History Lights the Way - More About the 12th NAW

I made a commitment to the Business Meeting of the 11th NAW last year in Phoenix that this year in Niagara Falls I would bring at least one more person with me to pass on the message of Archives. The Archivist for Ontario South Al-Anon is a friend of mine and she came with such enthusiasm that it was inspiring. Cathy U. from Peterborough drove down with her husband. The new secretary for the GTA AA Intergroup, Pam J., drove me down. Though I surely cannot take credit for the other 3 Areas of Ontario being in attendance, it was unbelievable to be reading a name tag that ended in "Ontario"- me looking up with great delight! From Ontario Northwest came France L. She took a bus from Timmins to the airport in Sault Ste. Marie; took a flight to Pearson, a bus to the downtown bus station, a bus to the Canada-US border, and a cab across the border - it took over 13 hours to do the whole thing and she and her friend had to do the whole thing over again in reverse to get home. She carried the message to me that weekend!

What a weekend it was. Thursday was packed from the opening of registration and the hospitality room at 1:00. There was a discussion meeting, a 2 hour seminar on the Four Founding Moments of AA, a presentation by a Trustee on the General Service Board Archives Committee, and a final meeting at 9:00 pm on the value of an archives [collection].

Friday was a day of hard work and gentle rewards in the evening. As we do in every NAW we spent the whole day learning how to actually do preservation and conservation work. Some of the material from last year is on this blog and was covered again this year. In repairing paper tears, removing tape and other debris, and repairing binding, we worked on the rare treasure of the the Big Book belonging to Dr. George Little, accredited with being the founder of AA in Canada which was presented to him by Adam C., Ontario's first General Service Delegate.
We also learned what to do with all of our old Grapevines in terms of taking out staples and sewing them along with how to re-do the green binders that house volumes.

We were treated in the evening to a panel of longtimers. Though the two men on the panel each with close to 50 years each were great, it was Joy with 50+ that stole our hearts and left not a dry eye in the room. Father Pete W. closed the evening with the best talk I have ever heard him give.

Sunday picked up the pace again with simultaneous panels on oral histories, trade marks and copyrights, group histories, support for local archives, setting up a repository, and databasing the collection. After a sumptuous banquet with everyone suited up, we listened to a fantastic presentation by Gail L., Akron Archivist, on the life of Nell Wing (Bill's secretary for many years, AA's first archivist, and dear friend of Lois W.) who died February 14 of this year. As if this wasn't enough, when all was said and done for the day there was one final presentation on how the Rockefeller's helped AA.

Sunday is the business meeting and there was lots to discuss. Let me not tire you with this right now but do let me tell you that next year's NAW, the 13th will be just outside LA and the 14th in 2010 will be in Macon, Georgia. I think it is time to bring the NAW to Canada. How about we bring the 15th in 2011 to Toronto?

Report on the 12th Annual National Archives Workshop

The weekend of September 11-14, 2008 in Niagara Falls, New York was the scene of the 12th National Annual Archives workshop. Well attended by folks from General Service, Intergroups, and those interested in archives - this was a weekend not to be missed. All four of Ontario's Area Archives were present as were others from southern Ontario. It was so great to look around the packed hands-on preservation and conservation workshop on Friday and see name tags with Ontario on them. We can be sure that all the excellent knowledge we received on the whole range of factors involved in being stewards of the Fellowship's archives will be passed on throughout North America and that Canada has taken its place in this very important forum.

Look back over the next couple of days for more specific coverage of the various panels that ran over the course of this 4 day weekend. Once you see the work we did you'll be sure to want to know more about how you can improve on the great work you are already doing in your Districts

12th Annual National Archives Workshop

Have a look at the links below for the agenda for the 12th Annual NAW this weekend in Niagara Falls, NY. Check back sometime in the next week or so for more information.

FINAL Agenda Area 83 Archives Workshop

The final agenda for the Archives Workshop is posted below. We are really excited to be able to have two archives experts join us on this day. Greg Hill, non-alcoholic, a conservationist with the Conservation Institute of Canada (CIC), is going to share with us his expertise on the preservation of paper. Carolynn Bart-Riedstra, also a non-alcoholic and the Archives Advisor for the Archives Association of Canada (AAO), is coming up from Stratford to speak with us about the recording of our collections. We are very fortunate to have the support of the Archives Association of Ontario in our endeavours; the support is available, as a public service, to archivists and archives collections in Ontario. Anyone not familiar with the many services available to us via this organization might want to check out their website at http://aao.fis.utoronto.ca/

Also on this day we have the the Archivist for Area 83, Máire O'B. going over some of the recent discussions around oral histories. On the General Service Conference 2008 Archives agenda item there are issues of copyright, confidentiality, anonymity and so on. Some of this will be reviewed along with other aspects of conducting oral histories.

We had hoped to be able to tour the Canadian War Museum Archives but these are closed on Saturday and what with union issues and so on it was not possible. We are going to be treated to a tour of the City of Ottawa's Archives in the afternoon after we are all tuckered out from the incredible set of information we received throughout the day and after we have a look around the Ottawa AA's Archives collection.

I almost forget about the pot luck lunch! Ottawa Archives committee is hosting us at the Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Ave, and will be helping to arrange the hospitality that we AAs are so well known for.

There are a few modestly priced hotels in the area. If you need any help with any of your arrangements or have any questions about the Workshop in general please contact the Archivist or the Archives Chair (details in the side bar).

FINAL Agenda for 3rd Annual Area 83 Archives Workshop

3rd Annual Archives Workshop
Eastern Ontario Area 83 International
Bronson Centre
211 Bronson Avenue, Ottawa

April 5, 2008

9:00 Opening remarks

9:10 Oral Histories – Guidelines, challenges, solutions - Máire O’B., Archivist Area 83

10:15 Break

10:30 Preservation & Conservation of Paper - Greg Hill, Conservation Institute of Canada

11:45 Lunch - Potluck

12:30 Recording the Collection - Carolynn Bart-Riedstra, Archives Advisor, Archives Association of Ontario (AAO)

1:30 Question & Answer Period

2:00 Tour - Ottawa AA Archives

3:00 Tour - City of Ottawa Archives (111 Sussex Drive)

3rd Annual
Area 83
Archives Workshop


Saturday April 5, 2008
9:00 – 4:00

Bronson Centre
211 Bronson Avenue
Ottawa

Panels, Pot luck lunch, War Museum Archives tour

For more information contact: archivist_area83@sympatico.ca