BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH INCLUSIVE ARCHIVAL PRACTICE: COLLABORATION, OUTREACH, AND ENGAGEMENT AT THE SMALL COLLEGE LIBRARY

Abstract

Institutional archives at small academic institutions have excluded many populations from the documentary record. Archival best practices have traditionally preserved the elites. In some cases, colleges have willfully discriminated against and ignored various populations, and in other instances, they have omitted groups through sheer ignorance. Regardless of reason or intent, inclusion and exclusion in the archive have created significant gaps in the interpretation and production of history. Even with the growth and promotion of the archival profession and the work of its organizations such as the Society of American Archivists, North American institutional archives lag far behind in integrating and preserving diverse perspectives in the historical record. This dissertation explores past and current efforts to include the perspectives of those traditionally excluded from the archives at small colleges. Of equal importance, it reimagines practice for archives at smaller institutions and creates a model that integrates diverse perspectives by building community, representing that diverse community in archival collections, cultivating relationships with the public, especially donors, and having small institutions band together to gain and leverage resources. The dissertation considers archives as unique entities that reveal key insights into institutional character while complementing the professor-librarian partnership and enriching the context for the archive’s mission to teach and to learn. It demonstrates that archives go beyond the support of traditional research historians to educating the public about the value and uniqueness of the university’s collections to the local community and to the university’s other stakeholders. Each example shows how the empowered archivist makes the past both human and relevant. Through history’s imperfections and the idiosyncratic nature of the archive, archivists can become game changers, welcoming people to new opportunities for conversation and understanding while positioning the archive as a forum for dialogue. Each encounter with a student, faculty member, or a local citizen represents a moment to listen and to learn as well as create a more diverse record for future generations.