Meetings
2023 MAMA/KCAA Conference
October 26-28, 2023
The 2023 MAMA/KCAA Joint Conference was held at the Truman Library in Independence, MO.
The Missouri Association for Museums and Archives partnered with KCAA to host a joint conference. In addition to a full line-up of presentations, the confered featured tours of the National WWI Museum & Memorial and the Black Archives of Mid-America, both located in Kansas City, Missouri, as well as a KCAA business meeting. Heritage League of Kansas City and Southwest Solutions Group provided additional sponsorship for the event.
2023 Spring Meeting
May 24, 2023
2023 Spring Meeting (PDF)
The meeting was held virtually and included the presentation:
What Is ChatGPT?
Understanding How It Works (Using A Digital Humanities Text Visualization!)
Is ChatGPT Generative or Derivative?
Modes For Interacting With ChatGPT -- Prompts, Starting Points, Co-Piloting, And Chatbots
Lying, Attribution, And Copyright
What Does This Mean For Archives And Libraries?
The “Antidote” to ChatGPT
Sara Brumfield is a software engineer, library and digital humanities consultant and co-creator of FromThePage, a crowdsourcing platform where libraries, archives, and museums share documents for transcription. Prior to founding FromThePage, she spent 17 years as a software engineer with IBM, inventing or co-inventing eight patents. She has a BA in Computer Science and the Study of Women and Gender from Rice University.
2022 Fall Symposium
Building the Bridge Between Archives and Museums
November 16, 2022
The 2022 Fall Symposium was held at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, MO. Current and former staff from the Truman Library spoke about their work as archivists in a museum environment.
2022 Spring Meeting
May 26, 2022
2022 Spring Meeting (PDF)
The meeting was held virtually and included the presentation:
“Art and Archives: Putting It All Together”
The recent exhibition Origins: Collecting to Create the Nelson-Atkins brought together art and archives to explore the very beginnings of the Kansas City art museum’s collection and the people behind it. The exhibit featured archival materials in a way seldom seen in an exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins. The museum’s senior archivist Tara Laver co-curated the exhibition. Join her for an overview of the exhibit and how she worked with colleagues more accustomed to art exhibitions to incorporate photographs, letters, recordings, and other documents to help tell this early history.
Laver has been the museum’s archivist since 2017. Before joining the Nelson-Atkins, she worked at the Louisiana State University Libraries Special Collections for over 16 years, primarily as the Curator of Manuscripts for the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections.
2021 Fall Mixer
November 5, 2021
2021 Fall Mixer (PDF)
KCAA members met for a fall mixer in place of a virtual fall symposium this year.
2021 Spring Mixer
May 19, 2021
The Heritage League of Greater Kansas City and the Kansas City Area Archivists held a joint meeting and mixer. Presenters from both organizations spoke for about 5 mins on their experience with collecting from and working with underserved communities. Attendees then had the opportunity to enter small break-out rooms to discuss the presentations and their own work further.
2021 Spring Meeting
April 9, 2021
The 2021 Spring business meeting and exhibit tour was held virtually and featured a virtual exhibit tour of the Kansas Museum of History’s Upward to Equality, a special exhibit, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the courageous women who made it possible.
2020 Fall Symposium
Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) in Archives, Libraries & Museums
November 16, 2020
Interrogating Our Collections, Our Archives & Ourselves | Sofia Leung, Facilitator, Librarian, and Educator
November 17, 2020
More than a Moment: A case study in ethical approaches to archival work | Dr. Anthony LaBat, Senior Library Information Specialist, LaBudde Special Collections; Sandy Rodriguez, Associate Dean of Special Collections & Archives and Head of Digital Archives and Stewardship; and Lindy Smith, Head of LaBudde Special Collections
November 18, 2020
Collections Show & Tell | KCAA members
November 19, 2020
Dividing Lines: Segregation, History, and Empathy Workshop | Melvina Johnson Young - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Expert, former University Educator, and Writer on race, culture, and history
The 2020 Fall Symposium was held virtually and scheduled over several days, around lunchtime and/or after work, to accommodate all members, including those that were impacted by the recent Executive Order suspending diversity training.
2020 Spring Meeting
May 14, 2020
KCAA members met virtually for a business meeting and to discuss working in a global pandemic.
2019 Fall Symposium
Archivists as Teachers
November 21, 2019
The 2019 Fall Symposium was held at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Featured speakers included:
Shari Scribner, Rebekah Curry, and Samantha Wilson, Emporia State University
Caitlin Donnelly, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas
Mark Adams, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum
Ryan Leimkuehler, Kansas State University Libraries
Sarah Buchanan, University of Missouri iSchool
2019 Spring Meeting
April 18, 2019
The 2019 Spring meeting was held at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo. The meeting featured a tour of the archives and Edward Jones Research Center and a presentation from James Heiman author of Front Lines to headlines: The World War I Overseas Dispatches of Otto P. Higgins.
