News

The Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board (ISHRAB) is offering scholarships to Illinois archivists and archival volunteers to take the American Association for State and Local History's online "Basics of Archives" course. This online course, available from October 24 – November 18, 2016, provides an introduction to the management and protection of historical records for staff and volunteers who have little to no experience with archival materials. For more information and a course outline, visit http://resource.aaslh.org/view/basics-of-archives.

ISHRAB and its representatives will award scholarships on a first-come, first-served basis until the funding is exhausted. The completed application form may be submitted by U.S. mail, FAX, or email. All decisions made by the ISHRAB and its representatives will be final.

This is a reimbursable award. Applicants must first apply for the scholarship and receive official notification of an award with a registration code before signing up for the course. Deadline to apply is October 21, 2016.

Applications will be available soon at http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/ISHRAB/basics.html

Funds for this opportunity are provided by a State Board Programming Grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

If you have any questions, please contact:
David Joens, Director
Illinois State Archives
Margaret Cross Norton Bldg.
Capitol Complex
Springfield, IL 62756
217-782-3492
217-524-3930 (fax)
djoens@ilsos.net

Join CAA member Andrew Bullen on Sunday, September 18, at 2:00 p.m. for a lecture and concert entitled, “Pullman in the First World War.” Andrew will be illustrating the Pullman Factory and neighborhood’s war time activities with images and letters from the archives. As part of the lecture, Jonathan Whitall, a talented musician, will be performing period musical selections that illustrate the different phases of war time, from the Punitive Expedition into Mexico in 1916 through our intervention in Bolshevik Russia in 1919.

The lecture and concert will occur in the Pullman Factory itself, now part of the Pullman National Monument. Its address is at 11057 South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago. Email Andrew at ahbullen@gmail.com for more information.

Poster of the event can be seen here: 

http://www.pullman-museum.org/misc/posterForConcert.jpg.

CAA thanks all who attended the CAA@SAA meetup on August 4, 2016. 17 people joined their fellow Chicago-area archivists, librarians, and records managers at the Trader Vic's in Atlanta to socialize over Mai Tais. It was wonderful to meet new people and catch up with old friends!

If you missed this event, don't worry - there will be more events throughout the year at a variety of dates, times, and locations. Coming soon:

• CAA Tour of Rush University Medical Center Archives, September 8

If you missed this event, don’t worry – there will be more events throughout the year at a variety of dates, times, and locations.

• CAA @ SAA, Thursday August 4th, 6:00pm
• Video Digitization Workshop, Friday August 12

Have an idea for a CAA event? Contact the CAA Events Subcommittee at info@chicagoarchivists.org with your suggestions.

There are 2 new pieces of exciting news from our friends at the Lithuanian Archives Project: 

As of 2016, Lithuanian Archives Project (LAP), a Chicago-based not for profit 501(c)3 organization, has moved in to its new office inside the First Bulgarian Cultural Center at 3756 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, Illinois, 60618. Interested in volunteering? Please contact: LithuanianArchivesProject@gmail.com. LAP also has a new website: http://www.LithuanianArchivesProject.org 

In addition, Audra V. Adomenas, Founder and President at Lithuanian Archives Project won a travel grant for first time attendees in the amount of $750.00 to attend the Association for Recorded Sound Conference in Bloomington, Indiana in May 2016. Last July (2015), Audra left her position as Director of Film and Audio Archives at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture to continue preserving unique Lithuanian-American archival materials at LAP. 

CAA thanks everyone who attended our recent tour of the WFMT Audio Archives, hosted by CAA member Allison Schein, on June 1. Fifteen people attended the event, and with several people on the waiting list, we may have to reschedule another tour here in the near future!

Allison first took the group on a tour of the television (WTTW) side, which included a visit to the Chicago Tonight studio. The video librarian took the group through the video tape library, which included 15,000 programs stored in a variety of formats. WTTW is currently in the first year of a three-year program to digitize around 8,000 episodes of Chicago Tonight. 

Next came the tour of WFMT, which included stops at production studios and the station’s massive music library. Allison discussed the station’s efforts to digitize and make available to the public the station’s extensive tape archive, including some of the tools and strategies to help move the project forward. 

If you missed this event, don’t worry – there will be more events throughout the year at a variety of dates, times, and locations.

