AAO 2014: Community Remembering and Faith-Based Commemoration

This is the second post summarizing my experience at the AAO 2014 conference. The first post, "AAO 2014: Context and Commemoration" can be seen here. 

Archives and Remembering 
This session focused on two community museums/archives and their efforts to commemorate community histories. 

The first pair of presenters were Laura Camilleri and Wayne Townsend from the Dufferin County Museum and Archives (DCMA).  Their presentation, "Remembering the Wars...Digitally" focused on the DCMA efforts to commemorate Dufferin's veterans.  For the purposes of this project veteran was defined as anyone who had served in any conflict in any capacity.  The project allowed for archival material to be linked to museum collections and placed online via the Duff Stuff portal.  The portal is fee based.  However DCMA members get access as part of their membership fee.  Camilleri and Townsend highlighted some of the unexpected rewards of their project such as: building community partnerships, increased research requests, increased donations to the archive, and collaboration with local schools.  Having grown up near the DCMA and volunteered there it was nice to see some of the positive ongoing work and community outreach occurring within the institution.

The second set of presenters in this session were Mary Gladwin and Patricia Phelps who focused on the Oxford Remembers project. This initiative aims to commemorate the men and women who participated in WWI both at home and overseas.  Oxford County will hold 100 special events and programs from 2014-2018 to remember the 100th anniversary of the First World War.  Gladwin and Phelps highlighted the project's galvanizing force and the enthusiasm of libraries, archives, museums, and community based groups to host commemorative events.  Everything from plays, pigeon shows, art displays, traveling exhibits, and film screenings will be held as part of the project.  Overall the project aims to raise awareness about the rich history of Oxford and the roles Oxford citizens played in the war effort.  This presentation was great inspiration for anyone interested in community engagement in collaboration.  It highlighted the benefits of working with multiple partners and keeping costs low through shared events and promotion.

Faith-Based Commemoration and Archives
This session focused on anniversary celebrations at two faith-based archives.  The presentations both focused on case study examples of successful archival commemoration efforts.

Gillian Hearns presented on "Making the 150th and 175th Anniversaries of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto." Hearns' presentation recapped the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto involvement in the 1991 celebrations around the 150th diocese anniversary.  At this point the Archives was relatively new but the 150th celebrations helped bring legitimacy to the archives and highlight the value of the archives.  Hearn's presentation also looked forward to the upcoming 175th anniversary that will be occurring in 2016.  Building on previous commemoration and history work Hearns described the 175th as an educational opportunity.  She saw the archive being tied to the larger diocese commemoration plan and focusing efforts on promoting the archive to internal stakeholders.  Hearn's talk emphasized the importance of learning from past commemoration efforts and the role that commemoration can have in promoting the use of archives.

Hearn's presentation was followed by Kate Rosser-Davies and her work commemorating the "Jubilee Years at St. Michael's Choir School."  The case study explored by Rosser-Davies focused on the 75th anniversary celebration of St. Michael's Choir School and the commemorative publication of Seventy-Five Years of Service in Song.  At the time of the 75th anniversary the archives at St. Michael's was newly established and Rosser-Davies unexpectedly played a key role in the publication process of Service in Song.  The publication was community driven and school alumni were actively involved in the books authorship.  Rosser-Davies highlighted the challenges of managing a community based publication including editorial burnout, inconsistent voicing, factual issues, and managing so many contributors.  Despite these challenges the book's community based nature did allow for stakeholders to learn about the value of archival collections and the importance of preserving the school history.  Rosser-Davies indicated the donations to the school archives increased following the book project.  Service in Song is a great example of school archives being used for commemorative purposes and the challenges of managing a community based publication.

The Mark Twain Project and the Autobiography of Mark Twain

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2  was published in October 2013 in print and digital form.  Twain dictated much of his autobiography during the later years of his life.  He insisted that the lengthy work not be published until 100 years after his death. The first volume of this complete authoritative autobiographical series was published accordingly in 2010.

The second book in a three volume set picks up where his dictation left in April 1906 and continues until February 1907.  The writing reflects a stream of consciousness writing style and often wanders off in various directions at once.  Many of the entries begin with reference to contemporary events, newspaper articles, or letters, which Twain then expands on, rants about, or analysis.  The work includes many personal reflections, political views, and discussions of his contemporaries.  These often scathing comments highlight Twain's reasoning for a long publication ban.  He spares no feelings when discussing those he dislikes.

Twain's writing is often self centered and vain but you can't help but being drawn into his world.  The pages are infused with his famous humor and wit.  Twain is also very open about the fact that he is selective about what is being dictated and that he is presenting himself in a good light. The Autobiography is not at all what I expected as it is more personal recollections of events or people that are often disconnected from each other.  There is no overarching 'great man' narrative or grand story propelling the work.  But, the nontraditional format does allow Twain's personality to come forth and reveals previously unpublished insights into the life of Twain.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Seattle Tacoma, 1895

To call Mark Twain a prolific writer might be an understatement.  Born in 1835 as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, the man published over 30 books and over 300 articles in his lifetime.  He also penned a massive amount of material that was unpublished at the time of his death. 

Some of this unpublished material was later published under a series of editors selected by Twain or his daughter Clara.  And the bulk of it was eventually donated to the University of California in 1949.  Since this time a series of editors at Berkley have worked diligently to edit and publish parts of the Twain papers.  In 1980 Robert H. Hirst took over as editor of the project and expanded the scope of the project to be as comprehensive as possible, aiming to collect everything Mark Twain wrote.

In 2001, the Project began incorporating digital components into its work. This movement allowed for the digital markup and encoding of Twain's writings, the digital publication of his works, continuous updating of publications.  One of the best features of this movement online is the ability to compare transcriptions of texts (eg. original manuscript vs. typescript) and the hyperlinking of references and emendations.

I enjoyed the print edition of the Autiobiography but I did find myself frequently wishing the notes were more accessible.  The 733 page volume contains roughly 450 pages of the autobiography with the rest being notes and index.  The notes provide a lot of insight and context to the news clippings and people referenced by Twain.  However, flipping back and forth between the main text and the line notations can be disruptive while reading.  The digital version's feature which hyperlinks notations and places the explanatory notes next to the main text is much less cumbersome.