History

From the History Chair

Hi HS members! We missed our last quarterly update, so consider this a 2-for-1.

But first, congratulations to our recently elected officers who will join the Exec Committee in July:

Vice-Chair/Chair Elect – Anne Jamieson (Deerfield Public Library) Member-at-Large – Rebecca Lloyd (Temple University Libraries)

Section & Committee News & Updates

• We finally posted our new HS Manual to our website! This has been in the works for the past 5 years, so we’re pleased to have it go live. Many props to David Murray (HS Chair 2015-16) and Chella Vaidyanathan (HS Chair 2017-18) for undertaking the lion’s share of this
• Since we won’t be meeting in person in Chicago this summer, the History Librarians Discussion Group will hold a virtual discussion on Monday, June 29 @1:00 PM Central. Keep your eyes open for more details
• The Genealogy & Local History Discussion Group regularly holds a virtual discussion in conjunction with the MW and Annual in-person discussions, so we’ll share information as soon as we have
• We held a virtual HS Membership & Informational meeting on Wednesday, February 12, 2020, with about 25 attendees. A link to the recording was shared via history-l and social media. We plan to hold more meetings like this going forward as a means to increase communications and foster networking and collaboration.
• The Historical Materials Committee has finalized their list of Best Historical Materials 2019, to be published in an upcoming issue of
• The Genealogy and Local History Committees are revising and updating several sets of guidelines:
  • Guidelines for Establishing, Developing, and Maintaining Genealogy and Local History Collections, which will combine the current Guidelines for Developing a Core Genealogy Collection (2007) and Establishing Local History Collections (2012)
  • Guidelines for Instruction in Genealogical Librarianship, to replace the existing Guidelines for a Unit or Course of Instruction in Genealogical Research at Schools of Library and Information Science (2007)
• We now have a brand-new Programming Committee in place to help coordinate professional development
• Please consider proposing a section-sponsored webinar or online course for RUSA: http://www.ala.org/rusa/onlinece
• Get involved in HS! We will find a place for you! http://www.ala.org/cfapps/committee/volunteerform

Events from ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia

• Genealogy & Local History Discussion Group: 50 attendees participated in a discussion about privacy and ethical considerations related to ancestral DNA. There were an additional 5 participants engaged in the online version of the discussion. The session was facilitated by convener Anne Jamieson from the Deerfield Public
• History Librarians Discussion Group: ~25 attendees participated in discussions about developing an HS Mentoring Program and creating an HS “Knowledge Base.” The session was facilitated by co-conveners Steven Knowlton from Princeton University and Agnes Widder from Michigan State
• Genealogy Pre-Conference: ~20 attendees participated in a workshop on reading various German handwriting styles and a presentation on the “German Immigrants in American Church Records” project, followed by a tour of the German Society of Pennsylvania. We thank ProQuest for their continued sponsorship of this
• Thanks to the HS Local History Committee for organizing a tour of Old City Hall and for designing a brochure of some of Philadelphia’s local historical
• We enjoyed a few social events including the RUSA Membership Social and an HS breakfast meet-up.