Learning Outcomes

  1. Have a clear understanding of the expectations, group agreements/care tone, and requirements of archive night school (ANS). After the first session we will also have a shared understanding of what LACA is/does and how ANS reinforces these ideas.
  2. Have a sense of what dominant archives are and how they reproduce social relations and enforce state practices. Be able to imagine projects and archival artwork that do not reinforce these systems.
  3. Be able to apply concepts of appraisal and value creation that is happening around us, with a focus on art, museums, and archives. We will be able to make conclusions about how this impacts our work together at LACA and reimagine what we value together and how we shape what comes into the archive.
  4. Understand and be able to apply care informed acquisition procedures for LACA.
  5. Be able to determine informed methods of scanning, batching, and tagging various archival materials based on the needs of the materials and how the items relate to LACA.
  6. Be able to create a processing plan. Analyze how dominant archives might process archival collections differently. You will have the skillset to generally rehouse, arrange, and describe materials that arrive at an archive like LACA.
  7. Identify “who” an archive or collections are for and be able to articulate how these entities provide access and deny access to people.
  8. Understand the role you play in producing, valuing, and sharing in knowledge production. Be able to identify imaginative and transformative ways you want to continue working at LACA and living as an artist.

Group Agreements

  • Be caring by being respectful to the space and each other.
  • Be on time and be prepared.
  • Keep the space clean.
  • Be self-reflective/aware.
  • Hold each other accountable to group agreements.

Reading List

Week 1 | Gathering
Jose Muñoz, Notes on Queer Evidence

Week 2 | What Are Archives
Archives Principles and Practices: What are archives? Laura A. Miller
Organizing Archival Records: Who Created the Collection?

Week 3 | Selection
Archives Principles and Practices
Chapter 6: Appraising and Acquiring Archives: Appraisal for Acquisition
by Laura A. Miller
Organizing Archival Records
Chapter 5: Beyond Arrangement and Description
by David W. Carmicheal

Week 4 | Acquisition
Organizing Archival Records
Chapter 2, Accession
Texas Special Collections Library: Archives and Manuscripts Processing Manual:
Accession forms (3)
LACA Deed of Gift Form (front and back)

Week 5 | Going Digital
UMass Amherst Libraries: Guidelines for Digitization

Week 6 | Processing
Texas Special Collections Library: Archives and Manuscripts Processing Manual:
Chapter 3: Arrangement

Week 7 | Access
Organizing Archival Records, Steps of Organization

Week 8 | For Who?
We Already Are by Yusef Omowale

Maintenance

“Art and maintenance are collaborative efforts, reflecting a shared vision for our environment and society. Each action, big or small, contributes to our common goal of fostering a nurturing space.” –Mierle Laderman Ukeles

ANS’s maintenance sessions reflect our mutual commitment to each other and emphasize the importance of nurturing and caring for a shared space.