Shows
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 123: It Had to Be Remote (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of the podcast, return to discuss their archival lives during the pandemic and their plans for the podcast's future and even the one archival trip they have planned for this year.2021-02-2153 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 122: The Myth of Self-Reliance (Natalie Baur)Natalie Baur, Archivist-at-Large, tells us her story of encountering the profession, which transported her to Miami, then Ecuador, and then to Mexico, where her story has become one of an archivist for hire continuing to work in a global pandemic.2020-10-1059 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 121: Max Meyer: Recollections of a Foreign-Born Citizen (Lourdes Font)Karen Jamison Trivette and guest host Alex Joseph interview fashion scholar Lourdes Font, professor of history of art at the Fashion Institute of Technology. They discuss the life and work of Max Meyer, a principal at Abraham Beller and Company, a New York City-based women's cloak and suit manufacturer, and examine how archival materials helped tell his story.2020-10-031h 10
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 120: 2X2: Accounts Payable at a Masonry Company: Why Are They Letting Me Touch This Stuff? (Molly Tighe and Matt Strauss )Molly Tighe and Matt Strauss tells us their stories of moving from a masonry company and Japan into archives, how they met, and how they keep their archives thriving and relevant in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.2020-09-191h 01
An Archivist's TaleThe Archival Enterprise (to David B. Gracy II)After a long absence, An Archivist's Tale presents a poem to David B. Gracy II, one of our guests. Geof Huth of AAT wrote and read this poem.2020-08-2303 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 119: Let's Get One of Those Archivist People (Anne-Flore Laloë)Anne-Flore Laloë, Archivist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, tells us how a masters of English and a PhD in geography led her to archives, what it is like to work with helpful molecular biologists, how she, as a lone archivist, manages an organization with facilities in multiple countries, and how records of science can enchant the mind.2020-06-1057 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 118: Healing Deep Wounds: Enlightening People about the Past and the Present (Saad Eskander)Saad Eskander, former National Archivist of Iraq, speaking to us from Iraqi Kurdistan, tells an inspiring story about his work running his nation's archives and his struggle to repatriate national records taken by the US government and even journalists, and he explains how archives can show us a way to the truth and toward a better and more just world.2020-05-311h 01
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 117: The Box Has Meaning (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)Karen and Geof, hosts of the podcast, return alone together to discuss how their work has changed and how it has remained the same during the coronavirus pandemic. They discuss what they learned about their operations and how they might change when they return to work.2020-05-2859 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 116: Archives is Trending (Rosemary Pleva Flynn)Rosemary Pleva Flynn, the Chair of the Society of American Archivists' Dictionary Working Group, talks about the origins of this just-released Dictionary of Archives Terminology, an online-only dictionary for archivists, explains how entries are created, and details the rich features of the dictionary. Find DAT at dictionary.archivists.org.2020-05-1059 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 115: Advocacy on a Bone-Deep Level (Tamar Zeffren)Tamar Zeffren, Archival Collections Manager at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, tells us how archives kept her from becoming a lawyer, explains how she worked odd archives jobs when beginning her career during the Great Recession, and explains how her archives team continues their work while working from home during the Coronavirus Pandemic.2020-05-041h 00
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 114: History is the Story of People (Greg Hunter)Greg Hunter, Professor at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at Long Island University, tells the stories of his career, stories of almost always starting from scratch and creating archival improvements for the United Negro College Fund, ITT, the Academy of Certified Archivists, the US National Archives, and historical societies on Long Island.2020-04-261h 00
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 113: My Work is My Hobby (Pat Franks)Pat Franks, Professor, and Program Coordinator of the Masters of Archives and Records Administration program at San Jose State University, tells us how a grant opportunity from the New York State Archives led her to records and information management and eventually into a rich career of teaching and writing.2020-04-1956 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 112: We Have the Power to Change Ourselves for the Good (Cliff Hight)Cliff Hight, Head of Special Collections and the University Archivist at Kansas State University, sits down to discuss his life as an archivist, how his archives was prepared for working at home for covid-19 because of another disaster they had experienced, and shows how his career and ours have intersected many times over the years.2020-04-121h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 111: I Could Live Forever (Judy Blankenship)Judy Blankenship, a de facto archivist working to document the visual culture of Cañari people of Andean Ecuador, tells us her story of becoming an accidental archivist after finishing her career and traveling the world.2020-04-041h 01
