Blogathon: October is American Archives Month!

October is American Archives Month across the nation and the Smithsonian is celebrating in style! 

The Smithsonian Collections Blog is hosting a 31-day Blogathon for October to mark the occasion.  We are teaming up with sister blogs: THE BIGGER PICTURE,  Archives of American Art, and The Affiliate repositories like Montana History Revealed to bring to you behind-the-scenes information and visuals of what an Archives is, what we do, and how we do it.  Each day, archives care-takers will blog about what happens in their archives, describe projects they are working on, and tell stories about particular holdings.

You can look forward to posts on: researcher perspectives, collections care, the day in the life of a cataloger, digitization, new media, oral history, 3d digitization, moving collections, and what every good conservator carries in her purse!

In conjunction with the Blogathon the Smithsonian Institution Archives and Special Collections council are also presenting a first-ever Archives Fair Friday October 22nd, from 10am-5pm in the  S. Dillon Ripley Center (on the National Mall - see Mall Map). The event is free and open to the public.

Please join us for the Archives Fair, which will feature a Lecture Series on projects and research based on Smithsonian collections, informational displays from more than a dozen archives at the Smithsonian; and an “Ask the Smithsonian” program that features hands-on consultations and preservation tips from archivists, librarians, historians, and conservators to teach local-area residents about how to care for items they have tucked away in attics, closets, and basements of their homes.  See the "Ask the Smithsonian" link for more details on how you can bring in your most beloved archival treasure.

If you can't make the Archives Fair in person, don't worry - we'll come to you!  Check in with the Archives Month website to see a live stream cast and archived version of our Lecture Series!  If it is Smithsonian expertise you're after, check out, "Ask the Smithsonian" on Facebook on Thursday, October 21 from 10am-5pm, for an online Q&A with a Smithsonian paper conservator and electronic records conservator. These experts will be available live on the main Smithsonian Facebook page to answer any questions that you might have about your own paper and electronic archival items.

See our Press Release and Archives Month website for more information. Tweet us: #archivesmonth

We look forward to meeting you online or in-person!

Rachael Cristine Woody
Archivist
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
woodyr@si.edu