University archivist presents at national conference

University Archivist Chrystal Carpenter participated in a panel presentation about working with emotionally challenging archival collections at the Society of American Archivists Conference (SAA) in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 4.

Carpenter, a former advisor to the January 8th Memorial Foundation, presented on “Community Healing and the Archiving of a Tragedy: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner Shooting” alongside archivists from the National Archives and Records Management, the MITRE Corporation, and the JFK Library.

The panelists drew from their experiences with emotionally challenging collections, including processing, working with donors, and supporting research interactions. The four presentations delved into how emotions affect the profession in terms of collections acquisition, the perception of memory and truth, ethics within and outside the field, and so-called “objectivity.”