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 110: Paper is a Virus (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of An Archivist's Tale, discuss how they are conducting their archival and library work while confined at home and living their lives in Manhattan, in the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic.2020-03-2853 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 109: I, Too, Am an Archivist: Why Can't I Go out There and Save the World? (Diedre Dinnigan)Diedre Dinnigan, an Archivist and Heritage Specialist and the Principal of ForKeeps, tells us how stumbling upon an archives changed her life, how she became an archivist because of that, and why she prefers to be an independent archivist in charge of her own destiny and focused on helping people and institutions save and understand their heritage through their archives.2020-03-2159 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 108: A Map to Someone's Life (Ostap Kin)Ostap Kin, Archivist, Librarian, and Research Center Coordinator at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, tells us the story of chance that redirected part of his life from literature to archives, his immigration to the United States, and how archives capture valuable and coherent fragments of the world. (Photo credit: http://alkadabraphotography.com)2020-03-1455 min
dbqpodEpisode 8: All Related to Word and Image (Marvin Sackner)Marvin Sackner, one of the founders of the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, explains how he and his wife became collectors of visual poetry and other works that merge image with text, how they built their renowned collection, and where he donated their assemblage of publications, artworks, and personal papers related to this field.2020-03-0857 minAn Archivist's TaleEpisode 107: All Related to Word and Image (Marvin Sackner)Marvin Sackner, one of the founders of the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, explains how he and his wife became collectors of visual poetry and other works that merge image with text, how they built their renowned collection, and where he donated their assemblage of publications, artworks, and personal papers related to this field. This is a story about the collector as a curator and archivist.2020-03-0757 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 106: Filing Was in My Blood (Rachel Binnington)Rachel Binnington, an American archivist in England, reveals her peripatetic life story that begins when she was a child, tells us of her archival yearnings which began many years be most of ours did, and surprises us with her wide array of archives jobs covering corporate records, US congressional records, and the colonial records of Louisiana.2020-02-291h 02
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 105: One Man with a Dog, One Man with a Kettle (Paul Dryburgh)Paul Dryburgh, Principal Records Specialist (Medieval Records) at the National Archives of the UK, explains how a Medievalist transforms into an archivist and discovers a life full of history, people, technology, and the materiality of records. Humour (in this case), intellectuality, humanity, and diplomatics ensue.2020-02-2259 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 104: A Living Body of Information (Kerstin Arnold)Kerstin Arnold, a cultural heritage professional at Archives Portal Europe tells us of her beginnings at the German Federal Archives and provides the amazing story of how a small band of people aggregate metadata on 55,000 fonds and collections held by European archives to allow people all over the world an easy way to find the information they need through Archives Portal Europe.2020-02-151h 03
dbqpodEpisode 7: Language Astronauts Fidgeting with Alphabet (Nico Vassilakis)Nico Vassilakis, a well known visual poet now living in the Bronx, talks about his vispoetic life, his deep connection to alphabets and the characters therein, and wonders, as he always does, whether we have made it to the historical end of visual poetry. The episode includes a sound poetry performance of part of Öyvind Fahlström’s “Nyarsklockorna” by Nico and the host Geof Huth. We end the episode, after its apparent close, with an improvisational sound poem we call “Juggadugga.”2020-02-1356 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 103: I’d Rather be in Charge of My Own Uncertainty (Margaret Crockett)Margaret Crockett a consultant archivist and records manager with Margaret Crockett, Ltd., and Archive-Skills Consultancy, tells us about her beginnings in government archives, her adventures in archives on the open sea, and how she loves the freedom of being an independent archivist.2020-02-081h 00
