Archon Day – June 29, 2018
Held at Denison University in Granville, OH, the Archon Users Collaborative met to discuss the future of using Archon, an open-source archival content management system developed at the University of IL. The Viatorian Community Archives has been utilizing this system about 10 years now. Just last year, we contracted LibraryHost to support and host our site.
The 2019 meeting will be a video conference which will allow more Archon users to participate – date to be announced.
Envisioning the Future of Catholic Religious Archives July 11 – July 13, 2018
This 3-day working conference was held at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA to discuss this complex topic due to diminishing membership of religious orders, merging sites or coming to completion. Nearly 170 attendees included archivists, historians and leadership of both men and women religious communities, mainly from the U.S. and a few from Canada, Ireland and Scotland.
Preservation and access of these rich, historical records and artifacts was at the forefront of discussion along with sensitivity to privacy and confidentiality. Links to videos of the presentations with be forthcoming along with a white paper. The energy and passion of the attendees at this conference will move the discussion forward into positive action in the near future.
Watch for an upcoming article titled “Grace at Work: There’s an untold American history in Catholic religious communities’ archives” in the August 2018 issue of U.S. Catholic magazine– it’s about the conference!
Read another summary of the conference here on the Chicago Area Religious Archivists blog.