CARA Member News, Feb. 6, 2014

 

Joan Sweeney

A couple of pieces of CARA member news to share:

Our dear friend Joan Sweeney welcomes your thoughts and prayers as she undergoes treatment for Stage II ovarian cancer. Joan is in good spirits and is very hopeful about the outcome of her treatments. If you would like to contact Joan directly, her email address is jsweeney@viatorians.com.

Jerice Barrios

At the Cenacle Archives, Jerice Barrios has been named Archivist for the North American Province of the Cenacle. Sister Mary Hennessey is stepping down from the position of Archivist but will continue at the Archives on a part-time basis to help with unprocessed collections. Jerice received her Master's in Library and Information Science from Dominican University in 2001 and worked in the Photo Archives of The Field Museum until 2010. She joined the Cenacle Archives in 2011, first as a Project Archivist and later as Associate Archivist. Jerice is excited to take on the role of Archivist and wishes to express deep gratitude to Sister Mary Hennessey for her support and her years of mentorship.

If you have news that you would like to share with the CARA membership, please send it to cenacle.archives@gmail.com.

Call for Nominations: Sister M. Claude Lane Memorial Award

The Society of American Archivists’ Awards Committee is currently accepting nominations for the Sister M. Claude Lane, O.P., Memorial Award.

 

This award was created in 1974 and recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the field of religious archives.

 

Criteria for nomination include:

 

·         Involvement and work in the Archivists of Religious Collections Section of the Society of American Archivists.

·         Contributions to archival literature that relates to religious archives.

·         Participation and leadership in religious archives organizations.

·         Evidence of leadership in specific religious archives.

Only individual archivists are eligible for nomination. The award is funded by the Society of American Archivists, in conjunction with the Society of Southwest Archivists, in honor of Sister M. Claude Lane, the first professionally trained archivist at the Catholic Archives of Texas in Austin, who served there from 1960 until her death in 1974.

 

A certificate awarded by SAA and a cash prize provided by the Society of Southwest Archivists is presented to the winner at the annual Society of American Archivists meeting. 

 

For more information on the Lane Award, including past winners, see:

http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-lane

 

To nominate an archivist for the Lane Award please complete the nomination form via the link on that page.

All nominations shall be submitted to the Awards Committee by February 28, 2014.

 

Please direct questions to:

Russell L. Gasero, CA

Archivist

Reformed Church in America

21 Seminary Place

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

732-246-1779

rgasero@rca.org, rgasero@aol.com

CARA Discusses Volunteers and Interns and Celebrates 5 Years of Fellowship and Learning

"What a volunteer can be: someone who is ready to do superhuman tasks that will stun you and surprise you--they're really an inspiration."--Ed Valauskas, panelist at CARA fall meeting 2013

On Thursday, November 7, CARA held its fall meeting at Dominican University in River Forest. More than 20 came for the business meeting, lunch/networking session, and panel discussion on the topic Working with Volunteers and Interns.

During the business meeting, outgoing CARA President Malachy McCarthy gave a summary of the genesis and history of CARA. He introduced Jerice Barrios and Patricia Carroll as the new President and Vice President of the organization. At that point, Jerice took the floor and named the third member of the CARA Steering Committee, Audra Adomenas, who will act as CARA's liaison to Chicago Area Archivists (CAA). All these appointments were approved by voice vote of the membership. The meeting marked the fifth anniversary of CARA, which has been led since the beginning by the following Steering Committee members:

• Malachy McCarthy, President
• Diane Pugh, Vice President
• Sr. Joella Cunnane, Secretary
• Joan Sweeney, Communications Coordinator
• Richard Seidel, Treasurer and Membership Coordinator (Richard passed away earlier this year, and is much missed)

A moment was taken to appreciate their contributions toward five years of CARA programming and camaraderie. The group then enjoyed lunch, including a cake that was ceremoniously cut and served by Joan Sweeney and Malachy McCarthy.

Joan Sweeney and Malachy McCarthy cut the CARA cake

After lunch, Patricia Carroll introduced the panelists and acted as moderator for the discussion on working with volunteers and interns in archives and special libraries. The expert panelists were

• Nina Cummings, Photo Archivist at The Field Museum,
• Aaron Reisberg, Archivist for The McGreal Center for Dominican Historical Studies,
• Edward Valauskas, curator of rare books at the Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden.



Panelists Ed Valauskas, Nina Cummings, and Aaron Reisberg

 

Panelists emphasized the importance of fostering a mutually beneficial relationship between an institution and its interns and volunteers. They shared practical suggestions from their own experiences on how to provide an educational and enriching internship or volunteer experience. The panel graciously took questions from the audience. The final festivity was the awarding of Door Prizes, with each panelist choosing a winner from the audience.

 

CARA thanks Dominican University for generously hosting the meeting and giving us the opportunity to connect with and learn from our colleagues. We look forward to meeting again in Spring of 2014!