Fans of the Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board

04/09/2021

The Roving Archivist Program visits Old Sturbridge Village!

In March 2020, we received a grant to fund a consultation with a Roving Archivist. Last month, Irene Gates, Roving Archivist for the Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board, met with Librarian Amy Hietala to review OSV’s archival collections and offer her expertise on preservation and organization. Good news: we’re doing pretty well already! Following safety guidelines at all times, Irene and Amy discussed caring for different materials, conservation possibilities, funding opportunities, and records consistency. We’re very grateful to Irene for her feedback on ways to preserve the library collection for future generations!

This grant award was made possible through the Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board (MA SHRAB) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant program.

02/17/2021

The Roving Archivist Program is now accepting applications! Receive essential guidance, training, and recommendations for managing archival collections at your institution. See the application for more details:https://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcpdf/Institutional-Application-for-Roving-Archivist-Services-2021.pdf

09/14/2020

Digital Commonwealth’s Membership and Outreach & Education Committees and the Massachusetts Library System invite you to register for the next event in Digital Commonwealth’s
"Expanding Your Digital Horizons" Series

Introduction to Omeka
When: October 8th, 2020
Time: 1:00PM - 2:00PM (including Q&A)
Where: Online via the Massachusetts Library System’s Continuing Education platform

Digital Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Library System join together to present an introduction to Omeka by Lenora Robinson of Bridgewater State University and Matt Amory of the Canton Public Library.

Omeka is a free, open-source content management system for online digital collections. As a web application, it allows users to publish and exhibit cultural heritage objects, and extend its functionality with themes and plugins. (Wikipedia). If you work in a NOBLE or SAILS library, you or someone in your library already has a free Omeka system available for use.

Archivists and Records Managers can use the Dublin Core metadata standard to add as much specific information as they need to in order for digital objects in the Omeka repository to be described according to their institutional needs. Lenora will introduce the Omeka repository and describe the use of the building blocks of items and collections within Omeka to set up the repository to begin to use it for exhibits.

Collection managers, digital humanists and local history librarians can use Omeka’s drag and drop content management system to create exhibits which highlight and curate individual items or groups of items. Matt will discuss how Omeka exhibits can add context and facilitate better access to small to medium sized digital collections.

Pre-registration is required.
Register at: https://calendar.masslibsystem.org/event/7107342
Registration is free for Digital Commonwealth members, and also free for non-members, but we encourage anyone and everyone to join Digital Commonwealth!
Not sure if your institution is a member?
Check here: https://digitalcommonwealth.wildapricot.org/Directory
Not a member? Join here: https://digitalcommonwealth.wildapricot.org/joindc

Digital Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Library System join together to present an introduction to Omeka by Lenora Robinson of Bridgewater State University and Matt Amory of the Canton Public Library. Ome...

07/21/2020

Funding support from Mass Humanities

Opportunity! Marginalized communities have cultural wealth & civic potential but lack resources. New operating support grants from Mass Humanities will fund organizations that primarily serve marginalized communities, engaging them with the . http://ow.ly/B3fN50ADlYC

07/10/2020

Opportunity for a symposium from MBLC/MLS Preservation Specialist, Evan Knight:

As Preservation Specialist with MBLC, my role is to help you and support you in your efforts to protect and share your most important and most irreplaceable collections for future generations of residents and researchers. But one thing I’m often asked about, which unfortunately I’m not able to help you with very well, is how to help you determine which of your collections are “most important” or “most irreplaceable.” In this regards I’m happy to invite you to a virtual MBLC/MLS symposium scheduled for July 23rd, 9a-12p, that is designed to help: “Special Collections Symposium for Smaller Libraries.” We have exceptional speakers who are on-board to make this a fun, inspiring, and helpful event that will address a large number of themes tailored to our specific audience. Learn more and register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3232501920889757710.

