2014-04-18
The Archives’ Student Life and Culture Archival Program at the University of Illinois will sponsor and play host to its third National Archives Conference for Fraternities and Sororities on June 12-14, 2014, on its Urbana-Champaign campus. Building on the success of the 2010 and 2012 conferences, this event will bring together experts on archival management, planning, preservation, and outreach with an emphasis on fraternity and sorority records.
One purpose of the conference is to provide archival training and support to headquarters staff members who are charged with their organization’s archives. Speakers will include Angela Waarala , digital collections project manager at the University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Noraleen Young , archivist at Kappa Alpha Theta and archival consultant for Past to Present; Christa Deacy-Quinn , collection manager at the Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Meg Miner , university archivist and special collections librarian at Illinois Wesleyan University; and Gaby Kienitz , head conservator at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis. A special plenary address will feature Willard Broom , Illinois’s retired associate dean of students, and Ashley Dye , director of fraternity and sorority affairs, concerning archives roles in their work with student chapters.
“I found the speakers extremely knowledgeable and very informative about a wide range of subjects. Perhaps even more importantly was the opportunity to meet so many of our fellow archivists/curators/historians who toil so often without much in the way of resources to preserve the rich history of our fraternal organizations,” said Bob McCully, Sigma Nu historian and 2010 and 2012 conference participant. “The time spent swapping ideas and sharing problems and solutions was invaluable. There is no way I’ll miss the upcoming conference—it’s just too valuable to pass up.”
Shirely Gee, Kappa Delta Sorority, also a two-time attendee, commented, “Your workshops inspire me. Thank you for the time spent making the event worthwhile. I look forward to future seminars.”
The Archives’ Student Life and Culture Archival Program at Illinois documents national fraternity and sorority life. Program benefactor Stewart S. Howe ’28 provided publicity and record-keeping services for fraternities and sororities across the country and created and collected fraternity publications and materials from over 300 American colleges and universities in the process. His collection, the collection of William Levere of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and the Program’s national holdings, including the archives of the National Panhellenic Conference, North-American Interfraternity Conference, Alpha Tau Omega, and the Fraternity Communications Association, among others, have made the Program a research center for the study of the national fraternity and sorority.
“It was Howe’s deep desire to foster the study and preservation of fraternity and sorority history,” said Ellen Swain, the Program’s archivist for student life and culture. “This conference is one of the best ways to accomplish this objective.”
The conference is open to all who are interested. Registration deadline is May 16, 2014.
For more information and to register, visit the conference website at www.archives.library.illinois.edu/slc/conference14 or contact Ellen Swain, archivist for Student Life and Culture, at eswain@illinois.edu or (217) 333-7841.
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