The book reviewed by David Boutros will be featured at the Spring Meeting of Kansas City Area Archivists. Come hear the thrilling stories behind each chapter from the book’s authors—KCAA’s own Larry Larsen and Nancy Hulston! Copies of Pendergast! will be on sale at the meeting, or bring your a copy and have it personally inscribed by the authors.

DATE: Thursday, March 19, 1998

TIME: 3:00 p.m.

PLACE: Jackson County Historical Society Archives

112 W. Lexington, Room 103

Independence, Missouri (in the Jackson County Courthouse)

Refreshments and a tour of the Jackson County Archives will follow the program. If you have questions, call Kelly Chambers at (816) 252-7454.

Well, folks, its time for old Uncle Al, well known for his stick-in-the-mud ways, to utter a few cautionary words on the theme of digitizing. I’ve just come through my first brush with digitizing (see the MidAmerican Archives section for the results of that adventure). Furthermore, I’ve recently been given responsibility for our shop’s microfilm laboratory, have followed a recent Archives and Archivists listserv thread on digitizing, and spent a few days last May at the Northeast Document Conservation Center’s School for Scanning. All this has forced me to think about the state of the arts of digitizing and microfilming.

You’re thinking about copying some of your precious documents? Well, what purpose will the copies serve? If you’re anxious to put a modest number of representative documents on your website, then digitizing certainly is the answer. If you are desperately seeking a sophisticated indexing capability, then digitizing may be the answer.

BUT, if you are primarily trying to preserve the information, then hearken to the wisdom of Dean DeBolt, who pounds the electronic table and tells us that we have a duty "to our clients to emphasize, to the point of irritability . . . that the original records should be preserved, and all this cost and effort at a fancy digital ‘home movie’ will not serve our family or preserve our personal life on this earth."* Who is Dean DeBolt? He’s the archivist and regional manuscripts curator at the University of West Florida. Why is he willing to irritate people? Because he realizes that occasionally our professional responsibilities may require us to do just that when we point out that digitizing is not archival.

It may not be archival, but because digitizing is sexy, and the technology is hot, administrators often like it. If you’re not putting your collection on line, they may say, you’re putting yourself out of business. Digitizing can produce quick payback in terms of public exposure.

But here is where we have to pound the table and shout that we often vastly underestimate the cost of digitizing and maintaining digital images. According to figures provided at the School for Scanning, during the first ten years of the life of a digitized document, the cost of migrating to the inevitable new formats will be more than twice the original cost of describing and scanning the document in the first place. The cost per image for scanned images with appropriate *medietate* built into the job seems to average about $19.00. I can’t recall hearing a single responsible archivist state that digitizing documents is, by itself, an adequate preservation strategy. Old fashioned unglamourous, ANSI-standard microfilming is still, it seems, the way to go when you want to do right by your preservation responsibilities. Microfilm may be depressingly old fashioned, but once its done its done, whereas in the digital world generations of technological change are now, as a newsmagazine notes, "roughly as ephemeral as those that make up the family trees of mayflies."**

None of this is to say, of course, that there is no place for digitizing in our business. Electronic images on the internet can serve as attractive sampling of our wares. Making digitized finding aids available to the public can enhance the effectiveness of our reference services manyfold. As long as the present and future costs do not cripple our other programs, and we don’t expect effortless permanence from a transitory medium, these are very good things to do.

And yes, of course technology marches on. After all, that’s the main problem with digitizing for preservation! Eventually we’ll have an electronic reformatting procedure that the community of archivists can agree is superior to microfilm. Eventually I’ll be able to stop feeling like such a Luddite when I tell people to treasure those originals, to go for photonegatives rather scanned copies of their photographs, to film rather than scan. Eventually Dean DeBolt will stop pounding the table and irritating people. But not yet, folks. Not yet.

* Posting on Archives & Archivists listserv, 2/9/98. By permission.

** "Store Wars," The Economist (Sept 18, 1993)

  return to INDEX

Margaret Hellner is presently the Library Media Specialist at St. Teresa's Academy in Kansas City, Missouri. Until last August, Margaret was an Archival Technician and Library Assistant at the Spencer Art Reference Library.

