News

Join CAMA for a HYBRID experience this fall on Thursday, November 7! 

Register HERE!

For the first time since 2019, the CAMA Medical History Symposium will return with an in-person option hosted at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago, IL. After four years of a virtual symposium we have garnered interest from individuals and institutions outside of the Chicago area. We are able to again include individuals to both attend and present via Zoom in a hybrid format, if you can't be here in person. 

CAA Members Hilarie Pozesky and Claire Mokrauer-Madden will be presenting "Expectations v. Reality: Assumptions of How Archivists Think Researchers Want to Use the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) Archives Versus What They Really Want" 

The RFU campus has free parking available, as well as access via the Metra UP-North line with shuttle service to/from the Lake Bluff station.

Questions? Contact: kelly.reiss@rosalindfranklin.edu or 847-578-8417

It was great to have so many people join us at the CAA meetup @ SAA on August 15, 2024. Over thirty CAA members and friends gathered at 720 South Bar & Grill in the Hilton Chicago conference hotel for conversation and refreshments. Thanks to everyone who also signed up to learn more about getting involved with CAA. We will be in touch with you soon!

Kheir Fakhreldin, University Archivist at Chicago State University and chair of CAA's Archives and Archivists of Color (AAC) interest group, gave a talk to Brookfield Library's Genealogy Club on August 13, 2024 about F. D. Cossitt, the founder of La Grange, who owned 127 slaves in Tennessee before he came north during the Civil War. Kheir discussed the complicated history of Tennessee Unionism and Cossitt's Southern Claims Commission file which details his assistance to the Union Army and includes testimony on his behalf from a former Union general, an overseer on his plantations, and one of his former slaves.

If you would like to be added to the AAC mailing list, email info@chicagoarchivists.org.

On August 1, 2024, the Curation & Exhibitions Interest Group visited the Poetry Foundation for a guided tour of their current exhibit A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center. The exhibition celebrates the Chicago Poetry Center’s 50th anniversary as a community-driven organization dedicated to enabling poets and using poetry to allow for critical conversations.

Poetry Foundation Creative Director and Curator Fred Sasaki and Chicago Poetry Center Executive Director B. Sampson gave the group an overview of the exhibition’s development process and a tour of items displayed in the main gallery, the library, and the building exterior. The curators recapped the long, intertwined history of their two organizations and screened a 40-minute documentary by Media Associate Moyo Abiona about the exhibit and the Chicago Poetry Center.

Curation & Exhibitions Interest Group moderator Patti Gibbons and twelve attendees participated in the event.

The exhibit runs through September 14. Learn more about it and the Poetry Foundation here.

Image: curator Fred Sasaki (far left) shows the group facsimile posters from Chicago Poetry Center events on the building exterior.

On June 26 at 2 pm, eight CAA members joined Alison Hinderliter, Lloyd Lewis Curator of Modern Manuscripts and Selector for Modern Music as she gave us a tour of the Newberry's exhibit A Night at Mister Kelly's. She provided insight as to how the exhibit came together, recommendations about how to address certain aspects of exhibit design, and demonstrated how guest's appearing at Mister Kelly's are relevant across generations.

The exhibit is open until July 20th and you can find more information about it here.

On May 7, 2024, the Chicago Collections Consortium and Chicago Area Archivists co-sponsored a virtual presentation by Kaetrena Davis Kendrick on links between low-morale and burnout in library and archives workplaces.  Over forty attendees learned about self-care strategies, as well as ways to support their professional colleagues and communities. 

Attendees said that in addition to learning new strategies, they also had their feelings of stress and burnout validated.  You can learn more about Kaetrena and her work on her website, https://renewalslis.com/.

Thank you to everyone who attended the virtual event and showed great interest in the talk with their comments and questions. A special thanks to Kaetrena for taking the time to speak to CCC/CAA members!

