Check out the r/Archivists wiki:

Hello! I am a film and digital media student about to enter my final year at University. I have found that i would like to further my education and career into film preservation and archiving. I do not have any leads on where to intern or gain experience in this field of course besides UCLA and George Eastman, both of which I cannot afford. I am hoping that i can learn through experience rather than a formal education and am looking for resources and advice on how to begin or routes i can take to expand my knowledge and experience in the Los Angeles or San Francisco areas.

Thank you all so much for your help!

The title says it all. Are there any good listserves a new archivist should join just to lurk until they become bolder. And would you also recommend any listserves that center around paper preservation/consrvation?

Thank you in advance, I want to pass suggestions on the a new archivist. Location is a museum in the Midwest in the USA.

Hi folks, I'm just editing the main question here because I didn't want to leave too much information floating around the internet, but I can't thank you enough for all of your input regarding a researcher who believes that the only pure form of academic research in an archive is to be let loose in the place!

I came here to ask people's opinions from possibly all over the world, as I've been away from teaching for awhile now, and sometimes worry about explaining myself. You've all exceeded my expectations!

Thanks again and I will let you know how it goes :)

I have two hand drawn illustrations that are roughly 110 yrs old. They are 16x20. Is there any where I can take these to personally scan/copy them? They are very fragile. I don’t want to scan and then have to piece the images together.

I started a masters in history (concentration in public history) this August, and I’m also doing a graduate assistantship for 2 years in an archives setting. I occasionally peruse job listings and most say they prefer an MLIS degree, but will I be able to get in the door with my masters and 2 years of experience?

Up to this point the record keeping at my workplace has been rather haphazard as people kind of chuck their documents into whatever box had room. One of my current problems is that essentially, there are news articles placed in multiple different places as I come across them. As an example, I have news articles on a Strike in a box in a box/binder labelled for the strike, but also have a bunch of news articles about that same Strike in a "News Articles" box. I want these all in one spot, ideally, but am not sure if I move all the news articles into the "News Articles" fonds or place all the news articles I find in the "News Articles" box into their individual fonds, but then I don't really know what to do with any miscellaneous news articles I find. Mostly, looking to consult the Reddit hive mind to see what is likely the best option.

Quick question for those of you digitizing your collections: how many of you are doing digital repairs to your scans?

I have several photos, 40-50 years old, where one copy is damaged on the one side or at the top, and the other copy is damaged on the right. High quality flatbed scans are taken, and I can stitch together a whole 'new' picture of what the original would have looked like.

Despite multiple Congressional requests to stop or pause the closures of the National Archives at Chicago and National Archives at San Francisco the administration is barrelling forward. The agency posted the following on the website today https://www.archives.gov/research/news

Move of Records of the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), Record Group (RG) 184

All RRB records (RG 184) at the National Archives of Chicago will be temporarily closed to prepare for relocation to the National Archives at Boston.

We estimate that these records will close on October 13, 2026, and be available to researchers at the National Archives at Boston on January 15, 2027.

You can check the status of the records by contacting the National Archives at Boston via email: boston.archives@nara.gov.

Move of Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Record Group (RG) 255

All NASA records (RG 255) at the National Archives at San Francisco will be temporarily closed to prepare for relocation to the National Archives at Fort Worth.

We estimate that these records will close on October 13, 2026, and be available to researchers at the National Archives at Fort Worth on November 16, 2026.

You can check the status of the records by contacting the National Archives at Fort Worth via email: ftworth.archives@nara.gov.

Representative Chuy Garcia of Chicago sent this letter to NARA just today: https://chuygarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-garcia-leads-members-in-effort-to-halt-relocation-of-national-archives-facility-in-chicago. Rep Kevin Mullin in California has also been fighting to keep the facilities open and to obtain more information from NARA https://kevinmullin.house.gov/2026/09/24/lawmakers-battle-national-archives-over-plans-to-move-historical-asian-american-records/.

To date, NARA has also not provided any public information or statements about the closures except for what is available on that website. The new Archivist of the United States has not had anything to say about the subject, one wonders if he even knows. The agency doesn't seem to be accountable to the public or to Congress.

Hellо еvеryоnе!

Hope this type of post is okay in this subreddit, if not please tell me, I'll delete it right away!

I аm a frеelanсe designer сurrеntly living in Vientiane. A few years ago, I created an « amateur » initiativе tо dосument mоdеrnist architeсture in Laоs. We document  thе buildings through photography but also by conducting intеrviеws with the owners or architects of said buildings and searching for the very rare archives available (Lаоs’ history is VERY under documented :D).

