CAA Members,

This spring/early summer CAA conducted a resume review program to give members an opportunity to have their resume seen with fresh eyes. We had 27 resumes submitted and 15 CAA members volunteer to review those resumes! Ranging from students to seasoned archivists our resumes were as varied as our members and luckily our reviewers were just as diverse.

We wanted to share a few common themes our reviewers found in the resumes:

• Keep your most pertinent archival skills and knowledge at the top of your resume, either with a skills/professional summary section or by listing your archival work first.
  
• Be as transparent as possible. Add in metadata, cataloging, and description standards. List systems, software, hardware, programs, etc. that you use by name.
•  Show your impact by adding metrics! We tend to downplay the work we are doing, but we work with collections of all sizes, with LOADS of patrons, and we deliver projects, research, reports, finding aids, and assets daily. Make sure to assign numbers, even if you think it isn’t impressive, it is! 
•  List internships, volunteer opportunities, and practicums if you are just out of school! These are all work experience!
• Consider using a sans serif font for a crisp resume and make sure to save space by not allowing orphans, widows, and runts in your text.
•  Remember the audience. Tailor your resume’s words, key phrasing, and metrics based on what sort of archive or job you are applying for.

Thank you all for participating this spring!

You can reach out to me at any time with questions at heather.mcgowan14@gmail.com

Wishing you a job filled summer!

Heather McGowan, CAA Programming Subcommittee

Chicago Area Archivists Gather in Columbus, Ohio

On May 15, 2026, eleven CAA members gathered at Ethyl & Tank, a restaurant directly across from The University of Ohio Union, where the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) was held from May 14-16.

While enjoying happy hour in the sunshine, CAA members talked about the conference, their jobs, and the state of archives in general. It was a great mix of networking and sharing the simple pleasures of food, drink, and getting to know each other better. Thanks to everyone who attended for being such good company. Let's do it again at the next MAC conference!

Photo by Jerice Barrios.

The Doctors: Exploring 1970’s Teen Social Scenes and the Emergence of Chicago House Music Culture

Chicago Black Social Culture Map (CBSCM)

Opens May 29, 2026

This exhibition documents the pre-house era influence and innovation of a 1970’s dance crew based in Chicago's Roseland community. These young Black men from Mendel Catholic High School elevated the school’s parties to new prominence, creating significant social cultural contributions to the teen scene and party culture in Chicago. This exhibition emerges from the CBSCM’s Community Curators Program which examines the personal archives of The Doctors in collaboration with curatorial writer, DaJona Butler.

Digital exhibit: https://www.honeypotperformance.org/the-doctors-exhibit

Information for Your Visit:

First Church of the Brethren

425 S Central Park Ave, Chicago, IL 60624

Free and open to all, donations encouraged

https://www.honeypotperformance.org/about-the-cbscm

Special Event Information:

Opening event is 5/29 at 6pm

For more information, contact: Micah Smith, CBSCM Archiving & Research Manager - micah@honeypotperformance.org

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcome to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform

The Ways We Remember: Celebrating Twenty Years of the BMRC

Black Metropolis Research Consortium

April 16, 2026 through August 15, 2026              

Bringing together a new project by renowned Chicago-based artist Candace Hunter alongside archival materials from the BMRC, the exhibition celebrates the ways archives have shaped both personal and institutional stewardship of Black history in Chicago.

Presenting the first part of a new body of work, Hunter responds to the displacement of Black communities on the South Side caused by the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway while considering the reparative possibilities of archival activation.

Information for Your Visit:

The Forum

320 E. 43rd Street, Chicago, IL 60653

Wednesday - Friday 12-6pm; Saturday 11am-7pm

Free and open to all

https://bmrc.lib.uchicago.edu/

For more information, contact: Sumayya Ahmed, BMRC Executive Director, sumyayya@uchicago.edu

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcome to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform

We were so pleased to partner with Chicago Collections Consortium on two recent lunch and learn programs. 

On April 24th, 111 attendees joined CAA member Leanna Barcelona joined Rebekah Coffman and Kevin Leonard to discuss the spaces and archives of architect Walter Netsch. You can find the recording and more information on CCC's event page.

On May 13th, 40 attendees joined current and former CAA members Matthew Messbarger, Daniel Harper, and Morag Walsh to listen to and contextualize City Council meeting audio recently digitized by the Office of the City Clerk. You can find the recording and links to the full audio clips and archive on CCC's event page.