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 102: A Mole Costume (Tamara Thornhill)Tamara Thornhill, Corporate Archives Manager at Transport for London, tells us not only her own tale but also the often surprising history of her organization, which oversees almost all of the transportation system in Greater London, include most famously the London Underground.2020-02-011h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 101: A Primal Need to Save Everything (Jennifer Anna)Jennifer Anna, Photo and Digital Asset Manager for the World Wildlife Fund, tells us how cinephilia led her to photography, archives, and a career managing the digital.2020-01-251h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 100: We Don't Travel. All We Do is Talk (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)Karen Trivette and Geof Huth sit down at the end of the year to celebrate the 100th episode of this podcast and discuss their individual archives days, their plans for 2020, the value of archives, and the home they have found for their podcast archives.2020-01-1859 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 99: There's Always Jobs in Archives (Joseph Komljenovich)Joseph Komljenovich, Senior Associate Archivist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, regales us with stories: of how he began his college career studying finance but slipped somehow into archives, about epiphanies, about never having been a normal kid, and even about returning to finance, to some degree, in his current job.2020-01-1157 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 98: I'm Constantly Being Smacked in the Face on Purpose (Cal Lee)Cal Lee, Professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science, invites us to his office to discuss how philosophy and the need to address digital records propelled him into archives and how he has connected himself deeply into the archival profession nationally and internationally.2020-01-041h 04
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 97: Once the Sallie Bingham Center Got Its Hooks in Me (Kelly Wooten)Kelly Wooten, Librarian at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, invites us into her home to enjoy her cats and to discuss her career in libraries and archives, one focused on women's work, girl's literature, and zines.2019-12-2859 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 96: That Mechanism That Can Improve People's Lives (Chrystal Carpenter)Chrystal Carpenter, Coordinator of University Archives and Special Collections, tells us about her beginnings in Egyptology, her experiences dealing with the aftermath of a massacre, her rich and broad career, and an attempt to reframe what the Archives Leadership Institute could be.2019-12-211h 04
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 95: 2X2: The Mobile Archive is Essentially a Bike (Sophie Glidden-Lyon and Daniel Pecoraro)Sophie Glidden-Lyon and Daniel Pecoraro, volunteers at the Interference Archive in Brooklyn, tell us the history of the Archive, how this community archives makes records on social movements available to the public, and all about their cataloging parties.2019-12-121h 07
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 94: My Place in Archives (Aaron Purcell)Aaron Purcell, Director of Special Collections and University Archives at Virginia Tech, recounts his journey from the history of the French Revolution to archives, his professional focus on donor relations, and his place in archives.2019-12-071h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 93: 2X2: Happy Accidents (Kate Theimer and Jim Gerencser)Kate Theimer, writer and editor, and her husband, Jim Gerencser, College Archivist at Dickinson College, tell us of their lives together as two archivists and the amazing accomplishments they have achieved.2019-11-301h 15
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 92: The Guy Who Writes "Records Express" (Arian Ravanbakhsh)Arian Ravanbakhsh, Supervisory Records Management Policy Analyst at the Office of the Chief Records Officer at the US National Archives, tells us how his life has always revolved around the District of Columbia and explains his important work developing records management policies for the federal government.2019-11-2357 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 91: To Allow Archivists to Bring Their Brilliance to the Forefront (Alex Duryee)Alex Duryee, Metadata Archivist at the New York Public Library, tells us how he became an archivist as a teenager but discovered it was a profession only later in life, and also explains the archival magic of integrated systems of metadata.2019-11-1656 min
dbqpodEpisode 6: The Place Where I Work is Still Language (Donato Mancini)Donato Mancini, visual poet and artist, sits down for a wide-ranging talk about visual and concrete poetry, the great bpNichol, the octothorpe, Titus Andronicus, climate change, and how a typewriter poem cannot ever be typed perfectly.2019-11-151h 09
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 90: It Was Also Actually Fun to be in Basements (Stephen Novak)Stephen Novak, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the Augusta C. Long Health Sciences Library at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, tells us how the records of a murder first intrigued him about archives and then tells the stories of a long a rich career that touched just about everything an archivist might ever do.2019-11-091h 08
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 89: The Memory of Society (Hrefna Robertsdottir)Hrefna Róbertsdóttir, National Archivist of Iceland, provides a wide view of the archival program of Iceland, its national and regional archives, and how these have responsibility for the records of the whole of society, all while Iceland works closely with other archives on international issues.2019-11-021h 00
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 88: If You Have Their Diaries, You Can See Their Dreams (Njörður Sigurðsson)Njörður Sigurðsson, Director of Acquisition and Access at the National Archives of Iceland, tells his story of becoming an archivist after studying the history of foster children, explains the archives world of Iceland, and discusses his work internationally addressing the thorny issue of displaced archives.2019-10-261h 05
