Anti-Racist Interventions in Archives

Project Title: Anti-Racist Interventions in Archives

Project Description: This was my final paper in the Foundations of Information course. The paper sought out to explore how archives in the US lack field-specific initiatives to deconstruct the institutional racism that encompasses the profession. The paper argues that as with other fields, the call to confront the institutional racism in archives has been of paramount importance and can no longer be avoided.

Methods: This article begins by looking at what the dialogue around activism in archives has been. Then turns towards the educational field and the Oak Park Public Library as examples of what anti-racist initiatives look like. Lastly, an outline of anti-racist actions both the individual archivist and collective archivists need to begin doing immediately. All sections required extensive research into the historical, current, and future trends with activism in archives. The goal of the article is to transition the discussion from if we should become activist archivists to how we become activist archivists through anti-racist interventions.

My Role: I was the sole author of this article.

Learning Outcome Achieved: Research

Rationale: This project investigated the archival environment’s need for a reimagined framing of archivists from objective memory holders to anti-racist activist memory curators. The research was goal oriented around shifting the discourse on activism in archives from providing purely informative content, to offering direct anti-racist practices and guidance towards further action-oriented resources. I utilized a wide range of sources that helped cover the historical discourse on activism in archives, current examples of anti-racist interventions, and field-specific anti-racist initiatives archivists can begin implementing right now.