Category Archives: Announcements

Emergency Response & Recovery Workshop

TX-CERA or Texas Cultural Emergency Response Alliance is preparing a workshop on Emergency Response and Recovery. Please find detailed information at the link below.

Please feel free to forward this email to other interested parties. All are welcome!

Mon, Jun 13 at 9:00 AM, Denton, Texas

An Introduction to Emergency Response and Recovery of Material Cultural Objects
A Texas Cultural Emergency Response Alliance (TX-CERA) Sponsored Workshop

The purpose of this one-day workshop is to introduce participants to emergency response and recovery for material cultural objects in private and museum collections. Participants will learn protocols for responding to disaster scenes and working with local emergency responders. Health and safety issues associated with disasters and collection techniques associated with various types of material collections will also be covered. The day will end with a museum mock-disaster table-top exercise and a question/answer session with the instructors.

From more information and to register for the workshop:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-intro-to-emergency-response-and-recovery-of-material-cultural-objects-tickets-24853320952

Contact TX-CERA

TX-CERA is an affiliation of institutions and persons interested in preserving the cultural heritage of Texas. Through education and advocacy TX-CERA hopes to serve as a resource for cultural institutions in order to mitigate loss of cultural and heritage collections due to disaster. The organization will develop a roster of heritage and collections professionals in Texas to create a network of ready support in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Please contact us if you wish to volunteer with TX-CERA

Members of the TX-CERA Steering Committee

  • Steve Pine, Senior Conservator of Decorative Arts, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
  • Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa, PhD, Associate Director Conservation and Preservation, Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
  • Laura DeNormandie, Chief Curator, Texas Historical Commission
  • Diana Diaz, Photo Conservator, Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
  • Frances Gale, School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin
  • Jennifer Lee, Preservation Services, University of Texas, Austin
  • Jessica Phillips, Head, Preservation, University of North Texas, Denton
  • Olivia Primanis, Senior Book Conservator, Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
  • Shelby Sanett, PhD, Lead Security Management and Program Analyst, (NARA) College Park, MD
  • Melanie Sanford, Conservator, Textile Preservation Services of Texas, Allen

Preservation Week at HMRC : The Blue Tile Project

The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is hosting an event for Preservation Week featuring the Blue Tile Project. You know those really cool tiled street signs that can be spotted around Houston? This group is trying to find and preserve them. The event will be Wednesday, April 27th from 6-8 at the PreservationWeekFlyer. The flyer is attached. Hope to see a lot of AHA! Members there!

Association for Recorded Sound Collections – Texas Chapter

This email is being sent to Texas ARSC members and Nauck customers.

As you may know, there was a Texas Chapter of ARSC which met in the Houston area between 1996 and 2005. Since that time the chapter has been inactive. Over the past year, several archives and collectors have expressed interest in reviving the chapter. This would probably involve meetings held in different parts of the state and not just in one city. It is our desire to imitate the unique nature of the national organization by catering to the needs and interests of both collectors and archivists.

An exploratory meeting will be held during the 50th Annual ARSC Conference at Bloomington, IN, May 11-14, 2016. We invite any Texas-based collectors, preservationists, archivists or researchers to join us at that meeting (time and place will be announced at the conference).

If you aren’t able to attend the conference but would be interested in being part of a Texas Chapter, please respond to this message. I will email a report of our discussions later in May.

Hope to see you next month in Bloomington,

Kurt Nauck (TX Chapter past President)
John Bondurant
Maristella Feustle
Kevin Fontenot
Curtis Peoples

Call for Content – Archiving Houston

The next the Archiving Houston will be released on Monday, 4/25.
 
If you have any announcements, archives related publications or news, or requests for assistance for Archiving Houston, please submit them either directly to me or through the submission form on the AHA! website.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Sign-up for Archiving Houston: http://tinyletter.com/houstonarchivists

Disaster Response Assistance Available

At LYRASIS we’re thinking of collecting organizations in the Houston area, hoping that everyone’s safe and sound, and also that your collections are not being damaged in the recent severe weather.

If your collections have been damaged, please remember that we have a 24-hour emergency line that you can call for advice on disaster response and recovery for any cultural heritage collections, at 504.300.9478

Other regional centers and organizations are also available to help, for more numbers visit http://bit.ly/1T4E28y

You can find more information on collections salvage and links to resources, including response and recovery leaflets in Spanish, at http://bit.ly/241ILOW

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch using our emergency line, or directly contact Annie Peterson, Preservation Services Librarian, at annie.peterson@lyrasis.org ,678-235-2923.

