The 2015 ACA Conference in Regina - Part 1: Murder in the Archives

Hi everyone, this is the Musée's archivist Vino and I thought I would write a series of blogs on some of the interesting sessions I attended during the Association of Canadian Archivists’ (ACA) 40^th annual conference in Regina, SK held in June 2015. 

With the theme of “Perspectives on the Archival Horizon”, the conference looked at various topics such as, community archives, social justice, outreach, digital preservation, technology, social media, and changes within the archival profession through seminar sessions with panelists, poster presentations, case studies, exhibits, and keynote speakers. 

I am always excited to attend the conference so that I can see what my fellow colleagues in Canada and around the world are up to. And, it’s not just archivists, but I am also interested in hearing from individuals outside our realm, who are users and huge supporters of archives in general.

Conference delegates at the ACA conference in Regina. Getting ready to hear Gail Bowen.

  The conference began with opening speaker, Gail Bowen, author of the Joanne Kilbourn murder mysteries, which are set in Saskatchewan. Bowen, an avid user of archives, has her archival records and manuscripts held at the University of Regina Archives. This also inspired her to set a murder in the Archives in her novel, Burying Ariel (I'm going to be reading this real soon). Bowen spoke about her career and how she has come to rely on archives for her research. She also mentioned archivists should visit English classes and writing classes. The thought here is that if archivists get out to these places, then more writers will be aware of the archives for their research. It is often a challenge to get people aware of what an archives provides to people, so if archivists actively get out to different places then more people become aware of it. Archives is a place of research for all types of people, so this was a great suggestion from Bowen to increase our awareness.

Outreach is huge part of what the Musée Héritage Museum offers our community. And I found this aspect of the outreach archivist to be a driving point for almost all of the sessions I attended at the conference.  

I will blog again soon about more of the conference….Vino