From the Dusty Shelf 8#1, June 1988.

QUARTERLY FOCUS

This issues Quarterly Focus features a brief history of the KCAA and its accomplishments over our first illustrious decade as an organization, submitted by new Co-Chair Bob Knecht.... (Editor).

THE DUSTIEST SHELF:
An Informal but Occasionally Accurate History of KCAA

The idea for some kind of archivists’ group in Kansas City had its origins somewhere in the dawn of antiquity, or almost as long as Reed Whitaker has been head of the National Archives Branch here. There were a number of contacts between archivists in Kansas City, but for the most part these contacts were bilateral and represented individuals rather than institutions.

The rejection of Kansas City as a meeting site by SAA in 1978, prompted the formation of an ad-hoc group called Frustrated Unrecognized Colleagues Countering Erroneous Decisions, and a nascent sense of unity. As the number of archivists in Kansas City grew, some of the newcomers felt that meeting as a group would allow archivists to know each other and their archives better. Alan Perry favored informal meetings and social gatherings, but Margaret Crowley thought a more organized approach should be tried. Margaret left the area soon thereafter, but she influenced Beth Pessek, Sharron Uhler, and others of the need for a local archivists’ group.

To this end, a meeting was held at the Kansas City Public Library on November 3, 1978, to discuss the possible formation of an archivists’ group. This small group for the next few meetings purposely remained limited, although institutions in Columbia, Topeka and Lawrence were soon represented, leading to one of the first−and longest−crises: what should the name be?

The emphasis early on was learning about others’ holdings to properly channel reference questions and potential, donors, deciding who had special expertise in areas such as paper conservation, exploring cooperative buying, and learning about educational opportunities for archivists. Beth Pessek provided leadership for this small group, and Sharron Uhler volunteered many hours of note taking and corresponding.

When Beth left in October, 1979, the question of leadership succession had to be faced. Sherry Williams volunteered, contingent on a co-chair to share the blame for the actions of this assembly. Dona Graves was recruited, and the pattern of collective leadership−which has worked so well in Switzerland, Uruguay, and the Kremlin−was inaugurated. By November 1979 the group−still without a name−had held five meetings averaging 20 people each.

By the next meeting a “quasi-committee” was formed to create a mailing list and questionnaire to the end of compiling a directory of archives in the region. Mailing a questionnaire required that the organization send a letter introducing itself, and to do that the group needed a name. In the best tradition of the French and Russian revolutions, this “quasi-committee” assumed power in the name of the peasants and proletariat and decided that the organization would be named the Area Archivists Alliance with the subtitle Western Missouri, Eastern Kansas. This was the letterhead that appeared on the newly-ordered stationary, which incidentally is now rare and prized by collectors throughout the country.

At the next meeting considerable dissatisfaction was expressed over the name, but no alternative garnered wholehearted support (sound familiar?). At the August, 1980, meeting, the name was changed to Kansas City Area Archivists, despite the fact that the meeting was held in Topeka.

Later that year, we initiated our well-known policy of taking stands on controversial issues by adopting a resolution critical of an SAA dues increase. At that same October 1980 meeting we gained professional recognition by agreeing to participate in a MAC session on local organizations. As an organization of 40 members we expressed our goals in terms of starting a newsletter, doing exhibits, demonstrating document preservation for non-archivists, promoting better salaries and job security, encouraging cooperative buying, and planning workshops and seminars. We stated that our problems were a lack of money; small attendance at meetings; the meeting schedule; and disagreements over whether meetings should be educational, organizational, or social. At that time we also first expressed an interest in having a MAC meeting in Kansas City.

The next year our goals were establishing dues, starting a newsletter, engaging in group buying, compiling and publishing a directory, doing a one-day workshop, having a picnic and Christmas party, finding speakers for meetings, holding elections, and coordinating postgraduate archival education in the area. We protested the proposed reorganization of the Nebraska State Historical Society, discussed incorporating ourselves, and began collecting dues. By this time the “quasi-committee” had evolved into a formal Directory Committee which subsequently greatly enriched the Minsky family with frequent meetings at their pizzeria in Shawnee. We survived our second leadership crisis when Cam Stewart left the area for New York and Pat Michaelis completed Cam’s term as co-chair.

