As one gets older, time seems to pass faster. This certainly has been my experience as editor of The American Archivist. The past six years have gone by very quickly!
While it's always risky to do so, I decided to look back on my first column as editor. In 2012, I wrote the following about the journal:
Vision may be a bit strong a word, but my hope is that the entire archival profession will view The American Archivist as essential to their daily activities. I would like everyone, from first-year students to most senior practitioners, to look forward to receiving each issue of the journal. I hope to bring in diverse voices, including those from outside the archives profession. I would like to include translations of key articles from other nations. But most of all, I would like to work with people who have an idea for an article but are nervous about taking the first step. As editor, I would like to help them develop ideas into publishable articles.1
I am most pleased with my efforts to encourage the next generation of authors. Over the past six years, my hair has gotten grayer and several prolific authors from my generation have retired or passed away. I have worked hard to develop new authors willing to share their perspectives through the rigorous process of peer-reviewed scholarship. In particular, it has been a privilege to share the excitement of so many first-time authors when they saw their articles in print in The American Archivist.
In 2012, I did not anticipate having to move the journal to a new online platform. SAA was required to do so, however, by circumstances beyond our control. Our resulting partnership with Allen Press has led to increased online functionality as well as improved back-office processes. This was a time-consuming implementation that will continue to provide benefits to SAA for years to come. As just one example, it now is easier to manage the submission of manuscripts and the review process with a database of 167 peer reviewers—many of whom are new to this professional role as well.
As each issue of the journal was published, I tried to provide an overview and roadmap for you, the reader. My rough estimate is that I have guided you through over one million words since 2012. I will provide my last roadmap here.
The current issue contains seven articles that cover a wide range of archival interests and activities. Sarah A. Buchanan, Jane Gruning, Ayse Gursoy, and Lecia Barker present results from a spring 2014 survey about the work archivists do, the competencies required for this work, and recommendations for graduate curricula in archival studies. Their article, “Surveying Archivists and Their Work toward Advocacy and Management, or ‘Enterprise Archiving,’” concludes that developing advocacy communication skills is crucial to gaining and sustaining public support.
The second article, by Alex H. Poole, is a biography of one of the giants of the American archival profession. “Harold T. Pinkett and the Lonely Crusade of African American Archivists in the Twentieth Century” not only shows Pinkett's personal struggles, but highlights his legacy of service and scholarship to the archival profession. As a young archivist, I was fortunate to work with Harold Pinkett near the end of his career, when he served as a consultant to the United Negro College Fund. I am pleased that my last issue as editor of The American Archivist documents the personal life and professional career of this previous editor of the journal.
The next article shifts the discussion from person to place. In “The Archive of Place and Land Art as Archive: A Case Study of Spiral Jetty,” Elizabeth England explores the documentation and preservation of land artwork. Using Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson as a case study, England concludes that no one-size-fits-all approach exists to document and preserve unique, artistically significant sites.
The fourth article discusses archival professional development and advancement within academic research libraries. Elizabeth A. Novara and Vincent J. Novara's article, “Exhibits as Scholarship: Strategies for Acceptance, Documentation, and Evaluation in Academic Libraries,” explores promotion and tenure policies for archivists with faculty status. The authors hope this article will encourage broader recognition of the creation of library exhibits as a worthwhile scholarly endeavor.
Ciaran B. Trace continues the recent trend of historical articles in The American Archivist. “Sweeping out the Capitol: The State Archives and the Politics of Administration in Georgia, 1921–1923,” examines the history and rhetoric of administrative reform in Georgia during the Progressive Era as it affected the operation of the State Archives. Trace shows that challenges to the continued existence of state archives are not new to our profession.
This issue contains the first part of an article by Edward Benoit III; the next issue will contain the second part. “#MPLP Part 1: Comparing Domain Expert and Novice Social Tags in a Minimally Processed Digital Archives” explores the relationship between user- and expert-generated metadata. Benoit recommends inclusion of both expert and novice tags—each type of tag has unique qualities and serves different purposes.
The final article is by GVGK Tang, a master's student at Temple University in Philadelphia. “Sex in the Archives: The Politics of Processing and Preserving Pornography in the Digital Age” explores the growing complexities of processing sexually explicit materials in archives. Tang concludes that archivists must negotiate the politics of what is “appropriate” content for the public—balancing outreach programs, educational initiatives, and grant-seeking with representation in and diversification of their collections.
This issue also contains an expanded reviews section. It has been a priority of mine as editor to increase the number and range of reviews in the journal and on the Reviews Portal. Bethany Anderson has embraced this goal and submitted eleven reviews for this issue. The reviews are by Margarita Vargas-Betancourt, Katrina Windon, David Bearman, Rachel M. Grove Rohrbaugh, Creighton Barrett, Kira Dietz, Daniel W. Noonan, Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Jeremy Brett, Sibyl Schaefer, and Elena Danielson. The reviewed books and reports cover the following topics: cultural competence; photo archives; email records management and cybersecurity requirements; teaching with primary sources; building trust in information; preserving family recipes; digital preservation essentials; genealogy in New Orleans; digital cultural memory and media fandom; trusted digital repositories; and privacy and the past.
I want to end my final column as editor with a number of thank-you's. First, SAA's elected leadership, its officers and council, have provided the infrastructure and financial resources to maintain the quality of the journal. Second, the American Archivist Editorial Board provided ongoing direction, and its members each peer-reviewed several articles per year. Third, SAA staff—Nancy Beaumont, Teresa Brinati, Abigail Christian, and Meg Moss—have made my job as editor much easier by handling production details. Finally, and most importantly, I want to thank you, the members of the Society of American Archivists, who continue to value The American Archivist and support it with your dues. For the past eighty years, the editors of the journal have worked to maintain the members' trust and advance the archival discourse. It has been a personal honor and professional privilege to be part of this tradition.
Notes
1 Gregory S. Hunter, “From the Editor,” The American Archivist 75 (Spring/Summer 2012): 13.