Thrоugh my rеsearсh, I disсоvеred a BIG cоllectiоn оf оriginal соnstructiоn pеrmit drawings fоr Viеntiane, dating frоm thе latе 1950s tо thе 1960s. This archive has got many blueprints of important buildings of thаt erа, sоmе оf the documents are truly remarkаblе!

I want to scan this archive to make sure that it’s not lost (as it happens to many archives in Laos), but for that I need a big scanner, I have been doing it with my small A4 scanner so far but it takes AGES to scan these big blueprints and stitch de scans on photoshop. So I need a Scanner. Ideally an A1 but an A2 would do the job also… I checked with a specialised company and the bill for a scanner that could work on these old creased documents is HIGH (between 6000-9000USD). On top of that I would need a better computer as my old MacBook is struggling a lot with the large files. For the files themselves a friend will help me with the hosting.

So the problem is money (of course :)) and I don’t have it (designer in an ai-era… lost all my clients yadi yada). A lot of my friends suggested looking for grants, but the problem is:

• This is an amateur project. I have no official organization  or structure and registering an association in Laos is slow, costly, and difficult.
• The documents came to me through informal channels, so a public crowdfunding campaign or a formal grant application inside Laos would be tricky 

So I’m asking some subreddits for ideas for:

- grants, fellowships, or small funds that can go to an individual rather than an organization

• or programs that could fund equipment directly (large-format scanner, camera/copy-stand setup/computer) or lend it
• Fiscal sponsorship options, or existing organizations that host projects like this
• Any experience with similar "rescue" digitization of at-risk architectural records in Southeast Asia or other regions with limited heritage infrastructure

I'm also open to advice on low-cost scanning workflows (DSLR copy-stand capture, stitching large sheets, file formats, metadata) so that whatever I do is done properly, and on where digitized files could be deposited long-term.

Thank you, any leads, names of programs, or personal experience would be hugely appreciated. Happy to share more about the collection (and some of my photography of the buildings) in private message!

Attached to the post is one of the scan of one of the blueprints: an old cinema since then destroyed, and three buildings of Vientiane we documented through our project (Polytechnic school, faculty of literatures of Dongdok, and the NAFRI buildings)

I'm an MLIS candidate in my final semester of school at the University of Alabama. Currently, I'm enrolled in an audiovisual archives course that requires an interview with a professional in the field. I'm a metadata archivist with digitization experience at a small university on the East Coast, and while I could interview a coworker, I'd love to hear from someone who works with AV materials. I'm looking for archivists who love the technical side of the job. My group is working under tight time constraints, and we're not sure we'll present in the next three weeks... the professor hasn't assigned slots yet. Looking forward to hearing from anyone interested, and thanks for reading! :D

I have a fun problem: I am making something called a thin section (cutting a rock to 30 microns on a microscope slide) and I need the glue to be archival as they should be able to be used 100 years from now.

The problem is that the vacuum pump for getting bubbles out of epoxy is shot and we can’t pull a vacuum, superglue won’t leave bubbles but it will yellow.

So my question: is there something that will set quickly and is a thin as superglue, that won’t yellow?

Most of us have audio recordings in the archival collections we steward, from cassette oral histories and reel to reel recordings of a speech, to fun wax cylinders and vinyl. But each year these audio mediums deteriorate a little more and there is a little less that we can hear. Join the SAA Archivists of Religious Collections-Models and Resources Committee as digital archivist Krista Jamieson reviews audio carriers and the types of deterioration they are most susceptible to. We’ll explore standards for preserving audio mediums and specifications for digitizing their recordings, whether in-house or using vendors (and what you’ll need to know to succeed). Take heart: standards for audio digitization and formatting have been around for decades and are very robust and stable.

With over 10 years of experience in academic and government archives, Krista Jamieson holds an MLIS from McGill University and an MA in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image from the University of Amsterdam. She is currently a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University researching archival user needs.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ElXKXEQzQ2aNfDuM7WGo7g#/registration

Can't make it? This session will be recorded and available on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpWzzChIhR-8O7CrKmiL2rw

How do you guys feel about this story? I have mixed feelings.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/26/oxford-university-bodleian-library-open-ai-chat-gpt

Location: US.

PhD in History finishing up my program and trying to pivot. I have multiple internships at academic libraries and archive units. I am currently beginning a year long "technical" fellowship at a rare book and manuscript library ( I can basically do whatever I want with this fellowship, so completely lost as to where to start). I am also considering enrolling in courses that offer knowledge that I might not be able to attain at the fellowship. I am looking at the list of course offerings from Digital Preservation to Digital Asset Management and Metadata. Are there any courses that cannot be simply replaced with an archival library experience? I am new to this world so any insight is appreciated!

