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Good to see many of you last week.
I’m forwarding the email below which came my way.
We have encountered many of the same issues as ‘museum ethnographers’ so could be a good place to share knowledge and experience. I won’t be able to go!
Tabitha Cadbury
Curator
Economic Development
Plymouth City Council
Plymouth Museums Galleries Archives
37 Tavistock Place
Plymouth
PL4 8AX
T
+441752307817
E [log in to unmask]
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Lowry, James
Sent: 04 April 2018 14:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Protocols for Describing and Managing Racially Offensive Archives
Protocols for Describing and Managing Racially Offensive Archives
Working Meeting
1pm – 5pm, Wednesday 9 May 2018
Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies
Room G33, Gordon Stephenson Building, Cambridge Street
Liverpool, L7 7EE
#racistrecords
UK archivists have been without guidance on how to describe and manage archives that contain racially offensive content, despite frequent discussions of the problem on list-servs and at conferences. The Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies is convening
a working meeting to explore the possibility of developing national best practice guidance on describing and managing racially offensive records.
Since 1995, the Australian and North American archival communities have developed protocols for the culturally sensitive management of archives about indigenous peoples. These protocols were informed by indigenous communities and indigenous archivists and other
information professionals, and outline best practice for archival description and classification, governance and staffing of archives, and accessibility and use of records. The protocols recommend increased cultural sensitivity in professional practice and
engagement with communities as ways to more appropriately serve indigenous communities, understand their needs and manage records about them.
While there is no comparable indigenous population in the UK, the impact of colonialism, the slave trade and significant periods of migration into the country have resulted in archives reflecting a diverse population and a history of oppression of certain racial
groups. As a result, culturally sensitive archival description and management of such records must be a concern for UK archivists, particularly as efforts to diversify the UK’s archival workforce have not yet seen gains in racial diversity.
This meeting will consider how a set of protocols might be appropriate within the UK context and what form the protocols might take. Taking into account existing common practice and established archival theory, the meeting will investigate potential best practice
methods for archival description of records that discuss individuals and communities using offensive racial language. We will also consider the political, emotional and reputational repercussions of broader archival practices such as acquisition and deaccessioning.
Attendance is open to all. Given the problematic lack of racial diversity in the UK archival profession, archivists and archives users from BME backgrounds are particularly encouraged to participate.
No registration is required.
We will be live tweeting the conversation, and those who are not able to attend are encouraged to join in using #racistrecords
Programme
13:00 – Opening remarks (Arike Oke and Simon Demissie)
13:20 – Findings of research into the description of racially offensive records (Alicia Chilcott)
13:40 – User perspectives
14:00 – Discussion (Arike Oke and Simon Demissie)
17:00 – Close
Speakers Biographies
Arike Oke is the Collections Development Archivist at Wellcome. She seeks out, investigates and collects unique collections for the Wellcome library, looking for any material worthy of permanent preservation that reflects Wellcome’s activities and impact in
the wider world, as well as archives that support and enhance the research made possible by Wellcome library collections. Formerly a Project Board member for the National Archives’ Transforming Archives project and a member of the reference group for the 2017
national strategic vision for archives, Arike is currently a member of the Archives Unlocked board.
Simon Demissie is the Team Leader in the Collections Information Team in the library at Wellcome Collection, a team of archivists, librarians and Documentation Officers looking for ways to make the collections more accessible. Simon investigates innovative
ways for the team to organise its work and is helping the team to operate using Agile approaches. Simon was previously Head of the Modern Domestic Records team and Contemporary Records Specialist at The National Archives, and explored contemporary collections
and the various ways in which research communities and other audiences could use archival material. This included social media, gaming, and other creative outputs.
Alicia Chilcott is a recent graduate of the Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies, having previously completed a BA in Social and Economic History at the university. Having developed an interest in diverse histories and social theory through her undergraduate studies,
this has carried forward to an interest in the social and cultural impact of archives and how archives can support research into diverse histories. Her Masters dissertation, titled “Making curatorial interventions into curative interventions”: Identifying
methods for the description of official records containing offensive racial terms, drew on the protocols for managing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Native American archival materials to propose best practice methods to describe records about racial
groups in the UK. Alicia is now working as Digitisation Coordinator at Conway Hall’s Humanist Library and Archives, overseeing a project to digitise a collection of Victorian pamphlets. The project aims to draw parallels between the use of pamphlets to convey
radical ideas in the Victorian era and the use of blogs and zines today.
James Lowry
Lecturer, Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies
Chair, Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers
Secretary, International Council on Archives Africa Programme
9-11 Abercromby Square
University of Liverpool, L69 7WZ
Phone: +44 0151 794 9522
Twitter: @JamesLowryRAI
_________________________________________________________________________
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