This year’s annual meeting of the Society of American Archivist was tough for me. Although I upheld all of my scheduled obligations, I felt alienated, out-of-sorts, and generally unsettled. A sinus infection coupled with chronic health issues made it too difficult for me to participate in any educational sessions. MANY sessions drew my attention, but I found myself unable to absorb them or engage with the content in any meaningful way. So I gave myself permission to simply be in Austin, surrounded by family, friends, and places I love. In return, I promised myself that I would listen to the sessions I missed after SAA posted the recordings online.

This is my experiment – once a week, I will listen to a single SAA 2019 session, transcribe the recording to the best of my ability, and annotate the discussions with my commentary. I’ll keep it up as long as it feeds my spirit. For now, I plan to target about 25 sessions between now and March 2020. Each link will take you to a relevant blog post (as it is published), which will include a link to the original session recording.

Currently planned reviews

102 – Beyond Neutrality: Righting Wrongs and Striving Toward Representation

105 – Building a Community for a Community Archive: Perspectives and Strategies from the South Asian American Digital Archive Archivists’ Collective

203 – Transforming the Archive: Invasive Inclusivity through Language

205 – Revolutionizing Use Policies: Easing Resetrictions for Greater Impact

206 – SCOTUS Refocus: Advocacy for Judicial Papers

302 – No Repository, No Probelm: How Archivists Archive Without Walls

305- Recontextualizing and Demythologizing Archives” The Applications of Social Theories to the Archival Praxis

401 – No Ordinary Pain: Invisibly Labor and Trauma, Radical Empathy, and Self-Care in Archival Work

406 – Graduate Student Paper Session

501 – Invited Speaker: Ashley Farmer, PhD

502 – Young, Old, Seasoned, Green: Assessing Power Dynamics in Multigenerational Archives

503 – Beyond the Familiar Terms: Repairing Indigenous Collections through Inclusive Processing

505 – Collective Responsibility: Outcomes and Developments

508 – The New Internationalism: Broad Archival Ideologies and Local Paradigms

604 – Learning from the Local: The Teaching Archivist and Place-Based Education

608 – More Process, More Public: Enhancing the Value of Archives through Technical Services

609 – Standards for Sustainability: Ensuring Sustainable Programs with It Takes a Village

704 – Our Legacy Together: Transformation, Community, and Healing

707 – Cultivating a Post-Custodial Praxis: INsights from LLILAS Benson’s COmmunity of Colaboradores

708 – How Does it Really Work? Software Preservation and Emulation in the Archives

804 – Means of Production and Selection: Capitalist Frameworks in Archival Contexts

806 – The Coming Transformation of Declassification

807 – Transforming Archives through Acts of Repair

808 – Archivists Facing a Changing Climate

904 – How Can I Help? Providing Exceptional Service and Practicing the Ethics of Care in the Archives