News

The application period for the SAA 2014 Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award is now open.

The Pinkett Award was established in 1993 and recognizes and acknowledges minority graduate students, such as those of African, Asian, Latino or Native American descent, who, through scholastic and personal achievement, manifest an interest in becoming professional archivists and active members of the Society of American Archivists.

The recipients of the award will receive full complimentary registration to the SAA Annual Meeting and related expenses for hotel and travel for attending the Joint Annual Meeting of CoSA, NAGARA, and SAA in Washington, D.C. in August 2014. In addition, each recipient receives a complimentary one-year membership in SAA.

The Pinkett is awarded to minority students, with preference given to full-time students possessing a minimum scholastic grade point average of 3.5 while enrolled in a graduate program focusing on archival management during the academic year proceeding the date on which the award is given.

The application deadline is 28 February 2014.

Additional details and application forms are available at
http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-pinkett

Did you know...? The award is named in honor of archival pioneer Harold T. Pinkett, the first African American to be appointed an archivist at the National Archives, where he served for more than 35 years as a specialist in agricultural archives, senior records appraiser, and chief archivist of the Natural Resources Records Branch.

Kim Efird, Records Archivist at Illinois Secretary of State, is retiring 31 December 2013. Happy retirement Kim!

Don't be shy...If you’ve earned a degree, presented at a conference, published an article, started a new job, or completed another professional achievement, let us know and we’ll include it in next month’s Member News. Submit your information to info@chicagoarchivists.org; subject line Member News.

Chicago Area Archivists (CAA) is holding a contest to find a logo. Started in 1982, CAA is a volunteer‐run organization that provides opportunities for local archivists, historians, librarians, and others in the Chicago area to meet for discussion, social interaction, and education. Our membership includes archivists, librarians, and records managers in academic, corporate, governmental, institutional, library, and museum settings.

CONTEST GUIDELINES:

Eligibility
Individuals in the United States who are age 18 and over are eligible to enter. No corporate submissions, please.

Entries per person
Individuals may submit up to three entries; however, please do not submit close variants of a single logo as separate entries.

Deadline
Entries must be received via email by 4:00 PM CST on Monday, 30 December 2013.

Prize
$100 American Express or Visa gift card

Design guidelines
We encourage, but do not require, logos that incorporate one or more of the following:
• The text “Chicago Area Archivists” (without quotes)
• The text “CAA” (without quotes)
• Elements that reflect the archival profession
• Elements that reflect the Chicago area

We will use the logo, and/or elements of it, in various products and media. This may include, and is not limited to:
• website
• social media
• letterhead
• pins/buttons and other promotional items

The logo may be used at several different sizes, and in grayscale as well as in color. Therefore we require a logo that would look good both online and in print, be recognizable at large and small sizes, and look good in black and white as well as in color.

Generally minimize your use of photographic elements unless they are sufficiently simple and graphic to meet the criteria above.

No copyrighted works or trademarks may be included in your design.

Submission guidelines
1. Email entries to info@chicagoarchivists.org by the submission deadline.
2. Use the subject line: Logo Contest Submission.
3. While you may submit multiple entries, please limit your entries to one per email message.
4. Include your name, email address, and phone number in the body of each email.
5. Attach two versions of your logo submission as either JPG or uncompressed TIF files saved at the maximum quality level (10 or 12):
a. one large master file with your logo, saved as to be 1600 pixels in its maximum dimension (e.g. 1600x200 or 1200x1600 pixels). If your logo uses color, this file should be in full color.
b. one smaller grayscale version of your logo, saved at 300 pixels on your logo’s maximum dimension (e.g. 250x300 or 300x115 pixels). If your logo does not use color, you still need to submit this smaller version of your logo in addition to the master file.

The winning designer grants CAA ownership and unlimited use of the winning logo, and elements thereof, in perpetuity. CAA will name the logo designer when announcing the new logo. No payment or other obligation is due to the winning designer other than the acknowledgement and one‐time prize described here.

