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Memory Rising: January 2026

In this month’s edition:

- Memory Rising 2025 Year in Review - Manifesting My Dream Projects for 2026 (and Beyond) - Moving to a New Newsletter Platform - Council of State Archivists Report Available - Latest NO TIME FOR FEAR Episode - Mini Consulting Sessions - This Month’s Recommendations How’s everyone doing one month into the new year? I know that 2025 was a hard year for many of us. Last year I navigated an unexpected divorce and a decline in business that coincided with the DOGE cuts to grantfunding, and have only just started to catch my breath in the last couple of weeks. I just launched a new personal newsletter to help process some of what I’m going through as I hit midlife, which you can read at [*A Vast, Unregulated Medium*](https://archives.vastunregulated.net/)*.*




At the same time, Memory Rising recently marked its third year anniversary of being a registered business, and that’s something worth celebrating. I’m taking some time this winter to think about how to pivot my business to bring in new projects and types of work. Sometimes the greatest creativity, movements, and innovations can come out of really difficult circumstances.




Both on a personal and collective level, we are certainly in a liminal uncertain period, especially as we reckon with the continued violence and repression within our country and the world at large. My enduring gratitude goes out to the good people of Minnesota and those everywhere on the front lines of immigrant dignity coalitions and defending our Constitutional rights, as well as those working quietly behind the scenes, showing us how to stand up in solidarity for all. -Eira




(Photo of the Ohio River from Eden Park in Cincinnati with ice forming on it due to the prolonged cold snap, January 2026). # Memory Rising 2025 Year in Review




Despite all the unexpected curveballs of 2025, I had some incredibly cool work projects including a grant-funded project involving all the US territorial archives (keep scrolling to the section on the Council of State Archivists) and launching a New Deal history podcast. Here’s to 2026! # Manifesting My Dream Projects for 2026 (and beyond) I spent the last few months thinking about what kind of [dream projects](https://memoryrising.net/manifesting-my-2026-and-beyond-dream-projects/) I'd really love to work on next in my archives consulting/research business and how they might get off the ground.




I’ve [put together a list](https://memoryrising.net/manifesting-my-2026-and-beyond-dream-projects/) of archives and climate change, Ohio Valley history and culture, and New Deal history projects I’d love to work on. I encourage you to look it over and see if there’s any potential for collaboration, or if you have suggestions, [reach out!](mailto:[email protected]?subject=Manifesting%20in%202026&body=) # Moving to a New Newsletter Platform I’m moving the Memory Rising newsletter to a new platform next month. I will be switching over to [Buttondown](https://buttondown.com/), which I’ve really enjoyed using for the last month to power my [new personal newsletter](https://archives.vastunregulated.net/).




If you enjoy continuing to receive this newsletter, there’s nothing you have to do on your end! I will handle all of the migration of current subscribers and the next issue of the Memory Rising newsletter will come to you via Buttondown to whatever email address you currently use to receive the current edition from Mailchimp.




If this newsletter is no longer of interest or meeting your needs, I suggest unsubscribing now and don’t feel guilty about it! Since I’m at the point where I need to begin paying for any newsletter platform due to my current subscriber threshold, migrating over only those customers who clearly want to continue receiving the newsletter helps to reduce my own operating costs. # Council of State Archivists Report Available One of my major recent client projects I wrapped in 2025 was working with the Council of State Archivists on an Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded project, [Archives Working Across Remote Environments (AWARE).](https://business.statearchivists.org/news/Details/aware-archives-working-across-remote-environments-final-report-available-295315) This was such an incredible project to work on with my cherished colleague Helen Wong Smith as we visited the territorial archives and met archivists working in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands over the last year. CoSA does amazing work and it was an honor to contribute to their efforts. I’m very excited that our work is now available for the public! You can [access the full report on CoSA’s website](https://councilofstatearchivists.app.box.com/s/7mar9t5p8hayxauwqzhp3hnfvs11qsw2). # Latest NO TIME FOR FEAR Episode I'm back on the mic for my New Deal history podcast NO TIME FOR FEAR! This month I talked with fellow archivist Aaron D. Purcell who wrote [*White Collar Radicals*](https://utpress.org/title/white-collar-radicals/) about the larger political context of 1930s progressive and leftwing politics, the idealism of young Tennessee Valley Authority white collar employees, and how Cold War anti-Communist hysteria reached all the way back to the New Deal. Listen [to the episode here](https://notimeforfear.net/episode-notes-power-tvas-white-collar-radicals/), or wherever you get your podcasts! # Mini Consulting Sessions Are you thinking about an archives-related project and not sure about the best way to move forward and make it real? Are you a small organization eager to care for your history? Do you need someone to brainstorm through research with you, or help you find archival sources for a project you’re working on?




Draw on my experience and prior work without the overhead of a long-term engagement! [Sign up for a one-hour consulting session](https://memoryrising.us21.list-manage.com/track/click?u=33964c505212f62c031cc170e&id=7ae827c2ab&e=a53dd2b197). We’ll chat about your idea, problem, or project, and I will share resources with you after the call. # This Month’s Recommendations [🎶 Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind](https://visit.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/yoko-ono-music-of-the-mind/) - I visited this retrospective of Yoko Ono’s work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago late last year. I hadn’t really known much about her creative output and activism, but found it to be a profoundly moving exhibit and loved the participatory artworks. On display for just a few more weeks!  




🌊 [Melting Fonts](https://design.google/library/glacial-melt-font) - I am totally fascinated with the way typefaces and fonts can draw inspiration from very unexpected sources. This typeface references the climate crisis and melting glaciers.

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