dbqpodEpisode 5: Once You Know How to Read, You Can't Unread (Ragnhildur Jóhanns)Ragnhildur Jóhanns, a visual artist and visual poet based in Reykjavík, Iceland, talks to us about her visual poetry, which takes the forms of collages, object, paintings, and more. Working in Icelandic and English, her work interrogates the meaning and meaninglessness of language while always addressing the inherent joy of the visually beautiful.2019-10-2159 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 87: Compelled by the Image and What that Might Convey (Ashley Levine)Ashley Levine, Archivist and Digital Resource Manager at Artifex Press, tells us about his move from pure archives to a more modern kind of hybrid archivist role, how all archivists must learn new skills all the time and why their versatility helps them with that, and he explains why archivists realize there is a social urgency to information, the preservation of information, and truth.2019-10-191h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 86: The Connections between Then and Now (Nicole Milano)Nicole Milano, Head of the Medical Center Archives at NewYork Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses how her study of history and her travels led her to archives, discusses how being a lone arranger helped her practice the breadth of archives, and she also speaks about her experiences helping run a podcast and attending the Archives Leadership Institute.2019-10-121h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 85: This Tape Recorder is Still On (Heather Lember)Heather Lember, a processing archivist at New York Public Library, tells us of her life trip from being a musician to an archivist and finally to the archivist working on the extensive papers of Lou Reed, most of which consisted of audio recordings in many formats. She explains the challenges and joys of processing large archival collections.2019-10-051h 01
dbqpodEpisode 4: That Really Finished Me for Words (Rosaire Appel)Rosaire Appel, an active visual poet who works in radical asemic forms, discusses how she changed from being a painter to a photographer to a novelist and then a visual poet. She discusses her inspirations along the way and explains her various bookmaking practices.2019-09-291h 01
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 84: When I Go to That Great Old Booking Table in the Sky (Patty Sicular)Patty Sicular, co-owner of Iconic Focus Models, tells us the story of her career in the fashion and modeling industry, which led to her becoming an archivist by necessity. She discusses working with iconic models, such as Carmen Dell’Orefice (still modeling at age 88), and her plans for donating the archives she has retained.2019-09-2845 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 83: My Job is to Empower People (Meredith Evans)Meredith Evans, Director of the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and President of the Society of American Archivists, tells us why she was always meant to be an archivist, how she practices archives from a community perspective, why the keeping of archival evidence is so important, and how records touch all people.2019-09-211h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 82: 2X2: The Power of These Primary Sources to Bring Meaning (Ben and Sara Brumfield)In a passionate episode, Sara and Ben Brumfield, the founders of FromThePage, describe how they, as software developers, are obsessed by making cultural material accessible, how they work with archivists across the world on such projects, and how their passion encompasses both protecting cultures and making their tangible pieces more available.2019-09-141h 04
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 81: Archivists Inspire Me (David B. Gracy II)David B. Gracy II, an archivist who needs no introduction, discusses how history changed the entire course of his life until archives did the same, recounts some of his long and distinguished history in the field, and talks (as he often does) about what we as archivists need to be and to do.2019-09-071h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 80: You're Telling a Story (Kate Saeed)Kate Saeed, Manuscripts Processor at the Geisel Library of the University of California San Diego, discusses her start in history, her discovery of archives, and how she came into the profession without a degree in the field and how she trained herself into the job. Along the way, she discusses her work on the teleplay for The Archivist, her manuscripts processing and a little bit about the Dr Seuss collection.2019-08-311h 12
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 79: 2X2 My Eavesdropping Angel (Rex Pickett and Kate Saeed)Rex Pickett, the author of the novel Sideways, and Kate Saeed, the archivist at UC San Diego who processed his papers, discuss Rex's introduction to the world of archives, their collaboration on the teleplay for a limited series called The Archivist, the novel based on that teleplay that Rex is finishing, and Hollywood.2019-08-241h 16
