Archival Etiquette

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In this episode you’ll hear about: how Megan became an archivist, the unusual collections she works with, why archives can be intimidating, how historians and archivists work together, and archival etiquette tips for new researchers.

Our guest is: Megan Hahn Fraser, who has worked as the Assistant Curator of Manuscripts at The New-York Historical Society, the Library Director at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Co-Head of Collection Management at UCLA Library Special Collections in Los Angeles, and the Vice President and Marcus A. McCorison Librarian at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. Currently, she is working for the Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws, a private collection of 20th century counter-culture materials based in Los Angeles. She received her Master of Information and Library Science (with a concentration in archives management) degree from Pratt Institute in 2000, and has an undergraduate degree in history from New York University. While at UCLA in 2014, Megan founded the Los Angeles Punk Rock Archive Collective, a group of archivists and others focused on acquiring collections from musicians, artists, and fans of the punk rock scene in Southern California. She has presented at the Society of American Archivists annual conference, the South by Southwest Festival, the L.A. as Subject Archives Bazaar, and the Legion of Steel Metalfest and Conference. She can be found on Twitter @mmhfraser, talking about archives, justice, and The Clash.

Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, the co-producer of the Academic Life podcasts, and a historian of women and gender. She has a small garden.

Listeners to this episode might be interested in:

• UCLA Library Special Collections Punk archive
• Research Institute for Contemporary Outlaws on Instagram
• For more information on how reliance on contingent labor is detrimental to the responsible stewardship of archives
• American Historical Association open letter to National Archives and Records Administration and retraction
• Society of American Archivists (SAA) Responds to the American Historical Association

• Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman (2010)
• Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World by Christopher de Hamel (2017)
• Standing in their own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution by Judith L. Van Buskirk (2017)
• Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall by James Polchin (2019)