Two KCAA members will soon be united in marriage. Cynthia Shively and Joe Laframboise will exchange vows on July 17th in Lawrence, Kansas. Both are employed at the Kansas State Historical Society

The spring conference of the Missouri chapter of the National Association of African American Heritage Preservation (MO-NAAAHP) will be in St. Louis on Saturday, March 21, 1998 at the Henry VIII Conference Center on Lindbergh Boulevard. The one-day conference will feature sessions highlighting African-American culture preservation, and recording and documenting African-American heritage. For further information contact Angela da Silva at (314) 865-0708.

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The Special Collections department of the Kansas City Public Library recently received a Local Records grant from the Missouri Secretary of State’s office which will help to preserve the department’s newspaper clipping collection. Beginning near the turn of the century, the library reference staff clipped, mounted, indexed, and preserved clippings pertaining to Kansas City and the states of Kansas and Missouri. They clipped from local papers as well as national papers carrying articles of local interest. The earliest segment of the collection spans the first half of the 20th century.

The mounts used with the clippings have stayed together remarkably well over the years. They were microfilmed in the 1980s but many original clips had faded and the filming was not satisfactory. It was felt that if the 100,000-plus mounted clippings could be photocopied on acid free paper and remicrofilmed, a better quality filming would be the result.

Work began on the project as soon as Special Collections was awarded the grant. All of the Kansas City and Missouri clippings have been photocopied at this time, and the Kansas City portion has been microfilmed. Missouri portion will be microfilmed later this year.

Angela Curran, Archivist, is still recovering from 50th Anniversary festivities held in 1997 for the American Academy of Family Physicians. At a ceremony in January, the AAFP retired its 50th anniversary banner and flag to the Archives and presented an award to Angela, naming her "Archivist Extraordinaire."

The Ozarks Labor Union Archives was awarded a grant of $58,620 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The grant will underwrite the work of arranging, describing, and cataloging the collections. It will also fund the creation of finding aids that will enhance access to the collections and promote their use. Eighteen collections are involved. These collections document the history of organized labor and working class history in the state of Missouri and the Southwest Missouri Ozarks region. The collections were selected for their regional and statewide significance, inclusive dates, comprehensiveness, physical condition, and contents regarding working class women’s history and under-documented trades. The collections total 430 linear feet. They date from 1891 to the 1980s and include the Missouri State AFL-CIO records, Greater Kansas City Missouri Labor Council, the Essie DeCamp Collection (Women’s Auxiliaries) and the Ozarks Labor Union Archives photograph collection.

The Assemblies of God Archives in Springfield, Missouri, is involved in a major expansion that will provide a new office, reading room, vault, and museum-visitors center. The facility is located on the second floor of the Assemblies of God headquarters complex. A capital fund drive of $1 million is underway, with more than $800,000 currently committed to the project. The project’s completion date is the autumn of 1998.

The first phase of the expansion was completed in December, when temporary office space was occupied and the contents of the old vault were moved to an 800-square-foot block vault. Features of the vault include a reinforced concrete ceiling; a Simplex FM200 fire protection system; 13 Kardex movable shelving units, 14’ in length; other Kardex stationary shelving units; filtered overhead lights; and a walk-in cooler for the storage of tapes and films. Because the building’s heating and air-conditioning system is shut down on weekends, the vault is equipped with its own heating and cooling system. In addition, the facility has a storage room for unprocessed materials on the first floor.

The new offices, conference room, and reading room will occupy 2,000-square feet. They will be adjacent to the main foyer of the Assemblies of God headquarters building. The museum-visitor’s center will occupy 3,000 square feet, and it will include a store-front type church building reminiscent of early Pentecostal history. The interactive exhibits of the museum-visitors center are being designed and built by Lynch Industries of Burlington Township, New Jersey. Lynch designed the Billy Graham Center Museum in Wheaton, Illinois.

The expansion project entails a new name for the Assemblies of God Archives. It is now called the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, in honor of the J. Roswell and Alice Reynolds Flower family. The late Mr. and Mrs. Flower were charter members of the Assemblies of God when it was formed in 1914, and he served as an executive officer for many years. Their children followed them into the ministry and have contributed documents, artifacts, and financial gifts to the center.

The Combined Arms Research Library has recently described and organized a collection of over 200 WWI pamphlets published by the War Department and intended for the use of soldiers in the European theater. These pamphlets tell soldiers how to handle weapons and perform a variety of technical tasks, such as sound-ranging and wire-laying.

