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Re: "Underpaid...and not Well Understood"




It seems to me that the profession needs to clone the David Gracy (known affectionately among some of us around here as The Rev. Dr. Gracy) about a thousand times and give those clones the full responsibility on setting the world straight on what archivists do and how important that work is.

David gave a wonderful (as always) talk on the 20th Anniversary of the Arizona Paper and Photograph Conservation Group last October. In his talk, he said something to the effect, "Many say, 'I'm an archivist,' while I say, 'I'M AN ARCHIVIST!!!'

Maybe we are different at the Arizona State Archives, but we do a lot of outreach. We are the primary organizers of our annual POP (Preserving Our Past) Fair which involved 43 museums/archives last year. I give a lot talks to genealogy groups on preservation, workshops on in-house bookmending to librarians and get-wet-and-dirty disaster workshops for everyone.

The archivists have created several slide shows on how to do research in archives, researching Hispanic genealogy, etc. Their monthly genealogy programs always attract a full house. While looking through some probate records a couple of years ago, they discovered the records for a Jenny Bauter, a saloon keeper in a roaring mining town around 1900. They especially noted the 6 or 7 tents, numerous kimonos, 6 or 7 beds, and bingo! Jenny also provided entertainment out back! They even discovered a relative living in Chicago who provided a portrait. By the way, Jenny was gunned down in the street. The current residents of the mining town really loved this program (as have many others) and went looking for "Jenny places" immediately afterwards.

We are proud of what we do, and we certainly don't try to hide it.



Michael McColgin
Conservation Officer
Arizona History and Archives Division
mimccol@dlapr.lib.az.us