2018 Fall Symposium
November 29, 2018
The 2018 Fall Symposium was held at the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, MO. The Symposium featured four presentations from:
Cheryl Lang - Midwest Genealogy Center
Lucinda Adams - The State Historical Society of Missouri
Elizabeth Dubuisson - Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library
Pamela Anderson and Jennifer Audsley Moore - National Archives at Kansas City
2018 Spring Meeting
May 18, 2018
The 2018 Spring meeting was held at the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth in Leavenworth, KS. The meeting featured a tour of the archives and Mother House by Tonya Crawford.
2017 Fall Symposium
The Lone Arranger
November 17, 2017
The 2017 Fall Symposium was held at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO. The Symposium featured three presentations from lone arrangers in regional archives. Presenters included:
Derek Donovan - The Kansas City Star
Alex Welborn - University of Kansas Medical Center
Jean Svadlenak - Svadlenak Museum Consulting
2017 Spring Meeting
April 14, 2017
The 2017 Spring Business Meeting was held at the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City, MO. The meeting featured special guest speaker Dr. Delia Gillis and a tour of the Archives by Geri Sanders.
2016 Fall Symposium
Celebrating Diversity
November 9, 2016
he 2016 Fall Symposium was held at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS. The Symposium featured four presentations from regional archival institutions. Presenters included:
Samantha Bradbeer - Hallmark Archives
Jonathan Casey and Stacie Petersen - National WWI Museum and Memorial
Stuart Hinds - Gay and Lesbian Archives of Mid-America
Jancita Warrington - Haskell Cultural Center and Museum
2015 Fall Symposium
Uncovering Stories and Telling the Tales: Changing lives and communities through innovative storytelling with primary sources
November 6, 2015
The 2015 symposium was held at Spencer Library at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Featuring four excellent presenters, it was a great afternoon for all. Presenters included:
Ann Birney - Playwright
Darla Mallein - Uniting primary sources and K-12
Ross MacTaggart - Restoring Historic Structures
Joyce Thierer - Historical Performer
2013 Fall Symposium
Archives in the Age of Instant Access
November 6, 2013
The Fall Symposium was a big success. It was held on November 6th at the Glore Psychiatric Museum. Speakers Matt Gilligan (Johnson County Museum), Tammy Williams (Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum), Earl Givens, Jr. (Emporia State University), and Ashley Todd-Diaz (Emporia State University) talked with us about their work in this field.
2013 Spring Meeting
Preservation of Digital Objects
April 11, 2013
KCAA was very pleased to welcome Elizabath Dubuisson (Combined Arms Research Library) as our speaker for this year's spring luncheon in Leavenworth, KS. Those who attended were treated to an informative presentation on a complex and relevant topic.
Preservation of digital objects is a challenge almost all archives are facing. The subject is so overwhelming that a lot of organizations don’t even know where to start or what steps to take. In August Dubuisson attended a train the trainer workshop organized by the Library of Congress’ Digital Preservation Outreach and Education team. The instructors presented the Base-line Digital Preservation Curriculum which consists of six topics: identify, select, store, protect, manage, and provide. At the KCAA spring luncheon Dubuisson provided a very brief overview of the six topics and information that will assist in creating or maintaining a digital preservation game plan.
2012 Fall Symposium
Taming the Object Nightmare: Introduction to Object Care
October 11, 2012
This year’s fall symposium was a great success! It was held a the Kansas City Toy & Miniature Museum. Whether we like it or not, we all have objects in our collections. The question is, “what do we do with them?” This year’s symposium was intended to help you care for these objects to museum standards in the most efficient ways possible.
The speakers were Paul Goudy, discussing textiles; Whitney Baker, speaking about the best way to care for plastic objects; and Patricia Van Witt, who focuses on framed objects. A panel Q & A session followed the individual presentations.
2012 Spring Meeting
Pioneering Psychiatry on the Plains
March 29, 2012
The KCAA spring meeting on March 29 was held at the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka! Marcella Wiget presented the main program, “Pioneering Psychiatry on the Plains: The Menninger Archives.” She provided a brief overview on the history of the Menninger Foundation and what can be found in this significant 2300 cubic foot collection in the State Archives Division at KHS. The collection is currently undergoing detailed processing through a grant from the National Historic Public Records Commission. See the Spring 2012 Newsletter for more information about this collection.
2011 Fall Symposium
Primary Sources in a Secondary World
Black Archives of Mid-America, Kansas City, Missouri