dbqpodEpisode 3: You Have to Have the Courage to Start and You Have to Have to Have the Courage to Stop (Karri Kokko)My good friend and pensioner, the Finnish poet Karri Kokko, comes to visit me in Oslo and sits down to talk about how he became a visual poet, about his practice as a visual poet, and a little bit about our visual poetry adventures in Europe over the years.2019-08-2158 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 78: We Don't Want to Know How High You Jumped Yesterday (Jake Salik)Jake Salik of Talas tells us how he ended up with a business selling archival supplies, how difficult it is becoming to find and sell traditionally crafted paper, and why Talas makes boxes to order and sells multiple types of parchment and even gold-beater's skin. Gold-beater's skin?2019-08-1759 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 77: Saving the Sound of the Record (Anthony Cocciolo)Anthony Cocciolo, the Dean of the School of Information at Pratt Institute, talks to us about his transition from computer science to archives and how he ended up teaching and also writing the book on how to care for archival audio-visual records.2019-08-1058 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 76: I'm a Bureaucrat at Heart, Downloading Things at Night Like a Pirate on a Raid (Geir Walderhaug)Geir Walderhaug, Advisor and Records Manager at the University at Oslo, discusses his work as a government archivist and records manager, hermeneutics, and how government records are managed in Norway. He also talks about the international nature of archives and his role in the expansive world of archives.2019-08-031h 06
dbqpodEpisode 2: From Paper to Film: Reanimating Concrete Poetry in the 21st Century (Ottar Ormstad)Visual poet Ottar Ormstad of Oslo, Norway, tells me the story of how he started as a concrete poet at the end of the concrete period only to returns decades later with a great concrete esthetic that led him to create concrete videopoems of great reserved beauty. He also explains a little about his love of yellow and the letter y.2019-07-311h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 75: Context is the Thing (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of An Archivist's Tale, tell their own tales of their archivist lives at this moment and their plans for future writing and podcasting.2019-07-271h 00
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 74: The More You Know, the Better You Do (Sheila Almond)Sheila Almond, the Records Management Officer for the Orange-Ulster BOCES, tells us how microfilming led her into records management, how records storage areas do not always hold the most pleasant of creatures, and how she and her staff have helped transform the management of archives and records in many local governments in southeastern New York State.2019-07-201h 01
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 73: The Influencers and the Resisters (Steve Goodfellow)Steve Goodfellow of Access Systems tells us the harrowing story he told his wife during their honeymoon, how he went from selling recordkeeping systems to designing them, and how Abraham Lincoln shows up in the most unexpected places.2019-07-131h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 72: And the Archives Was Located in the Library (Bill Saffady)Bill Saffady, an independent consultant and researcher, tells the story of his movements from history to libraries to archives to records management, his peripatetic life teaching records management to a generation, and something about what drives him to work and teach and write. Caution: Laughter.2019-07-0659 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 71: But in a Split Second It's History (Valerie Komor)Valerie Komor, the Director of Corporate Archives at the Associated Press, tells the stories of how she became an archivist, of archival stories in her family and her work from around the world, and of the similarities between archivists and journalists.2019-06-2957 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 70: Something in My Genetic Structure (Lauren Brown)Lauren Brown, the MARAC (Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference) Historian and longtime MARAC Archivist, recounts how he knows he was born an archivist, his travels from the west to the east coasts of the US, his work with the AFL-CIO and Spiro Agnew at the University of Maryland, and many deep stories about the history of MARAC.2019-06-221h 00
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 69: The Prehistory of Your Research Topic (Robert Parnica)Robert Parnica, Senior Reference Archivist at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, tells us why archivists need to be active in society, why archivists are always needed even in online environments, how curated collections of digital surrogates can be their own natural archives, and how he helps researchers use his archives' rich collection of records relating to communism and human rights.2019-06-151h 01
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 68: I Saw a Warner Brothers Cartoon (Örs Lehel Tari)Örs Lehel Tari, Archivist at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, discusses how a cartoon led him to archives, how he trained as an archivist at work, how he studied archives remotely through the University of Dundee, and what it's like being a processing archivist with a multi-lingual backlog.2019-06-0851 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 67: The Knowledge Never Stops (Nina Gostencnik)Nina Gostenčnik, Deputy Director of the Regional Archives of Maribor, Slovenia, explains her work at her archives (which acquires government, personal, and organizational records), the problem of reunifying records in the nations that formerly made up Yugoslavia, and how the seven archives of Slovenia operate.2019-06-011h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 66: The Algorithmic Responsibility (Hrvoje Stancic)Hrvoje Stančić, Chair of Archival and Documentation Sciences at the University of Zagreb, discusses his work on the international multi-year InterPARES project investigating the means to achieve trustworthiness, his teaching schedule, his dictionary of archival terms in Croatian, and how we often only authenticate the fakeness of a record.2019-05-2558 min
