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Post #9: Examining Avenues for Archival Outreach to the Public

 

This week, my classmates and I discussed the myriad of ways that archival and special collections staff can advocate for the vitalness of their work as well as the ways that they may take action to connect with the public through outreach activities. This conversation reminded me of the appraisal activity that I completed while at Temple’s SCRC this past October. During this activity, I looked through the “Arthur Hall Papers”: a collection that contained papers and documents about the renowned choreographer of African dance, Arthur Hall, who traveled around Philadelphia to teach young children African dance within schools and other spaces of youth learning. With the size of Philadelphia and the variety of programs that take place today centered on youth learning and community activities, could collections like the Arthur Hall Papers be utilized to show Temple’s surrounding communities how the SCRC’s retainment of papers like these are integral to the success and fruitfulness of future youth activities in Philadelphia? After viewing collections like these, would the communities who take the time to view them gain an understanding of not just the value of these collections, but the places which hold the collections themselves?

The question of how to illustrate the vital nature of archives might be answered by examining what communities that surround archives and special collections are doing now. In Timothy L. Ericson’s Preoccupied With Our Own Gardens: Outreach and Archivists, Ericson posits that though the processing of collections is an important task of an archivist, those in communities not aligned with this career may not care as much to learn about this responsibility. For this reason, when archivist do venture to craft exhibits to bring to the public, it is best that they know what interests, programs, and activities that certain communities hold in contemporary times so that connections with the collections of archives might be made and can successfully grab the interest of viewers.[1] In the case of the Arthur Hall Papers, if an exhibit were structured and brought to the surrounding community of Temple, current Philadelphia art, dance, and youth community centers could be connected with by illustrating how Hall touched the minds and hearts of those he instructed while alive in the Philadelphia area.


[1] Timothy L. Ericson, "Preoccupied With Our Own Gardens": Outreach and Archivists, http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/view/11724/12673 119.

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