[Dialogue] Consider attending the next archive sojourn: July 23 – August 5, 2023

[Karen Snyder]

ARCHIVES SOJOURN REPORT 
Quarter IV - December 26, 2022 – January 1, 2023
Written by Alan Gammel and Karen Snyder
 
“In recovering abundance, we need storytellers and memory keepers 
who work to uncover all our stories and histories. It’s nice to know where we came from,
 but it’s also critical for our wholeness as communities and our sense of direction moving forward.”
Recovering Abundance: Twelve Practices for Small-Town Leaders, by Andy Stanton-Henry (2022), p. 252
 
For the week following Christmas, ten people participated in the Archives Sojourn as ‘archivists’ with others joining on zoom for the daily morning context, that included readings, reports of what had been accomplished, and anticipations of the days work. 

Amazing results:

·      Sorting files for scanning:  
o   We revisited Uptown, rediscovered ICA’s engagement in the 70s – including sponsoring eight Valentine Balls for seniors at The Aragon Ballroom. Twenty-five hundred people attended the last ball. The ICA staff working in Uptown approached it like 5th City, like a human development project as it created stakes and guilds and multiple programs. See the end of this document for Vincent Scott’s draft of the “Uptown Story” and Alan Gammel‘s description of the Valentine dances.
o   We remembered stories from the six Latin American Human Development projects – almost simultaneously: Bananeras, Brazil; Sol de Septiembre, Chile;  Conacaste, Guatemala; Woburn Lawn, Jamaica; Azpitia, Peru; Cano Negro, Venezuela.
o   India’s three file cabinets of documents revealed many learnings from replicating the Maliwada Human Development throughout the State of Maharashta. 
·      Ed Feldmanis has been the Master of Scanning, before, during and after the sojourn, turning past documents into readable messages for all.
·      A flowchart was created to aid in training of first time sorters in future sojourns – by Debra Harris Watson, Meg Ziegleman, and Rebecca Mahan. 
·      Alan Gammel learned how to link scanned documents that he will continue to do in Seattle. 
·      A writing team was initiated committed to meeting periodically between now and the next Archive Sojourn (July 23 – August 5, 2023).
·      Zoom calls included Beret Griffith, Paul Noah and Laura Grover. Beret and Laura both had health issues that prevented them from traveling this time.  

Sorting, scanning, linking were enhanced by lively questioning about the future of the archives. How can we use social media more effectively to inform a wider audience?  What are the transforming stories hidden in the documentation? How can we add pictures to enhance all the written material? What did we learn as we worked through the years that is informative to our present time?  There was a challenge to complete the file sorting before 2024.

All work and… Of course not!       Christmas lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo      New Year’s Eve Fiesta at the Troxel’s        New Year’s Special Brunch by Alice Harriott       -      were highlights of our time together. 

In the end a group of strangers with different experiences over the past 60 years were surprised and delighted by all the things ICA has done and continues to do.  Whether we sojourned in a Religious House, were Priors, participated in Human Development Projects or an Odyssey, were ToP trainers, lived in the GreenRise, served on the ICA USA Board, the feeling of kinship, of community, was very strong.

We would love to hear from you regarding what you think needs to happen next in the archives.

The Archivists:  Adele Sims, Alan Gammel, Beret Griffith, Debra Harris Watson, Ed Feldmanis, Frances Tsai, Karen Snyder, Laura Grover, Meg Ziegleman, Paul Noah, Rebecca Mahan, Sierra Johnson, Vincente Scott

 

“The profound function of documentation is to change the world …. Recording, or more specifically, 
documenting victories, accomplishments, campaigns, etc., is essential to providing an objective picture of the present situation, what trends are appearing and where the edge is going to be."
 “Profound Function of Documentation”, Global Research Assembly 1979, page 2



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