Annie Peterson

Preservation Services Librarian
annie.peterson@lyrasis.org
678.235.2923
peterson.annie Skype

Membership dues reminder

A reminder for all who haven’t yet paid your membership dues this year. Dues are $10.00. You can send a check (made out to Archivists of the Houston Area or AHA!) to:

Sandra Yates
Texas Medical Center Library
1133 John Freeman Blvd.
Houston, TX 77030

If you’re not sure if you’ve paid this year, send Sandra an an email (syates@library.tmc.edu), and she’ll let you know.

If any one needs to change their contact information, please complete a new application form and email/mail it to above contact.

 

AHA! Newsletter: A Proposal

Now that the AHA! Yahoo Listserv has been officially retired due to significant usage drop-off, AHA! is testing a new potential medium for member communication.

The Web Committee has started a newsletter using the distribution service TinyLetter. The overall goal for the newsletter is to allow AHA! members to get help, share information, and have a chance to share accomplishments, big and small.

Things you could share include:

  • a question or request for assistance
  • share an interesting news article or archives-related post
  • brag about an accomplishment at your institution, big or small
  • advertise a new position, internship, or other professional opportunity

You can sign-up for the AHA! TinyLetter newsletter and see the test back issues here: http://tinyletter.com/houstonarchivists.

This newsletter is not self-service like the Yahoo group where you directly post a question or comment, nor is it a listserv like the SAA lists, which allow you to send an email and have it get automatically distributed to members.

To get something on the TinyLetter newsletter, you would communicate with the administrator (currently the Web Committee) and they would post your content to the newsletter.

The newsletter could go out at whatever frequency works best for members. Some options include:

  • Biweekly
  • Monthly
  • Monthly with other editions as-needed by AHA! members

Submit content for the Archiving Houston newsletter by emailing Sarah Gesell or using this form: http://goo.gl/forms/7BG0MGuJKP.

Please use this form to share your thoughts and general feedback concerning the newsletter: http://goo.gl/forms/f6M8498FlQ.

SSA Newsletter Needs More Submissions!

Hello Southwest Archivists,

Your newsletter needs more submissions! We have not received many articles for the upcoming Southwestern Archivist, so are extending the deadline until Wednesday, April 20. Have a fascinating newly processed collection? A grant project that’s underway? A new outreach program to share? Committee service that affects southwestern archivists? We want to hear from you! Submission guidelines are below. If you have questions about a submission, please contact Amanda Norman, Dara Flinn, or your regional liaison (contacts below). Help us make our next issue a success!

General submission guidelines:

All submissions should be written in a style consistent with inclusion in a professional publication. Submissions should include author contact information immediately following the submitted text: Preferred name, institution, mailing address, phone/fax (optional), and preferred e-mail (optional). Please note that articles may be edited to conform to style conventions and space limitations.

Accompanying photographs are welcome and encouraged. Ideally, at least one (and up to 3) photographs should be submitted with each article contributed (although they are subject to space limitations). Please include appropriate captions and citations as text in the accompanying e-mail.

Requirements for submitting photographs

  • Resolution: 300dpi or greater
  • Size: at least 2″x 2″ – no upper limit on size
  • Format: most any native image format is acceptable, including: tiff, jpg, psd
  • Note: Images sent embedded in Word documents cannot be published in the newsletter, because Word compresses the images and converts them to a proprietary format. Please submit all images in the native image format.

Because some authors have requested word counts for articles, approximate word counts follow:

  • 175 words / 150 words w/photo = 1/2 column (or 1/4 page vertical)
  • 350 words / 275 words w/photo = 1 column (or 1/2 page vertical)
  • 725 words / 600 words w/photo = 2 columns (or full page vertical)

Editorial preference is given to original articles that focus on repository news, that meet the above guidelines, and that arrive prior to the stated deadline. Articles are also evaluated by size; they may be edited to fit within the space available. The editors reserve the right to omit submissions or hold them over for a future issue.

