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Memory Rising: November 2024
In this month’s edition:
- Research Project on Climate Change and Archives: Final Report for Mellon Foundation, Public Knowledge program
- A Green New Deal for Archives on Green Tea
- SAA Member? Consider volunteering for an appointed role
- Upcoming Grant Deadlines
- This Month’s Recommendations
Well, it’s a week out from the election. I wish I knew the exact right thing to say in a business newsletter about These Times, but I don’t and I won’t pretend to. I don’t have a lot of certainty about the future or what to expect. Being overly-confident about what the future portends is its own form of attempting to exert control when we feel powerless, as so many of us understandably feel right now.
Earlier today I was in a conversation with several other arts and culture self-employed folks. Many of us who are self-employed in the arts, culture, and history sectors work on projects supported by federal funding agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Institute of Museum and Library Services—all agencies targeted during the first Trump administration. We are incredibly concerned about our colleagues in those agencies, and we are also anxious for what this portends for our own livelihoods.
Someone said on a podcast recently that you know things are intense when people begin quoting poetry. Kentucky poet and essayist Wendell Berry’s poem [*The Mad Farmer Liberation Front *](https://web.mit.edu/daveg/Text/poetry/Manifest:MFLF)has rattled around in my head the last several weeks, but especially these lines:
*Listen to carrion - put your ear *
*close, and hear the faint chattering *
*of the songs that are to come.*
*Expect the end of the world. Laugh.*
*Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful*
*though you have considered all the facts.*
After the Dobbs decision a couple of years ago, a trusted Friend at my Quaker meeting gave me a much-needed hug. This week I asked if he needed a hug and told him, “We will get through this.” The operative word here being “we.” We know that every vision for a more just, equitable, and sustainable future is a collective endeavor.
Years ago I let go of the notions of optimism or pessimism, because I realized that I don’t need to know what the future holds in order to honor my reciprocal obligations to my communities and the universe which has given me so much. I fear for our planet, our safety, and our collective integrity in the years ahead. But if there is one thing I feel confident about, it is that we will get through this, together. -Eira
(Photo of wild teasel taken during a recent walk in a local park. Newsletter content assistance provided by [Jess Farrell](https://facilitator-jess.github.io/RedstartWorks/about/).)
# Research Project on Climate Change and Archives: Final Report for Mellon Foundation, Public Knowledge program
Memory Rising has been engaged by the Public Knowledge program of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to examine the impacts of climate change on archives. This [final report](https://memoryrising.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/MellonFoundation-MemoryRising_ArchivesClimateChange_PublicFinalReport_2024-10-12.pdf) is the culmination of an eighteen-month research project (May 2023-October 2024). This project focused on three areas of concern for climate change adaptation and archives. Phase 1 focused on People. Phase 2 focused on Infrastructure. Phase 3 focused on Collections. This report contains Memory Rising’s short-term and long-term recommendations informed by the research, along with summaries of the major findings from each research phase.
# *A Green New Deal for Archives* on Green Tea
I recently sat down with Roxy Sperber of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) Sustainability Committee on their podcast Green Tea. We talked about labor issues in cultural heritage, how increased funding is necessary for safe stewardship of communities' historical records, and the need to understand and address climate impacts via watershed regions instead of traditional state borders. [Check it out](https://open.spotify.com/episode/77xYbqLTK4SOhZNAR3ZFGv?si=b2ad2bda963b4035).
# SAA Member? Consider volunteering for an appointed role!
Are you a member of the Society of American Archivists? I’d like to strongly encourage you to nominate yourself for one of the dozens of appointed roles that help with the vital work of North America’s largest professional association of archivists. I am the SAA Council liaison for the forthcoming [Archival Worker Labor Task Force](https://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section8/groups/archival-worker-labor-task-force), which has several seats that will be appointed in this process by SAA’s Vice President and the [Appointments Committee](https://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section7/groups/Appointments). Applications are [due by December 15.](https://www2.archivists.org/news/2024/be-the-change-call-for-saa-leader-self-nominations)
# Upcoming Grant Deadlines
Thinking about applying for a climate-change related grant? I am here to support your planning, assessment, strategy, and research needs. Check out these upcoming opportunities and reach out if you’d like to work with me!
[The Society of American Archivists (SAA) Foundation Catalyst Grant program](https://www2.archivists.org/groups/saa-foundation-board-of-directors/saa-foundation-catalyst-grant-program-application-process-and-guidelines) provides funding to support complex archives projects. **Due January 31.**
[The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections](https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/sustaining-cultural-heritage-collections) grants fund reducing energy usage, improving infrastructure resilience for collections, and developing preservation studies or plans. **Optional draft due December 5.**
# This Month’s Recommendations
🗺️ [Unearthing the 20th Century’s Ground-Breaking Soil Surveys](https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2024/09/unearthing-the-20th-centurys-ground-breaking-soil-surveys/?loclr=eamap) (article) - This article from the Library of Congress about soil survey maps is a fascinating bit of environmental and agricultural history (thanks to John Overholt for sharing this!)
⚖️ [I am my own legal department: the promise and peril of “just go independent”](https://www.citationneeded.news/i-am-my-own-legal-department/) (essay) - This essay is from the point of view of an independent journalist, but I think it is also applicable to those of us who are self-employed archivists/historians/curators/information professionals/etc. There is a lot of invisible overhead. And the answer *isn’t* for everyone to start their own thing, because we still need larger institutions for all sorts of reasons.
🎡[Museums Association Freelancers’ Hub](https://www.museumsassociation.org/careers/freelancers-hub/#) (web resource) - This is a fascinating resource from a British museum organization featuring the working realities of British museum freelancers. I would love to see an analogous series of resources within the American archives community.
💚 [What if we act as if we love the future?](https://ayanaelizabeth.substack.com/p/what-if-we-act-as-if-we-love-the-future) (essay) - I often teach Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s climate action venn diagram exercise in my climate change work. Her post-election newsletter is a good reminder of how we keep moving forward.
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