A program aimed at centering Indigenous stewardship practices in archives receives award from the Society of American Archivists
The Indigenous Archival Training program team receives SAA Archival Innovator Award 2024
Chicago, IL – The Indigenous Archival Training Program, a program aimed at centering Indigenous stewardship practices in archives, is the 2024 recipient of the Archival Innovator Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The Archival Innovator Award recognizes an archivist, a group of archivists, a repository, or an organization that demonstrates the greatest overall current impact on the profession or their communities.
The Indigenous Archival Training program developed a series of free, educational “Indigenizing Archival Practices” workshops aimed at Tribal archivists. Initially conceived by SAA’s Native American Archives Section, the idea went from a $30k to $100k proposal with support from the Mellon Foundation. The workshops enabled archival training for archivists who often lack access to formalized professional training; embodied principles and best practices driven by Indigenous values and traditional stewardship practices of communities; and built a network of Tribal archivists and Indigenous knowledge experts to support each other in this work.
The pilot for the program took place in the fall of 2023. Success was immediately evident in the number of people who worked to make this program a reality, adding on-site and live-streaming workshop units. This team of experts iteratively developed and tested the structure and content of indigenized archival training with the goal of developing a formal certificate program in the future.
Since all workshop participants work on building collections and archives from the ground up in their community, many shared how the workshops provided a safe place to learn, build new skills, and provide networking support. The program structure and the multiple modalities (in-person and virtual) allowed them to engage in different ways. Many participants are excited to share this information with their communities and Tribal Councils.
This important work was completed with a large number of collaborators, including PI Rana Salzmann; Co-PI Diana Marsh (UMD INFO College); Co-PI Selena Ortega-Chiolero; Instruction Lead Vina Begay; SAA Native American Archives Section core team Eric Hung (UMD INFO College), Lotus Norton-Wisla, Gena Peone, Liza Posas, Jonathan Pringle, and Melissa Stoner; additional NAAS member planners Rose Buchanan, River Freemont, and Rachel Menyuk; student evaluators Brionna Badoni and Kelley Klor; Regional Coordinator Sibel Melik; On-site Host Ryan Flahive; and Instructors Vina Begay, Dawn Randozzo, Gena Peone, Denise Redbird, Jerrid Miller, Lotus Norton-Wisla, Trevor Reed, Jaime Arsenault, Sandy Littletree, and Jennifer O’Neal.
The original news release was shared by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) August 2024.