Tennessee History Day needs you!

Tennessee History Day is a state affiliate of National History Day and the Tennessee Historical Society is proud to be the sponsor of the state-level History Day competition. On Saturday, April 21, 2012, approximately 250 students from across the state of Tennessee will travel to Nashville to compete in the state-level competition to be held in downtown Nashville. Winners at the state competition will go on to College Park, Maryland, to represent Tennessee at the National History Day competition in June.

To host a successful competition for the students, their teachers and parents, the THS needs approximately 100 volunteers to serve as judges of student projects and approximately 30 additional volunteers to help with registration, room monitoring, and other duties.

I am writing to you today to ask you to please consider volunteering on April 21st. The students need your support! Below you’ll find details on our specific needs and the required commitment.

Judges

The commitment to serve as a judge requires that you be in downtown Nashville at approximately 8:30 a.m. on April 21st for a one hour orientation. Judging will begin that day around 10 a.m. and will continue until around 1:30 p.m. Lunch and a light breakfast will be provided. Prior to April 21st, you will be provided with materials regarding the specific category in which you’ll be judging. Students depend on the feedback provided by the judges to learn more about their topic and to improve their projects before competing at a higher level. The judging process is critical to the success of the competition and to the learning process for these students.

Judges will review projects in one of five categories: museum-style exhibit, multimedia documentary, website, research paper, or dramatic performance. You’ll be judging in either the Junior Division (grades 6-8) or Senior Division (grades 9-12). If you have a preference for what category or division you’d like to judge in, please let us know and we’ll do our best to honor your request.

Other Volunteers

The commitment to serve as a volunteer in other capacities varies depending on the post. While some volunteers will be needed as early as 8 a.m. on the day of competition, most will arrive by 9 a.m. and should be finished no later than 3 p.m. We need volunteers to help with set-up, student and teacher registration, room monitoring, and many other duties. Lunch will also be provided.

If you are willing to volunteer as a judge or in some other capacity, please let us know. If you have more questions about the commitment, please do not hesitate to ask!

Thank you so much for considering my request! If you have volunteered before, you know that History Day is a rewarding volunteer experience. If you haven’t, come see what it is all about! To learn more about Tennessee History Day, visit our website at http://www.tennesseehistoryday.org. If you’d like to see what a History Day project looks like, just click on Sample Projects.

Thanks again!

Jennifer C. Core
Mary E. Meyers
State Coordinators, Tennessee History Day
Tennessee Historical Society
Ground Floor, War Memorial Building
Nashville, TN 37243
615-741-8934
historyday@tennesseehistory.org
http://www.tennesseehistory.org/historyday.htm

Have you read a great new book about archives? Seen an exceptional new
finding aid? Encountered a new documentary publication that is head and
shoulders above the rest? Has a new web publication really stood out to you?

If you have, please consider nominating it for the Society of American
Archivists Waldo Gifford Leland Award. Nomination forms, a list of
previous winners, and more information are at
http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-leland. The
deadline for nominations is February 28, 2012.

The annual Leland Award — a cash prize and certificate — recognizes
“writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the field of archival
history, theory, and practice.”

(Please note that periodicals are not eligible.)

Established in 1959, this award honors American archival pioneer Waldo
Gifford Leland (1879-1966), president of the Society of American
Archivists in the1940s and one of the driving forces behind the founding
of the National Archives.

The Institute also features site visits to historical records repositories and a diverse curriculum that includes history and development of the profession, theory and terminology, records management, appraisal, arrangement, description, manuscripts acquisition, archives and the law, photographs, preservation administration, reference and access, outreach programs, and managing archival programs and institutions.

Thomas Wilsted has graciously agreed to serve as Principle Faculty Member for the 2012 Institute. Wilsted has been an archivist for more than forty years. During his career, he has worked at the Illinois State Historical Library, the National Library of New Zealand, The Salvation Army Archives and Research Center, and the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming before retiring from the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut in 2008. He is currently the principal at Wilsted Consulting, and is the author of Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories (SAA, 1991) and Planning New and Remodeled Archival Facilities (SAA, 2007), and co-editor of Archival and Special Collections Facilities: Guidelines for Archivists, Librarians, Architects, and Engineers (SAA, 2010). He taught archives administration at the University of Wyoming and the University of Connecticut as well as numerous workshops for the Society of American Archivists. Mr. Wilsted is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists and a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists.

Tuition for the Institute is $700 and includes a selection of archival publications. Other non-negotiable fees including program transportation, facility fees, opening dinner, and luncheon at the closing program will be available in early February. Housing and meal plans are available at additional cost.

The application deadline for the 2012 Western Archives Institute is March 30, 2012. For additional program information, see http://www.calarchivists.org/WAI, or contact:

For additional information, contact:
Administrator
Western Archives Institute
1020 O Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

Telephone: (916) 653–7715
Fax: (916) 653–7134E-mail: ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov

The Western Archives Institute is co-sponsored by the Society of California Archivists and the California State Archives.

The application package is available on the California State Archives web site at http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/wai/, and on the Society of California Archivists web site at http://www.calarchivists.org/WAI.

—————————————-

Ellen Jarosz
Associate Administrator
Western Archives Institute

Special Collections and Archives Librarian
Oviatt Library
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8229
Tel: 818.677.2597
Fax: 818.677.7863

This award recognizes an archivist, editor, group of individuals, or institution
that has increased public awareness of a specific body of documents through
compilation, transcription, exhibition, or public presentation of archives or
manuscript materials for educational, instructional, or other public purpose.
Archives may include photographs, films, and visual archives. Publication may be in
hard copy, microfilm, digital, or other circulating medium.

Recent winners include:
• 2011 University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee Libraries March On Milwaukee Civil
Rights History Project Team
• 2010 The Giza Archives Project at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• 2009 Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections of the University of
Toledo’s “From Institution to Independence”
• 2008 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the CBC Digital Archives (Les
Archives de Radio-Canada)

Eligibility:
Individual archivists and editors, groups of individuals, organizations.

Application Deadline:
All nominations shall be submitted to the Awards Committee by February 28.

For more information on SAA awards and the nominations process, please go to
http://www.archivists.org/recognition/index.asp