Tim Renick has joined the Combined Arms Research Library staff as Archivist and Curator of Special Collections. He comes from Washington, D.C., where he held positions at the Pentagon Library, the National Defense University Library, and the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center. Tim holds a master’s degree in library science and a master’s degree in history from the University of South Carolina. His primary responsibilities will be control of the curriculum archives, cataloging of the Special Collections materials (books that are fragile or threatened and sequestered from the circulating collection), and reference service.

The Department of Special Collections at Kansas State University has been renamed in honor of Richard L. D. and Marjorie J. Morse. A special ceremony conducted in October marked the event. The action recognizes the long-time generosity and support that the Morses have shown to Kansas State University Libraries and especially to special collections. Between 1988 and 1993, the Morses co-chaired fundraising efforts on behalf of KSU Libraries’ Essential Edge Campaign. Earlier, they established the Consumer Movement Archives in the Department of Special Collections in 1987. They have also provided cherry tables and chairs for the Special Collections research room. Richard Morse received the Midwest Archives Conference’s President’s Award in 1996 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the KSU Archives. Most recently, Richard and Marjorie Morse established a major endowment to provide lasting support for KSU’s Department of Special Collections. (Reported by Tony Crawford)

Cottey College was founded by Virginia Alice Cottey in Nevada, Missouri, in 1884. Her lifelong determination was to provide a school where girls would receive an education that was equal to that of boys. As founder and president, Cottey ran the College for forty-five years and retired in 1929 at age 81. Two years earlier, she gave the College to the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a philanthropic organization dedicated to education. Today Cottey College is a private, two-year liberal arts college for women and is the only non-sectarian college owned and supported by a women’s organization. The Cottey College Archives is the repository of the school’s 113-year history. It is housed in the Library, which has a staff of five full-time employees, student assistants, and one faithful volunteer. Library Director Nancy Hill came to Cottey in 1994. Becky Kiel, Assistant Director of the Library and Archivist, spends most of her time with reference work and library instruction. Beth LaGuire Lightner, Class of 1968, is the volunteer who spends more hands-on time with archival materials.

The archives collections include materials pertaining to Virginia Alice Cottey, her family, and the college from its earliest years forward. Elizabeth McClure Campbell, a niece of the founder, wrote The Cottey Sisters of Missouri, a history of the family and college through 1949. Campbell’s papers have been placed in the archives.

Bob Dole, longtime U.S. Senator from Kansas, Senate Republican Leader, and senior statesman, announced the gift of his papers to the University of Kansas in April 1997. To date, nearly 4,000 linear feet of the Dole Collection have arrived at KU, primarily documenting Dole’s thirty-five year career in the U.S. House and Senate. The Dole Collection will be the jewel in the crown of the Dole Archive, a state-of-the-art legislative archive at the Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy. The Institute, soon to be constructed on the West Lawrence campus, will promote public service and thoughtful public debate on issues important to Kansas, the region, and the nation.

Dole served as U.S. Representative from 1961 to 1968, and U.S. Senator from 1969 to 1996. His U.S. House and Senate records include extensive administrative, legislative, press, and personal files. They illustrate how modern House and Senate offices have evolved since 1960. They also document the increasing workload and oversight functions of Congress, and they show the growth of constituency and advocacy groups. Files maintained by Dole’s legislative aides cover a broad range of subjects and issues before Kansas and the nation, from agriculture to veterans’ affairs, from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf. Decision memos, bill markups, drafts of floor remarks, and vote analyses, among other things, are contained in the legislative files. Press operation files include a complete run of press releases and newsletters, news clips, national talk show transcripts and subject files. VIP correspondence, memos, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and drafts for more than three thousand speeches delivered outside the halls of Congress, all kept by the Senator’s secretaries and executive assistants, are also in the Collection.

Dole was the longest serving Senate Republican Leader. The extensive holdings from his Republican Leadership Office include legislative issue files on health care, the judiciary, national defense, labor, foreign affairs, civil rights, and taxes, among others. The Leadership holdings include press operation files and executive assistant files comprised of correspondence, schedules, briefings materials, and nomination files. Dole’s service as Republican Leader is also documented in thousands of photographs and exotic gifts from heads of state. En masse the Leadership files alone comprise a rather large and enviable collection.

Campaign materials include holdings on all Dole U.S. House (‘60, ‘62, ‘64, and ‘66), Senate (‘68, ‘74, ‘80, ‘86, and ‘92) and Presidential (‘76, ‘80, ‘88, ‘96) campaigns. National and state operations, position papers, legislative histories and voting records, advance and scheduling files, and debate briefing materials are just a few of the record series among the campaign files. Paid media advertisements and campaign memorabilia are also in the campaign holdings.