By submitting your design you agree to the terms of the contest.

Judging
Submissions will be reviewed by the CAA Outreach subcommittee, who will select a winner and notify the CAA Steering committee of its decision.

An individual will not be eligible to judge submissions if he or she, or an immediate family member, submits an entry in this contest. If there are not a minimum of three eligible judges from the Outreach subcommittee at the time of the submission deadline, one or more eligible members of the 2013‐14 Steering committee will serve as judges to create a panel of three judges.

We aim to select a winner prior to CAA’s annual spring meeting (tentatively scheduled for March 2014). The winning designer will be notified between 5 February and 5 March 2014. The winning designer may be notified before the results are announced to membership and the public in spring 2014. The winning designer agrees to keep this information confidential until the spring 2014 announcement date selected by CAA. Designers of non‐winning entries should not expect to be notified of contest results before 5 March 2014.

We reserve the right to not select a winner if we feel there are no suitable submissions.

Entries that fail to meet contest guidelines will be disqualified and excluded from consideration.

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Originally posted 23 October, 4:40 PM. Reposted, without edits, on 17 November. 

Benn Joseph, Manuscripts Librarian at Northwestern University and proud CAA member, was one of fourteen archivists who passed the SAA's first Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) test this past summer. See the full article about the certificate and the list of those who passed the test at: http://www2.archivists.org/news/2013/14-earn-digital-archives-specialist-certificates-from-saa. Congrats on your DAS Certificate, Benn!

Don't be shy...If you’ve earned a degree, presented at a conference, published an article, started a new job, or completed another professional achievement, let us know and we’ll include it in next month’s Member News. Submit your information to info@chicagoarchivists.org; subject line Member News.
 
Does your institution have news to share? You can send announcements about exhibits, brag about newly acquired materials, advertise a collection is now available for research, and more. Submit your institution's news to info@chicagoarchivists.org; subject line News.

The minutes from the October 15 CAA Steering Committee Meeting have been approved and are available to view online here.

In June 1913, Illinois granted women the right to vote. The centennial of this watershed moment inspired us to look at Chicago-area collections that provide insight into the suffrage movement and other aspects of women’s history. During National Archives Month (October), we are featuring posts by guest authors who are familiar with some of these collections. Repository information is at the end of each story.

Janet Olson introduces the wealth of material held at the Frances Willard House and Museum in the final post of our series. Olson is the Assistant University Archivist at Northwestern University and the volunteer Archivist for the Frances E. Willard Memorial Library and Archives.


From the 1880s until the passage of the 19th amendment, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) played a significant role in the campaign for women’s right to vote. Woman suffrage had not been part of the organization’s original mission, however. WCTU members -- mostly middle-class women -- were generally either opposed to, or non-committal about, becoming involved in the “unwomanly” sphere of politics. But when Frances Willard -- who had always believed that women should be able to vote -- became the second president of the WCTU in 1879, things changed. Willard coined the phrase “Home Protection” to convince women that voting was not just a right -- it was a duty, in keeping with their traditional responsibilities for protecting home and family. Women’s votes could keep saloons from opening in their towns, and liquor from being sold to their husbands and children. In 1881, the WCTU officially added the endorsement of woman suffrage to its mission. After Willard’s death in 1898, the national suffrage organizations distanced themselves from the WCTU, concerned that the connection with temperance was counterproductive, but the WCTU continued to promote suffrage as key to the success of its own mission: the prohibition of alcohol.

The complex, and often overlooked, story of the WCTU’s involvement with suffrage -- from conflict to conviction, from partnering with the major women’s rights groups to mounting its own campaign -- is thoroughly documented, at the state, national, and international levels, in the Frances Willard Memorial Library & Archives. Significant resources include annual meeting minutes, reports of the Franchise Department, editorials and articles in the weekly Union Signal newspaper, pamphlets and publications, biographical information, and Home Protection materials. Notable correspondence includes a letter from Susan B. Anthony congratulating Willard on speaking out for the suffrage cause.



