on our holdings and operations, and watch a tour video: https://uhcl.libguides.com/UHCLArchivesandSpecialCollections

For more details about the position: https://uhcl.libguides.com/UHCLArchivesandSpecialCollections/NALSpHisCollIntern

Tour the 1940 Terminal Air Museum & Archive on Saturday, June 8th

AHA! is touring the 1940 Terminal Air Museum & Archive on Saturday, June 8th. There is ample on site parking and the museum has kindly offered to have refreshments on hand for our visit!

The 1940 Terminal Air Museum, operated by the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society (HAHS) is located in Houston at the William P. Hobby Airport. It first opened its doors on September 28, 1940 and is a beautiful art deco structure designed by noted local architect Joseph Finger. During its heyday, the terminal housed the airport administrative functions and the airport control tower, and was the only terminal in Houston until 1954. Today, the terminal houses the museum’s collections focused on Houston civil aviation history.

The tour will start at 10:30 am, and Michael Bludworth, the museum’s volunteer historian will give us a brief history of the aviation industry in Houston, and the terminal (he is a wonderful storyteller)! Participants will have an opportunity to roam the museum for about 20 – 30 minutes and then gather together again for a tour of the Archive. The Archive (not a large space) is housed in a building about 100 yards from the museum, and is a walkable distance. But depending on the heat, it may be good to drive. After the tour we will have lunch at Don Carlos Cantina and Mexican restaurant (8385 Broadway St. 77061), not far from the museum.

Amateur Astronomy Night at the Sam Houston Center, June 14

The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, part of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, invites you to stargaze with Village Creek State Park Interpreter Alex Stamatis on Friday, June 14 at the Center’s Amateur Astronomy Night.

Stamatis will lead visitors on a tour of the night sky from 8:30 p.m. until approximately 10 p.m. Learn to locate constellations and view some of the season’s most fascinating celestial objects using telescopes, binoculars, and the naked eye!

Join the fun on the Center’s grounds at 650 FM 1011, Liberty, Texas. (Back-Up Date for Inclement Weather/Cloud Cover is Friday, June 21).

For more information: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/node/69508

Nominations open for 2024 THRAB Archival Awards

Do you know an outstanding archivist, archive, or related organization? Nominate them for the 2024 THRAB Archival Awards!

These annual awards honor archival institutions, programs, and individuals in Texas for their service to the profession. The Texas Historical Records Advisory Board grants awards in the categories of excellence, advocacy, and distinguished service. Nominations will be accepted through June 20. Learn more: www.tsl.texas.gov/archivalaward

TARO April 2024 News and Notes on TARO Today!

TARO April 2024 News and Notes are up on TARO Today! Catch up with TARO, get ready for the TARO Brown Bag at the Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA) Virtual Annual Meeting, and consider volunteering for a committee.

https://sites.utexas.edu/taro/2024/04/23/taro-april-2024-news-and-notes/

TARO (Texas Archival Resources Online) makes descriptions of the rich archival, manuscript, and museum collections in repositories across the state available to the public. The site consists of the collection descriptions or “finding aids” that archives, libraries, and museums create to assist users in locating information in their collections. Explore TARO at https://txarchives.org.

Society of Southwest Archivists Virtual Annual Meeting, May 1-3

The Society of Southwest Archivists is having a virtual Annual Meeting May 1-3, 2024. For more information and registration: https://societyofsouthwestarchivists.wildapricot.org/annual-meeting-2024.

Glenwood Cemetery Archives Tour on Saturday, May 18

You are invited to an AHA! exclusive tour of the historic Glenwood Cemetery Archive on Saturday, May 18th with the option of hanging out on the grounds after for a picnic – so please bring your lunchboxes.

The Glenwood Cemetery was established as a private cemetery in 1871 and is located west of Downtown Houston overlooking Buffalo Bayou. The design of this cemetery was special as it broke the typical grid layout of Houston cemeteries and instead was based on the principles of 19th century romantic garden cemeteries. In addition to its use as a resting place for many prominent Texans, Glenwood Cemetery hosted visitors who utilized the space as a park – as public parks didn’t exist back then as they do now. In 2022, Glenwood Cemetery created an Archive (and completed the groundwork on it in 2023), dedicated to the history of the cemetery encompassing over 150 years of history. The Archive collection is composed of 20 collections and 2 special collections.

