Announcing “Archives, Memory & Identity: A Public Symposium”

During a time when “alternative facts” are regularly discussed and disputed in the mainstream media, archive-based evidence has become increasingly valued for its ability to document the histories and perspectives of diverse peoples, cultures, and movements. We invite you to join Rare Book School and UVA Libraries for “Archives, Memory & Identity,” a public, one-day symposium that will bring together archivists, librarians, curators, digital humanists, academics, artists, and activists working on a range of cross-disciplinary, culturally sensitive projects that challenge traditional models for creating and stewarding visual and textual artifacts.

Featuring panel discussions on access, storytelling, and community outreach, the symposium will include innovators working on a variety of projects—from established archives, including The HistoryMakers (recording African American oral histories since 1999), the South Asian American Digital Archive, and the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal—to new initiatives, such as the Digital Library of the Middle East and UVA’s Lhasa VR. The symposium will delve into artists’ books and film as forms of documenting social movements and social change with activist-artist María Verónica San Martín and filmmaker Brian Wimer (director of Charlottesville: Our Streets). Drawing on the work of archivists Aaisha Haykal and Johan Kugelberg, the symposium will also explore the significance of forging relationships with community members, to build living and lasting collections that represent significant countercultures.

The symposium is free and open to the general public, but space is limited. We ask those who plan to attend the symposium to register online by 3 September.

This event is jointly sponsored by Rare Book School, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and UVA Libraries. The symposium will be held in the Auditorium of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.

See the event webpage for schedule details and to sign up.