LEFT: Willard with a petition, circa 1880s. RIGHT: Home protection manual, 1879. All images courtesy of the Frances Willard Memorial Library & Archives, Evanston, Illinois.

Frances Willard Memorial Library & Archives
The Frances Willard Historical Association
1730 Chicago Avenue
Evanston, Illinois 60201

In June 1913, Illinois granted women the right to vote. The centennial of this watershed moment inspired us to look at Chicago-area collections that provide insight into the suffrage movement and other aspects of women’s history. During National Archives Month (October), we are featuring posts by guest authors who are familiar with some of these collections. Repository information is at the end of each story.

Kristin Emery provides an overview of the materials held at Loyola University-Chicago’s Women and Leadership Archives in the second post of our series. Emery was the Assistant Archivist at the Women and Leadership Archives until recently. She is now the Research and Academic Programs Manager at the Newberry Library.


At the Women and Leadership Archives, an institution affiliated with Loyola University Chicago and the Ann Ida Gannon Center for Women and Leadership, documenting women’s lived experiences is central to our mission. Our oldest collection, The Chicago Women’s Club Records, dates back to 1877 and contains full runs of the club’s annual announcements and bulletins. These materials reveal the motivations and agendas of the reform-minded group as they advocated change in Chicago. The materials also provide a broader context for women’s activism in the period leading up to the final push for women’s suffrage in Illinois.

The minutes from the September 12 CAA Steering Committee Meeting have been approved and are available to view online here.

In June 1913, Illinois granted women the right to vote. The centennial of this watershed moment inspired us to look at Chicago-area collections that provide insight into the suffrage movement and other aspects of women’s history. During National Archives Month (October), we are featuring posts by guest authors who are familiar with some of these collections. Repository information is at the end of each story.

Erin Hvizdak shares her experiences researching the Women’s Club of Evanston in the first post of our series. Hvizdak is an Adjunct Librarian at the College of Lake County and a Circulation Librarian at Morton College. She has been a volunteer at the Frances Willard Memorial Library and Archives since early 2012.

During the Progressive Era, a thriving “Woman’s Club Movement” was underway. Affiliated with schools, churches, and communities, women -- usually educated and of high economic means -- came together to improve the conditions of society, especially as increasing urbanization and industrialization brought a host of health and safety concerns.

Hundreds of woman’s clubs have come and gone in Chicago, but their records are sparse. When I was first hired to write a history book for the Woman’s Club of Evanston (WCE), founded in 1889, I had no idea how lucky I was to have such an abundance of records available at Northwestern University, including numerous photographs and slides as well as a nearly complete set of the monthly newsletter, first published in 1911. Even more materials are stored at the WCE clubhouse and at the Evanston History Center. The WCE created an archives committee in 1916 to keep its records and collect publicity each year, pasting materials into annual scrapbooks. Rather than being transferred from one member’s home to another, these records resided in the clubhouse, from the time construction was completed in 1913, until most of them were transferred to Northwestern in 1991 and 2009.

The WCE contributed to the start of numerous organizations and systems in Evanston that are taken for granted today. The Club donated more than $3000 to Evanston’s first hospital (1892), provided the first salary of the area’s visiting nurse (1897), paid the first probation worker in Evanston (1902), and paid the city’s first food inspector (1912). These are only a few examples of the activities that WCE and other woman’s clubs undertook to improve their neighborhoods. While the women were no doubt concerned with protecting their own homes and class status, they nonetheless played a leading role in the formation of many social and health services. Many, but not all, have since been taken over and supported by government or corporate entities. Their origins have been forgotten, credit has been given to the other agencies, and the activities of the early woman’s movement are often condensed to a celebration of suffrage. It remains to be seen whether more records of these early woman’s clubs will turn up, but if they do, they will provide a fascinating look into the foundations of Chicago’s (and the nation’s) administration.