Send all article submissions to your regional liaison:

Arizona: Lindsey Stegemoller at lstegemoller@icloud.com

Arkansas: Stephanie Bayless at sbayless@cals.org

Louisiana: Jennifer “Jenny” Mitchell at jmitc84@lsu.edu

New Mexico: Lynn Gates at legates@nmhu.edu

Oklahoma: Misty D. Smith at misty.d.smith@okstate.edu

Texas–North: Patrizia Nava at patrizia.nava@utdallas.edu
(West Texas, Midland/Odessa, Lubbock, El Paso, Dallas, and all points north)

Texas–South: Phyllis Kinnison at pkinnison@mosthistory.org
(San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and all points south.)

Out-of State Regions: Shelly Croteau at shelly.croteau@sos.mo.gov

Leadership Log: Krishna Shenoy at krishnas@jfk.org

Leadership Log

We know that you have been busy—so tell us what you’ve done! Send a short paragraph to Leadership Log and let your colleagues know about your accomplishments.

Send Krishna Shenoy (krishnas@jfk.org) an email if you have: • Won an award • Published a book or article • Given a talk or presentation • Been promoted • Retired • Started a new job • Elected or appointed to a leadership position in an archival organization • Any other major changes or events that your archival colleagues would find of interest.

~

Amanda Norman
Editor, Southwestern Archivist
email: amanda_norman@baylor.edu

Dara Flinn
Assistant Editor, Southwestern Archivist
email: dflinn@rice.edu

http://southwestarchivists.org/newsletter/

Gulf Coast: “The Archive Issue” and more

Spring Issue Release!

Thursday, April 14th, 7pm at the Jung Center: Gulf Coast releases 28.2, its newest issue—a real beauty—and the latest volume of Unsung Masters focusing on the work of Beatrice Hastings!

Past spring launch events have included an ekphrastic poetry slam, an artists and authors roundtable on the future of the book, and this year’s launch features a reading with local heroes Lupe Mendez and Nishta Mehra, two of our 28.2 contributors, who will read work inspired by treasures found in the University of Houston Special Collections and archives. Ben Johnson and Erika Jo Brown, co-editors of this year’s Unsung Masters volume, will read from Hastings’s work.

Hastings is a fascinating early modernist who used multiple pen names and personas to write about her life and time, including taking Ezra Pound to task. It won’t quite be a séance, but will be fresh and inspiring. Beer, wine, cupcakes, and kiki-ing to follow.

Here’s the Facebook invite and event information from our website.

Please feel free to share widely!

*These collaborations with Unsung Masters, the UH Libraries, and Special Collections are made possible by a generous Innovations Grant through the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, which is funded in part by the Houston Endowment, Inc.

2016 CounterCurrent Festival!

Gulf Coast has created a reading room as part of this year’s CounterCurrent Festival. From April 12th-17th, visitors to the MATCH galleries can browse issues and cover art from our 30-year history, books by artists in the festival, and writers in the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. Attendees at the “Current Conversations” lecture series will also receive a broadside/letterpress cover created by Workhorse Printmakers and Spindletop Design. The lectures begin on Wednesday the 13th.

See you on Thursday and at the festival!

Olivewood Cemetary Clean-up and Updates

Good Evening Friends Of Olivewood just an update on events happening at the cemetery:

A Big Thank You to all of the groups and individuals who came out for the Big Clean Up in February, the Oddfellows provided us with a wonderful lunch, the Omega’s from the Rho Beta Beta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Faternity and Mr.Andrew McGee were this year recipients of the Bernice McBeth award; and Mr.Paul Jennings is the winner of our raffle of two one way e- passes from South West Airline.

First Saturday Clean Up-this Saturday from 9-12 with weather permitting, The Oddfellows will be out working on mowing, cleaning grave sites, and pulling out brush. Please bring lawn tools, bug spray,wear long sleeves, long pants, and closed toe shoes.

Third Saturday Clean Up– April 16th, The National Museum of Funeral History will sponsor a Day of Service at Olivewood from 8-12 with weather permitting. The museum located at 415 Barren Springs Dr. is presenting the “Honoring Olivewood” Exhibit until May 29, 2016. This beautiful collection of photographs were taken by Ms.Kasey French who at the age of 16 was volunteering with her church group and asked how could she honor those interred in the cemetery, she decided to bring Olivewood to the public through photography. For more information on the exhibit please visit the museum’s website at nmfh.org

Feel free to share this e-mail with your family, friends, church, schools, and organizations looking for a volunteer or community service opportunity

Kindest Regards

Margott Williams-Volunteer Coordinator

www.descendantsofolivewood.org