Meeting details

SCHEDULE | WORKSHOPS | PLENARY SPEAKERS | SESSION DESCRIPTIONS
PARKING & TRANSPORTATION | DINING OPTIONS| CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS | PLACES OF WORSHIP
MEDICAL SERVICES | ACCESSIBILITY | PROGRAM COMMITTEE - SPRING 2025

Workshops

Workshops will be held virtually and onsite on Thursday, March 13th. Please note that workshop registration is separate from meeting registration and that onsite registration will NOT be available for workshops; attendees must register in advance. Registration closes on February 28th for the in-person workshops and March 7, 2025 for the virtual workshop. Please contact the Education Committee at education@newenglandarchivists.com with any questions about workshops.

Digital Preservation vs. Digital Asset Management: The Differences and Why They Matter
Chelsea Fernandes, Archives and Special Collection Librarian, Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

This virtual workshop explores the differences between digital preservation and digital asset management (DAM), familiarizing attendees with the history of both so that attendees are better equipped to make policy and purchasing decisions at their institutions. Attendees will participate in polling and discussion throughout the workshop. The workshop will focus on the broad concepts of DAM and digital preservation, so no technical knowledge is required. Special attention will be given to exploring the current leading platforms such as Archivematica and Preservica for digital preservation and ContentDM, AM Quartex and Islandora among others for DAM. The workshop will also review platforms that are often used for either digital preservation or DAM but were not designed for either.

This workshop will be virtual.
Time: 9:30am - 12:00pm ET Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Participant limit: 30 registrants
Registration closes on March 7, 2025. To register for this workshop please visit the registration page.

Simple DOS Commands for Digital Records Arrangement and Description
Kent D. Randell, Assistant Archivist for Digital Collections, Dartmouth College

Archive like its 1989! Learn how to use five simple DOS commands, in conjunction with Excel and Notepad, to create and run your own Batch scripts and make processing electronic records easier. The aim of this workshop is to let archivists become more self-sufficient with digital records and operate in an environment where electronic records resources may be scarce.

Attendees will learn five commands in the command-line version of DOS, a text-based file operating system that comes packaged with Windows. The commands are: Delete (del), directory (dir), make directory (md), rename, and move. Participants will learn how to get file data out of DOS and into Excel and how to write a simple batch (.bat) script that can delete, rename, and move files. The instructor will also demonstrate creating checksums in DOS and using DOS tools like exif to mine metadata.

NO PRIOR PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE OR DOS EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!

Participants should bring a Windows-based laptop to the session. The workshop instructor will be able to provide attendees with a temporary laptop (maximum number of laptops: 10). If participants wish to reserve one of the loaner laptops provided by the instructor, participants must email the Education Committee (education@newenglandarchivists.org).

Attendees will be provided a pre-packaged set of files with which to practice sorting, deleting, and renaming. Attendees will then run exif on some files to mine their metadata and output the data to a text file.

This workshop will be in-person.
Time: 1:00pm - 3:30pm ET Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Participant limit: 15 registrants
Registration closes on Friday, February 28, 2025. To register for this workshop please visit the registration page.

Facilitation and Project Management for All
Jessica Farrell, Redstart Works

Are you new to collaborative work or are you looking for a new perspective on how to move projects along? "Facilitation and Project Management for All" demystifies collaborative work in the face of all of those #feelings that emerge when working in diverse groups. Significant administrative and planning labor goes into developing anti-oppressive spaces. We will cover topics like setting expectations, making direct asks of your colleagues, building consensus, moving to action, and more. We will explore empathetic facilitation, honest communication, and meeting people where they are. There are several full group discussions, and we will practice an advanced facilitation method called "taking stack". This workshop may be useful if you are working on a community project, committee, or working group; if you are managing a project or program team; or if you aspire to lead or coordinate work in the future.

This workshop will be in-person.
Time: 1:30pm - 3:30pm ET Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Participant limit: 24 registrants
Registration closes on Friday, February 28, 2025. To register for this workshop please visit the registration page.

