Tag: ALA Archives

Exhibit: ALA and School Librarians

Posted on by Ella McDonald
(From left to right) AASL pamphlets, cover of “The Library Game,” school librarians operating the DIALOG system

 

The ALA Archives has an exhibit this month curated by Ella McDonald in the Center for Children’s Books  at the School of Information Sciences. The exhibit opens on October 4th for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE) conference and explores the history of school librarians and the role of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association. You can see a preview of the exhibit here but make sure to stop by the Center for Children’s Books to view the exhibit. You can also visit the American Library Association Archives to find more materials about school librarians in the United States. Continue reading “Exhibit: ALA and School Librarians” →

My Practicum Experience at the ALA Archives

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Blog Post by Yung-hui Chou

During the Spring 2024 semester, I worked at the ALA Archives and gained valuable archival experience. For MSLIS students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign like myself, a practicum is a credit-earning field experience supervised by our selected information organization. Given my interest in both archival careers and the history of libraries and librarianship, I couldn’t think of a more suitable practicum site than the ALA Archives.

Climate-controlled records storage at the Archives Research Center, Horticulture Field Laboratory, University of Illinois

I am very thankful to my site supervisor Cara Bertram, the ALA’s Archives Program Officer, for offering me a well-round experience. Cara thoughtfully assigned me projects that sequentially built my knowledge and skills in archival processing. I started with interfiling (adding new items to existing records) and updating finding aids, gradually advancing to arranging and describing an entire record series. Throughout the semester, I participated in a variety of tasks, including inventorying backlog materials, writing biographical notes, digitizing photographs, organizing born-digital materials, creating metadata for digital collections, and collecting information for the archives’ reference services. Working in a small unit means one has the opportunity to handle all aspects of archival work, which is the most beneficial part for practicum students. Continue reading “My Practicum Experience at the ALA Archives” →

50 Years of the ALA Archives

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Fifty years ago on this day, ALA announced the transfer of its archives to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The genesis of the ALA Archives can be arguably traced back to 1910 with the acceptance of the S. Grant Hastings Papers and to the 1940s when serious discussions at headquarters on how to deal with their archives started. However, it is with establishment of the archives at the University of Illinois that an organized and accessible archives was realized.

Since the initial transfer of materials in 1973, the archives has seen significant growth in its collection, digital resources, staffing, and programming. The archives physical collection has expanded to over 3,900 cubic feet, along with tens of thousands open access digital items and collections available for research. This is thanks to the generous support of the ALA and its continued investment in its heritage and the history of the profession in general. Because of the partnership between ALA and the University, the ALA Archives has grown to be one of the most significant primary source collections in the history of American librarianship, serving researchers from across the country and around the world. Continue reading “50 Years of the ALA Archives” →

Out of the Vault, Summer 2023 – ALA Archives Notes

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Out of the Vault is the newsletter of the University Archives, which covers the activities and staff of the archives and its programs, including the American Library Association Archives! The Summer 2023 issue can be found here: https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/35/343747435.html. 

ALA Archives Notes is an addendum blog post to the newsletter with additional information relating to the ALA Archives.

Photograph of two archivists with archival materials.
University Archivist Maynard Brichford and graduate assistant Harriet Alexander with an accession of archival materials from ALA headquarters.

As noted at the top of the Summer 2023 issue of Out of the Vault, the ALA Archives is celebrating its 50th anniversary! As we hit this milestone, we want to encourage all researchers, including ALA staff, members, scholars, students, and the public, to access our materials. The Archives was established at the University of Illinois in 1973 by University Archivist Maynard Brichford with the specific intent on making ALA’s history accessible! Before the archives were transferred to the University of Illinois, they used to reside in a warehouse in Chicago, where they could not be easily accessed. Read more about it here: https://www.library.illinois.edu/ala/2013/10/14/40-years-of-ala-archives/.

Continue reading “Out of the Vault, Summer 2023 – ALA Archives Notes” →

Out of the Vault, Spring 2023 – ALA Archives Notes

Posted on by Cara Bertram

Out of the Vault is the newsletter of the University Archives, which covers the activities and staff of the archives and its programs, including the American Library Association Archives! The first issue can be found here: https://emails.illinois.edu/newsletter/43/391280343.html. ALA Archives Notes is an addendum blog post to the newsletter with additional information relating to the ALA Archives.

