Archivists and Archives of Color

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The Archivists and Archives of Color (AACR) is a Roundtable section of the Society of American Archivists. Their work involves encouraging diversity in the SAA and identifying the concerns and needs of archivists and archives of color.

History

1970s

In the 1970s, the SAA began to collaborate with the American Association of Museums and the Association for State and Local History to form a Joint Committee on Opportunities for Minorities in Museums, Archives, and Historical Agencies. Phil Mason and Elsie Freivogel were appointed, but outreach to minority members of the SAA was poor. Many minorities were unaware of the Joint Committee and expressed that there had not been any direct communications from the committee's representatives.

The final report of the SAA Task Force on Diversity states: “In 1972 SAA adopted the report of its Committee for the 1970s. Included among the Committee recommendations was a positive injunction to the nominating committee to make the Council more representative of and responsible to the diverse interests of the SAA by considering 'archival interest, age, sex, geography, nationality, ethnicity, and race in the selection of a slate of candidates.'" Also in the report, "no person should be nominated as a candidate for an SAA office who, in her or his job, flagrantly espouses or practices discrimination in regard to race, sex, nationality, or political or religious ideology." In 1978, the SAA established a joint Committee on Opportunities for Minorities. However, the group languished in part from a lack of funds.

1980s: Task Force

The Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable began as a Task Force on Minorities within the SAA. In 1981, archivists Diana Lachateñeré and Paula Williams drafted a resolution for the task force, and members of the SAA approved the group. Thomas Battle, who also chaired the SAA's Diversity Committee, was appointed the chairman of the Task Force, and John Fleckner, Archie Motley, Daniel T. Williams, and Paula Williams were appointed members. Diana Lachateñeré was chosen as the SAA representative for the Joint Committee on Minority Recruitment, replacing Phil Mason.

In the beginning, members noticed that the task force didn't have much representation. In an interview with AACR History, Karen Jefferson stated: “At the beginning of the minorities task force Native Americans, people of Latin American and Caribbean descent; and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender were included under the umbrella of minorities. Although minorities share some broad experiences as minorities, each group has unique concerns specific to their culture and experience.” It wasn't until 1982 that a representative of Hispanic archivists was appointed: Idilio Garicia Pena.

In its six years of existence, the task force made several recommendations to the SAA Council. These recommendations eventually became the foundation of the Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable, and they still pursue them today. Some of their recommendations were to:

• Develop a roster of minorities working in the profession.
• Establish a membership committee to help in recruitment efforts for the Society.
• Develop a policy statement regarding recruitment of minorities.
• Develop an organizational handbook to increase membership’s knowledge of the Society’s structure and functions.
• Provide orientation for new members at the annual meeting.
• Lower introductory dues rates for new members.
• Establish a single-day registration fee for the annual meeting.
• Seek funds to develop programs to address needs of minorities in the profession.
• Financially support SAA’s own activities that are designed to address issues related to minorities in the profession.
• Establish a scholarship or fellowship to support the development of minorities in the profession.

Many of these goals were met, and the creation of the task force proved immediately to be a vehicle for broader minority participation in the SAA, especially in leadership.

1980s: Roundtable

In 1987, the task force dissolved, restricted in their effectiveness because of a lack of interest and support from the SAA. The task force made the recommendation that a roundtable be created for minorities, which was formed the same year. Nine SAA members helped to found the roundtable: Diana Lachatanere, Wilda Logan, Carol Rudisell, Karen Jefferson, Ervin Jordan, Clifford Muse, Thomas Battle, Jo Ellen El-Bashir, and Brenda Banks. Diana Lachateñeré and Carol Rudisell served as the coordinators. In September 1987, the AACR held their first meeting in New York City at the annual SAA conference. At this meeting, the structure of the roundtable was adopted with two co-chairs, one elected annually with elections every year. Their first year, Carol Rudisell and Donna Wells co-chaired while Diana Lachateñeré was elected as chair of the Manuscript Section, declining to serve as co-chair.

It was not required to be a member of the SAA in order to participate in the roundtable. This allowed for a freer space in which the roundtable could interact with more minorities among the archival profession. But SAA membership would be encouraged, and the chairpersons were required to be SAA members in good standing.

There was a lengthy debate on the name of the roundtable, varying from Minorities Roundtable to African American and Third World Archivists Roundtable. In 1994, the name was chosen to be the Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable.

Newsletter & Directory

In 1987, the roundtable began publishing a newsletter through the SAA, although not without objections from society members on costs. Thomas Battle then proposed that Howard University would completely fund the newsletter and even publish and distribute it for free. These newsletters were available to anyone who was interested in African American archives, manuscripts and collections. In less than a year, Battle returned to the SAA with a high percentage of popularity and interest in the newsletter among not just African Americans but all archivists. This newsletter continued to be funded by Howard University and was later used as a model for other roundtables of the SAA.

Lachateñeré and Rudisell were the first editors, and after the first year, Karen Jefferson and Ruth Hill edited the newsletter. Other editors over the years include Kathryn Neal, Cathy Lynn Mundale, and Jo Ellen El-Bashir, who served one of the longest tenures as editor. In 2003, under editor Rose Roberta, the newsletter became available electronically and continues to be published online. Today, the newsletter continues to be the main source of communication for the roundtable members. The newsletter provides information on different members, institutions, the SAA, archives, and the activities and achievements of the roundtable.

In 1991, Carol Rudisell compiled the first membership directory with racial/ethnic heritage listed for the members. In 1996, this was compiled by Karen Jefferson in the Archivists of Color Directory. This is not a directory on the entire membership of the roundtable but a directory of the archivists of color involved in the AACR. Each archivist has a brief biography, including their education, experience and the institutions they are affiliated with. In 2012, a directory was listed on the AACR website including only the name, job title and contact information of the archivist.

Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award

Several members of the roundtable, including Wilda Logan, helped to establish the Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award in 1993. This award is given to recognize graduate students of color who are actively working toward becoming professional archivists in the SAA. The award is sponsored by the AACR and funded through the SAA, named after Harold T. Pinkett who was the first African American archivist to serve at the National Archives. The SAA Council acknowledged the contributions of Harold T. Pinkett in this resolution: “Whereas, Harold T. Pinkett served with distinction during his long tenure at the National Archives and Records Service; and Whereas Harold T. Pinkett has been a scholar, archival educator, and mentor who has made important contributions to the archives profession; Therefore be it resolved that in recognition of his lifetime achievements and contributions to the archival profession, the Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable supports the renaming of the SAA Minority Student Award to the Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award.”

1990s

The Task Force on Organizational Effectiveness (TFOE) was appointed in 1995-1996. One of the main issues of the task force was to address diversity in the SAA as well as in the archival profession. From this came the creation of the Task Force on Diversity, chaired by Brenda Banks with members Anne Difffendal, John Fleckner, Susan Fox, Karen Jefferson, Deborah King (Burns), Joan Krizak, and Kathleen Roe. The task force investigated the SAA to see where they supported or weakened diversity, discussing possible solutions to improve or encourage it in the SAA as well as the archival profession. Their final report recommended that the SAA:

• Develop an organizational position statement that articulates SAA’s commitment to becoming a more diverse organization
• Incorporate diversity into SAA’s strategic planning process.
• Reinforce and expand existing activities within SAA that support diversity.
• Identify and establish new initiatives that may assist SAA in its efforts to become a more diverse organization.    

After the Council accepted the report, they approved a statement on diversity that was released on June 13, 1999: “The Society of American Archivists is committed to integrating diversity concerns and perspectives into all aspects of the activities and into the fabric of the profession as a whole. SAA is also committed to the goal of a Society membership that reflects the broad diversity of American society. SAA believes that these commitments are essential to the effective pursuit of the archival mission “to ensure the identification, preservation, and use the nation’s historical record.” Five years later, the SAA Council established a Committee on Diversity in response to complaints that they were moving slowly in implementing the recommendations of the Task Force on Diversity. After much debate, they established a Task Force on Diversity with its first goal to define 'diversity.' They were also asked to investigate "how and to what extent issues of democracy are being addressed by the Society." The Task Force on Diversity submitted its last report in February 1999.

In 1996, one of the few articles written on diversity in the archives profession was published. Kathryn M. Neal details the importance of diversity in archives: “Expanding the numbers of staff members of color and tapping their potential should (and no doubt would) enhance the overall functions of archives and manuscript repositories. New ideas would likely be stimulated in areas that include, but certainly are not limited to, donor relations (for instance, how to approach and document members of growing communities of color most effectively) and reference/access (determining how to improve services as user groups become increasingly diverse, or how to attract a more diverse pool of researchers if society's changing demographics are not reflected.”

Today

Many of the original goals of the roundtable exist today. On their website, they have stated their purposes as to "identify and address the concerns of archivists of African, Asian, Latino and Native American descent; promote wider participation of said archivists in the archival profession; and promote the preservation of archival materials that pertain to people of color."

However, the roundtable still recognizes the need for more to be done for minorities, especially in archives. In a report made after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, the AACR stated: "As archivists, we cannot accept invisibility. As a profession, we cannot continue to accept historical erasure and whitewashing through binary historical practices."

In 2003, the SAA Council created a subcommittee to see the status of the SAA's diversity efforts. In May 2003, they reported that some of the recommendations by the Task Force on Diversity had been addressed while others had not, and the actions had not been effectively reported back to SAA members. The Council then voted for a Committee on Diversity. In August 2003, the Council approved the committee:

“The SAA Committee on Diversity works to ensure that the organization's services, activities, policies, communications, and products support the goal of a more diverse SAA and professional archival community. It functions as a catalyst for new diversity-related initiatives, developed in coordination with various SAA entities, and as the organization's 'conscience' in monitoring, evaluating, advocating, and reporting on matters pertaining to the diversity of archival practitioners and documentation.”

In 2007, Elizabeth W. Adkins gave her presidential address at the SAA Annual Meeting in Chicago and highlighted the importance of diversity. "SAA has been working to address diversity concerns for more than thirty-five years, sometimes effectively and sometimes not so effectively." In her speech, she focused on SAA's definition of diversity in comparison to others and how they have progressed.

Adkins states that in 1982, only 2.8% of archivists were nonwhite but in 2004, that number jumped to 7%. SAA is only slightly better with about 10% of its members identifying as part of a minority or ethnic group. Adkins compares this with the national population, which is about 25% of nonwhite people, claiming “both SAA and the profession have a very long way to go to achieve racial and ethnic diversity.” But it's a start.

Since 2002, Council meetings and discussion have consistently focused on diversity. Some of the approved motions on diversity from these meetings are:

• Diversity has been and will be incorporated into every Council agenda for the foreseeable future.
• The Council, SAA staff, and all SAA units must report on diversity initiatives.
• The president-elect and the Appointments Committee are required to report on the demographics of all committee appointments and on what was done to seek diversity in committee appointments.
• The Program Committee and Host Committee must report on efforts to address diversity issues in the planning and scheduling of annual meeting programming.
• The Diversity Committee has been asked to provide a report on the state of diversity at the annual business meeting each year.

References

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