Plenary Speakers

Greg Colati: Evolving the Archives
Friday, March 14

The digital revolution that began in the last century was the beginning of an epochal change in archival expectations and practices. In this century, the growing use of low-investment tools (AI being only one example) to enhance access has generated some discomfort among archivists who fear that vital context is being lost. Let’s talk about how we can use new tools for our benefit while not forgetting the traditions of our profession.

Greg Colati is a High School history teacher turned archivist and digital librarian specializing in digital preservation. He was educated in liberal arts colleges and attended Library school when there was a unit in his class on how to type catalog cards. But, to paraphrase Samuel Clemens, he didn’t let his schooling get in the way of his education.

Greg learned about digitization and digital preservation by working with a group of early adopters who were trying to understand the effect of technology on records and record keeping. As early as 1995 he gave a presentation for the Society of Maine Archivists called “Collections Management with Computers” a quaint sounding name today, but novel at the time.

Since then, Greg has been experimenting with how to leverage technology for the common good and has been a part of national and international efforts to understand and develop the role of technology and the role of archivists in the digital age.

Micha Broadnax: Reconstruction in Archives: Reflections on Organizing the Black Teacher Archive
Saturday, March 15

Join Micha Broadnax, Senior Project Manager for the Black Teacher Archive at Harvard Graduate School of Education, for a plenary talk about her work centralizing materials from nearly a hundred repositories. Micha will share insights on the challenges, opportunities, and tensions inherent in archival work, offering reflections from her experience.

Micha leads the Black Teacher Archive, a grant funded project based at Harvard Graduate School of Education and made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation and Spencer Foundation. In collaboration with colleagues at Harvard Library and across the country, she co-develops workflows and coordinates labor to support the digital centralization of materials created by African American educators in the 20th century. Micha’s professional experience includes roles at Mount Holyoke College, Converse (a subsidiary of Nike, Inc.) and Emerson College. In a consultative capacity, they have collaborated with the Schenectady County Historical Society, the History Project, Documenting the Now, legal and policy scholar Anita Hill, and artist Napolean Jones-Henderson. Micha has a BA in Sociology from Brandeis University, and a MLIS in Library and Information Science from Simmons University.

SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

101: Leaders Who Learn: Introducing the Sustainable + Effective Archival Leadership Syllabus

Caitlin Birch (she/her), Director of Digital Scholarship and Distinctive Collections, James Madison University

Archival leadership is tough, and archival leaders are too often toughing it out alone. In this session tailored to mid-career archivists in or pursuing management/leadership roles, the presenter invites attendees to learn about the Sustainable + Effective Archival Leadership Syllabus (SEALS), a work-in-progress resource for self-paced professional development. The focus of SEALS is not on the practical aspects of managing archives, but on the work of identifying and nurturing purpose as a manager/leader to fight burnout and effect positive change. Attendees will discover the context and inspiration that launched the project, take a brief tour through SEALS so far, and explore opportunities for further engagement.

102: Black Power On The Air: The Story of the Black Mass Communications Project at UMass Amherst

Jeremy Smith (he/him), Moving Image and Sound Archivist, Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst

During the tumultuous early 1970s, the non-white student body of UMass Amherst, like many around the country, demanded that the University establish programs, classes, and spaces that addressed the diverse needs of students from a range of ethnic, cultural, and national backgrounds. One of the programs that emerged during this time was the Black Mass Communications Project (BMCP). BMCP broadcast speeches, lectures, music, and interviews from a range of important Black and Latino intellectuals, activists, poets, and musicians and a range of national and international issues relevant to the Black Diaspora were discussed. In 2012, BMCP donated their entire tape library to the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center. This workshop will discuss the history of BMCP and recent efforts to digitize and describe the tapes.

