Recently, three members of SAASC’s Executive Board and two members of the chapter made it up to Sacramento, California’s historic Grand Sheraton hotel for the Society of California Archivists (SCA) Annual General Meeting. For those unfamiliar with SCA, this organization works to “support and develop the education of those who collect, care for, and provide access to the documentary heritage of California and adjoining areas,” while also promoting public interest of archives through programming and events (SCA, n.d.). This year’s Annual General Meeting was titled “History of the People,” and featured tours of local libraries and archives, two afternoons of sessions with speakers from institutions across California, social receptions, and our favorite, a poster session that featured some of the amazing projects of our own SAASC members and fellow iSchool classmates! 

California State Capitol, from https://www.assembly.ca.gov/public-services/visit-state-capitol 

Thursday featured a tour of the California Room at the Sacramento Public Library, a workshop introducing transfers from VHS tape with the Bay Area Video Convention, and a reception at the historic Elks Tower in downtown Sacramento. Friday was just as action packed, starting with a new-member meet-and-greet breakfast and a plenary address by Dr. William J. Bauer, co-author of We Are the Land: A History of Native California. We moved into an afternoon of speaker sessions — a few highlights included: 

• Collaborating to Share “Hidden” History, which explored the historic Broadway neighborhood in Santa Monica, California through archival and outreach efforts made by the Quinn Research Community, Santa Monica Public Library, and the Santa Monica History Museum 
• Level Up! Archivists Are Unlocking the “Extra Life” for Video Games, where SJSU iSchool and SAASC Executive Board Member alumna Alison Quirion presented an overview of the current state of game archives, the types of materials archived, the unique needs of their end users, and the challenges of building and maintaining game archives,  using examples from her own work and the work of colleagues within the  industry.

Next on Friday afternoon came the poster sessions! The list below gives you an idea of the breadth of subjects covered at the conference, and the photo below shows SAASC Executive Board Members Katrina, Mia, and Erin in front of their poster, repping SJSU! Are you curious about what it’s like to present your work at a conference, or have thought about it but are hesitant to apply? We strongly encourage you to watch a recording of our last event, “Writing and presenting: Students share their conference experiences,” where we discuss this exact topic and hear from SJSU student  presenters! 

• From Enemies to Friends: Incompatible prints – Hannah Rogers, Krystel Jimenez
• A Collaborative Approach to Engaging Students in Meaningful Career Exploration – Katrina Williams, et al.
• La Historia: Creating a sustainable community archive – Rosa Pena
• SAA Dataverse – Maggie Hughes
• The Forward Clubhouse Turns 100 – a case study in archival outreach in an all-volunteer historical society – Sarah Lewis
• Digitizing and Describing the Southeast Asia Community Resource Center Collection – Elyse Fox, Lynn Drennan, Pachia Lucy Vang
• Ready – Or Not Emergency Preparedness for Cultural Collections – Hillary Ellis, et al.
• All’s Fair in People and Archives: The Los Angeles County Fair and the Celebration of Culture, Heritage, and History of Southern California – Andrew Kopp

SAASC Executive Board Members Katrina, Mia, and Erin in front of their poster!

Saturday concluded with a few more great sessions, including Community-Centered Archives Practice and the Institution: Transforming Education, Archives, and Community History, where speakers Speakers from UC Irvine, the California Digital Library, and Orange County Heritage Museum illustrated community-centered archives partnerships and initiatives that support social justice and ethnic studies educational objectives in California. The three panelists described their efforts to identify actionable strategies to support ethical and responsible representation of marginalized histories in digital collections, exhibits, and documentation projects. The Sheraton Grand in Sacramento was bustling with excitement from the nearby Kings game, but sadly it was time for the archivists to pack up and head home! We hope you’ll consider staying engaged with the Society of California Archivists for their future meetings, events, and opportunities. 

As always, if you are interested in becoming a member of SAASC, you can find out more here. This Thursday, April 20th we will officially begin the call to sign up for SAASC’s Personal Archive Project! You can find out about it via the SAASC Group Discussion on Canvas. Also, be sure to attend The Personal Archive Introduction with kYmberly Keeton next Tuesday, April 25th for all the details. We would love to see you on our social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, or you can email us directly at SJSUSAASC@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments. Thank you for reading!

References: 

Society of California Archivists. (n.d.). About. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://calarchivists.org/About_SCA/Mission