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Conclusion and Further Resources
The BMRC is committed to connecting those who document, share, understand, and preserve Black experiences. With this resource, we hope to provide guidance for those who wish to save and provide access to their collections so that the legacies of Black people in the Chicagoland area may be preserved and shared. We understand that not everyone will want to donate their collections to an outside repository. This guide is intended to address the challenges and outline the processes of archiving historical materials. We hope that providing this resource will ensure the preservation of more Black people’s legacies throughout Chicago and beyond.
Other BMRC Resources for Managing Your Archives:
- Learn more about basic archival practices by watching Part One of our Introduction to Archiving Series.
- Learn more about personal digital archiving, and small-scale digitization by watching Part Two of our Introduction to Archiving Series.
- Find links, videos, and our Starting Your Archives: Supply List in our Archiving Resource Packet.
Links:
Library of Congress Personal Archiving Project Guide
National Archives How to Preserve Family Archives
WITNESS Activists’ Guide to Archiving
National Museum of the American Indian Archive Best Practices
Purdue How to Read a Finding Aid
Documenting the Now Web Archiving Tools
Project STAND Archiving Student Activism Toolkit
Recollection Wisconsin Digital Readiness Toolkit
Purdue University Personal Digital Archiving: The Basics
Books:
Don’t Throw it Away!: Documenting and Preserving Organizational History (UIC)
Videos:
Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library Preserving Family Documents
The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services YouTube Channel
This resource was first created by Jehoiada Calvin (f.k.a. T Calvin), BMRC Community Engagement Archivist, in 2020, and edited by him in 2022.