Pre-1960 files in the Dole Collection include photographs and memorabilia from Dole’s youth, teen years in Russell, Kansas, and his years at the University of Kansas in the early 1940’s. The collection also contains materials on his career in the U.S. Army dating from 1943, his physical rehabilitation as documented in his Army medical records, and his long association with the 10th Mountain Division and the citizens of Castel D’Aiano, Italy.

Special mention should be made of the Collection’s photographs, audio/video media, and memorabilia, which constitute a rich source for the study of politics in the latter half of the twentieth century. The photograph collection includes shots of Dole with colleagues, staff, in committee, with constituents on the campaign trail, and at GOP conventions. Dole’s meetings with heads of state and his foreign travel as a Congressional delegate and advisor to Presidents is documented as well. Extensive video footage includes interviews on national press shows, convention footage, and commercial productions bearing on issues before Congress. Over three thousand gifts from Presidents, colleagues, foreign dignitaries, and supporters document his distinguished career and his stature as a national leader.

The Liberty Memorial Archives was the recipient of many new donations throughout 1997. Most were unsolicited but all were welcomed. They were received from all over the country. Although most of our donations are unsolicited, I still spend a lot of time trying to attract new ones. One of the principal methods is by writing articles for publications read by World War I enthusiasts. It’s also a great way to inform researchers of the vast information on World War I that the Liberty Memorial achives hold.

Many people ask where the archives are located presently. That is a good question, since the museum buildings are closed to the public. I am still at the memorial. The museum buildings are structurally sound and so is the tower. The unsafe areas are the courtyards and stairways. The research library, however, remains available to researchers by phone or appointment. I also get many letters requesting information about certain aspects of World War I. We recently provided the Discovery Channel with images and information for a documentary on the influenza epidemic during the war. We also continue to operate our two off-site exhibits. So even though the monument is closed for renovation, we are still very busy! (Reported by Lynn Ward)

Central Missouri State’s Archives and Museum is located in Room 117 of the Union Building in Warrensburg, Missouri. Several exhibits are scheduled for this spring. In March, works in wood and stone will displayed, along with textiles from India and Pakistan. These are on loan from the Nance Museum of Kingsville, Missouri. In April and May, an exhibit featuring CMSU history will use photos and objects from the university collection. (Reported by Jelain Chubb).

The Clay County Archives & Historical Library is operated by an all-volunteer staff. The volunteer staff is available Monday through Wednesday except for holidays. Many improvements were made in the archives computer department over the past few months. A grant from the Harry Arnote Charitable Trust, augmented by additional contributions, made possible the installation of new work counters in the computer room. The counters replaced a set of miscellaneous desks of uneven height that restricted work space. Also, several computers were donated and networked by those on the board and by friends of the archives. On-going computer projects include the indexing of all Clay County cemeteries, Clay County censuses, and a growing collection of early Clay County circuit court files. The master index, comprising all computerized indexes, will eventually be available to researchers on the reception room computer. This will improve the efficiency of research on individuals and families.

The Unity Archives had a busy and speedy 1997. Until this year, the archives was officially the Heritage Rooms and Archives. But Archives staff had recognized for some time that a consistent name was needed for the historical area. The growth of our collections and the increasingly widespread knowledge about them—indicated by the growing number of research requests--definitely identified us as an archives. The simple name "Unity Archives" better reflects the activities of our area.

The Unity Archives collects, preserves, and makes accessible records and manuscripts of Unity School of Christianity, the Town of Unity Village, and the Unity movement. The primary collections are the records of Unity School of Christianity, with its 12 Divisions and 58 Departments. The Archives also collects manuscripts of individuals associated with the Unity movement and the Association of Unity Churches. The Archives serves ministers, students on ministerial and continuing education tracks, researchers, and the various departments of Unity School of Christianity. The documents date from the 1890s to the present.

In 1997 the Unity Archives received 695 research requests for information regarding Unity and its history. Seventy percent of requests came from Unity School departments or field ministries. The other 30 percent came from the public. Many requests required considerable research time by staff members. The Archives recently entered the computer age and staff already have a few inventories on the system. The office computer is slowly becoming a useful tool for our work and will probably increase the number of research requests. At the same time, it will also enhance our communication with other Unity departments.