103: Mix and Match

Teaching Archival Silences with the New Hampshire Maps Collection
Kai Uchida (he/they), University Archivist, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire (UNH) Library (IDC Scholarship Recipient)

For the past two years, the University Archivist at Milne Special Collections and Archives at the University of New Hampshire has partnered with an instructor in the Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Department to teach about its historic map collections. This session will discuss the planning, execution, and lessons learned from using a historic state maps collection to educate students on the concept of "archival silence," and to advocate for the use of historical map collections to develop critical archival and data literacies.

Drone Arranger: A Large-Format Imaging Experiment
Liza Tietjen (she/they), University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Salve Regina University

In 2023, Salve Regina University Archives and Special Collections was tasked with digitizing a collection of large-format naval plans and charts. When the initial plan to use a large-format scanner was unsuccessful, known alternate methods were considered, but with limited resources, those options were less than ideal. This session will explore a collaboration between an archivist and videographer to experiment with imaging the collection using a drone.

201: The Environment of AI: Confronting the Social & Environmental Consequences of Artificial Intelligence

Chair: Andrea Belair (she/hers), Collection Services Librarian, Bennington College

Panelists:
Lois Parshley (she/her), Senior Investigative Journalist at The Lever
Steve Fernandez (he/him), Solidarity Engineer and Engineering Professional
Andrea Puglisi (she/her), Digital Initiatives and Technology Librarian at Westfield State University; Privacy Advocate, Library Freedom Project
Shanna Hollich (they/them), Learning and Training Manager, Creative Commons
Jess Farrell (she/her), owner, Redstart Works

As institutions consider adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI), journalists and scholars are still working to understand the socio-environmental impacts of training, using, and maintaining artificial intelligence. A panel of participants, most of whom are outside of the archival profession, will represent a range of critical perspectives on the impacts of this technology, focusing on the impacts of adopting and implementing AI systems in the midst of a global climate emergency, rising influence of corporate and/or private interests, and widespread social inequality. During this panel, we aim to understand the socio-environmental impacts of "AI" for archival work from a labor, environmental, and privacy standpoint, as well as discuss any legislative advocacy efforts and/or mechanisms available to assist with empowering communities on informed, responsible decision-making around the use of AI.

202: Strategies for Success: Working with a New Generation of Faculty on Primary Source Instruction

Eric Stoykovich, College Archivist and Manuscript Librarian, Watkinson Library, Trinity College
Eric Johnson-DeBaufre, Special Collections Librarian, Watkinson Library, Trinity College

In 2021, Ithaka S+R released a report surveying the current state of teaching with special collections and archives in the United States and the U.K. Not surprisingly, the majority of faculty surveyed reported that they had received no pedagogical preparation during their graduate programs to undertake such work. This workshop details efforts to fill the need for such a program of instruction through the creation of a paid, intensive, two-and-a-half-day workshop for new and experienced faculty interested in or already teaching with special collections and archives.

203: Adapting Digitized Collections to Meet Researchers' Needs

Documentary Now! When a Film Producer Discovers Your Archive's Digitized Footage
Tessa Mediano, Research & Instruction Librarian/Archivist (Term), Rhode Island School of Design

Many archivists and cultural heritage workers are used to thinking of their users as researchers, students, professors, or even authors. Archives that make moving image records publicly accessible, however, should be prepared for a different type of user: the documentary producer. This workshop provides a roadmap for dealing with the specific expectations of documentary producers as users. Given the arduous nature of preparing archival footage for the big screen, this workshop will also evaluate whether such a collaboration is worth the work, particularly given institutional limitations involving staffing and ethics.

Online Resources: The End-All Be-All?
Savannah Miller (she/her), Master of Library and Information Science student, Simmons University, former Reference Assistant, Massachusetts Archives

This workshop will outline the expectations that many casual researchers have for records that are online and suggest ways that archivists can help bridge any gaps of understanding between researchers and the collection itself. In this workshop, we will explore instruction guides to help researchers outside of the reading room, the value of retaining the original search format over adapting to keyword searches, and challenges in instructing the use of these digitized collections.

