CARA Spring Meeting at the Robert M. Myers Archives

Province Center of the Chicago Province, Society of the Divine Word,
which houses the Robert M. Myers Archives, in Techny, IL.
Photo by Kathleen Gormley.

On April 21, 2015, CARA members gathered for their Spring Meeting at the Robert M. Myers Archives, Society of the Divine Word in Techny, Illinois. One of the first orders of business was to announce the results of the recent Steering Committee election. Through a majority vote, the slate of five candidates was approved, and the Steering Committee members for the 2015-2017 term are as follows:

Anna-Kajsa Anderson, Interim Director of Archives and Special Collections at North Park University

Audra V. Adomenas, Director, Film and Audio Archives, Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture and Director, Lithuanian Archives Project

Jerice Barrios, Archivist, North American Province of the Cenacle

Patricia Carroll, Archivist, Sacred Heart Church Archives Project

Malachy McCarthy, Archivist, Claretian Missionaries USA

After the business meeting, Patricia Carroll and Jerice Barrios shared presentations on the topic of disaster preparedness and recovery. Patricia's talk focused on how small religious archives can anticipate disaster and create a culture of preparedness. Jerice spoke about dPlan, an online disaster planning tool that helps archivists with limited time and resources create a disaster plan that is customized to their collections. If you would like a copy of these presentations, please contact cenacle.archives@gmail.com.

After the presentations, CARA members were escorted on a tour of the Robert M. Myers Archives.

Peter Gunther leads a tour of the Robert M. Myers Archives,
Society of the Divine Word.
Photo by Kathleen Gormley.

Of particular note was a color-coded system that the Archives staff had developed to show the location of the different classes of material.

A color-coded map of the Archives shows where the different types of material are stored. In case of emergency, the more high priority items can be located quickly.
Photo by Kathleen Gormley.

Special thanks to Marcia Stein and Peter Gunther of the Robert M. Myers Archives for hosting this meeting, which proved to be very informative and thought-provoking.