Women’s Collections Roundtable Annual Meeting 2012
Meeting Minutes – August 8, 2012, San Diego, CA
Chair: Kathy Hertel-Baker (facilitator)
Vice Co-Chairs: Elizabeth Novara (notetaker), Alexandra
Krensky (unable to attend)
1. Presentation
by Anne Hoiberg – President of the President of the Women’s Museum of
California and the International Museum of Human Rights at San Diego
2. Installation
of New Officers
a. New
Co-Chairs - Liz Novara and Alex Krensky.
b. July
election results: Helice Koffler and Tali Beasley are the new co-vice chairs.
3. By-laws
for the WCRT
a. SAA
is requiring all roundtables to have formal bylaws, primarily so that there is
more transparency and clarity, especially with the election of roundtable
leadership.
b. WCRT
needs volunteers to form a by-laws committee to review the by-laws of sections
and other roundtables to determine what would be most appropriate for the WCRT.
c. There
was some discussion about why this was necessary, since roundtables were
originally determined to be very informal groups.
d. A
call for volunteers will be made after the annual conference is over.
4. Women’s Collections Mini-conference,
Pre-Conference in New Orleans
a. Susan
Tucker, Curator at Tulane University, requested that we discuss the possibility
of having a mini-conference or a pre-conference at the next annual meeting in
New Orleans that focused on women’s collections.
b. Members
discussed this idea. Some possible
questions for the conference to focus on: What progress has been made in
documenting women? What changes in the
way researchers conduct research have occurred?
Where do women’s collections currently fit in the archives
profession? What about in other
professions, such as history and labor?
Could we focus on a timely issue within collections such as women’s reproductive
rights, domestic violence, privacy concerns?
Finding women’s collections within institutions that aren’t necessarily
focused on collecting materials related to women?
c. What
is the impact of the economy on women’s collections? Are there difficulties in
bringing in collections especially without funding? Are we not soliciting as strongly because we
have too many other responsibilities? Much
of the funding for women’s archives come from second wave women’s movement and
we need to interest other people in addition to this group of women. We are starting to run out of storage space
and electronic records are a new challenge since many women’s collections were
established.
d. Another
idea was to focus on the new Women Archives Reader which will be published next
year. (A flyer with information about
the reader was distributed.)
e. The
Big Berks conference was mentioned – could WCRT do something in collaboration
with this conference?
f. Honoring
our foremothers in SAA. Next year will
be the 24th year of the founding of the WCRT (1989). Should we celebrate the 24th or
the 25th year?
g. There
was agreement that it might be difficult for attendees to acquire funding to
attend a day early if WCRT held a pre-conference. It might make more sense to just extend the
time of the regular WCRT meeting. We
should also extend invitations and information to other constituencies who may
be interested, i.e. women’s religious communities, graduate students at local
universities in Louisiana.
h. Perhaps
a morning session could focus on nuts and bolts and an afternoon session could
have scholarly presentations??
i. Mention
of desire to update Andrea Hinding’s 1979 guide to archival and manuscript
sources on women.
5. WCRT
Bibliography
a. Liz
will be posting a bibliography of sources relating to women’s collections on
the website. This bibliography will
focus primarily on archival. Manuscript, and special collections and will
consist of scholarly research on the topic of these women’s collections (i.e.
not necessarily research completed using women’s collections as sources.)
b. Links
can be included to online resources such as LibGuides or other guides to
finding women’s collections. Also,
sample instruction assignments on how to use women’s collections will be
included.
c. A
call will go out on the WCRT listserv to review the bibliography and to suggest
additions to the bibliography.
6. Blog
a. WCRT
leadership will make a greater effort this year to keep the blog
up-to-date.
b. Members
are also encouraged to submit posts for the blog. This would greatly assist in keeping the blog
interesting and informative!
c. WCRT
will send out a once a month reminder to submit posts.
7. Session
Proposals for the 2012 Conference
a. Possibly
a session on the new Women’s Archives Readers (if not used for the
mini-conference)
b. Topic
ideas: Women religious archives? Material culture? 40th Anniversary
of Roe v. Wade anniversary? ERA? Public policy?
Planned Parenthood archives?
Women’s political collections?
8. SAA
Council – no questions to bring up
9. News
and Updates from the Group
a. Make Your Own History: Documenting Feminist and Queer Activism in the 21st Century – Kelly Wooten has just published a new book!
b. Women’s
archives at Perdue University recently endowed by the outgoing president, who
was the first woman president of the university (a possible blog entry?)
Attendees:
Kathy
Hertel-Baker, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth
Elizabeth
Novara, University of Maryland
Lucinda
Manning
Janice
Ruth, Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Jessica
Sedgwick, Harvard Medical School
Kelly
Wooten, Duke University
Jolene
Beiser, Pacifica Radio Archives
Kathleen
Feeney, University of Chicago
Morna
Gerrard, Georgia State University
Deborah
Rice, Wayne State University
Anne
Hoiberg, Women’s Museum of California
Fernanda
Perone, Rutgers University
Sammie
Morris, Purdue University
Danelle
Moon, San Jose State University
Karen
Mason, University of Iowa
Debbie
Richards, Smith College
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