As noted in the Spring 2023 issue of Out of the Vault, University Archivist Emeritus William Maher received the Midwest Archives Conference’s Emeritus Membership Award. Professor Maher retired from the University of Illinois Archives in December 2022 after 45 years of service. His contributions to the University Archives and the archives profession as a whole cannot be overstated. He is also a tireless supporter of the ALA Archives. Continue reading “Out of the Vault, Spring 2023 – ALA Archives Notes” →

Publications: A.L.A. Headquarters Staff Association Files and Headquarters Publications

Posted on by Salvatore De Sando

When some researchers want to know about life at the A.L.A. Headquarters, then I recommend reading the Headquarters Staff Association Files (Record Series 2/4/80) and Headquarters Newsletters, (Record Series 2/4/10). In particular, like other previously highlighted publications,  there is much creative expression and good will to be found at the A.L.A. and in the archives.

Read on to learn more about the art and history of A.L.A. Headquarters Staff publications!

Continue reading “Publications: A.L.A. Headquarters Staff Association Files and Headquarters Publications” →

Nathaniel L. Goodrich Scrapbooks, 1881-1902

Posted on by Sharon Pietryka

We have recently processed the materials of a particularly interesting record series, The Nathaniel L. Goodrich Scrapbooks, 1881-1902 (97/1/77). Born in 1880, Nathaniel L. Goodrich was the Librarian at Dartmouth University for 38 years—from 1912 until he retired in 1950—and was granted full professorship in 1943. He passed away on April 30, 1957, exactly 60 years ago. The record series includes four scrapbooks dating back to the early twentieth century, which had been discarded from the Dartmouth College Library in Hanover, New Hampshire. In the scrapbooks, Goodrich had collected and arranged an assortment of materials relating to library buildings.

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The Books They Read: Library War Service in WWI

Posted on by Leanna Barcelona
Found in record series 89/1/13, box 6.
ALA book campaign advertisement

During the course of U.S. involvement in World War I, the American Library Association collected $5 million in donations for the Library War Service, a service that accumulated a collection of ten million publications and established thirty-six camp libraries across the United States and Europe. It was the ALA Library War Service’s mission to provide “a book for every man.”

The Library War Service accomplished a great deal in a short time. According to the June 1918 War Library Bulletin, there were 385,310 books shipped overseas. At that time, there were also 237 small military camps and posts equipped with book collections and 249 naval and marine stations and vessels supplied with libraries. [2] The books were well-received by soldiers and sailors alike, and unmistakably utilized widely. Vice-Admiral Albert Gleaves of the US Navy wrote:

“Do the sailors read very much? Do the soldiers read very much? I know from personal observation that the books were in constant demand, and that they were in constant circulation. They were placed as a rule near the troop compartments for the soldiers, and for the sailors they were placed in their compartments. The books were allotted to them and they would draw these books; they were not responsible in any way for their condition or what became of them. If the books were lost, that was profit and loss to the A. L. A., and didn’t concern the sailor man. There was no compulsion, no restraint; they had free access to these books.” [3]
Continue reading “The Books They Read: Library War Service in WWI” →

Research Strategies: Publications of the A.L.A.

Posted on by Salvatore De Sando

This holiday season is a great chance to consider the many historic professional gifts of A.L.A. members to colleagues past, present, and future: professional publications rich with information for all. However, there is so much A.L.A. produced literature that it may not be possible for one to read everything in a lifetime. So this ALA Archives gift to you is a strategy (or two) for navigating the many different historic publications of the A.L.A.

An ALA Publications List Poster
A poster of an ALA publications list , circa 1925, in Record Series 13/2/22, Box 1.

Continue reading “Research Strategies: Publications of the A.L.A.” →

Research Strategies: Publications About the A.L.A. and Librarianship

Posted on by Salvatore De Sando

One method for searching an institutional or organizational archives is through a review of publications about the organization. Some external publications capture ephemeral information about an organization and complement other archival information. Such formal or informal publications can be produced by the organization, by institutions, by groups, or by people. Read on to see some examples of what an archives may hold in a Record Group 0!

Continue reading “Research Strategies: Publications About the A.L.A. and Librarianship” →