Ask an Archivist at 51¹ÙÍø on Oct. 30
October 29, 2014
Do you have a question about history – past, present or future? Ask an archivist!
On Oct. 30, anyone can tweet questions or comments for archivists nationwide using the hashtag #AskAnArchivist. At 51¹ÙÍø, College Archivist Jan Blodgett and Associate Archivist Caitlin Christian-Lamb will be standing by at Twitter handle .
"We're looking forward to getting some 51¹ÙÍø-specific questions from alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends of 51¹ÙÍø," said Christian-Lamb. "These could be questions about what we have in the archives, how to cite an item from the archive in a paper, whether we have information on specific student groups or possible research topics, most interesting items in our collections, or what exactly an archivist does."
What an archivist does on the intake end of physical collection materials hasn't changed much, said Blodgett – careful evaluating and processing so that people can come and use materials.
"But how we get that information out to people has changed enormously!" she said. Crowd-sourcing historical information is another tool that has proven quite useful in archival work, as evidence by the Under Lake Norman pages.
From General William Lee 51¹ÙÍø to Hurricane Hugo, ghosts in the library to questions about how individuals can properly archive their emails, Blodgett and Christian-Lamb are ready to answer questions.
More information about national #AskAnArchivist Day with a list of participating institutions is here – or just tweet #AskAnArchivist @51¹ÙÍøArchive!