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us for our Zoom panel, "Inside the Archival Hiring Process." 41 of you all joined us live on April 7, 2026, to hear from panelists Dana Lamparello (Head of Public Services, McCormick Library of Special Collections & University Archives at Northwestern University), Hilarie Pitman Pozesky (Founder and Lead Archivist @ Sepia Archival Management), and Katie Grobmyer (Lead Account Executive at Beacon Hill Staffing Group). We wanted to get a picture of our audience for this panel, and thought that might be intersting to share. From 63 registered attendees:

Why are you interested in this event? (single choice)

• I'm trying to get hired: 48%
• I'm trying to hire other people: 14.5%
• I'm trying to get hired and hire other people: 0.5%
• Other reason: 24%

Where are you in your archival career? (multiple choice possible)

• Student: 29%
• Early career: 42%
• Mid career: 34%
• Late career: 10%
• Other: 0.5%

Our panelists shared information about themselves, along with what they consider to be the most important parts of the hiring process, along the most frequent missed opportunities they see from candidates. You can view a recording of the guided questions portion of the panel on CAA's YouTube account. Unfortunately, we were only able to capture video for our moderator and one of our panelists, but everyone's audio is present.

Stories That Click: Reimagining Chicago Brick by Brick

Chicago Public Library

April 3, 2026 through April 30, 2027

We put a call out for submissions of LEGO models that answered the question, "What exactly would your Chicago look like?" The selected models were paired with historic rarities and archival materials from Chicago Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections Division creating a dialogue between past and present.

The archival materials featured in the exhibit were selected based on the artists' stated inspirations behind their LEGO models, as well as connections drawn by the curator between the models and the collections. The exhibit has two goals: to share Chicagoans’ creative, heartfelt and fun expressions of their city and to showcase and celebrate the depth and richness of CPL’s archival collections.

Exhibit link.

Information for Your Visit:

Chicago Public Library

Harold Washington Library Center

400 S. State Street, 9th floor

Chicago, IL

M-Th, 9:00am-8:00pm; F-Sa, 9:00am-5:00pm; Su, 1:00-5:00pm

Free and open to all

https://www.chipublib.org/

Special Event Information:

Associated programs are listed on the website.

For more information, contact: specoll@chipublib.org

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcome to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform

Please join us in congratulating CAA’s 2026 Member of the Year award winner Brienne Callahan! Award winners were announced at the CAA Annual Meeting on March 10. 

As webmaster, Brie has done extensive work on the CAA website over the past year, including coding, site page updates, and collaborating closely with Steering to advise on strategy and potential solutions. Her generosity in lending her skills and expertise to keep the website looking modern and functional is deeply appreciated. 

Brie joined CAA in 2015, and currently works as an independent archivist and family historian. She’s held a wide range of archives and communications-focused positions, including most recently with the Art Institute of Chicago.

Please join us in congratulating CAA's 2026 Janet Olson Award winner Frank Villella! Award winners were announced at the CAA Annual Meeting on March 10.

Frank has been a member of CAA for more than two decades and has worked behind the scenes for many years to provide CAA with physical space at Symphony Center for our annual meeting, as well as annually providing CSO performance tickets to our members. Previously, he was a member of CAA’s Antiracism Working Group. His kindness and generosity in providing countless opportunities for our members to connect and collaborate is deeply appreciated. 

Abuela’s House

National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture

September 6, 2025 through July 18, 2026

Abuela’s House transcends the traditional notion of an exhibition; it is a love letter to identity, cultural inheritance, craftsmanship, and home. This exhibition is an intimate exploration of the enduring creative and personal influence of the artist’s maternal great-grandmother, and a celebration of the magic of time, wisdom, and love channeled by a single person. Each of the seventeen scenes realized by Destyni “Desi” Swoope’s own hands are a true mix of paint, found objects, and an eclectic collection of fabric.  Abuela’s House encourages us to understand that the colors of our lives come directly from the seeds our ancestors sowed for us, and we now have the opportunity to bloom freely, wildly, and on our own terms. Ultimately, Desi patchworks the spirit of the Puerto Rican/Caribbean women who have carried on for generations, whose traditions and beliefs inspired her to dream for them and for herself. Curated by Zee Lopez Del Carmen.

Information for Your Visit:

National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture

3015 W Division St.

Chicago, IL 60622

Tuesdays through Thursdays: 10 am – 5 pm; Saturday: 10 am – 2 pm; Closed on Sundays and Mondays

Free and open to all

https://nmprac.org/exhibitions/abuelas-house/

For more information, contact: Ignaik Cruz-Perez, Lead Docent; ignaikcp@nmprac.org

Are you launching a new exhibit?

CAA members are welcome to share news of exhibits on view at their institutions. Please tell us more on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesaDrz5BstR9CMUtLNlVVl-uiwUSr_sbE6L1TK7BY2ehbV1w/viewform