An Archivist's Tale

Karen Trivette and Geof Huth sit down at the end of the year to celebrate the 100th episode of this podcast and discuss their individual archives days, their plans for 2020, the value of archives, and the home they have found for their podcast archives.

Joseph Komljenovich, Senior Associate Archivist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, regales us with stories: of how he began his college career studying finance but slipped somehow into archives, about epiphanies, about never having been a normal kid, and even about returning to finance, to some degree, in his current job.

Cal Lee, Professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science, invites us to his office to discuss how philosophy and the need to address digital records propelled him into archives and how he has connected himself deeply into the archival profession nationally and internationally.

Kelly Wooten, Librarian at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, invites us into her home to enjoy her cats and to discuss her career in libraries and archives, one focused on women's work, girl's literature, and zines.

Chrystal Carpenter, Coordinator of University Archives and Special Collections, tells us about her beginnings in Egyptology, her experiences dealing with the aftermath of a massacre, her rich and broad career, and an attempt to reframe what the Archives Leadership Institute could be.

Sophie Glidden-Lyon and Daniel Pecoraro, volunteers at the Interference Archive in Brooklyn, tell us the history of the Archive, how this community archives makes records on social movements available to the public, and all about their cataloging parties.

Aaron Purcell, Director of Special Collections and University Archives at Virginia Tech, recounts his journey from the history of the French Revolution to archives, his professional focus on donor relations, and his place in archives.

Kate Theimer, writer and editor, and her husband, Jim Gerencser, College Archivist at Dickinson College, tell us of their lives together as two archivists and the amazing accomplishments they have achieved.

Arian Ravanbakhsh, Supervisory Records Management Policy Analyst at the Office of the Chief Records Officer at the US National Archives, tells us how his life has always revolved around the District of Columbia and explains his important work developing records management policies for the federal government.

Alex Duryee, Metadata Archivist at the New York Public Library, tells us how he became an archivist as a teenager but discovered it was a profession only later in life, and also explains the archival magic of integrated systems of metadata.

Stephen Novak, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the Augusta C. Long Health Sciences Library at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, tells us how the records of a murder first intrigued him about archives and then tells the stories of a long a rich career that touched just about everything an archivist might ever do.

Hrefna Róbertsdóttir, National Archivist of Iceland, provides a wide view of the archival program of Iceland, its national and regional archives, and how these have responsibility for the records of the whole of society, all while Iceland works closely with other archives on international issues.

Njörður Sigurðsson, Director of Acquisition and Access at the National Archives of Iceland, tells his story of becoming an archivist after studying the history of foster children, explains the archives world of Iceland, and discusses his work internationally addressing the thorny issue of displaced archives.

Ashley Levine, Archivist and Digital Resource Manager at Artifex Press, tells us about his move from pure archives to a more modern kind of hybrid archivist role, how all archivists must learn new skills all the time and why their versatility helps them with that, and he explains why archivists realize there is a social urgency to information, the preservation of information, and truth.

Nicole Milano, Head of the Medical Center Archives at NewYork Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses how her study of history and her travels led her to archives, discusses how being a lone arranger helped her practice the breadth of archives, and she also speaks about her experiences helping run a podcast and attending the Archives Leadership Institute.

Heather Lember, a processing archivist at New York Public Library, tells us of her life trip from being a musician to an archivist and finally to the archivist working on the extensive papers of Lou Reed, most of which consisted of audio recordings in many formats. She explains the challenges and joys of processing large archival collections.

Patty Sicular, co-owner of Iconic Focus Models, tells us the story of her career in the fashion and modeling industry, which led to her becoming an archivist by necessity. She discusses working with iconic models, such as Carmen Dell’Orefice (still modeling at age 88), and her plans for donating the archives she has retained.

Meredith Evans, Director of the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and President of the Society of American Archivists, tells us why she was always meant to be an archivist, how she practices archives from a community perspective, why the keeping of archival evidence is so important, and how records touch all people.

In a passionate episode, Sara and Ben Brumfield, the founders of FromThePage, describe how they, as software developers, are obsessed by making cultural material accessible, how they work with archivists across the world on such projects, and how their passion encompasses both protecting cultures and making their tangible pieces more available.

David B. Gracy II, an archivist who needs no introduction, discusses how history changed the entire course of his life until archives did the same, recounts some of his long and distinguished history in the field, and talks (as he often does) about what we as archivists need to be and to do.

Kate Saeed, Manuscripts Processor at the Geisel Library of the University of California San Diego, discusses her start in history, her discovery of archives, and how she came into the profession without a degree in the field and how she trained herself into the job. Along the way, she discusses her work on the teleplay for The Archivist, her manuscripts processing and a little bit about the Dr Seu...

Rex Pickett, the author of the novel Sideways, and Kate Saeed, the archivist at UC San Diego who processed his papers, discuss Rex's introduction to the world of archives, their collaboration on the teleplay for a limited series called The Archivist, the novel based on that teleplay that Rex is finishing, and Hollywood.

Jake Salik of Talas tells us how he ended up with a business selling archival supplies, how difficult it is becoming to find and sell traditionally crafted paper, and why Talas makes boxes to order and sells multiple types of parchment and even gold-beater's skin. Gold-beater's skin?

Anthony Cocciolo, the Dean of the School of Information at Pratt Institute, talks to us about his transition from computer science to archives and how he ended up teaching and also writing the book on how to care for archival audio-visual records.

Geir Walderhaug, Advisor and Records Manager at the University at Oslo, discusses his work as a government archivist and records manager, hermeneutics, and how government records are managed in Norway. He also talks about the international nature of archives and his role in the expansive world of archives.