 Coming soon:

Grant Park Music Festival, Millennium Park, June 22, 5 p.m.

http://chicagoarchivists.org/event-2261042

Have an idea for a CAA event? Contact the CAA Events Subcommittee at info@chicagoarchivists.org with your suggestions.

CAA thanks all who attended the CAA @ MAC Meet-Up on Friday, April 29, 2016 during the Midwest Archives Conference Spring 2016 meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Though we had some competition for space in the pub where we originally planned to meet, 32 people successfully relocated to the lounge upstairs to catch up with old friends and colleagues and meet some new ones. Check out the photos below, kindly taken by Laura Alagna (and check out our new sign!).

If you missed this event, don’t worry – there will be more events throughout the year at a variety of dates, times, and locations. Coming soon:

Creating Successful Conference Proposals, May 26, 2016

Have an idea for a CAA event? Contact the CAA Events Subcommittee at info@chicagoarchivists.org with your suggestions.

For those of you were unable to make it to Milwaukee this year for the annual Midwest Archives Conference, CAA has got you covered via our Twitter feed @ChicagoArchvsts.

Big thanks to Kat Antonelli, CAA's Social Media Content Producer!

The most popular Tweet of the week by far was on the Plenary speech by Dennis Meissner: 

Dennis Meissner at #mac16 plenary: diversity is a fact, inclusion is a choice. Must shift our focus from diversity to inclusion. #CAAatMAC16

And of course we had to give a shout outs to the number of CAA'ers who presented this year. Just to name a few:

End #mac16 with a bang! Hear CAA's Heidi Marshall on #s601 establishing an archives//Anne Thomason on #s602 unusual collections #CAAatMAC16

Good morning #mac16! It's double trouble w/ CAA's Megan Keller on #s501 processing & Alison Hinderliter on #s503 record mgmnt #CAAatMAC16

Also, a plug for CAA wouldn't be complete without a plug for Chicago Open Archives!:

Thanks Sarah Cain for the Chicago Open Archives shout out! Learn more here: http://bit.ly/COA_2016   #CAAatMAC16 #mac16

Live Tweeting at MAC drew a lot of attention to CAA and its fairly new social media presence, and we gained many new followers over the course of the week. Check out our Twitter feed for some quick takeaways on the poster presentations, sessions, tours, award recipients, and other highlights from MAC in Milwaukee.

The MAC 2016 Annual Meeting officially starts tomorrow! Keep an eye on our twitter handle, @chicagoarchvsts, and our hashtag, #CAAatMAC16. We'll be live tweeting the meeting so you can follow along at home. Or, if you're attending this year, join us by using our hashtag when you tweet. Thanks, and see you in Milwaukee!

CAA is seeking host sites for our second annual Chicago Open Archives. This three-day event in October is a great opportunity for archives, museums, and historical societies to engage with a broader audience than is usually possible. Our inspiration comes from similar events in Portland, Sacramento, and Cambridge, as well as CAA’s successful inaugural event in Chicago in 2015.

This year’s event will take place 6-8 October. Our theme, Yours to Explore, invites Chicagoans interested in history and cultural heritage to explore the stories that your collections tell, the role of your institution in your community, and the many different types of materials that archives hold. Your institution can participate by offering an activity that highlights your collections and programs in the way that best suits your situation.

Last year, 26 Chicago-area institutions offered a wide range of activities, from behind the scenes tours to gallery talks to workshops. The Newberry Library took visitors to the manuscripts and archives processing space where they viewed materials and discussed the Library’s collaboration with the Chicago Dance History Group. At Media Burn Independent Video Archive, which is normally not open to the public, visitors learned how the organization is making historic footage available online and enjoyed a short screening. At the Benedictine University Archives in Lisle, more than 45 visitors stopped by for an open house that offered an opportunity to see historic photos and view highlights from the rare book collection.

Please join us as host site for Chicago Open Archives: Yours to Explore. Sign-up begins in mid-April and runs through June. Learn more at www.chicagoarchivsts.org/chicago-open-archives.

“I think this event is a great idea, it encourages researchers to investigate these hidden gems in Chicago.”

“I really enjoyed seeing the National Archives for the first time. [Staff] provided a fantastic tour of the facilities and highlighted many interesting archival materials.”

Photo: Chicago Open Archives tour at the Newberry Library, 2015. Courtesy of Kelly Kress/Alison Hinderliter/Catherine Grandgeorge.