301: Boston Punks at Harvard: Engaging Community Memory Alongside the Arthur Freedman Collection

Evan McGonagill (she/her), MLIS candidate at Simmons University, Outreach and Licensing Coordinator at the Reproductive Justice History in Action Project, Smith College

Peter Laurence (he/him), Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media, Loeb Music Library, Harvard University

In 2011 the Harvard Film Archive (HFA) and Harvard’s Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library (Loeb) jointly acquired a collection of recorded rock shows taped in the Boston area between 1975 and 2011 by a local punk music enthusiast named Arthur Freedman.

In 2023, Loeb and the HFA began planning a series of public engagement efforts to highlight the collection. On the surface this was a collaboration between two departments at Harvard: the Loeb Music Library and the Harvard Film Archive. But the most important collaborative partner was actually the Boston music community—the people who are represented in the recordings, and whose story we were tasked with telling. This presentation will discuss the challenges and rewards of working with a local community to build programming and raise an awareness of an archival collection.

302: Creating, Administering, and Operating an Undergraduate Library Residency Program

Lauren Gray (she/her), Massachusetts Historical Society, Reference Librarian for Researcher Services
CJ Haggard (she/her), Massachusetts Historical Society, Library Assistant
Jolli Shevitz (she/they), Massachusetts Historical Society, Library Resident

This panel will look at the Massachusetts Historical Society’s paid Undergraduate Library Residency Program, which was founded to introduce the public history and library/archives fields to a diverse range of undergraduates. The supervisor for the residency, a former resident, and a current resident will speak about their experiences in a panel discussion presentation. NEA attendees will learn about funding the residencies; how the MHS structured the residencies both within the library and the wider institutional environment; projects completed by the residents; the application process and evaluation of candidates; the challenges of building a diverse pool of student applicants; and a comprehensive evaluation of two cycles of the residency program (two academic years).

303: Modulating Instruction for the Community

Amanda Ferrara (she/her), Senior Instruction & Public Services Archivist, Burns Library, Boston College
Maggie Erwin (she/her), 2024-2025 Library Outreach & Access Assistant, Burns Library, Boston College

This session will review the experience of coming into a robust, successful instruction program, making change, and laying a foundation of empathetic reflection. Discussed will be options for new staff taking up existing programs, integrating proposed work and ideas of colleagues (including graduate student fellows), and benefiting the attending students. How might we 1) modify offerings for both new and experienced faculty, 2) plan for future outreach, recruiting and assessment gathering, and 3) work to positively affect student populations, including K-12, undergraduates, graduate students, and MLIS students?

401: Student Lightning Talks

Say “Digital Millennium Copyright Act” Ten Times Fast: Deciphering the Act and the History of its Use in Archives
Emily Colson (she/her)

Learn about the impact of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act on archives throughout its history. We’ll delve into the act itself, the process for proposing exemptions to the act, as well as the exemptions relevant to archival work that have been made to the act throughout its existence. Archivists will gain a deeper understanding of the DMCA, its impact on their work, and how they can impact the act themselves.

9/11 and Archiving Remembrance
Brandon McGrath-Neely (he/him)

While researching for an MLS graduate history paper on the prominence of weather in 9/11 narratives, a blend of historical archival sources and online discussion spaces were used to understand popular memory of the day. This lightning talk considers how researchers can use archival material to strengthen memory studies, encourages archival innovation to preserve and organize digital discursive material, and offers recommendations on using social media to encourage audiences to learn and engage with the archival process.

The Somerville Municipal Archives Backlog Project: Creating Space for Incoming Accessions
Abigail Mulligan (she/her)
Daniel Whitebread (he/him)

In this lighting talk, we will discuss the process of accessioning the backlog and how we overcame complex problems while trying to identify and describe the records. We will highlight the current accessioning process the archive has in place and discuss the importance of having a functional municipal archive for the community.

