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Archival Concepts

When working an institutional archive or starting an archival project, it helps to understand what it is that archives do and what you need to consider before getting started.

Why is Describing Archival Materials Important for Community Archives?

Archives can be like a black box. Description is like carving a window into the black box; the better the description, the bigger the window.

Published March 23, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, How-to Guide, Resources Tagged Archival Collections, Description, Methods

Gift Agreements

In an archival context, gift agreements transfer the physical ownership of materials from groups or individuals to an institution. Gift agreements should clearly lay out what the donor can expect from the institution and vice versa.

Published March 18, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Resources, Template Tagged Access, Curation, Methods, Partners

What Happens to Your Collection When It Goes to an Archive?

What Happens to Your Collection When It Goes to an Archive?
Are you looking for a home for your historical materials? Learn more about what happens when you send your collection to an institutional archive like the University Libraries at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Special Collections Library.
Published February 16, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Resources, Video Tagged Access, Curation, Definitions, Description, Methods, Partners, Storage

What is a Community Archive?

Two triangles side by side, one inverted, demontrating the different audience focuses of the traditional and the community-driven archival models. Scholars are shown at the top of the pyramid in the traditional model, while community creators are shown at the top of the inverted triangle in the community-driven archival model.

Community archives and other community-centric history, heritage, and memory projects work to empower communities to tell, protect, and share their history on their terms.

Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Blog, Reflection, Resources Tagged Archival Collections, Definitions, Local history, Partners

What is a Charrette?

A charrette is a focus group that brings together a wide variety of stakeholders in order to map solutions.

Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Reflection, Resources Tagged Definitions, Local history, Methods, Partners

What is a Community?

When we talk about communities, we aren’t just talking about towns that exist right here, right now with neatly registered zip codes.

Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Reflection, Resources Tagged Definitions, Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project (EKAAAMP), Local history, Partners

Why Archives Matter

Why Archives Matter
Why invest in creating an archive? Learn about how your own artifacts and stories have the power to enrich your community. Your story is important.
Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Resources, Video Tagged Archival Collections, Curation, Definitions, Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project (EKAAAMP), Local history, Partners

Copyright and Community-Driven Archives

When it comes to protecting intellectual property that is part of your or your community’s history, it helps to understand what legal rights apply to your materials.

Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, How-to Guide, Resources Tagged Access, Definitions, Description, Local history, Methods, Oral History, Partners

Copyright and Legal Issues in Archives

Copyright and Legal Issues in Archives
Have questions about how to protect your and your collaborators’ intellectual property? Starting a project and want to do what you can to protect your participants’ control over how their stories are shared in the future? Listen to this overview of legal considerations for community archivists with Anne Gilliland, JD, MLS, Scholarly Communications Officer at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Resources, Video Tagged Access, Archival Collections, Local history, Methods

Types of Digital Storage

The difference between preserving something and making something accessible to the public is important for communities to consider when managing digital files.

Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Infographic, Resources Tagged Access, Definitions, Methods, Open Source Software, Storage

Sample Oral History Consent Form

Before conducting an oral history interview, make sure to create a consent form for you and your interviewee to sign.

Published February 12, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Resources, Template Tagged Methods, Oral History, Tools

Why are Oral Histories Important for Community-Driven Archives?

Bernetiae leans over a group of seated African American women to assist them during a training.

From the beginning, the Community-Driven Archives Team has prioritized oral history training and the collection of oral histories as a key part of our work.

Published January 28, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Blog, Reflection, Resources Tagged Appalachian Student Health Coalition (ASHC), Description, Local history, Partners

How to Work with Archival Materials

Archival items, like photos and documents, let you discover history firsthand. Following a general research format can help you find amazing histories.

Published January 6, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, How-to Guide, Infographic, Resources Tagged Archival Formats, Curation, Local history, Methods

Archives 101

Archives 101
What are archives? What to they do? Listen to Community-Driven Archives project director Chaitra Powell talk about archival basics.
Published January 6, 2021
Categorized as Archival Concepts, Resources, Webinar Tagged Access, Archival Collections, Archival Formats, Definitions, Local history, Partnerships

Credits

Community-Driven Archives

Project Duration 2017-2021

designed by
UNC Creative

web development by
Quran Karriem

This website is under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Our Team

María R. Estorino, Principal Investigator
Chaitra Powell, Project Director
Biff Hollingsworth, Co-Investigator
Charlissa Rice, Business Services Coordinator
Sonoe Nakasone, Community Archivist
Kimber Heinz, Outreach Coordinator
Alex Paz Cody, Graduate Research Assistant
Gillian McCuistion, Graduate Research Assistant
Lidia Jo Morris, Graduate Research Assistant

Past Team Members

Bryan Giemza, Principal Investigator
Josephine McRobbie, Community Archivist
Bernetiae Reed, Project Documentarian and Oral Historian
Eldrin Deas, Graduate Research Assistant
Claire Du Laney, Graduate Research Assistant
Brenna Edwards, Graduate Research Assistant
Leah Epting, Graduate Research Assistant
Lucas Kelley, Graduate Research Assistant
Lindsay Terrell, Graduate Research Assistant
Merisa Tomczak, Graduate Research Assistant

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