Friday, August 14, 2015

August 2015 Newsletter



Look inside the August Issue of the Arkansas Archivist for these and other features:



AHC and North Little Rock History Commission Present WWI Symposium

The Arkansas History Commission and the North Little Rock History Commission are joining forces to honor those who served their country in World War I almost a century ago.  On August 29, from 10 am to 3 pm, the AHC and the NLRHC will hold a symposium  called, The Great War: Service on All Fronts, at the Patrick Henry Hays Senior Center in North Little Rock at 401 West Pershing Boulevard.

“Who Do You Think You Are?” Visits AHC in June

The Arkansas History Commission has been keeping a big secret this summer! In April, we were notified that representatives of the TLC genealogy documentary series “Who Do You Think You Are?” were coming to scout our location for a forthcoming episode in the 2015 season of the series.  In May, story producers from Shed Media, one of the partners of the show, visited Little Rock to meet with staff, check out our location, and review preliminary research conducted for the episode. 


AHC Introduces WWI Traveling Exhibit
                                                 
At the World War I symposium the AHC and North Little Rock History Commission is hosting, the AHC will debut a new traveling exhibit focusing on Arkansas during World War I.  The traveling exhibit, entitled, The Great War: Arkansas in World War I, spotlights Arkansas’s role in the war, both on the battlefield and on the home front.  The exhibit consists of twelve panels that showcase images from the AHC’s holdings, including original documents, photographs, posters, maps, and historical objects.


From the Director

Last month, I talked about a number of factors that shape the Arkansas History Commission’s digitization initiative, like the initial costs of scanning and creating metadata, and also those ongoing costs of storing and migrating digital data so it remains accessible throughout the life of your project.  So, given the costs involved in creating digital collections, how does an agency with limited funds, like ours, ultimately decide what materials will be digitized for online access?  With a collection that has been growing for over 110 years, I can promise you that the selection process isn’t random, and at times the choices can be agonizing.