By Morgan Jones-King
Happy February, y’all!
2017 is off with a running start! The new board convened for its first meeting of the year in January, and we discussed a few changes, the annual theme, and future programming. We were delighted to welcome Zach Johnson on board as the new treasurer and Brenda Burk as the first-year director. We’re also pleased to announce this blog and its new editor, Bryan Brown! We decided to transition to a blog and leave behind the newsletter platform this year for several reasons. First, we felt that we would like to be able to share newsletter-worthy items with the SCAA membership more regularly. Secondly, we felt that a blog could generate more interest from our membership both for contributions and consumption. Finally, the blog provides greater transparency of the executive board with occasional updates from officers on their positions. We hope that the blog is a successful endeavor and look forward to feedback!
Our annual theme of 2017 is “South Carolina at War.” 2017 marks the centennial of the United States’ entry into World War I, the end of United States’ involvement in the Mexican Expedition (1916-1917), and the creation of Fort Jackson here in South Carolina. Additionally, we can look to 2018 as the fast approaching 50th anniversary of Vietnam. This year is a unique time to highlight the preservation of military records and memorabilia both in institutional and private hands. With this theme in mind, we’re looking forward to a year of events featuring everything from military service to conscientious objection to civilian contribution! I’d like to take the opportunity to thank our first and second-year directors, Brenda Burk and Katie Womble, in advance for all they will be doing to put together our program this year: a spring workshop and a fall conference. A blog post on plans for this year’s programming from the directors will be coming soon! I’d also like to thank Nathan Saunders, this year’s Vice-President/President Elect on all he’ll be going to arrange the summer social!
Wrapping up, we are also hoping to institute a series of pop-up meetings this year. Pop-ups will be informational sessions on SCAA, how membership can benefit the audience, and how they can be more professionally involved. With these informal meetings, we hope to increase our membership and reach groups that would not otherwise be aware of SCAA such as student organizations and local history societies. Our first pop-up meeting is planned for later February with the USC group SCALM – the Student Cooperative for Archives, Libraries, and Museums. If you have a group in mind who could benefit from SCAA membership or is interested in more information, email us at info@scarchivists.org!