Ayah Elkossei, the 2024 recipient of the CAA Archives and Archivists of Color (AAC) Travel Fund Award, shares her experience attending the Midwest Archives Conference Annual Meeting in Des Moines, Iowa.

Attending my first Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) was an immensely rewarding experience that enriched my understanding of archival practices and community collaboration. Although I could not sit in every session, the sessions I’ve attended provided invaluable knowledge and practical skills that will be instrumental in my journey to become an archivist, with the ultimate goal of opening my own archive for Middle Eastern collections.

The workshop "CLI for GLAM: A Command Line Workshop for Absolute Beginners" was particularly enlightening. As a newcomer to the command line interface, I gained essential skills using the GitBash terminal application, which will enhance my archival processes and allow me to manage digital archives more effectively.

Sessions like "Cultivating Collaborative Partnerships Between a Campus and Its Community" and "Community Outreach, Community Input: The Milwaukee Women's Art Library Ambassador Experiment" highlighted the importance of building strong relationships between archives and their surrounding communities. The successful case studies from Bowling Green State University, Indiana University Northwest, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee showcased how collaborative efforts and community involvement can lead to impactful exhibits and enhanced representation of underrepresented communities. These examples inspired me to pursue similar partnerships and outreach efforts in my future work, fostering inclusivity and representation in Middle Eastern collections.

Aside from the informative sessions, my favorite part of MAC was engaging with fellow archivists and future archivists. I relished the opportunity to share experiences, exchange insights, and learn from their diverse backgrounds.

Overall, my first MAC experience emphasized collaboration, preservation, and community engagement, reinforcing my commitment to expanding archival collections to reflect diverse communities. This conference significantly enriched my professional development, equipping me with the tools and inspiration to make meaningful contributions to the field of archives, particularly in preserving and promoting Middle Eastern cultural heritage.

The Chicago Area Archivists held a meetup at the Midwest Archives Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Six archivists from institutions around Chicago attended and enjoyed a meal at the Mulberry Street Tavern. Among the attendees was Ayah Elkossei, the 2024 recipient of the CAA Travel Fund Award, which seeks to send a student or early-career archivist to MAC. Be on the lookout for another CAA meetup at MAC in Minneapolis in 2025!

On Thursday June 22nd, thirteen CAA members attended the Newberry's exhibit Pop-Up Books Through the Ages. Attendees were greeted by Dr. Suzanne Karr Schmidt who is the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Newberry Library. She led guests on a tour of the exhibit and pointed out various interesting displays.    

After spending time in the galleries, Dr. Karr Schmidt led everyone to the upper floors of the library where she had unique items set aside. She provided detailed descriptions of the items along with fun facts and stories. Attendees were permitted to handle the materials and take photos. 

Thank you to all who joined us and a very special thanks to Dr. Suzanne Karr Schmidt for taking the time to lead us through a beautifully curated exhibit! 

If you attended this event and took photos, please consider sharing and uploading here. 

On Tuesday, May 16^th, eighteen CAA members attended the DePaul/Lincoln Park Walking Tour. This event was a collaboration between Programming and the Archives and Archivists of Color special interest group. Members met at the John T. Richardson Library and were welcomed by Instruction and Outreach Archivist, Derek Potts. The event began with Derek giving a brief overview and answering questions. Guests were then given an opportunity to engage with a pop-up display of archival materials in the Special Collections and Archives reading room.

After spending time in the reading room, everyone received a handout in order to better understand the walking tour and make sense of the community sites of occupation and protest. Members embarked on a 1.5 mile historical walking tour of Lincoln Park related to the Young Lords, Urban Renewal, and activism in the late 1960s.

An informal Happy Hour took place at Kelly’s Pub after the event. Members had fun on the back patio and enjoyed good food, drinks, and company. The day could not have been more perfect. 

Thank you to all who joined us and special thanks to Derek Potts for being such a great host and tour guide!

If you attended this event and took photos, please consider sharing and uploading here.