The Archives has nearly completed the longtime project of having the Charles S. Fillmore Papers (35 linear feet) placed on microfilm. The collection documents his work from 1903 to 1933 as a minister of the Unity Society of Practical Christianity in Kansas City, Missouri, and as an author, lecturer, cofounder, and President of Unity School of Christianity through 1948. Work continues on a detailed inventory of the Myrtle Fillmore Papers (16.5 linear feet). This collection contains a portion of her voluminous correspondence for the Silent Unity Department. The collection also contains personal correspondence and ephemera collected by this woman, whose spiritual experiences launched the Unity movement. Microfilming this important collection should begin within the next year.

The Unity Archives is in the final stages of a large film transfer project of nearly 600 films produced and collected by Unity School and the Fillmore family. The films include Unity lessons, "The Word" television broadcasts, and historical scenes such as Unity farm and Unity buildings. The films date from the early 1920s through the 1980s. The collection has been placed on video tape for research use.

Archives staff and volunteers have processed numerous collections, including the Nina Wright Papers, the Rev. William L. Fischer Papers, and the Marion Penrod Papers. Wright conducted the Silent Seventy Department, which provided free literature to prisons and hospitals. Fischer ministered in Unity churches in Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio. He also worked in the Unity Radio and Television Department and directed Unity School’s Retreat Department. Penrod taught at Unity ministries in Maryland, California, Texas, and Kansas.

As the motion picture Titanic moves rapidly to become the first $1 billion film in movie history, Park College can celebrate its own connection to the Titanic! Two alums, Albert and Sylvia Harbaugh Caldwell, survived the sinking with their 10 month-old son. Of the 168 men survived who survived, only 14 were traveling in second class. Albert was one of these. He told his story in the May, 1912 Alumniad. Sylvia was one of several Titanic survivors interviewed by Walter Lord for his 1955 best-seller, A Night to Remember. Their son, Alden, left the bulk of his estate to Park College when he died. This fund, used for scholarships and named for his mother, remains Park College’s permanent link to the Coldwell family and to the Titanic. In light of the interest generated by the current film, the Park College Historical Society has arranged to have Michael Rudd, local Titanic scholar, historian, and collector, to speak at the annual meeting, 1:00 p.m., June 19th. The location will be determined later. If you are interested in attending this event, call Carollyn Elwess, Park College Library, at 741-2000. She will also be setting up an exhibit on the Titanic. (Reported by Marilyn Burlingame).

The archives of the Omaha Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas is located at the order’s regional offices in Omaha, Neb., at 73rd and Mercy Road. The present facility was occupied in July 1996. With the move, a decision was made to renovate part of the building and establish a climate controlled atmosphere and install compact movable shelving. This is light years ahead of the previous situation! I laughed many times at the "moving" jokes in the Dusty Shelf, because some of them hit very close to home! By March 1997, the collections had been moved for the third time but were finally "home."

The archives are the official repository for the historical and administrative records of thirteen original foundations in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon and California, which became the Omaha Province in 1929. These records date back to the 1860’s (Omaha), 1880’s, and early 1890’s. The newest acquisitions include records from the Red Bluffs, Calif., community. The archives is also receiving many administrative records as the current leadership team prepares to leave office in June.

Within the Mercy Institute, there are 25 regional communities and 25 regional archives. The third meeting of Mercy Institute Archivists is scheduled for next October. These meetings occur every three years and promote a helpful network focused on specific concerns. In August 1997, the Archives of Communities of Women Religious held its second national meeting in Wisconsin. Twenty-two Sisters of Mercy archivists attended. This is another wonderful group!

I have been recuperating at home this winter after breaking two ribs on January 3. Needless to say, I am not doing any lifting at this time. (Reported by Rita Connell).

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and its regional archives and records centers have been reorganized. There is no longer any administrative distinction between the former regional records centers and the former regional archives. They are now merged into regional "service centers." NARA’s Central Plains Region in Kansas City, Mo., has been further reorganized into three "clusters" of record groups (legal, financial, and all others), with each cluster responsible for the entire life cycle of the records assigned to it. The closing of NARA’s former regional records center in Bayonne, New Jersey, has also affected the Central Plains Region. Records stored formerly in Bayonne are being moved to a permanent home at the Central Plains Region facility ("The Cave") in Lee’s Summit, Mo.

