Archives in Context

In this episode of Archives in Context, cohosts Emily Mathay and Lauren Kata talk with Rachel Antell and Stephanie Jenkins, co-founders of the Archival Producers Alliance. Archival producers work with filmmakers to research and identify archival materials for inclusion in documentaries, feature films, exhibits, and many additional projects. Stephanie and Rachel discuss their respective paths to becoming archival producers, including their backgrounds in documentary filmmaking, as well as some of the projects they have worked on in this role. They also talk about the guidelines they wrote for navigating the impact of generative AI on the work of archival producers and on the historical record as a whole. Listen in for a fascinating conversation on the many facets of archival producing, from research and relationship-building to navigating copyright, deadlines, and emerging technologies.

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Archival Producers Alliance

Trust in Archives Initiative

New York Times article: “Can You Believe the Documentary You’re Watching?“

In this episode, cohosts Lauren Kata and Emily Mathay speak with Christina Zamon about her book Alone in the Stacks: Succeeding as a Solo Archivist, an updated edition that tackles the complexities of solo archiving in the 2020s. Smaller repositories and their solo archivists make up a large portion of American archives, yet they remain underrepresented in archival literature. Listen in for a range of discussions, from archival advocacy to community support and more.

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Purchase your copy in the SAA Bookstore!

A review of Alone in the Stacks: Succeeding as a Solo Archivist was recently published in American Archivist Volume 88: 1.

In this episode, cohosts Adreonna Bennett and Conor Casey speak with Julie Thomas, the instruction and electronic records archivist at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), about her new book, Teaching Primary Source Research Skills to 21st-Century Learners. Drawing on her extensive experience, Thomas discusses theories and pedagogies for teaching primary source research skills in the classrooms of today. The conversation touches upon active learning strategies, effective methods of incorporating archival materials into instruction, and the importance of adapting our teaching approach to the learning styles of today’s students.

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Purchase your copy of Teaching Primary Source Research Skills to 21st-Century Learners in the SAA Bookstore!

JCAS Reviews Teaching Primary Source Research Skills to 21st-Century Learners
The Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (JCAS) recently published a review of Julie Thomas’s Teaching Primary Source Research Skills to 21st-Century Learners (SAA 2024).

Join co-hosts Lauren Kata and Emily Mathay as they chat with Ben and Sara Brumfield, co-founders of Brumfield Labs, about the future of AI in the archives. Sara and Ben discuss their ongoing work developing projects at the intersection of cultural heritage and emerging technologies, including FromThePage, a platform for crowdsourcing transcription of handwritten documents. This episode also touches on the potential challenges of integrating AI into archival work: its impact on jobs and employment, the types of tasks for which it is useful, and the importance of choosing and evaluating AI tools carefully.

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Check out: FromThePage

“10 Ways AI Will Change Archives” webinar series 

Archives as an Antidote for ChatGPT

SAA Description Section YouTube video: Current Uses of AI in Archival Description

In this episode, cohosts Lauren Kata and Emily Mathay speak with Chris Pandza, Canadian communication designer and oral historian living and working in New York City. Pandza’s practice involves combining experience design and artificial intelligence to make archives that are more accessible, beautiful, and equitable than otherwise possible. He has led communication design and curation for the Obama Presidency Oral History, the Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project, and the Movements Against Mass Incarceration oral history. His work has been covered in the New York Times and MSNBC and honored by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. This November, he won a gold Anthem Award for innovation on the Elders Project digital archive. He currently works at Incite Institute at Columbia University, which is home to the Columbia Center for Oral History Research.

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Check out: nobody’s diary;

Incite; and

Methodological Experiments in the Field of Oral History, Fall 2023 Talk

Other resources include: “Slow work” comes from “Slowing Down to Listen in the Digital Age: How New Technology Is Changing Oral History Practice” by Anna Sheftel and Stacey Zembrzycki

The discussion of agendas in this episode is from “Living Voices: The Oral History Interview as Dialogue and Experience” by Alessandro Portelli

In this episode, cohosts Adreonna Bennett and Conor Casey speak with Maigen Sullivan and Joshua Burford of Invisible Histories, a community-based archives that locates, collects, preserves, researches, and creates for local communities an accessible collection of the rich and diverse history of LGBTQ life in the US South.

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Check out Invisible Histories on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook!

You can help support the Invisible Histories mission here.

Register or submit a proposal for Queer History South 2026. The event will be fully virtual from February 20–21, 2026. 

In this episode, Project Coordinator Mary Caldera speaks with the new Archives in Context team, including Producer Kate Greenberg; Cohosts Adreonna Bennett, Conor Casey, Lauren Kata, Emily Mathay, and Camila Zorrilla Tessler; and Staff Liaison Hannah Stryker. The podcast members discuss their backgrounds, areas of interest in archives, and what they’re excited to explore as part of the podcast. You can learn more about the team here.

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Listen to other episodes here, or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, cohosts Camila Zorrilla Tessler and Conor Casey speak with historians Krista McCracken and Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey about Decolonial Archival Futures, their new book that challenges non-Indigenous practitioners to think consciously about the histories we tell. Listen for a discussion about rethinking structures of archival provenance and ownership, community relationship building, and decentering the settler perspective in archives.

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Order your own copy of Decolonial Archival Futures here!

Read “Decolonizing Our Archival Future: A Conversation with Krista McCracken and Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey” from the November/December 2023 issue of Archival Outlook here.

In this episode, co-hosts Chris Burns and Camila Zorrilla Tessler speak with Maryna Paliienko, a Ukrainian historian, archivist, and Fulbright Scholar conducting research at New York University on the topic “Archives in the Time of War and Emergency: Problems of the Cultural Heritage Preservation and Usage (from the Experience of the United States and Ukraine).” Listen to learn more about Dr. Paliienko’s work, the crucial role that archives play in documenting shared history and memory during times of war, and evolving strategies for preserving archives in times of emergency.

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Visit Maryna Paliienko’s faculty website and learn more about the projects and collections mentioned in the episode:

Fulbright Scholar Program: Maryna Paliienko

Fulbright Visiting Scholars and FRDP Fellows, 2023–2024

The State Archival Service of Ukraine

Archives of Ukraine journal

In this episode, cohosts Chris Burns and Camila Zorrilla Tessler speak to counterculture historian and archival music producer Pat Thomas about his new book Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg. Join us for a discussion about Pat’s research process, favorite items from Ginsberg’s collection, and thoughts on Ginsberg’s legacy.

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Order your own copy of Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg here!