macsoa2026columbus

The registration desk at the Ohio Union will be open on Thursday May 14 and Friday May 15 from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm; and on Saturday, May 16 from 7:30 am to 12:00 pm.

Archives often hold more than documents—they safeguard the tangible symbols of history and achievement: awards, pennants, caps, textiles, and other unique objects that tell stories beyond the written word. These items present distinct preservation challenges because of their varied materials, construction, and susceptibility to environmental factors. This hands-on workshop will teach preventive care measures including how to best handle, stabilize and select best storage solutions for a variety of artifacts commonly found in archival collections. We will discuss affordable storage solutions, put some of them to practice and perform minimal intervention treatments such as cleaning and basic paper repair techniques. In addition, the workshop will address the importance of documenting condition issues and treatment decisions and their outcome through written and photographic documentation to ensure continuity in care. Whether you are new to artifact care or seeking to refine your approach, this session will equip you with practical tools to protect these irreplaceable pieces of history. The instructor will provide different types of artifacts for demonstration but you are also welcome to bring personally-owned objects or those from your collection.



Who should attend?


Anyone interested in learning more about preventative care measures, storage solutions, and intervention treatments for artifacts commonly found in archival collections.



What should you know already?


No prior knowledge or experience needed



Instructors:

• Ashlyn Oprescu, Book and Paper Senior Conservator, The Ohio State University

Ashlyn Oprescu is the Book and Paper Senior Conservator for The Ohio State University Libraries. She completed her graduate studies in the UK and received her MA in The Conservation of Library and Archive Materials from West Dean College in 2013 and a second MA in Preventive Conservation from Northumbria University in 2015. She worked at The British Library, The Charles Dickens Museum, The Dead Sea Scroll Conservation Laboratory, and The Frick Art Reference Library before joining the Conservation and Collections Care Department at OSUL in 2021.

This digital preservation workshop will focus on developing a practical digital preservation strategy and workflow for those working without much external support. We will go through how to overcome some of the organizational challenges around digital preservation, discuss prioritization and workflow development, and run through an example workflow using free and accessible software. You will walk away with hands-on experience using these tools, as well as the knowledge to help actuate your digital preservation program. Together, we will lose the fear of the command line, protect the integrity of our files, and build a stronger digital preservation practice!


Who should attend?

Anyone interested in learning how to develop practical digital preservation strategies and workflows without much external support, especially solo archivists and practitioners from smaller institutions.


What should you know already?

No prior experience is necessary, but you will need to bring your own laptops to the workshop to actively participate.


Instructor:

• Alyssa Pierce, Digital Preservation Librarian, Case Western Reserve University

Location: Sullivant Hall, 1813 N. High Street, Columbus, OH 43210
Cost: Free
Capacity: 15 people
Tour Details: Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum houses the world’s largest collection cartoon and comics art and archives. See behind the scenes of its premiere collection featuring works from artists such as, Bill Watterson, Walt Kelly, Winsor McCay and many other legendary cartoonists. To learn more, visit: https://cartoons.osu.edu/  

Location: Main Library, 96 S. Grant Ave. Columbus, OH 43215
Cost: Free
Capacity: 30 people
Tour Details: Visit Columbus’ Main Library for two tours in one! Staff will lead a tour of the Local History & Genealogy Division, including the digitization lab, and a behind-the-scenes archives and newspaper room tour. For more information about Local History & Genealogy, please visit our webpage.

Location: One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215
Cost: Free
Capacity: 40 people
Tour Details: Nationwide, the fortune 100 insurance and financial services company, celebrates 100 years in 2026. This tour will provide a behind-the-scenes view of the Nationwide History & Archives Center and show ways Nationwide has integrated its heritage and its centennial into the associate experience throughout the headquarters.

Location: 1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH 43210
Cost: Free
Capacity: 15 people
Tour Details: Thompson or Main Library was built in 1913 as the first stand-alone library building on campus. It was renovated in 2009, combining the old with the new. The tour will also showcase the current exhibit from the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Polar Expressions: Finding Beauty in the Coldest Regions on Earth.

