The Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (JCAS) announces the publication of two new articles:
"Listening to Ghosts in the Appalachian Mountains: The Western North Carolina Tomorrow's Black Oral History Project as a Community Archive," written by Elizabeth Harper.
Download the article: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol11/iss1/7/
Abstract: This case study invites archivists to broaden our understanding of what constitutes a community archive using the Western North Carolina Tomorrow Black Oral History Project as its focus. The oral history project captured the experiences of Black elders in Western North Carolina in the 1980s and provides a unique insight into a Black community in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The leaders and participants wanted this project to increase Black representation in Appalachian history and intended the materials be distributed widely. However, university staff kept the collection closed for almost forty years, and it was only opened in 2018. Fitting definitions, goals, and challenges of current community archives project, this legacy collection benefited from empathetic stewardship by listening to the ghosts in the collection – the project creators, interviewees, and others excluded from the historical record – and by challenging the opinions and actions of former university staff. As the archival profession wrestles with legacies of institutional harm, using a broader definition of community archives allows archivists at organizations not currently engaged or unable to engage in traditional community archiving to join a larger movement of empathetic archival work. By identifying collections that were removed and withheld from their communities or otherwise treated without proper respect and care, we can continue to acknowledge and remedy institutional harm and oppression.
"'What the Heck Am I Looking At?': A User-Based Examination of the Metadata Associated with Digital Archival Objects," written by Donald Force.
Download the article: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol11/iss1/8/
Abstract: Digital archival collections are invaluable resources for many different types of users. These collections, and the digital objects within them, allow users to remotely access primary and secondary sources that are often too difficult to view in person due to time and cost. These resources, however, are not without their limitations. One of the most significant challenges that users face in using these collections is understanding the original context of the object. Ideally, the metadata that accompanies most digital surrogates should serve as a bridge between the digital object and its physical counterpart. The project discussed in this paper examines this relationship. Drawing on interviews with twenty-one academic historians from Research 1 institutions in the United States, the author found that these users rely on a set of metadata to help them comprehend the original context of the digital object. Other metadata associated with the digital surrogate may facilitate communication with the archives that holds the physical object or lead the researcher down additional paths of investigation. The author concludes the article with recommendations for how archivists can improve the metadata associated with digital surrogates.
JCAS is a peer-reviewed, open access journal sponsored by the New England Archivists, Yale University Library, and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
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Sally Blanchard-O'Brien
Marketing & Outreach Associate
Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies
email.jcas@gmail.com
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