[SOA] SOA at Forty-Five: Reflections and Recollections of Its Past and Future

[Carleton, Janet]

Great news! The text of "SOA at Forty-Five: Reflections and Recollections of Its Past and Future," Rai Goerler's thought-provoking and informative 2013 annual meeting plenary is now available on the SOA site.

Access it from the annual meeting page: http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/soa/index.php?title=Annual_Conference 

Or by direct link: http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/soa/images/b/bb/Goerler_soa_2013-04_plenary_remarks.pdf

Excerpt:
...I was not present when SOA began. In fact, I was still a history major at the University of Buffalo who expected to teach at a high school somewhere. Nevertheless, I have been a member of this organization since 1976 and have written a history of SOA. Today, my remarks will focus on the origins of the SOA, and offer both recollections and reflections about its history. In addition, I will comment about some changes in the archival profession that have taken place in the last three decades. 

Although no record of attendance for this workshop exists, the results must have been encouraging enough to spur the organizational meeting of the Society of Ohio Archivists. This took place at the Ohio Historical Society on May 5, 1969. Presented as "New Frontiers for Archives and Manuscripts" the morning session focused on microfilm publication of manuscript collections. In the afternoon, topics were computer applications and oral history. Ninety three people attended the meeting.

At lunch a business meeting took place that led to approving the constitution of SOA and electing of the first officers and the first Council. Gerald Ham, of the Wisconsin Historical Society and Secretary of the Society of American Archivists as well. Not surprisingly, David Larson was President, Kermit Pike became Vice President, and Ruth Helmuth served as secretary.

At the Council meeting of November 14, 1969, SOA Council decided to publish its own newsletter, to appear each fall and spring. Efforts to have a joint publication with the Ohio Academy of History had failed. Kermit Pike would be the editor and the newsletter would be compiled at the WRHS. Not decided was a name. Near the end of the Council meeting "The Primary Source" almost became its title. Historians, after all, outnumbered archivists and manuscripts curators. Sometime before the spring meeting in Heidelberg, the name became "The Ohio Archivist."


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OHIO University Libraries

Janet Carleton, Digital Initiatives Coordinator | Alden 322 | 1 Ohio University | Athens OH 45701-2979 | 740.597.2527 | carleton at ohio.edu | http://media.library.ohiou.edu | @jcarletonoh | http://pinterest.com/ohiodigiarchive/

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