{"id":10482,"date":"2023-08-14T09:43:59","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T13:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=10482"},"modified":"2023-08-15T10:54:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T14:54:02","slug":"saa-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=10482","title":{"rendered":"SAA Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This post was written by SCRC Student Assistant Vilma Chicas Garcia.<\/em><\/p>\n

This past Society of American Archivists (SAA) conference was my first ever. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting going in. However, I came out with much more than I ever thought I would. Initially, I thought perhaps speakers would discuss ways to make the job easier or more efficient, and while there were some of those discussions, what I quickly came to realize was that many of the panelists focused on what it meant to be an archivist. Focus was placed on what this role means for the archivists, the materials their archives hold, and their role within their community.<\/p>\n

One of the first sessions I attended, titled She Wasn’t Difficult, She Was Grieving: Emotional Intelligence in Archival Interactions<\/em>, focused on how grief and pain can affect those who work with archival materials, including donors, researchers, students, and the archivists themselves. As a student and being so new to the field, I, fortunately, haven’t worked with anything that has negatively impacted me, and honestly, I wouldn’t be sure if I would have known if I was. These panelists emphasized how it can be rather difficult to come to terms with how your work may be impacting your mental health and how to know when you need to take time away from a project. They also spoke about the process that many may go through when archival materials cause one to experience (or re-experience) trauma. It was beneficial information to have in mind.<\/p>\n

Many other sessions I attended focused on inclusivity and reparative description work that archivists are implementing. One session I attended was titled Raising Their Voices<\/em>, which presented a project with Iron Mountain Entertainment Services and the Military Women’s Memorial in which they digitized over 500 tapes that contained hours of storytelling in hopes of making the experiences of military women more accessible to the public. The project was done extremely well, in my opinion, and it was wonderful witnessing how much importance and value these archivists placed in the stories of active and retired military women.<\/p>\n

Similarly, two more sessions focused on uplifting commonly silenced voices. The first was titled Leveraging Collections to Tell the Complete D.C. History and Engage Community<\/em>, which placed its focus on African Americans, Latines, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and other groups that influence D.C. culture and life. The next was titled Indigenize SNAC: Informing Discovery and Access of Indigenous Materials<\/em>, which highlighted current projects that work to connect indigenous communities with materials held in different institutions, including the SNAC project, the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, and the Indigenous Description Group. Both sessions highlighted their actions to update outdated, harmful archival descriptions and replace them with accurate ones.<\/p>\n

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that these archivists didn’t shy away from hard conversations. Many took accountability for their own mistakes and the mistakes of past archivists and presented ideas to better the field as a whole. Guests had the opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts after each session, and it was nice to witness how welcoming and open an environment SAA created. I would absolutely love to go again.<\/p>\n

Follow SCRC on Social Media and look out for future posts on our\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0<\/em>Twitter<\/a> accounts. To search the collections\u00a0held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our\u00a0<\/em>website<\/a>\u00a0and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail\u00a0us at\u00a0<\/em>speccoll@gmu.edu<\/a>\u00a0or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was written by SCRC Student Assistant Vilma Chicas Garcia. This past Society of American Archivists (SAA) conference was my first ever. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting going in. However, I came out with much more than I ever thought I would. Initially, I thought perhaps speakers would discuss ways to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101014,"featured_media":10484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,121,784],"tags":[686,802,626,214],"class_list":["post-10482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-scrc-interest","category-scrc-picks","category-studentreflections","tag-conference","tag-society-of-american-archivists","tag-student-reflections","tag-undergraduate-students"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAA.png?fit=1921%2C481&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-2J4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7876,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7876","url_meta":{"origin":10482,"position":0},"title":"The Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"August 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The week of August 13th, members of Special Collections Research Center attended the Society of American Archivists' (SAA) Annual Meeting which was held in Washington, D.C. at the Wardman Park Marriott. The Society of American Archivists is \"North America's oldest and largest national professional association dedicated to the needs and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018_AnnualMeeting_Logo_resized.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018_AnnualMeeting_Logo_resized.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2018_AnnualMeeting_Logo_resized.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8721,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=8721","url_meta":{"origin":10482,"position":1},"title":"SAA Annual Meeting 2019","author":"Lynn Eaton","date":"August 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This year only two members of SCRC were able to attend the SAA Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. This meeting in particular was a fiery one to say the least. Without further ado, here are our Director's impressions of the 2019 Annual Meeting! Lynn Eaton - Director Tacos = Austin.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/saa.jpg?fit=465%2C310&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10776,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=10776","url_meta":{"origin":10482,"position":2},"title":"Student Reflections","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"December 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog post was written by Vilma Chicas Garcia and Colin McDonald, former SCRC student workers. Congrats on graduating, Vilma and Colin! My Experience at SCRC by Vilma Chicas Garcia I began working at the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) during the 2022 Fall semester, and at the time, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "SCRC interest"","block_context":{"text":"SCRC interest","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/colidgrad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/colidgrad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/colidgrad.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/colidgrad.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/colidgrad.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7468,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7468","url_meta":{"origin":10482,"position":3},"title":"SCRC is Thankful for Student Assistants","author":"admin","date":"November 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Special Collections Research Center's full time staff forms the core of our workforce, but we would not be able to efficiently arrange and describe collections and make them available to our users without the dedicated service of our student wage workers and interns. The processing team, which turns boxes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GMU Fairfax Campus"","block_context":{"text":"GMU Fairfax Campus","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=272"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/pencil-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/pencil-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/pencil-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/pencil-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/pencil-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8085,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=8085","url_meta":{"origin":10482,"position":4},"title":"SCRC at MARAC in Morgantown","author":"admin","date":"April 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Mason's Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) was well represented at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) in Morgantown, WV last week. Records Management Specialist Nick Welsh attended, Processing Coordinator Amanda Brent served on the Program Committee, and Research Services Coordinator Brittney Falter and I - Manuscripts and Archives Librarian Liz\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Capture.jpg?fit=815%2C367&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8908,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=8908","url_meta":{"origin":10482,"position":5},"title":"The Two Ends of the Restaurant","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"November 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog post was written by Christopher Babbitt, Processing Student Assistant. Christopher holds a Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Economics from George Mason University. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in History from George Mason University. 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