Building An Archive For Our Time

These are very interesting times in which we’re living.  I feel the need to leave a record of this behind for my descendants and maybe you do too. Thankfully my two guests are busy collecting and documenting our experiences in a project for the State of Rhode Island. If you live here you can participate. Anyone of any age can add material to the new RI Covid-19 archive. Pictures, stories and video are all being collected.  Link is in the show notes. 
 

In this episode we talk about the roots of this type of digital archive. There is a term for it–Rapid Response archive and one that saves our lived experiences.  It’s not new. There have been other rapid response archives for events that have happened in the last several years.

You might have a Covid-19 archive in your area. These digital archives are being built by libraries and archives all over the world.

Links:

• Rhode Island Covid-19 archive
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About My Guests:

Kate Wells has served as the Curator of Rhode Island Collections at the Providence Public Library since 2013 after over a decade as an archivist and librarian in university libraries, municipal record collections, and state historical societies across the country. She holds a Master of Arts in History and Master of Library and Information Science from Simmons College. In her current role, she focuses on demystifying the experience of collecting and accessing historic materials through supporting community archives, outreach for creative use of archival collections and utilizing metadata and semantics in access models. Her mission is to facilitate communication, inclusion, and connections to history in order to catalyze social justice and empowerment in communities and cultural heritage organizations.  

Becca Bender is the Film Archivist & Curator of Recorded Media at the Rhode Island Historical Society. She holds a master’s degree from NYU’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program, and studied Film Production and Africana Studies as an undergraduate at Vassar College. She’s an active member of the international Association of Moving Image Archivists and part of a core group of professionals working to improve preservation of local television news collections across the United States. Prior to becoming an archivist, Becca worked for many years as a documentary archival producer on projects such as the Emmy-nominated PBS series’ Black America Since MLK: An

I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations. 

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