Another milestone occurred with the first issue of our newsletter Extra Format, a title whose meaning was known only to its creator, but which carried on our proud tradition of bickering over names without agreeing on a substitute. Late in 1981 the long-awaited directory of archives was published, and an ad-hoc committee was formed to write bylaws and a statement of purpose. Again, Minsky’s was assured of a profitable year.

The first annual business meeting was in 1982 at the Liberty Memorial. That same year we presented our first symposium on photograph conservation to an audience of 67. We petitioned the University of Missouri in opposition to a proposal to close its library school. Our stated goals at the time were to develop an organizational structure, to serve as a source of information, to promote ourselves as a group, and to lobby for the profession.

The fall of 1982 brought five committees−Steering, Membership, Publications, Newsletter, and Education−to do much of the work done by the overworked co-chairs and informal committees. Toward the end of that year the newsletter became The Dusty Shelf, thus starting a new debate over the name, and a second symposium, “disaster preparedness,” was planned.

In the spring of 1983 a membership brochure was published, a mid-winter “Banish the Blahs” party was held, and the symposium on disaster planning enticed 50 attendees. We were incorporated as a Missouri corporation (the fees were lower than in Kansas); appropriately for an archival organization our charter was perpetual. A Calamity Committee was formed as a follow-up to the symposium, we held a summer picnic, and the idea of a membership directory was discussed. We held a one-day workshop on microfilming, and the new Awards Committee made its first presentations of the famed “Holli” miniatures.

Much of the next year was spent preparing for the 1984 MAC meeting in Kansas City, which was judged to be the best non-Chicago MAC meeting to that time. Gordon Hendrickson and the local arrangements committee performed yeoperson service, and most KCAA members assisted in the effort. In 1984 we had 71 members, several of whom paid their annual dues.

In August of that year we held a “jam session” to once again examine KCAA’s structure, character and goals. We expressed a need for more communication and more informal sharing at meetings (the old tension between a social and an educational organization), said we preferred a symposium on outreach, and showed an interest in a publications program. In later meetings discussions were held regarding a KCAA monograph series, but other pursuits claimed our attention. The membership directory was published, our visibility as an organization increased, and we held another successful symposium entitled “Bridging the Gap” on outreach for archives.

In the summer of 1985 we combined the annual picnic with another “jam session”; it was at this time that the idea of a preservation manual for non-professionals was first mentioned. The resurrected Calamity Committee began revising the disaster manual, a project that is destined to continue until the Ultimate Disaster: Armageddon. That fall we practiced what we preached by holding an outreach fair at Oak Park Mall. As the new year of 1986 dawned, we again flexed our lobbying muscles and at SAA’s invitation stated our concerns over the concept of certifying individual archivists. We also wrote the White House and Congress about the proposed appointment of a non-archivist to head the National Archives.

The year of 1986/87 saw a name change contest for The Dusty Shelf, and another inconclusive result; a membership poll over other preferences relating to the organization; a second outreach fair, this time at Ward Parkway Shopping Center; another successful symposium, this one on computers and archives; and a membership of 121, some of whom were paid up. At the request of the Jackson County Historical Society we offered advice regarding their archival program. We updated the disaster manual, and published a revised membership directory and a fast-selling preservation manual. Several members prepared for the fall 1987 MAC meeting in Columbia.

As an organization we have much to be proud of, including an impressive number of symposia and publications to our credit. We are a recognized force (or nuisance) within the archival profession. In our decade of existence we have become incorporated, and in spite of our strident advocacy efforts have avoided being named as a subversive organization under the provisions of the McCarran Internal Security Act. Although most of our members are young, urban and professional, we have successfully avoided the titles, salaries, anxieties, Mercedes and burdens of yuppiedom. We have survived budget cuts, travel freezes, layoffs, elections, reorganizations, impoundments and politicians. In short, we have arrived as a force to be reckoned with in the archival community.

Last revised: Tuesday, November 01, 2005