Closing American Archives Month Activities

As American Archives Month comes to a close, we hope our participation in a pan-Smithsonian blogathon throughout October have raised awareness about Smithsonian’s vast archival collections, historical records, and online resources. The archival collections highlighted, current issues discussed; and spotlight on special projects blogged about this month is just one of the various activities held in celebration of Archives Month.

Rachael Cristine Woody (Archivist/FSA), Sarah Stauderman (Collections Care Manager/SIA), and Nora Lockshin (Paper Conservator/SIA) examine a treasure at the “Ask the Smithsonian” portion of the Archives Fair.  Courtesy of Michael Barnes, photographer, Smithsonian Institution Archives.



In addition to the blogathon, a Facebook Q & A with Smithsonian experts was held on October 12th.  The event included Riccardo Ferrante, Information Technology Archivist and director of the Smithsonian Institution Archives' Digital Services Division; Nora Lockshin, a Paper Conservator at the Smithsonian Institution Archives; Michael Pahn, a Media Archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, and Gina Rappaport the archivist for historical photograph collections at the National Anthropological Archives.  We also hosted our 2nd annual Archives Fair at the S. Dillon Ripley Center on the National Mall where attendees with free tickets were able to consult with Smithsonian archivists and conservators about caring for their treasures, during the “Ask the Smithsonian” portion of the event.
 
All Smithsonian archival units, Smithsonian Institution Archives, and Smithsonian Institution Libraries set up information tables during the fair to share their resources.  They provided brochures, bookmarks, posters, and other materials describing their collections, and answered questions pertaining to their repository.  The public was also treated to demonstrations on successfully searching the Collections Search Center database for archival collections.

This year, a special Archives Month page was created and hosted by Smithsonian Archives of American Art, which streamed our Lecture Series live. If you are just learning of our month long activities, we encourage you to visit the Archives Month page, and other blogs from across the Smithsonian to learn about and explore our amazing and diverse collections.  

Jennifer Morris
Archivist
Anacostia Community Museum Archives