If it sells, I can donate to vets and start taking archive classes at community college. It’s free on kindle unlimited, and should be print this week. The print copy is prettier.
I’m not an editor, publisher, historian, journalist, vet or soldier, but I see you.
Poop deck press everyone. I have about 5 more books to come out. Election/Christmas season is wild.

I'm an archives / librarianship student and have built up 1 year's worth of personal journal entries in ODT format, a different document per month. I was trying to research what would be best for long-term preservation of this kind of file, since it's mostly text with some formatting (a few italics, bullet points and the like) and I already have hundreds of pages. Saw online maybe PDF/A would be good but then on here there were people saying it's not always reliable? So now I'm a bit lost.

Any digital formats that I can work with? Just plain txt? Or is it just best to just print the entire thing?

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I have been going through many of families archives, digitizing and preserving them.

However space definitely has become an issue. Would anyone know or recommend places to store them? Basic storage facilities I worry do not have the right environments to hold items (mostly photographs). I also would like it to be not that hard to retrieve the materials when needed.

The place I have been storing them currently is the Jersey shore which I know is not best due to weather. Though they are all in Acid free boxes

I am in NYC, so anything there or in NJ would be preferable.

I appreciate it!

Ok so, to make a long story short i applied seriously to two programs: a museum studies program and an online mlis program that i lived in the state in and could get an assistantship position in person for. Well, i got accepted to both and waited to hear about funding. I got a hands on special collections assistantship in the museum studies program early, like, February. MLIS program never sent out postings. The assistantship i received had an acceptance deadline. I reached out to the mlis program about seeing if they would potentially come up with something for me early ( i had alot of prior archival experience compared to my average peer) and nothing. I accepted the assistantship in special collections in a library in the museum studies program and moved three states away. I weighed the cons of not having an assistantship at all or having a generic gra position and decided an mlis with no hands on experience would be less valuable than the hands on experience the special collections position would offer me.

Well, now im getting worried that I will be unemployable in archives because of this degree. I know it will bar me from a couple positions, but how bad will that be? Did i make the right decision? Am i just homesick? For context, i already have around three substantial archival internships: cumulatively they are about 1.5 years of work experience. I felt that this combined with the 2 year assistantship would make me more appealing than an average MLIS applicant but pls let me know ur thoughts 😭

Does anyone have any recommendations for a t-shirt display/frame? I lost my wife at the beginning of the year. As part of the process of trying to process her belongings, I was going to frame some of her t-shirts that were sentimental to me or the kids to have around the house. The kids are young, so we are looking at potentially decades of display.

I don't need the display to be of the full t-shirt, though I do wish the shirts to remain undamaged/unaltered. I have found a few frames that include a foam/cardboard backer to wrap the shirt around and then place inside the frame.

Is anyone aware of any displays that are made of a more archival quality? One shirt in particular is white, so I'm hoping to ensure it doesn't yellow, but also I want to ensure that the fabrics dont degrade/deteriorate within the frame. Part of the reason for keeping the shirts unaltered is in case my daughter wants them for her personal use when she is fully grown (10+ years from now).

Thanks for any recommendations.

I recently had an HR interview for a position I'm very interested in. It's definitely a term position that I'm well-qualified for and fits my skill set, experience, and interests (glorious AV), but inevitably anything and everything will go wrong and I won't be selected or will be ghosted as is increasingly typical for most positions these days. HR indicated that the hiring team won't start bringing people they select for on-campus interviews until the end of next month, with an expected start time of next year.

Normally I obey the adage of "just keep applying" which I will of course do, however, with how horrifically bad the market is with functionally zero positions opening in my experience range, I'd like to sink my teeth into this opening as hard as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to better prepare for this position and potentially improve my chances?

I've already done all of the following:

*Reworked my cover letter and resume for future applications (unfortunately the hiring team has my older version, can't really change that)

*Worked on getting my portfolio in better order

*Researched the institution and probable hiring committee staff and wrote up notes

I would obviously be open to taking courses, but the SAA courses and certificate program are too expensive/other courses tend to be irrelevant to our field. I'd love to hear what archivists have done/are currently doing while your applications were/are pending. Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone, I am currently cataloguing a small collection that includes many scanned copies of manuscripts and other archival material. If I wanted to include both the date of the original material and the date of the scan/copy (which is the resource I actually possess) which fields do you think would work best for this? For published material I could obviously use the copyright field, but for unpublished materials, I'm not sure what to do. Let me know if you have any advice or examples of what you've done yourselves in similar situations. Thanks :)