Location: 1871 North High Street; Columbus, OH 43210
Cost: Free
Capacity: 12 people
Tour Details: Despite its status as a non-collecting institution since it opened in 1989, the Wexner Center for the Arts holds a collection of over 6,000 objects in its vault, ranging from 8th century Chinese scrolls to 20th century contemporary art. Join us to explore the history of the Wex’s permanent collection: how it came to be here, how we steward it, and our plans to increase access to these unique materials. To learn more, visit  https://wexarts.org/  

Meet and greet your fellow SOA members before the conference starts. See who'’s in town or meet new friends before heading off to lunch, on your own or with a group. For more details, see https://ohioarchivists.org/meetup-annual-meeting-2026

MAC Pals, come join us for the MAC Pals Midday Meet and Greet! This special event provides a relaxed opportunity for you to connect with your Pal(s) before the meeting kicks off to share valuable tips for making the most of the conference and your MAC membership. It’’s a great chance to socialize, make plans, and strengthen your connections with fellow members. Register by Thursday April 16, 2026, on the registration form to attend the MAC Pals Midday Meet and Greet and enjoy some light lunchtime snacks and drinks with your Pals. For questions, contact Rebecca Wells, the MAC Pals Coordinator, at [email protected].

“A Nation without Archives Is like Eyes without Sight” (“Ummad aan dhigaal lahayni, waa dhaayo aan arag lahayn.”) - Abdi M. Roble, photographer, archivist, friend

Abdi’s comparison is worth discussion. While no simile is perfect for comparison, is it implying that “sight” is “insight”? Can we compile and not really understand? Then what is a historian? An archivist? A genealogist? Are they different from a chronicler? A storyteller? A wise elder? The “boys around the cracker barrel”? And how does the user, the consumer, the library patron view this smorgasbord of interpretation, now “enhanced” by AI?

In this plenary, presented by Doreen Uhas-Sauer, we examine the joys and mysteries of archiving, how our work creates informed discussion, and how our work can be used in surprising ways. Uhas-Sauer also covers what goes into her "Place Based" interpretations and provides a sampling of her work with a brief exploration of the surrounding University District.

Doreen Uhas-Sauer is a retired Columbus City Schools veteran classroom teacher of 40 years and former Ohio Teacher of the Year. She currently works with the Columbus Metropolitan Library doing research and scripts for Columbus neighborhood walking tours. Over the years, Ms. Uhas-Sauer has received awards in education, historic preservation, and civic engagement; co-authored several books; worked with local teachers in Eastern Europe, co-sharing the importance of nineteenth-century local history archives for interpreting twentieth-century issues; and worked with WOSU Columbus Neighborhoods.

She currently serves on the boards of the State of Ohio Historic Preservation, Green Lawn Cemetery, the Rickenbacker/Woods Foundation, the Ohio National Road Association, the University District Organization, the Ohio America 250 Committee for Untold Stories, and several other charitable non-profits—all of which provide opportunities to examine under-told stories, creating based-in-place documentable interpretation.

In 2025, Uhas-Sauer was recognized for her lifetime involvement with humanities by the Ohio Humanities Council and for her work with the University Area Commission by Columbus mayor Ginther. Her story was featured in the Columbus Dispatch as “The City’’s History Teacher.” She currently has several projects underway, working on a historic and rare map book of Columbus with co-author Tom Betti; helping students at the Rickenbacker / Woods Foundation to document the true history of Columbus-born inventor Granville T. Woods and to use obituaries and historical context to create vignettes about housing advocates for on-line posts for Columbus’’s Social Justice Park; and is with others to use archives and landmarks to “rebrand” the too-often unknown or mythological tales of Columbus’s University District.

As a continuation of SOA’s “Crucial Conversations” series,  this presentation focuses on community archives projects in LGBTQ+ communities across Ohio for the SOA track. To raise awareness about community archives and LGBTQ+ collections in Ohio, the session will be moderated by a Justice, Equity, Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (JEDAI) committee member, with questions focusing on issues in community archives and the importance of preserving history of underrepresented groups. The panel will feature representatives from the Akron LGBTQ+ Archives and the Ohio Lesbian Archives to talk about how they built their community archives, how they function, and how they receive support. Representatives from the University of Toledo will speak about the LGBTQ+ collections they hold, how connections were made with the donors, and what work is being done (digitization, etc.) to bring awareness of these collection resources to the broader public. Time will be allotted at the end of the presentations for questions and suggestions from the audience. Along with chronicling LGBTQ+ archival collections in Ohio, this presentation will view the issue of community archiving  from several different standpoints, allowing you the opportunity to learn not only about the process of starting and maintaining a community archive, but also the on-going struggles of such programs and what forms of support are needed for their success. 

