Portland City Auditor's Archives & Records Management Division is celebrating American Archives Month with an expanded version of their community archiving event series. The event is free and open to members of the public of all ages.
"Portland in Black: Documenting Our Lives in the City of Roses" is designed to grow community connections, build archival skills, and create a foundation to ensure community stories are accessible for generations to come. This month's event will give attendees the opportunity to work on personal archiving projects, connect with community members, and receive guidance from memory workers at Don't Shoot PDX, Portland City Archives, the Oregon Historical Society, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and Albina Music Trust. It will spotlight audiovisual materials, with archivists on hand to discuss the unique preservation challenges of audio and video recordings.
Free "archival kits" made up of various archival supplies, tools, and enclosures to help start an archiving project will be provided to the first 40 attendees on a first come first served basis.
Attendees will:
Discover the resources available in the Oregon Historical Society's research library.
Receive advice on viewing, digitizing, and preserving film and video.
Learn from professionals how best to manage personal archives of papers, photographs, videotapes, and more.
Digitize materials at a scanning station. Attendees will not be able to digitize film, video, or audio recordings during the event.
Attendees are encouraged to bring cherished materials documenting their family or community histories to learn how to make them last. Examples of items to bring for personal archiving projects include:
Family photographs, scrapbooks, albums
Home movies, audio recordings
Letters, correspondence, diaries
Clippings, publications, books