dbqpodEpisode 1: I Don't Find the Words (Márton Koppány)The well known Hungarian conceptual and visual poet Márton Koppány tells the story of how he became a visual poet, explains how he came to have the most Hungarian of surnames, why he makes the poetry he does, and spends much time telling jokes and laughing, as the two of us drink glasses of palinka and our wives listen amusedly to us talk.2019-05-231h 04
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 65: They Got the Photo but No One Saw the Movie (Bogdan Florin Popovic)Bogdan Florin Popovici, Head of the Brsov County Archives, discusses his almost accidental start in the school of archival science (which was part of the police academy), how the National Archives of Romania functions, working for a great archivist, and the “truth” of archives.2019-05-181h 08
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 64: From Enriched Uranium to Pickles (Gabriella Ivacs)Gabriella Ivacs, Head of the Archives and Records Management Section of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, discusses her work for the agency, the Roma of Europe, the EU's GDPR, and how archives compensate for lost cultural heritage.2019-05-1157 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 63: Calculate a Retention Based on the Half-Life of an Isotope (Andy Potter)Andy Potter, Electronic Records Policy Analyst for the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, tells us about his passion for audio, and his work managing records, working with government agencies, and (soon) helping set records policies for the federal government.2019-05-041h 02
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 62: The Presence of Absence (John Slate)John Slate, City Archivist for the City of Dallas, spins a tale of being caught in the web of archives before his thirteenth birthday, and how he returns to the source of that capture in his first professional job. He ends up in Dallas, providing essential information for the city, its citizens, and users from anywhere else—all while protecting the assets of the city using the city's archival assets.2019-04-2755 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 61: Bearing Witness to People's Sorrow (Joseph Coen)Joseph Coen, Archivist at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, talks about his beginnings as an archivist working in local government, his professional work in that community, and how he came to work for the diocese, where he has served many researchers and worked to document the diversity of Catholicism in his diverse diocese.2019-04-201h 07
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 59: A Sustainable Model for Archives (Polina Ilieva)Polina Ilieva, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the University of California San Francisco, tells us how she moved to the U.S. and became an archivist. She also explains how she documents her university as well as the history of medicine and the histories of patients, while also maintaining the Industry Documents Library, consisting of documents created by industries that influence public health.2019-04-0658 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 58: Craving That Connection with Objects We Can Hold (Kate Goad)Kate Goad, the Assistant Librarian at the four-year-old Letterform Archives, discusses her work in a private special collections focusing on books, posters, and other printed material, but also holding archival materials, all documenting the richness of typographical design.2019-03-3056 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 57: I Like to Be Hybrid, Too (Margery Sly)Margery Sly, Director of Special Collections at Temple University, talks to us about her broad and diverse career as an archivist, some of her wide-ranging work for the Society of American Archivists, and the huge collection of archives, manuscripts, and rare books Special Collections manages, even as they prepare for a huge move.2019-03-231h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 56: We Have the Best Job (George Blood)George Blood, President of George Blood LP, reveals how a beginning in music turned him into someone intent on preserving audio-visual records for the future. George discusses his company's small beginnings, its recent move into a large new space outside Philadelphia, the 152 audio-visual formats they can convert, their constant search for old av equipment—and the five Emmy awards he has received for his audio production work.2019-03-161h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 55: 2X2: We Sponsored the Towson Reception (Marisa Bourgoin and John LeGloahec)The married couple, Marisa Bourgoin (Head of Reference Services at the Archives of American Art) and John LeGloahec (Archives Specialist in the Electronic Records Division of the National Archives) discuss their very different career paths, how they met and grew their relationship, and how John managed through the 2019 shutdown of the federal government. You can also learn how Nelson Rockefeller died.2019-03-091h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 54: A Furloughed Records Manager (Cheryl Stadel-Bevans)Cheryl Stadel-Bevans, a Records Management Specialist for the U.S. federal government, explains how someone with a bachelor's and master's in mathematics becomes an archivist and records management and loves the work. She also recounts her experiences as a furloughed worker in the record-breaking longest federal shutdown of all times