An Archivist's Tale

Patty Sicular, co-owner of Iconic Focus Models, tells us the story of her career in the fashion and modeling industry, which led to her becoming an archivist by necessity. She discusses working with iconic models, such as Carmen Dell’Orefice (still modeling at age 88), and her plans for donating the archives she has retained.

Meredith Evans, Director of the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and President of the Society of American Archivists, tells us why she was always meant to be an archivist, how she practices archives from a community perspective, why the keeping of archival evidence is so important, and how records touch all people.

In a passionate episode, Sara and Ben Brumfield, the founders of FromThePage, describe how they, as software developers, are obsessed by making cultural material accessible, how they work with archivists across the world on such projects, and how their passion encompasses both protecting cultures and making their tangible pieces more available.

David B. Gracy II, an archivist who needs no introduction, discusses how history changed the entire course of his life until archives did the same, recounts some of his long and distinguished history in the field, and talks (as he often does) about what we as archivists need to be and to do.

Kate Saeed, Manuscripts Processor at the Geisel Library of the University of California San Diego, discusses her start in history, her discovery of archives, and how she came into the profession without a degree in the field and how she trained herself into the job. Along the way, she discusses her work on the teleplay for The Archivist, her manuscripts processing and a little bit about the Dr Seuss collection.

Rex Pickett, the author of the novel Sideways, and Kate Saeed, the archivist at UC San Diego who processed his papers, discuss Rex's introduction to the world of archives, their collaboration on the teleplay for a limited series called The Archivist, the novel based on that teleplay that Rex is finishing, and Hollywood.

Jake Salik of Talas tells us how he ended up with a business selling archival supplies, how difficult it is becoming to find and sell traditionally crafted paper, and why Talas makes boxes to order and sells multiple types of parchment and even gold-beater's skin. Gold-beater's skin?

Anthony Cocciolo, the Dean of the School of Information at Pratt Institute, talks to us about his transition from computer science to archives and how he ended up teaching and also writing the book on how to care for archival audio-visual records.

Geir Walderhaug, Advisor and Records Manager at the University at Oslo, discusses his work as a government archivist and records manager, hermeneutics, and how government records are managed in Norway. He also talks about the international nature of archives and his role in the expansive world of archives.

Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of An Archivist's Tale, tell their own tales of their archivist lives at this moment and their plans for future writing and podcasting.

Sheila Almond, the Records Management Officer for the Orange-Ulster BOCES, tells us how microfilming led her into records management, how records storage areas do not always hold the most pleasant of creatures, and how she and her staff have helped transform the management of archives and records in many local governments in southeastern New York State.

Steve Goodfellow of Access Systems tells us the harrowing story he told his wife during their honeymoon, how he went from selling recordkeeping systems to designing them, and how Abraham Lincoln shows up in the most unexpected places.

Bill Saffady, an independent consultant and researcher, tells the story of his movements from history to libraries to archives to records management, his peripatetic life teaching records management to a generation, and something about what drives him to work and teach and write. Caution: Laughter.

Valerie Komor, the Director of Corporate Archives at the Associated Press, tells the stories of how she became an archivist, of archival stories in her family and her work from around the world, and of the similarities between archivists and journalists.

Lauren Brown, the MARAC (Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference) Historian and longtime MARAC Archivist, recounts how he knows he was born an archivist, his travels from the west to the east coasts of the US, his work with the AFL-CIO and Spiro Agnew at the University of Maryland, and many deep stories about the history of MARAC.

Robert Parnica, Senior Reference Archivist at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, tells us why archivists need to be active in society, why archivists are always needed even in online environments, how curated collections of digital surrogates can be their own natural archives, and how he helps researchers use his archives' rich collection of records relating to communism and human rights.

Örs Lehel Tari, Archivist at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, discusses how a cartoon led him to archives, how he trained as an archivist at work, how he studied archives remotely through the University of Dundee, and what it's like being a processing archivist with a multi-lingual backlog.

Nina Gostenčnik, Deputy Director of the Regional Archives of Maribor, Slovenia, explains her work at her archives (which acquires government, personal, and organizational records), the problem of reunifying records in the nations that formerly made up Yugoslavia, and how the seven archives of Slovenia operate.

Hrvoje Stančić, Chair of Archival and Documentation Sciences at the University of Zagreb, discusses his work on the international multi-year InterPARES project investigating the means to achieve trustworthiness, his teaching schedule, his dictionary of archival terms in Croatian, and how we often only authenticate the fakeness of a record.

Bogdan Florin Popovici, Head of the Brsov County Archives, discusses his almost accidental start in the school of archival science (which was part of the police academy), how the National Archives of Romania functions, working for a great archivist, and the “truth” of archives.