The Ethics of Supposition in Exhibition Design in 19th-Century History
Zoë Pollak (she/her), Exhibit Designer, The Robbins House Museum of Concord's African American History (IDC Scholarship Recipient)

Almost one hundred years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger in Alabama, Ellen Jackson Garrison, a Freedmen’s Bureau school teacher, sued the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad for forcibly removing her from a whites-only ladies’ waiting room. This lightning talk will introduce audience members to the work these women accomplished and apply an archives-based methodology to the following question: what are the ethics of using supposition and guesswork to piece together the lives of women whose work may only exist in a few dozen extant letters?

Internship Experience: Setting the Standard for a Rewarding Experience As an Intern
Nina Aguiar Shempliner (she/her)

This lightning talk will explore a recently completed nine-week, full-time internship at the National Gallery of Art Archives in Washington, D.C., where the presenter had a positive and rewarding experience. The presenter will give insights to a successfully structured internship that sets students up for success in the field.

402: Trust the Process: Creating Local, Cross-Institutional Communities to Support Instruction

M. Michelle Chiles (she/her), Head of Archives and Special Collections, Providence College
Veronica L. Denison (she/her), Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Rhode Island College
Angela DiVeglia (she/her), Instruction and Outreach Librarian, Special Collections, Rhode Island School of Design
Emma Metcalfe Hurst (she/her), Special Collections Librarian/Archivist, Rhode Island School of Design

Whether in a formal classroom setting, at outreach events, or in meetings with stakeholders, teaching and instruction are woven throughout many of our daily responsibilities in archives and special collections. In the summer of 2023, archivists and primary source instructors from the greater Providence area formed a cross-institutional group to share ideas and resources while discussing the challenges and rewards of primary source instruction. This session will explore collaborative strategies among a variety of archival repositories (public libraries, academic archives, the state library, and local heritage organizations) for enhancing teaching practices, resource sharing, and building support networks across institutions. Using our group model as a jumping-off point, participants will engage in discussions about common challenges in teaching with primary sources, effective instructional practices, and ways to create a more connected, resource-rich library and archives community.

403: “Hey, Can I See That!?” Strategizing Together on Making Unprocessed Collections Accessible

Eve Neiger (she/her), Lead Archivist, Boston Public Library, Special Collections
Crystal Rodgers (she/her), Archivist, Boston Public Library, Special Collections
Chris Tanguay (she/they), Processing Archivist, MIT, Distinctive Collections

Providing access to the collections in our care is an archive’s guiding motivation and primary mission, but few repositories have all their collections processed. In this open-forum session, presenters will facilitate an open conversation with attendees, exploring tactics for providing access to unprocessed or underprocessed collections. The presenters will also share a resource attendees can add to containing local workflows and other documentation for serving unprocessed collections that can be adopted and adapted to different environments.

IDC Reading Circle

Saturday, March 15 | 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Facilitated by Charlie Langenbucher and Mollie Metevier (in-person), Susanna Coit and Taylor McNeilly (on Zoom)

Join the Inclusion and Diversity Committee for discussion of the article, “Cripping Conference: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Disability in Academia,” from In The Library With The Lead Pipe. This piece discusses the author’s experiences as people with disabilities with academic and library conferences—before, during, and after. The authors explore how time, space, and conference norms do not accommodate people with disabilities and how this affects professional development. They also highlight the benefits of conferences for people with disabilities, especially as a place for “crip connections.”

Join the reading circle as we discuss this article and pose a number of discussion questions that can get us all thinking about reframing how we work with archival description.

Link to article: "Cripping Conferences: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Disability in Academia" (Rhys Dreeszen Bowman and Leah T. Dudak)

PARKING & TRANSPORTATION

Parking and Map (One Street, Two Street, Red Street, Blue Street)

Hotel Parking Information and Rates:

• Overnight parking rate is $19.95 for hotel guests
• Day parking rate is $10.00

Parking Options and Springfield Walking Map:

• Springfield Parking Authority
• Downtown Springfield Walking Map

Transportation (Oh, the Places You'll Go!)

