Author Archives: Houston Archivist

Archie Motley Memorial Scholarship Applications Solicited

Archie Motley Memorial Scholarship Applications Solicited

MAC is soliciting applications for the 2018 Archie Motley Memorial Scholarship for Minority Students (http://www.midwestarchives.org/motley). The scholarship is designed to provide financial assistance to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival administration and to encourage ethnic diversification of the MAC membership and of the archival profession as a whole. Two $750 scholarships, accompanied by one-year memberships to MAC, will be awarded.

In order to be eligible for a scholarship, the applicant must be of African, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander, or Latino decent; must be a student currently enrolled in or accepted in a graduate, multicourse program in archival administration; and must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) in his or her academic program.

If the program is not listed in the SAA Directory of Archival Education, http://www2.archivists.org/dae, the applicant must provide proof of the multicourse standard by submitting copies of course descriptions from the institution’s current departmental catalog. Applicants are not required to be residents of or attend school in the MAC region.

Applications are due March 1, 2018 and must include the following documents:

Completed applications should be sent to:

Rachel Howard
Digital Initiatives Librarian
University of Louisville Libraries
Archives and Special Collections
Louisville, KY  40292
Telephone: 502-852-4476
Email: rachel.howard@louisville.edu

Applications must be emailed or postmarked by March 1, 2018.

Awards will be announced no later than June 1, 2018.

Call for AHA! Nominations

The AHA! nomination committee is accepting nominations (including self-nominations) for AHA! officers, including the positions of Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice-President (President-elect). This is a fantastic opportunity to help shape the future of AHA! and further its goal to develop and increase collaboration and communication across the Houston area. Furthermore, serving as an officer provides members with a valuable leadership experience.

All members of AHA! are eligible to run for an officer position, terms are one year. The election will take place at the December meeting (date forthcoming). Please submit all nominations to Emily Vinson, evinson@uh.edu. 

Please see below for pertinent bylaws related to officer responsibilities and elections, complete AHA! bylaws can be accessed on the AHA! website.

Article IV: Organization

  1. Officers
  2. Elected officers of the organization shall be the President, Vice-President (President-elect), Secretary, and Treasurer.
  3. Termof Office
  4. Each officer serves a one-year term of office starting after the elections at the December meeting.
  5. Should an officer other than the President be unable to complete their one-year term, a special election will be held at the next meeting to replace the officer for the duration of the term. Should the President have to leave office, the Vice-President will act as president until the end of the President’s term of office and the following year.
  6. Duties
  7. President coordinates the organization’s meetings; presides at all meetings and seeks members to serve on committees.
  8. Vice-President assumes the presidential duties in the absence of the President; maintains the membership rolls; and notifies all members of the meetings. The VicePresident coordinates Archives Month activities. The Vice-President also serves as co-signer for bank accounts and other assets of the association.
  9. Secretary takes minutes of all meetings of the organization and maintains a copy of the current by-laws.
  10. Treasureris custodian of all funds; receives all membership dues; and reports to the organization at meetings on the financial standing of the organization.
  11. Committees
  12. The President is authorized to establish special committees to work on projects.
  13. Webmaster and Hospitality are recurring committee positions. Committee members may be confirmed by the President.
  14. Committees shall report to the membership on their progress at each meeting.

Article V: Elections 

  1. Elections for Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice-President will be held every year at the December meeting.
  2. Nominations
  3. A nomination committee consisting of the acting President and at least two members of the organization will nominate members for office. Only members in good standing are eligible for nomination.
  4. Nominations can be made and seconded from the floor prior to the election of each officer.
  5. No person shall be elected to any office or named to any position of responsibility who is not present at the said election and who has not freely offered his or her name for the purpose.
  6. Voting shall be by secret ballot when there is more than one candidate for a particular office.
  7. Election shall be by a simple majority.

HMRC Event: How to Research a Historic Property

November 11, 2017   11am-1pm

The Houston Metropolitan Research Center’s Architectural Archivist will present on the basics of how to research a historic property.  This will include how to date buildings, find original residents, and which local organizations can help.

Highlighting HMRC’s value to building research, this event will also include an Architectural Orientation to the Texas Room to introduce the public to our collections and how to access them through the reference desk.

This program goes beyond our monthly Texas Room Orientation to focus primarily on HMRC’s architectural collections.  Customers will learn about architectural drawings, archival collections, books, and other materials that are useful in historic building research.

Parking is available under the Central Library building, with entry on Lamar Street.  For questions, please contact Samantha Bruer at samantha.bruer@houstontx.gov or 832-393-1376.