What to Expect:

The tour will be indoors; however, resources will be provided to anyone who wishes to explore the grounds to see flora/fauna and art collection along the difference family lots.
Parking will be available in the front parking lot and additional vehicles can park along the brick curb paths- be sure to not block the main gate or any lanes.
They have public restrooms on site but no water fountain, so please bring your own water bottles!

Limited Slots for Tour, RSVP Today!

We are limited to 25 people so please RSVP as soon as possible. We have included a waitlist space as well; in case anyone needs to cancel their RSVP as the event gets closer.

Please RSVP via the link below and be sure to include your preferred contact information that you will have access to the day of – in case any changes occur:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UYIyJbFmzNRYGh2KnS5ZjQAg-7VU3J-qUlDITS9C3Is/edit?usp=sharing

While there are limited spots for the indoor tour of the archives, all are welcome to enjoy the grounds and picnic.

Spring Meeting, April 11: Details and Recap

Our Spring Meeting took place on Thursday, April 11 at noon. Read below about our guest speaker and the recap of the meeting with links and presentation slides.

Mikaela Selley, speaker

Mikaela Selley will share the latest updates from Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage, the archival division of Arte Público Press at the University of Houston. Updates include the forthcoming launch of their new research portal Periodicals in the US-Mexico Border Region, and their bi-annual conference taking place April 25-27, 2024 at the University of Houston-Downtown.

Mikaela Selley is a native Houstonian with ten years of professional experience as an archivist specializing in the preservation of Hispanic and Latina/o heritage records. From 2013 to 2021 she served as the Hispanic Collections Archivist for the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, a special collections branch of the Houston Public Library. Selley works as an Independent Consultant offering research, planning, archival and exhibit design services for cultural heritage projects. She is also Archivist and Program Manager for the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Project at Arte Público Press where she oversees the Periodicals in the US-Mexico Border Region, and archival collections.

Meeting Recap

From Salima Bowaniya, AHA! President 2024:

Here is a copy of the presentation slides from the meeting if anyone missed anything or for those who weren’t able to attend. The presentation slides include some of the links mentioned during the meeting.

We’d really appreciate your feedback on this short survey to help us get a better idea of what y’all would be interested in seeing more of from AHA! as we continue to put together the programming schedule for this year.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shoutout to our guest speaker, Mika! Thank you so much for telling us about Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage and the new research portal being launched. I hope we can come visit y’all soon.

I’ve included the links that were shared during Mika’s presentation below:

Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage, the archival division of Arte Público Press at the University of Houston

Periodicals in the US-Mexico Border Region Research Portal

RSVP for the XVII Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Conference

Hispanic History Research Center Community Forum (04/13)

Archivist Meetup in Katy Asian Town, Saturday, April 13 @ 12:30pm

Join us for our next Archivist Meetup which on Saturday, April 13th at 12:30 in Katy! Since our Spring Meeting is the same week, we are going to do a social event this time around in Katy Asian Town, which is a shopping center off of Grand Parkway. It boasts a fantastic assortment of restaurants and bars with cuisines from all over east Asia. There is also Kinokuniya, a Japanese bookstore which not only has manga but all kinds of Japanese stationery (great for paper nerds! 🥸🤓), a cat café called Cat Haven ($20 dollar entry fee but all the kitties), and an H-Mart (so many good snacks!).

We will meet up in front of Tan Tan Wok at 12:30 and have lunch together and then decide where we want to explore. This is just a fun hangout but it can be a great way to network and discuss issues you might be having with your collections or to just vent with fellow archival folks!
You can RSVP via this Google Sheet. I do not think that Tan Tan Wok takes reservations, but I would like to be able to let them know how many might be in our party when we get there. We look forward to seeing y’all then!

Spring Meeting, April 11th, @12pm!

Join us for our Spring Meeting, April 11th, @12pm!

Along with a recap of the Archives Bazaar at Old, Weird Houston, we will be discussing our programming schedule, some new updates to the website and social media platforms, our newly established discord server, and an introduction to our new board and committee members. We will also have a guest speaker joining us (more details to come). Hope to see you there!

Day: Thursday, April 11
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Zoom

Link to join the meeting will be provided here at houstonarchivists.org.