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Category: What Archivists Do

New in the Archives: The Scrapbooks of Miriam Backs

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Miriam Backs in 1950
Miriam Backs in 1950

Marissa Krein is a graduate student at the School of Information Science. She is currently completing a practicum at the Student Life and Culture Archives. 

Souvenirs from nights out in Champaign-Urbana

The Student Life and Culture Archives recently received four scrapbooks from the family of Miriam Backs chronicling her years as a student at the University of Illinois.

Miriam Carolyn Backs was born on November 30, 1928, in Nashville, Illinois. Her father, Gus H. Backs, was the owner and manager of Backs Department Store and her mother was a homemaker. Miriam grew up in the small southern Illinois town and graduated from Nashville Community High School in 1946. She chose to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and enrolled in the freshmen class of 1946. Mirroring her family’s business background, she majored in accounting at the College of Commerce and Business Administration (now College of Business). Her scrapbooks chronicle her four years at the university and are full of memorabilia highlighting her involvement on campus and her active social life as well as her various summer vacations through the South and Midwest. Continue reading “New in the Archives: The Scrapbooks of Miriam Backs” →

2016 National Archives Conference for Fraternities and Sororities

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Miriam Centeno, Collections Care Coordinator, leads a hands-on exhibits workshop
Miriam Centeno, Collections Care Coordinator, leads a hands-on exhibits workshop

Written by Anna Trammell

Maintaining and preserving an organization’s archives in tight economic times can be a challenge. Many national fraternities and sororities rely on staff whose primary responsibilities and expertise are in other areas. Others are fortunate to have volunteers who care for the archives. A smaller number employ a professional archivist. To assist national Greek organizations with their archival programs and to foster communication among these organizations about their archival activities, the Student Life and Culture Archives offers a national conference every other year at the University of Illinois campus that is designed to meet the archival needs of national fraternities and sororities.

Attendees break into small groups for discussion during a presentation on outreach
Attendees break into small groups for discussion during a presentation on outreach

This year’s conference was held June 2-4 at the iHotel and Conference Center in Champaign. Session topics included “Capturing and Preserving Your Organization’s Digital History” with Assistant University Archivist Chris Prom, “Copyright for Fraternity Archives” with Kappa Alpha Theta Archivist and Attorney Lisa McLaughlin, and “Exhibits 101 Workshop” with Collections Care Coordinator Miriam Centeno and Curator for Rare Books and Manuscripts Anna Chen. A complete schedule of events can be found here. Continue reading “2016 National Archives Conference for Fraternities and Sororities” →

#AskAnArchivist Day 2015 Summary

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Written by Anna Trammell

Yesterday, October 1, was #AskAnArchivist Day when archivists all over the country respond to questions about their collections, the profession, and more on Twitter. Staff at the University of Illinois Archives and the Student Life and Culture Archives answered questions and shared some of their favorite items and images throughout the day. Here’s a recap of some of the questions we received:

What’s the most unusual donation we’ve received? Many student scrapbooks come to us with very unusual items in their pages. Archivist for Student Life and Culture Ellen Swain said she’s seen them with locks of hair, birthday cake, and cigars. Linda Stahnke Stepp and Bethany Anderson of the University Archives added that they’ve seen a slingshot, mouse pelts, and preserved insects!

Tweet Capture Continue reading “#AskAnArchivist Day 2015 Summary” →

Rekindling Lost Love, Illinois-Style

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Many of us are good story-tellers; archivists are “story-catchers.”

Paul and Diane at the Kappa Alpha Theta House Christmas Formal, 1950
Paul and Diane at the Kappa Alpha Theta House Christmas Formal, 1950

This past week, the Student Life & Culture (SLC) Archives received seven photos from alumnus Paul Wieland ’52 of Paul and girlfriend Diane Rutter ’52 taken during their time at Illinois.  I asked Colonel Wieland to include a memory piece about his photos to provide context for future researchers.  Below is his  amazing story of love, re-connection, loss and thankfulness:

“Summary of a Love Story”  from Colonel Paul Wieland, September 14, 2015

“This is a summary of the love story that accompanies the seven photos of Diane Rutter and myself, Paul Wieland. The photos were taken in 1950 and 1951 during our fraternity and sorority formal dances at the University of Illinois. Diane and I became college sweethearts just before our 20th birthdays, soon after we met at the University in January 1950. We spent four years together, two on campus and two after we graduated.

Diane’s mother was a dress designer and seamstress, and she made sure that Diane was always the beautiful “belle of the ball,” with a new gown for every formal dance. Those events were always a highlight of campus life; they involved a lot of planning and work — decorating the venue, selecting the best band, finalizing plans for refreshments, working on the guest list, etc.  Continue reading “Rekindling Lost Love, Illinois-Style” →

I’m Documenting Student Life, and You Can Too

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Prison Justice Project informational flyer, 2014.
Prison Justice Project informational flyer, 2014.

Written by Nick Hopkins

The University of Illinois Student Life and Culture (SLC) Archives maintains documents spanning the entire history of the university. It is particularly focused on the experiences of students. Its collections include documents and photos of student organizations, Illio yearbooks, and sorority and fraternity publications, as well as a great deal of other student sources. The SLC Archives puts the history of student life at UIUC at the fingertips of visitors, for student projects, enjoyment, and professional research.

The SLC Archives also presents an opportunity for students to become part of this history. Students may donate papers of their organization to be archived in the Student Affairs series. Submitted materials are processed and boxed by archives staff, like myself, and are publicly available to view.

Preserving student history is important. One of my favorite student organization collections is the African-American Cultural Program Publications series. These sources are cited in UIUC alumna Joy Ann Williamson’s history of African-American student experiences and Project 500, Black Power on Campus: University of Illinois, 1965-75.  The documents allow Williamson to tell the story of black students at a racially contentious time in both university and U.S. history. Continue reading “I’m Documenting Student Life, and You Can Too” →