• Amtrak
• Bradley international Airport
• CTrail Hartford Line
• Peter Pan Bus Lines
• Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (regional transit authority serving Agawam, Amherst, Belchertown, Chicopee, Easthampton, East Longmeadow, Granby, Hadley, Hampden, Holyoke, Leverett, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Northampton, Palmer, Pelham, South Hadley, Springfield, Sunderland, Ware, Westfield, West Springfield, Wilbraham, Williamsburg)

Dining Options

Green Eggs and Ham!

In the hotel:

Lunch concessions will be available for sale in the conference space with quick lunch items. Cash or credit cards accepted. A full menu will be available Friday and Saturday.

MVP Pub (American food; limited seating)

Tower Square (retail mall and Food Court connected to the conference space via skywalk):

Big Y Express	LeGreque (Greek)
Fantastico (Wraps and Salads)	Tower Pizza (Puerto Rican/Italian Fusion)
Hot Table (Panini)	White Lion Brewing Company
Iona's Kitchen (Breakfast and Lunch)	Dunkin' Donuts
Jen's Organics (Vegan)	Tower Grill (American)

Nearby (10-15 minutes walking distance):

Alhana Foods (Halal)	Las Kangris Restaurant (Puerto Rican)
Starbucks (1414 Main St)	Panjabi Tadka (Indian)
Nadim's Downtown Mediterranean Grill (Halal)	Del Rey Taqueria & Bar
Mykonos Greek Restaurant	Theodore's Booze, Blues & BBQ
NOSH

Farther away (more than 10-15 minutes walking distance:

Red Rose Pizzeria (Local Classic!)	Wahlburger's (American)
350 Grill Steakhouse	South End Market at MGM Resorts
Frigo Foods (Deli & Bakery)	Shah's Halal Food

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

You'll be seeing great sights!

• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
• Springfield Museums (includes The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield Science Museum, Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, and Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History)
• MGM Springfield Casino (free concert on Friday)
• Symphony Hall Springfield - Eternal Echoes (performance on Saturday, March 15th at 3:00pm)
• MassMutual Center Hockey - Springfield Thunderbirds vs. Syracuse Crunch (Saturday, March 15th at 7:05pm)
• Springfield Downtown Events March 10th-March 16th
• Springfield City Library
• Springfield Armory

Places of Worship

Please refer to this map of locations of Places of Worship in Massachusetts, courtesy of MassGIS Data (zoom in on Springfield).

MEDICAL SERVICES

Baystate Health Emergency Medicine 55 Springfield Street Springfield, MA 01199 (413)794-3233

Mercy Medical Center Emergency Services 271 Carew Street Springfield, MA 01104 (413)748-9670

ACCESSIBILITY

NEA is committed to making the Spring 2025 Meeting welcoming and accessible to all presenters and attendees.

The Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel is accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). For information about the physical features of accessible rooms or common areas relating to a specific disability, please call the hotel at: (413) 781-1010.

A lactation room, a respite room, and a prayer room will be available, as well as gender neutral bathrooms.

Digital access will be provided for slides, handouts, and other materials during the event as much as possible and will be made available to registered conference attendees after the conference. If you require access to materials ahead of time, please contact the Program Committee or the Inclusion and Diversity Committee (IDC)

Community note-taking will take place during the panel session, led by the Inclusion and Diversity Committee, to provide further access to all panels.

If you will need specific accommodations, such as interpretive services, to support your participation in this event, please contact the program committee. We do better when specific accommodations are requested well in advance. In all situations, a good faith effort to satisfy requests made prior to the event will be made

PROGRAM COMMITTEE - SPRING 2025

• Co-Chair: Margaret Peachy
• Co-Chair: Lia Sansoucy
• Zoë Cheek
• Chloe Gerson
• Willem Kalbach
• Penni Martorell