U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s Post

Check out this post from one of our recent graduates, Emily Zarse!

"Alter Echoes" out now! My latest project just released at Curated by Girls. “Alter Echoes,” a collaborative project by photographer Shari Annabell Marks and Movement Director Marie Zechiel, explores the dynamic nature of identity. Through four chapters, the work delves into diverse personalities, presenting them like museum statues. It challenges the idea of a fixed identity, instead celebrating the multiple versions of ourselves that emerge over time. Shari and Marie’s collabo-ration offers a thought-provoking perspective on the ongoing evolution of the self. https://lnkd.in/erK_rja5

How to solve a problem in 5 simple steps! Navigating spring break with young kids at the Children’s National Museum in Washington, D.C., I stumbled upon wisdom where I least expected it—displayed vibrantly on a museum sign. It read, “How to solve a problem in 5 simple steps!” Shaun the sheep giving Ray Dalio some competition         1. EXPLAIN the problem. 2. THINK of ideas to solve it. 3. CHOOSE the one you think is best. 4. TRY it out! 5. EVALUATE it (and retry?)

Continuing the results of our polls - 60% prefer to have a hybrid approach of permanent display area (that may change content regularly) and an on-line virtual museum, 64% have a partially completed catalogue of items; no-one claimed to have a complete list and 22% haven't started making a list, Excel or otherwise. As regards funding, 50% of archives are self-funded - clearly this cannot be sustainable and must put those archives and collections at risk.

In our March issue: FEMA reducing barriers for artists experiencing disasters; how Illinois Arts Council, South Carolina Arts Commission, Oklahoma Arts Council, Virginia Commission for the Arts, ArtsWA / Washington State Arts Commission and others are supporting their states' communities; top-line data from NASAA's annual State Arts Agency Revenues report; new resources about arts councils, arts and economic resiliency, the federal-state partnership in the arts ... and more! https://shorturl.at/cquX2

It will be March before demolition of the existing State Historical Society Museum on #Madison’s Capitol Square gets underway, and late 2026 or early 2027 before a new and much larger “History Center” rises on that site and two adjacent properties. Just don’t think #history is taking a holiday in the meantime. In fact, for people living across #Wisconsin, it will become a chance to take in some road shows. Founded in 1846, two years before statehood, the Wisconsin Historical Society is more than a depository of artifacts, books and manuscripts from the state – but an important link to national and pre-history gems. A journal from the Lewis & Clark Expedition, Abraham Lincoln’s shawl, the largest film collection outside Hollywood, native canoes once preserved under water, some of the first copies of founding documents, a huge array of colonial newspapers and one of three original copies of the “Star-Spangled Banner” are in the collection. Not everything has been on display, of course, especially in the smallish former hardware store on the corner of State and Carroll Streets. A massive, climate-controlled building on Madison’s East Side serves as a repository for millions of items and will remain so. But once the $160 million public-private History Center reopens, more rotating exhibits will have their rightful space. Article: 'Inside Wisconsin: New history center three years away, but society's work carries on' https://lnkd.in/gGz3dUKG via Tom Still

NYC World Trade Center Visit Depending on your age, you probably have memories of where you were and what you were doing on the morning of 9/11/2001. However, those memories, as is only natural, have probably faded, unless maybe you were actually there that day. I had an opportunity to visit the 9/11 museum last weekend in NYC. And my memoires had in fact faded.  The museum resurrected those memories and all that that event entailed: how individuals responded – whether first responders, people in the buildings, the passengers and crew who made sure flight 93 did not reach its target – the physical destruction and deaths, and so much more. It was so powerful. It is a remarkable remembrance of a terrible time and loss, and a testament to what can be the best (and worst) aspects of humankind. And sadly, the world continues to suffer from some of the worst nature of humankind. However, I strongly encourage everyone who has the opportunity to visit the 9/11 museum, but have not yet done so, to make the visit. Whether you have memories of that day or not. It is well worth it. https://lnkd.in/ef6qWmGA https://lnkd.in/ehYQx_yr (Scroll down for video - a short video w images and voices of the day) https://lnkd.in/euw2fJzN (History Channel reviews the days chronology and events)

Suggesting a new SI unit for annoyingness, suggested name is the Farage (F), so Nigel Farage would be 1F (and he would need to be preserved in a Paris museum for calibration purposes). So if a minor inconvenience like running out of milk is something like 5nF, then Donald Trump who (to me at least, who is probably about 5F) is about 1,000,000,000 more annoying than running out of milk. It should be an SI standard unit.

I entertained Ben Klein and Rachelle Ray by humorously EVISCERATING an example of a bad RFP submission this week. Want me to do the same for your submission to the Worst Bid Ever (tm) museum? Send them to me here in a DM and we’ll show exactly where your documents went astray in either a temp check or a special session. CAVEAT: bid must be able to be FOIA’d and not contain anything confidential. Redact it plz. #proposalmanagement

Check out the first installment of "Decanally Speaking," a new column by Richard Utz, interim dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, about the importance of names. bit.ly/4cVQZ4e