For archivists and other memory workers, the theme of “Find It Here” prompts questions about how we ensure that members of typically underrepresented groups can find themselves reflected in the archives and in the stories of the past we share through teaching, exhibits, and other outreach. Through four case studies, this panel explores a range of approaches to preserve and increase access to materials that shed light on diverse regional histories, centering the voices of working-class union activists, Jewish women, LGBTQ+ communities, and tribal nations.
John McKerley will discuss an Iowa oral history project to document the participation of UAW Local 450 in a nationwide strike against John Deere, to make content digitally accessible, and create a website placing the interviews in a broader historical context. Heather Cooper will present on the “Jewish Life and History in Iowa” LibGuide, which provides topical descriptions of collection materials across repositories and serves as a resource for teaching, research, and a public history initiative aimed at connecting the memory of Anne Frank to Iowa public spaces. Claire Du Laney Dunker will talk about a traveling exhibit drawing on materials from the Queer Omaha Archives to share Nebraska LGBTQ+ history, giving communities the opportunity to learn, engage, and reflect through the exhibit and materials online. Finally, Zeineb Yousif will discuss a partnership with the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction and Office of Indian/Multicultural Education to update, republish, and create e-book access to a series of Tribal History and Culture books produced by and about North Dakota tribes from the 1970s onward, increasing access to Indigenous-authored accounts for use in K-12, university, and tribal college classrooms.
Speakers Amy C. Schindler, University of Nebraska at Omaha (Session Chair) Heather L. Cooper, University of North Dakota Claire Du Laney Dunker, Univeristy of Nebraska at Omaha John McKerley, Iowa Labor History Society Zeineb Yousif, University of North Dakota