Speakers
Hannah Kemp-Severence, University of Akron (Session Chair)
Sara Mouch, University of Toledo
Nancy Yerian, Ohio Lesbian Archives
Dr. Hillary Nunn, Akron LGBTQ+ Archive

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming archival work—from description and discovery to access and outreach. This interactive roundtable brings together archivists from diverse institutions to share how they are experimenting with AI tools in their daily practice, especially in settings with limited technical support. Each speaker will offer a brief presentation on their institution’s use of AI, followed by a facilitated discussion with the audience about the opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations that come with integrating AI into archival workflows.

Larissa Krayer (University of Nebraska Medical Center) will discuss using generative AI to generate alt text and metadata for accessibility. Estée O’Connor (Racine Dominican Archive) will share how AI transcription tools have revolutionized oral history workflows for a solo archivist managing a large and complex repository. Meghan Courtney (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan) will reflect on student use of chatbots in archival discovery and the implications for archival pedagogy. Pete Brink (Creighton University Libraries) will explore AI-assisted description of handwritten correspondence and the development of a university history chatbot, framed within Jesuit ethical inquiry.

Following the main discussion, you will be invited to participate in small, moderated breakout groups to share your own experiences, questions, and concerns in a more focused setting. These collaborative conversations will be structured around key themes—such as ethics, accessibility, and resource limitations—to foster a practical dialogue on implementation. The session aims to encourage you, regardless of your institution's size or resources, to responsibly and creatively engage with AI and leave with actionable strategies for your own settings.

Speakers
Larissa Krayer, University of Nebraska Medical Center (Session Chair)
Pete Brink, Creighton University
Meghan Courtney, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
Estée O’Connor, Racine Dominican Archive

As funding becomes increasingly competitive and unpredictable, archives and institutions are finding ways to build sustainable financial foundations for long-term sustainability. This session will bring together archivists and institutional representatives who have launched or are currently undertaking fundraising, "friendraising," and/or capital campaigns to endow their archives. Panelists will share practical approaches for engaging donors, building compelling cases for support with donors and administration, and cultivating lasting relationships that secure the future of their collections.

The session will feature a range of archival institutions from large public research universities to small cultural heritage organizations, each navigating distinct challenges and opportunities in fundraising. Some operate within well-established university advancement structures, while others work independently or without ownership of their physical spaces, requiring inventive solutions to sustain operations and build donor confidence. Together, they reflect the variety of archival contexts across the region and the adaptability required to secure lasting support.

Building endowments and cultivating donor-based funding models are becoming vital to preserving collections and ensuring continued access to archives. Participants will gain practical ideas and inspiration to enhance and sustain fundraising initiatives within their own organizations.

Speakers
Kristina Warner, Norwegian American Historical Association (Session Chair)
Neal Harmeyer, Purdue University
Dina Kellams, Indiana University
Alexis Braun Marks, Eastern Michigan University
Pete Rhoda, Indiana University

The definition of "student" has evolved dramatically and our instruction must evolve as well. While in-person instructional sessions and primary source workshops are still essential, they serve only those students who can physically access our materials. This session explores how the Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL) has expanded its archival instructional model to reach distance learners, online faculty, and local high school students.

The BPCL has developed a multi-pronged approach to instruction that supplements, rather than replaces, traditional information literacy and primary source literacy instruction. For a recent online course teaching Black Popular Culture, we have worked with faculty to enhance their reading assignments from our collections and have made digitized materials accessible in ethical ways that match their course learning outcomes each week. This includes developing guidelines for classroom use and dissemination of copyrighted materials.

Additionally, BPCL has participated in providing "reverse field trips" for multiple popular culture social studies classes at a nearby high school. We teach comics history, share rare artifacts, and discuss the unique art styles and cultural significance of sequential art. Some of these students have later visited us in the BPCL as BGSU students, demonstrating alignment not only with their social studies common core initiatives, but also BGSU's recruitment and enrollment efforts.

This expanded instructional model addresses three critical goals: equity of access, pedagogical flexibility, and community engagement. By meeting students where they are geographically, technologically, and developmentally, we ensure that more individuals can benefit from special collections instruction than the traditional student. This session will present our case studies, discuss logistical and pedagogical challenges, and offer adaptable strategies for archives and special collections seeking to broaden their instructional reach across institutional contexts.

Speakers
Stefanie Hunker, Bowling Green State University
Sasha Kim, Bowling Green State University

The opening reception will occur in the Grand Ballroom of the Blackwell Inn. Come join in an opportunity to relax and gather with your fellow attendees. Light snacks and refreshments will be served, and a cash bar will be available. Guests and children are invited to attend with an extra fee required to cover food and drink costs.