Librarian Inspired by Modern Archives Institute
By Ann Glass - FF/S
What a difference a change in routine can make! Even though I love the library, I was excited to spend two weeks at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., thanks, in part, to the generous grant from the Parents' Association.
Along with 30 others, I learned how to set up and maintain an archive. I was surprised to find myself the only school librarian among some very intriguing people and fields: two women from Sierra Leone working for the United Nations war tribunal, several people from the State Department who track down soldiers from WWII or the Vietnam War who are Missing in Action, a Naval Department archivist from the Midwest, a Flight Museum photo archivist from the Northwest, a former White House photo editor charged with setting up the AV division of George W. Bush’s presidential library, an archivist from San Antonio working for the Water Development Board, two people from the Library of Congress, a woman charged with cleaning out and archiving a house bequeathed to the Yale Anthropology Department, an archivist from University of Virginia, and an archivist from a maritime museum. The majority of the group was historians and several among them held doctorates.
Along with days in the classroom, we were also able to tour the National Archives and the Library of Congress “behind the scenes.” Among the treasures there: a map drawn by 15-year-old George Washington when he surveyed his property, a patent for a boat lift by Abraham Lincoln, the first globe, the first map that labeled “America,” the check that bought Alaska, George Washington’s diaries, and much, much more. The National Archives if famous for its display of the Declaration of Independence (now very faded), the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But as the archivists there kept saying, the records in the National Archives belong to us, the citizens of the United States. It is there to protect our history and help any of us who would like to do research. Just like Nicolas Cage in the movie, it is a National Treasure.