on the day (unknown to her at the time) of the last work day of the furlough.2019-03-021h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 53: Eating Old Onions (Chris Muller)Chris Muller, founder and former CEO of Muller Media Conversions, tells us how he moved from writing code for Grumman to rescuing data from distressed, damaged, and obsolete media. His story covers the globe and some of the major stories of the recent past (Watergate, Whitewater, and WorldCom). The episode includes an account of his experience in downtown New York City during 9/11.2019-02-231h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 52: Yes, We Have the Body Here (Jessica Newell)Jessica Newell, Archivist at the Edgar Cayce Foundation, recounts her movement from history into archives, and tells us what it is like to manage the archives of the famous American spiritualist Edgar Cayce. This episode is filled with parapsychology, metaphysical readings, and the interesting story of an American family preserving its history.2019-02-1654 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 51: I Guess I Was Good at Osmosis (Bob Sink)Bob Sink, former archivist of the New York Public Library, begins his story during the civil rights era, when he was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, and he explains how his desire to ensure justice brought him into archives. He discusses the joys of creating and maintaining an institutional archives and of his research into the librarians of NYPL. Alexa makes a brief appearance in this episode.2019-02-091h 02
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 50: A Virus of Meaning (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)On their fiftieth episode, Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of An Archivist's Tale, discuss what they have helped create with the podcast over the preceding year and their plans for the podcast for this year, including travel to San Francisco, Slovenia, Hungary, and Austria. Karen discusses her big project for her institutional archives and her talk coming up in Slovenia. Geof explains why he has begun writing frequent online essays covering various issues in archival theory.2019-02-021h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 49: Total Domination of All Information (Bonnie Marie Sauer)Bonnie Marie Sauer, Director of Archives and Records Management at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, discusses her move from public relations to archives, her career from government to performing arts organizations, and the constant need for inreach and outreach in archives.2019-01-261h 04
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 48: A Guinea Pig, a Turtle, and a Duckling (David Kay)David Kay, Digital Archivist for Optimity Advisors and the founder of Digital Archivy (http://www.digitalarchivy.com/), tells the story of his fall into archives (particularly digital archives), his work as an archivist for an animated television program, and his efforts to help design the Society of American Archivist's Digital Archives Specialist certification program. This is the first of our episodes to end with a limerick.2019-01-191h 04
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 47: My Goal as a Kid Was Really to Be a Mailman (Peter Wosh)Peter Wosh, retired Director of the Archives and Public History Program at New York University, tells the tale of his early life, how his interest in history was spurred by his interest in the history of his own neighborhood, his varied carreer, his interest in Waldo Gifford Leland, and his work training a generation of archivists.2019-01-121h 01
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 46: The Frankenstein Factor (Toya Dubin)Toya Dubin, President of Hudson Archival, recounts her early life as the daughter of a microfilming company executive (her father) and a records manager (her mother), and as a girl who learned from ballet the need for excellence, before she describes the interesting collaborations she has had and solutions she has developed for archives, museums, and other institutions interested in memory.2019-01-051h 02
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 45: Access, Mentorship, Cultural Record, Truth (Pamela Cruz)Pamela Cruz, an archives executive, relates the surprising story of her move to New York City to fulfill a goal only to become an asset manager for the records and artifacts of businesses (Polo Ralph Lauren and Miramax) before those experiences helped make her an archivist for various institutions, even Girl Scouts USA.2018-12-2953 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 44: I Had My Eye Set on Gotham (Ryan Anthony Donaldson)Ryan Anthony Donaldson, Senior Manager of Heritage and Information Services at the Durst Organization, explains how auctions led him to museums and museums led him to archives, how he accidentally created his own first archives job, and what it is like working for a large real estate firm that is also a family business with a constant eye to the future that is informed by its understanding of the past.2018-12-221h 06
