Welcome!
SAA Visual Materials Section Nominations for Election 2019-2020
Chair-Elect
Patrick Cullom
Visual Materials Processing Archivist
Technical Services, Special Collections
Wilson Library, UNC Chapel Hill
Campus Box 3930
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
(919) 962-4251
cullom@email.unc.edu
Biography: Patrick Cullom is the Visual Materials Processing Archivist for Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, where he has been for over 10 years. Patrick has a Bachelor of Arts in History from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, and a Master of Library and Information Science (concentration in Archives), from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. During his career, Patrick has encountered, arranged, and described a wide variety of image formats spanning the 19th – 21st centuries, working with collections ranging from a single item to those numbering in the hundreds of thousands. He has handled more than a million “analog” prints/negatives and hundreds of thousands of “born-digital” image files. Patrick’s mantra with images is that all photographs are essentially “records of light levels at a given time and place” and all can be initially approached as such. Before joining Technical Services at UNC Chapel Hill, Patrick was the Audio-Visual Archivist at The Catholic University of America and worked in the Public Services Department at the University City Regional Public Library in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Candidate Statement: I am interested in becoming Section Chair-Elect for the Visual Materials section so that I can share my enthusiasm for this having the group look at what we have done and seen,collectively as a field, to help us prepare for the future. Having entered archives audio-visual materials game” in 2001, a great time to do so, especially due to the “end of the analog (av/photographic) era” and the transition to the “born-digital (av/photographic) era” I feel as if I can provide some insight into these constantly evolving mediums. Throughout my archival career I have been drawn to the similarities (there are lots) and differences (there are lots) between analog and so-called “born-digital” materials. I hope to bring this theme to the Visual Materials Section, especially as we will all keep seeing “combined” (analog & digital) av/photographic collections, as well as solely digital collections, and help us use the skills we already have in place for analog formats while we adjust existing (and develop new ones) for digital formats. I also realize that due to the nature of “born-digital” collections, digital image files can literally be found in any type of archival collection. I hope to build a bridge between our section and the SAA Education Department, so that we may share the collective knowledge we have as a section concerning visual materials to the other sections in SAA.
Member at Large
Alison Anderson, MLIS, CA
Senior Processing Archivist
Harvard Planning Office
Property Information Resource Center
1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 585
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-4353
alison_anderson@harvard.edu
Biography:
I am currently the Senior Processing Archivist at the Property Information Resource Center (PIRC) in the Harvard Planning Office, where I have worked for the last twelve years. The PIRC is the main repository for Harvard’s building and land records, which include architectural drawings, maps, photographs, and property agreements. In addition to being involved in every aspect of archival processing, I am also responsible for the continued maintenance of data once it is in our collection management system. I have been involved with numerous collection management projects to enhance metadata and improve access, including data reconciliation, collection imports, and a large-scale digitization project. I hold an MLIS from Simmons College in Boston, I have just enrolled in SAA’s Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certification process, and this past year, I sat for and passed the Certified Archivist exam. In my free time, I am a knitter; an aspiring sewer, embroiderer, and painter; and dog mom to my 6 year old pup, Pumpkin.
Candidate Statement:
Having worked with visual materials for over a decade, I feel that I would make a great fit athe Member-at-Large for the Visual Materials Section. My broad interests include the preservation of both analog and digital architectural records, finding innovative solutions for enhancing metadata, discovering efficiencies in workflows, and creating connections across collections to improve user experiences. I would love to become more active in SAA in order to broaden my network with other members of the visual materials community.
Susan Swiatosz
Head of Special Collections and University Archives
University of North Florida
1 UNF Drive
Thomas G. Carpenter Library/Bldg 12, Room 1305
Jacksonville, Florida 32224
904-620-1533
s.swiatosz@unf.edu
Biography:
I have been an archivist for over 15 years. After a career as a historic preservationist in New York City, I received my MLIS at Pratt Institute in 2003 with a focus in archives and records management. Having worked for several years in the Washington D.C. area I moved back to my home state of Florida in 2005 where I worked as a children’s librarian in Broward County, as the ‘lone arranger’ at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, and most recently as the archivist at the Boynton Beach City Library. I am active in regional and state archival groups, having served as President of the Society of Florida Archivists 2017-2018. I relocated to Jacksonville in 2018 where I am currently the Head of Special Collections and University Archives at the University of North Florida.
Candidate Statement:
I have worked with visual materials in both my careers, as a historic preservationist and as an archivist. Most recently I am collaborating with the Digital Humanities Institute (DHI) at the University of North Florida on interdisciplinary projects where students, faculty, and staff use Special Collections visual materials to design and implement digital projects. My other interests include providing accessibility and discovery for the visual materials in our collections. I feel that as a Member-at-Large of the Visual Materials Section my experience and past leadership skills would benefit the section.
Lillianne Keaney
Horblit Project Cataloger
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-384-6948
lillianne_keaney@harvard.edu
Biography:
As the Horblit Project Cataloger at Houghton Library at Harvard University, I manage the digitization and cataloging of a large early photography collection. Prior to working at Houghton, I worked as a photograph cataloger and archivist at Schlesinger Library, also at Harvard. Since finishing library school at Simmons, I have been fortunate to focus and develop my expertise working with photograph collections, and I look forward to continuing this work well into the future!
Candidate Statement:
I am running as a candidate for the open Member-at-Large position as I would like to be more involved in our section and SAA. At times I have struggled with the idea that a membership in SAA may not be worth it for someone that only works with visual materials (despite this lovely section). However, as a former Kennedy Library employee, I started thinking about John F. Kennedy’s quotation: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” and so I have decided that I should get more involved—and bring more attention to the work we do as professionals describing and cataloging visual materials. As a newer professional, I am excited about this opportunity and I hope that I can serve you in this capacity.
GREAT NEWS! The 2018 Annual Report AND The Spring/Summer 2019 Edition of VIEWS is now online!
Are you a shutterbug?
Want to have one of your favorite images from your institution highlighted on this site?
Email arenga@sdasm.org and I will put it up!
SAA 2018:
Minutes from the meeting here: SAA 2018 VMS Minutes
Thanks to everyone that attended!
Minutes of the 2018 Midwinter meeting posted HERE!
Could this scene have taken place in your shop?!?!?!?
Welcome to the website of the Visual Materials Section of the Society of American Archivists. We hope you find this site informative and the resources in it useful. The Visual Materials Section promotes communication among visual materials archivists, and represents and promotes appropriate care, management, and use of visual materials collections to the greater archival community through annual meetings, continuing education programs, publications, our VIEWS Magazine (http://saavms.org/views-archive/) and this web site.
Whether you are a member of the Section or of SAA or not, we welcome your use of this site and your input on what you find here. Get involved with your peers, learn from experienced colleagues, and help others by sharing your wisdom and knowledge. Many hands make light work, and bouncing ideas around as we do both in our meetings and via our online lists can very often produce amazing results, creative solutions, and efficiently and effectively round up information that would be impossible to assemble otherwise. Collectively we are more powerful than the sum of our individual parts.
Please also take a look at our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/saavms?fref=ts) and follow us on Instagram (@SAAVMS)!
And if you have questions about who we are and what we do, please contact any of our 2017-2018 Steering Committee!