Collecting objects of community memory such as local book collections, community archives, newspapers, pamphlets, artworks, etc., is just one of the great many aspects of “library service” that you all practice. But in my biased opinion, it is one that can be too easily overlooked among all the others. With little-by-little bits of planning, oversight, and investment, they comprise sustainable, affordable, and transformative resources for your community now and in the future. Some libraries in the Commonwealth, for example, have, in these extremely dynamic times, worked hard to collect archives related to the BLM movement as well as COVID-19, which will provide unique lasting resource for the future!

So if you are interested to learn more about special collections management for smaller libraries, not sure where to start with your collections, or just want to network with colleagues, please join us for this virtual symposium! We will learn some practical strategies, and become more acquainted with folks in our field who specialize in this technically-heavy type of library service. The event is open to librarians, library workers, and volunteers from those types of institutions, though we will also open it up to those from archives, historical societies/museums, larger libraries, etc.; from Massachusetts and beyond. Thank you for your time, and please reach out to me with any questions.

07/06/2020

Posting an announcement of a virtual tour of the Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library, hosted by Digital Commonwealth. After raising the number of registrations a couple times (now to 500), we happily invite those from beyond Massachusetts to join.

Join Digital Commonwealth for the first event in our
"Expanding Your Digital Horizons" series
which will run through the end of 2020.
Behind the Scenes at the Peabody Essex Museum Library
When: Monday July 13, 2020, 10AM-11AM
Where: Zoom
Register here: https://digitalcommonwealth.wildapricot.org/event-3893353
Join Peabody Essex Museum staff members Angela Segalla, Director of the Collection Center, and Dan Lipcan, Head Librarian of the Phillips Library, for a virtual tour of PEM's Collection Center. Their 120,000-square-foot facility provides state-of-the-art preservation, protection, and care of PEM’s extensive collection of art and culture–and includes the Phillips Library's reading room, digitization lab, and storage space.
Come take a unique behind-the-scenes look!
Due to enthusiastic registration, PEM has generously extended the registration limit to 500 people!
There is no charge for this event but pre-registration is required. When you register, you will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link to participate.
Digital Commonwealth is a non-profit collaborative organization that was founded in 2006 in partnership with the Boston Public Library (BPL). We provide resources and services to support the creation, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, archives, and other cultural institutions. (https://digitalcommonwealth.wildapricot.org/)

currently have overmember institutions from across the Commonwealth, and provide researchers, students, and the general public a single online point of access to members’ digital collections (open access discovery platform)75mages, docSearch and explore the full online collection .

05/20/2020

The MA SHRAB is hiring an Interim Roving Archivist!
Check out the SHRAB blog for details about this exciting position. Deadline for applications is June 5.

https:mashrabblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/20/ma-shrab-seeks-interim-roving-archivist/

05/14/2020

Resources from the Heritage Emergency National Task Force

Please note: The information provided in these resources should not be interpreted as legal advice, nor should it supersede any orders or directives from local, state, or federal officials.

05/12/2020

Looking for a distraction? Try out this 60 piece puzzle of a painting by Alan Brooks. These tanagers are part of the Massachusetts Archives collection of Paintings of the Birds of Massachusetts and other New England States (EN2.07/114X Plate no. 75.

This jigsaw puzzle is presented within Jigsaw Explorer's premium jigsaw puzzle web app. Anyone can use this web app to play their own photos as jigsaw puzzles, or choose from the thousands of beautiful jigsaw puzzles available at the Jigsaw Explorer website.

05/11/2020

The MA SHRAB is heart-broken to pass along the news that Rob Cox, long-time U-Mass Amherst Special Collections and University Archives Director Rob and former SHRAB Board member, has passed away.

Rob Cox, SCUA’s fearless leader since 2004, passed away this morning from cancer. Rob was an archivist, historian, author, teacher, mentor to many, polymath, recovering paleontologist, friend of cats. He was a man of great intellect, enormous heart, and tremendous inner light. We love you, Rob, we thank you for all you have given to SCUA, to the archives profession, and to the SCUA team you assembled, and we will miss you so so much.

This photograph from last fall shows Rob in his office on the 25th floor of Du Bois Library, with items from the Daniel Ellsberg Papers. Photo by Jonathan Wiggs, Boston Globe, September 24, 2019.