The Central Plains Region staff have completed an index of the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary prisoner files accessioned several years ago. The index is available in the research room on a computer database. It covers 15,803 case files of prisoners incarcerated at Leavenworth from 1895 to 1920, and provides the name and number of the prisoner, his or her offense and date of incarceration, and the Federal Judicial District from which he or she was sentenced. It also notes whether or not a photograph is included in the case file.

Typically, a cross-section of accessions includes "something old and something new," and even "something borrowed" (though not necessarily something blue). The recent past is no exception. Recent accessions include microfilm copies of the administrative board minutes and other records of San Diego First Church of the Nazarene dating from 1907 to the present. These were loaned to the Archives for microfilming. The cost of microfilming them was underwritten by the Merle Dimbath Memorial Fund, which is designated for the preservation of congregational records. Our newer accessions include photographs and materials of the 1998 Kansas City District (Church of the Nazarene) Women Clergy Conference. Not only do the women clergy materials document the networking of local women, but the collection ties in nicely to a broader collection of materials produced by the on-going International Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy Conference. That organization is composed of women in ministry in the Free Methodist, Wesleyan Church, Salvation Army, Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), Brethren in Christ, Evangelical Friends, and Church of the Nazarene denominations. Two years ago, the Nazarene Archives was designated as the official repository of the organization, which sponsors an international conference every two years.

In the final months of 1997, the Archives received the papers of Dr. Donald Owens, who retired at the end of two terms (eight years) on the denomination’s Board of General Superintendents. His diverse career includes service as a missionary pastor and administrator in South Korea, professor of anthropology and missions at Nazarene Theological Seminary, founding president of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in Manila, and second president of MidAmerica Nazarene College in Olathe, Kansas. The Archives also received 342 reels of microfilm from the World Mission Division and 39 reels from Church Growth Division.

The Society of Ohio Archivists continues to nurture a relationship with colleagues in Cuba. The Fall 1997 issue of the Ohio Archivist included an article written by three students specializing in archives and records management at the University of Havana. Ohio archivists have also worked to facilitate a trip to the United States by the students’ instructor, Professor Carlos Suárez Balseiro, who is scheduled to speak at the Spring meeting of the society in Columbus . . . Ruth Helmuth, one of SOA’s five founders and the first archivist at Case Western Reserve, died this past summer. She was 79. Helmuth was president of the Society of American Archivists during the 1980-81 year. (The Ohio Archivist, Fall 1997).

The Kentucky Historical Society Library and Special Collections Branches are preparing to move to a new History Center later this year. Construction of the center is scheduled to be completed after the middle of 1998. Collections and operations will move into the new facility sometime after that. Meanwhile, Kentucky Historical Society staff continue working on a pictorial history of the state . . . Jonathan Jeffrey, an archivist at Western Kentucky University and editor of Kentucky Archivist newsletter, was curator of an exhibit titled "Come to the Church in the Wildwood: Warren County’s Rural Churches." The exhibit featured photographs of over 100 churches and provided significant details about architecture and folklore associated with the sites. The significance of music in rural religion was one of several themes highlighted in the exhibit. (The Kentucky Archivist, Fall 1997).

The Library of Congress has an online exhibit that coincides with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine. The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures electronic exhibit can be accessed directly at: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/sawhtml/sawhome.html

The National Archives and Records Administration has placed selections from two presidential collections on its website: correspondence between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, and letters from Harry Truman to Bess Wallace Truman. The 518 documents from the Roosevelt-Churchill correspondence date from the outbreak of World War II in Europe through June 1942. The letters show the friendship of two of the greatest world leaders of this century and detail the nuances of alliance, leadership, and decision-making amid the events of World War II. The Harry S. Truman Library maintains 1300 handwritten letters from Harry S. Truman to his wife Bess Wallace Truman written over a period of 50 years. Of these "Dear Bess" letters, 23 have been digitized by NARA. They date from 1910 to 1919 and document the courtship of Harry and Bess; his farming career and business ventures; and his service as an Army officer in France during World War I. The NARA home Page is at http://www.nara.gov. (Press Release, Jan. 14, 1998).

The British Columbia Archives web site had more than 2.4 million items accessed in 1997--double the number of items accessed in 1996. About half of those visits were by people doing genealogical searches of the database. This searchable database consists of information about B.C. marriage registrations from 1872 to 1921, and death registrations for the years 1872 to 1976. The archives also continues to build its visual records database. Over 12,400 high-resolution scans of historical photographs were added in 1997, bringing the total number of images available on-line to 34,452. A searchable database provides direct "links" to the on-line images so that clients can then view and print the image. The site is located on the electronic highway at http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/ .

