HAI Presents Panel on Archives Processing and Outreach Campaigns at the Society of Southwest Archivists Annual Meeting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: May 19, 2017
Contact: Anne Strong
Telephone: (301) 279-9697

How can universities improve the way they process donated collections and make the public aware of them? HAI archivist Erin Mashni and historian Jennifer Giambrone are part of a panel discussion that will share real-world examples of how two Texas archives are handling the processing and promotion of their collections.

The panel, entitled “Su voto es su voz: How Two Universities are Sharing Their Mexican American Civil Rights Collections with the Community through Processing and Outreach Campaigns,” takes place at the Society of Southwest Archivists Annual Meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 25th. Ms. Mashni and Ms. Giambrone will be joined by Ann Hodges, Librarian at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, to discuss their ongoing project to arrange, preserve, and describe a large collection of Dr. Hector P. Garcia Papers. They will also discuss the launch of an initial online exhibit featuring selected digitized items from the papers, designed to highlight the collection and Dr. Garcia’s legacy.

Ms. Mashni has several years of professional archival experience and has conducted processing, arranging, and description services for entities such as George Washington University, the National Park Service, and several Members of Congress. She also has experience handling and describing material culture, developed most notably while assisting the curator for Latino culture at the National Museum of American History.

Ms. Giambrone led the project team in creating the online exhibit for the collection. She has seven years of experience as a professional historian and her digital history expertise includes researching and writing social media content, drafting interpretive tours for smartphone apps, and creating maps and illustrations for museum installations.

Also on the panel are archivists from the University of Texas at San Antonio, which is using a grant-funded team of in-house archivists to process the records of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project/Willie C. Velasquez Institute.  Archivist Leah Rios and Amy Rushing, head of special collections, will share details on the project, as well as behind-the-scenes insights into the development of an innovative YouTube video which promotes the collection and the processing work.