Preservation 101 Lecture

Library: Heights Neighborhood Library

Date: 10/26/2017

Room: Heights Library Meeting Room

Time: 6:30PM – 7:30PM

Type: Featured Event, Lecture, Workshops & Training

Age Group: adults, young adults ages 18-35 years, seniors

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Preservation 101 – The Houston Metropolitan Research Center invites you to join us in celebrating Archives Month 2017 with a Preservation 101 program at the Heights Neighborhood Library.  This talk will cover preservation fundamentals, how and why the library the preserves its collections, and give some ideas that might be useful in your own home. Learn best practices and tips for storage and handling of family documents and photos. This talk is part of a series of presentations put on by the Houston Metropolitan Research Center to celebrate Archives Month 2017.

http://houstonlibrary.org/learn-explore/library-events/hmrc-lecture-12

Preserving School Memories Lecture

HMRC Lecture

Library: Heights Neighborhood Library

Date: 10/19/2017

Room: Heights Library Meeting Room

Time: 6:30PM – 7:30PM

Type: Featured Event, Lecture, Workshops & Training

Age Group: adults, young adults ages 18-35 years, seniors

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Preserving School Memories: Storing and Maintaining School Memorabilia – The Houston Metropolitan Research Center invites you to participate in a program about preserving your memorabilia at the Heights Branch as a part of our Archives Month festivities. Memorabilia comes in many different forms – trophies, letterman jackets, ribbons, etc. –  and provides a unique challenge to preserve it for future generations. This program will discuss common types of school memorabilia and ways to preserve them. Examples will be shown from our school memorabilia collections. This talk is part of a series of presentations put on by the Houston Metropolitan Research Center to celebrate Archives Month 2017.

http://houstonlibrary.org/learn-explore/library-events/hmrc-lecture-11

Archives Month 2017

Happy Archives Month! Here’s the plan for AHA! events. And if your repository is hosting Archives Month events, please let us know, and we will help get the word out!

Saturday, October 7:
AHA! members will be headed to Olivewood Cemetery to join in their volunteer clean-up day, 8-11 a.m. They ask that we print out, sign, and bring their volunteer form, and bring lawn tools if possible. For anyone who can’t make it on the 7th, there is another volunteer day on Saturday, October 21. For more information, and to fill out the volunteer waiver, please see the Descendants of Olivewood website: http://www. descendantsofolivewood.org/

Tuesday, October 10:
AHA! 2nd Tuesday Happy Hour @ 8th Wonder Brewery

Friday, October 13:
History Bus Tour with Mr. McKinney, 6-8pm. BYO food and beverage. Meet at the Buffalo Bayou Cistern, 105 Sabine St, Houston, TX 77007. Mr. McKinney asks that passengers passengers follow his Facebook page: @MisterMcKinneysHistoricHouston.

Please rsvp for the Olivewood clean-up and History Bus Tour to robertmrichardson@gmail.com.

Harvey Resources

How to Help

Donate to the Society of American Archivists’ National Disaster Recovery Fund.

Donate to the AASLH Hurricane Harvey Cultural Relief Fund.

Community Resources

Resources For Archives & Archivists

HAB Call for Repository Participation

Good morning, AHA!
We’re two months away from the Houston Archives Bazaar, happening Sunday, September 10, 2017 from 2-6pm at White Oak Music Hall.
Archival repositories are encouraged to participate in various ways – we’re offering repositories a table in the main hall to promote their collections and engage visitors in a hands-on archival experience. Repositories are also welcome to jump onstage to wow the crowd with their repository’s “elevator pitch.” Even repositories who are not able to attend the event are encouraged to provide informational materials for the visitor’s HAB goodie bags.
A number of repositories have already committed, but we want to ensure the widest possible participation for the Bazaar. Even if we haven’t seen or heard from you in a while, we’d love to have your organization represented at the event! Know of someone else we should invite? We’d love to hear that, too. And if you aren’t sure whether your repository has already committed, feel free to check with Matt Richardson [rmrichardson@uh.edu]] or Emily Vinson [evinson@uh.edu].
If your repository would like to participate in the event, please fill out the Google Form below. Once we receive your submission we will be in touch with additional information. [Note: the description you provide of your archive will be used for promotion in social media and elsewhere.]
Also, if you represent a non-repository organization, your involvement is welcome, too. Go ahead and fill out the form, and we’ll follow up to discuss whether a table, and/or some other form of participation is the best fit.
If you have questions about how your organization can best participate in this archival community-building event, please feel free to get in touch with Matt Richardson [rmrichardson@uh.edu] or Emily Vinson [evinson@uh.edu].We’re happy to answer any questions you may have.
Best,
Matt Richardson,
Chair, HAB Programming Committee

Houston Archives Collective Meet & Greet

Please consider stopping by the Houston Archives Collective’s first meet & greet gathering at Brasil Houston Tuesday, August 1st, at 6 pm-7:30 pm.
HAC is an informal group and space for exchange and collaboration between professional archivists and librarians with individuals in the community interested in archives and Houston history.

Job Posting: Librarian II, HMRC Photography Archie Supervisor

Librarian II (HMRC Photography Archive Supervisor): This position is to specifically work at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center as the Photography Archive Supervisor. The person in this role will be responsible for the management of the photography collection at HMRC (over 4.5 million photographs) and will oversee and coordinate the digitization and reproduction of archival material.

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/houston/jobs/1789746

Position closes Wednesday, 7/26/2017 11:59 PM.