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 43: 2X2: Our Retention Period is Permanent (Kerri Anne Burke and Alan Delozier)Kerri Anne Burke, Global Curator of the City Heritage Collection at Citi Group, and Alan Delozier, University Archivist and Education Coordinator at Seton Hall University, who are married to each other, inaugurate the 2X2 series of podcasts, where one archivist couple interviewing another archivist couple. Learn how they discovered the profession, discovered each other, and solve archival problems together.2018-12-151h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 42: This Mysterious Process by Which (Elizabeth Myers)Elizabeth Myers, Director of Special Collections at Smith College, discusses how she developed an interest in archives while working on her Ph.D. in history, how she studied to teach herself to be an archivist, and how she moved from a job as a lone arranger to one managing people at Wayne State and Smith. We also discuss deaccessioning and the Archives Leadership Institute in depth.2018-12-0859 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 41: Well, This is One Form of Records Disposition (Kent Stuetz)Kent Stuetz, former Regional Advisory Officer for the New York State Archives, recounts his tales of helping local governments manage their archives and records, supporting one of the largest grants programs for records in the world, and participating in two successful statewide archives advocacy initiatives.2018-12-011h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 40: The Secret of Danna (Danna Bell)Danna Bell, Educational Resource Specialist at the Library of Congress, discusses her unexpected beginning as a college dormitory director through her transition to archives and her eventual transformation into a multivalent information professional. Along the way, she discusses the librarianization of archives, her deep work as a leader of archival associations, and her professional focus on service.2018-11-241h 02
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 39: Using Archives to Resist Erasure (Josue Hurtado)Josue Hurtado, Coordinator Public Services and Outreach at the Special Collections Research Center of Temple University, discusses his beginnings in archives at Stanford University, his work with records relating to the AIDS crisis while working at University of California San Francisco, his work at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan, his current position and his work as the coordinator of the Committee for Diversity & Inclusion for the Mid-Atlantic Archives Conference.2018-11-171h 01
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 38: Original Order: SUV (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of An Archivist's Tale, recount their time at the meeting of the International Council of Archives' Section on University Archives and Research Institutions held in Salamanca, Spain, in October 2018, including the issue of translation in multi-lingual conferences, the death of Geof's former colleague Art Sniffin just before the conference, and the value of the papers they heard and of the friends they made in Salamanca.2018-11-1049 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 37: Archetypes of Ideas (William J. Maher)William J. Maher, the Director of University Archives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, discusses his start as an archivist, his professional involvement in the Society of American Archivists and the International Council of Archives, his thoughts on the true meaning of "archives," the importance of archives as evidence, and his work internationally regarding intellectual property rights. (Photo Credit: Brian Stauffer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)2018-11-0357 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 36: Yearning to Understand (Shelley Sweeney)Shelley Sweeney, Head of the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections, describes her work with Indigenous Canadians decolonizing and indigenizing archives, with the Canadian Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, her professional involvement nationally and internationally, and her experience with archives of the paranormal.2018-10-271h 05
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 35: An Unreconstructed Paper Person (Geoff Williams)In a laugh-filled episode, Geoff Williams, former University Archivist at the University at Albany, SUNY, talks to An Archivist's Tale about how he accidentally became an archivist, his first (which was also his last) job as an archivist, his interest in service and in college history, his "Ask Geoff" column, and a little about his influence on Geof Huth, a protege of sorts of his.2018-10-201h 12
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 26: FYI—ALI (Geof Huth and Karen Trivette)In a special episode, Geof Huth and Karen Trivette discuss their experiences at the 2018 Archives Leadership Institute held at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. Karen recounts her experience as a member of that cohort, and Geof reflects on the seven ALIs he has attended, one as a cohort member, and the last six, including this one, as a member of the ALI Steering Committee.2018-08-181h 03
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 24: I Orchestrate Camaraderie (Mark Nigro)Mark Nigro, Learning Training Coordinator of Brushy Fork Institute at Berea College, talks to An Archivist's Tale about his work helping people and groups achieve their potential and collaborate effectively. Mark reviews his career and about his work with the Archives Leadership Institute as a primary instructor over the last three years. Karen, Geof, and Mark also review their experiences at this last year of ALI held in Berea.2018-08-0455 min
An Archivist's TaleEpisode 1: An Archives Couple of Archivists (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)Karen Trivette and Geof Huth discuss their lives as archivists, how they came into the profession, why they are still there, and why they are passionate about their profession. (10 February 2018, New York, NY)2018-02-1059 min