The Center for Electronic Records of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has updated the "Title List: A Preliminary and Partial Listing of the Data Files in the National Archives and Records Administration." The "Title List"--as of December 31, 1997--now has entries for approximately 13,500 of the over 100,000 electronic records files in NARA’s custody. The "Title List" is available via the NARA information server. The general URL is http://www.nara.gov/ with information about the electronic records program and holdings available at http://www.nara.gov/nara/electronic. Updated versions of a number of reference reports and descriptive handouts are also available.

The Rockefeller Archive Center in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., has opened nearly 100 cubic feet of material documenting Nelson A. Rockefeller’s extensive art collection and his activities as a patron of the arts. The Art files record the acquisition, placement, maintenance, and in many cases, the disposition of works of art that Rockefeller collected between 1930 and 1979. Rockefeller’s collection was diverse. As it grew, he became enamored with contemporary artists and had an extensive collection of modern paintings, prints, and sculpture. He favored Picasso, yet other contemporary European artists like Matisse and Miro were also represented in his collection, as were such members of the American modern art movement as Hopper, Weber, and Calder. He also collected North and Latin American folk art, Chinese ceramics, English fine china, and "primitive" art produced by the indigenous peoples of Africa, Oceania, and Latin America. Some of the works were commissioned by Rockefeller, such as a series of tapestry reproduction of paintings by Picasso. In the 1960s and 1970s, Rockefeller focused on modern sculpture. He placed many of his collected works within the gardens of the Rockefeller family home in Tarrytown, N. Y. (Press Release, October 3, 1997).

According to an Associated Press article by writer Roxana Hegeman, archivists played a key role in preserving the records of the Amistad case, which was explored in a recent film by Stephen Spielburg. Evangelical abolitionists in New York City spearheaded the defense committee that supported the Africans in their bid for freedom. The Amistad case moved through the court system and eventually reached the U. S. Supreme Court. The records saved by the abolitionists were eventually stored at Fisk University in Nashville and later transferred to New Orleans, where they were eventually placed in the Amistad Research Center. Another body of Amistad-related documents is housed at Yale University. The Amistad Research Center’s Internet address is: http://www.arc.tulane.edu. (Associated Press, Thursday, December 11, 1997).

On December 17, the National Archives and the Department of Defense signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" to improve the archiving of electronic records. The project’s goal is to promote the full life-cycle management of electronic records. The agreement involves developing and enhancing standards and specifications for automated records management systems. The National Archives will review the Department of Defense’s recently developed standard for defining the basic requirements that must be met by records management products purchased by the DOD. Along with the standard, the Department of Defense will implement a test and certification program in which vendors can submit electronic records management software. Those whose performance complies with the standard will be certified for DOD use. Once the review is completed, the National Archives will explore ways to apply the benefits of the DOD initiative to other federal agencies. (Page Putnam Miller, NCC Washington Update, December 23, 1997).

On December 15, President Clinton signed a law authorizing the Architect of the Capitol to acquire 41 acres in Culpepper, Virginia, now occupied by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The building, a high-security storage facility for gold and currency, would be converted into a state-of-the-art National Audiovisual Conservation Center. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation are providing funds for acquiring the property, valued at $5.5 million. The foundation will also contribute $4.5 million to upgrade and equip the facilities. The Center will enable the Library of Congress to continue its important work as the nation’s major conservator of its national film, television and audio heritage. The Center will also make it possible for the Library to consolidate its collection, presently dispersed, in a cost-effective, centralized entity where audiovisual materials would be processed, stored, preserved and made accessible via fiber optic links to the Library’s reading rooms in Washington. The Library’s collection includes more than 150,00 film titles, 85,000 television titles, and 2.5 million sound recordings. In many cases, items in the Library’s collection is the only extant copy. (Page Putnam Miller, NCC Washington Update, December 23, 1997).

SAA’s telephone, fax, email, and web addresses remain unchanged.

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The Midwest Archives Conference is soliciting applications for the annual MAC Scholarship for Minority Students in Archival Administration. The scholarship provides financial assistance to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival administration and encourages ethnic diversification in the membership of the Midwest Archives Conference and the archival profession. This year, two $500 scholarships will be awarded.

KCAA ANNUAL MEETING
Kansas State Historical Society
Center for Historical Research
6425 SW 6th Ave., Topeka, Ks.