Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Bringing Appalachian Archival History to Life – the Opportunities and Challenges of Digitization
Session Abstract or Summary
In libraries and communities across Appalachia, there are amazing archival materials that can inform, educate and inspire current and future generations, across many disciplines and constituencies. Digitization projects provide exciting opportunities to share the history of people, their cultures, struggles and histories to students, researchers and communities – moving archival materials out of the vaults where they are currently seen and onto the internet and out back into communities. This panel would share wonderful examples (video clips, audio and photographs) from these collections, along with challenges in archival digitization, especially of projects that raise the less heard stories and voices from our history. Session participants will share their ideas, challenges, and experiences bringing archival history to life in the classroom and community.
Highlander Center and Reveal Digital
Highlander Center and REVEAL Digital, who are working on a project to fund digitization of a Highlander collection that could include materials form 1932-1985, that would be available to anyone anywhere, along with accompanying educational materials for younger audiences.
Appalshop Since its founding in 1969 Appalshop has been documenting the history, culture, art, and social issues of Central Appalachia. The Appalshop Archive works to preserve the creative output and history of the organization, as well as orphaned media materials that help enrich our understanding of the region. The Archive is working to digitize and improve access to materials in its collections and to make the content available online.
Presentation #1 Title
Bringing Appalachian Archival History to Life – the Opportunities and Challenges of Digitization
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
In libraries and communities across Appalachia, there are amazing archival materials that can inform, educate and inspire current and future generations, across many disciplines and constituencies. Digitization projects provide exciting opportunities to share the history of people, their cultures, struggles and histories to students, researchers and communities – moving archival materials out of the vaults where they are currently seen and onto the internet and out back into communities. This panel would share wonderful examples (video clips, audio and photographs) from these collections, along with challenges in archival digitization, especially of projects that raise the less heard stories and voices from our history. Session participants will share their ideas, challenges, and experiences bringing archival history to life in the classroom and community. Highlander Center and Reveal Digital Highlander Center and REVEAL Digital, who are working on a project to fund digitization of a Highlander collection that could include materials form 1932-1985, that would be available to anyone anywhere, along with accompanying educational materials for younger audiences. Appalshop Since its founding in 1969 Appalshop has been documenting the history, culture, art, and social issues of Central Appalachia. The Appalshop Archive works to preserve the creative output and history of the organization, as well as orphaned media materials that help enrich our understanding of the region. The Archive is working to digitize and improve access to materials in its collections and to make the content available online.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Susan Williams has worked for over 35 years as a community organizer, a popular educator, a participatory researcher and librarian/archivist in East Tennessee. She worked with Save Our Cumberland Mountains and the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network, and now works at the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. She coordinates Highlander’s library, bookstore and archive and is a 2012 graduate of the University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences Masters program.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Peggy Glahn, Program Director, Reveal Digital.
Peggy is primarily responsible for outreach activities and strategic planning for Reveal Digital, which is working on social justice digitization projects using a group funding – open access model. Current projects include alternative magazines, the Highlander project and a Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Project. Peggy has spent her entire life working with libraries; Her first full-time job was indexing newspapers for UMI – now ProQuest. Over the years, Peggy has worked for both ProQuest and Gale, developing new digital and print reference sources. Just prior to coming to Reveal Digital, Peggy worked with national libraries and scholarly publishers to help plan and execute large digitization projects through service provider, Apex CoVantage.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Caroline Rubens, Archivist, Appalshop:
Caroline oversees the management and conservation of the organization’s archival collections, supervising projects to preserve and improve access to audiovisual, photographic, and institutional paper materials. Before joining Appalshop she was a project film archivist at the Rhode Island Historical Society and the video preservation coordinator at The Standby Program, a NY-based arts services organization. She holds an MA in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (’06) and is a member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists and Kentucky Council on Archives.
Bringing Appalachian Archival History to Life – the Opportunities and Challenges of Digitization
In libraries and communities across Appalachia, there are amazing archival materials that can inform, educate and inspire current and future generations, across many disciplines and constituencies. Digitization projects provide exciting opportunities to share the history of people, their cultures, struggles and histories to students, researchers and communities – moving archival materials out of the vaults where they are currently seen and onto the internet and out back into communities. This panel would share wonderful examples (video clips, audio and photographs) from these collections, along with challenges in archival digitization, especially of projects that raise the less heard stories and voices from our history. Session participants will share their ideas, challenges, and experiences bringing archival history to life in the classroom and community. Highlander Center and Reveal Digital Highlander Center and REVEAL Digital, who are working on a project to fund digitization of a Highlander collection that could include materials form 1932-1985, that would be available to anyone anywhere, along with accompanying educational materials for younger audiences. Appalshop Since its founding in 1969 Appalshop has been documenting the history, culture, art, and social issues of Central Appalachia. The Appalshop Archive works to preserve the creative output and history of the organization, as well as orphaned media materials that help enrich our understanding of the region. The Archive is working to digitize and improve access to materials in its collections and to make the content available online.
