Oral History, Donor Engagement, and the Cocreation of Knowledge in an Academic Archives

  • Robert G. Weaver
  • Zachary R. Hernández

Abstract

This article examines attempts at the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library (SWC/ SCL), in Lubbock, Texas, to integrate its oral history program into collection acquisition, arrangement, description, and discovery processes. Beginning with the creation of a staff position dedicated to acquisition, and continuing through an evolution of job duties resulting from COVID-19, the SWC’s oral historians now not only facilitate collection acquisition through extensive relationship building but also engage donors during arrangement and description. Such reconceptions have led to new processes and workflows, wherein oral history has become an endeavour of collaborative knowledge creation and an enabler of a more democratic archives.

Author Biographies

Robert G. Weaver

Robert G. Weaver is currently the Manuscript Archivist of the Southwest Collection, within Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection/ Special Collections Library. He oversees archival processing, focusing princi- pally on EAD finding aid creation; curates the Southwest Collection’s digital collections; and serves as the archives’ social media coordinator. He has served as Chair of Texas Archival Resources Online and as Editor of the West Texas Historical Review for the West Texas Historical Association. His current research focuses on archival description, the automation of archival processes through technological innovation, and archival outreach with a focus on social media.

Zachary R. Hernández

Zachary R. Hernández is currently a PhD candidate in Texas Tech University’s Department of English and the Unit Manager for Acquisitions at the Southwest Collection within Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection/ Special Collections Library. He received his MA in Mexican American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and he has published reviews for the West Texas Historical Review and Studies in American Indian Literatures, as well as an essay in Reading Aridity in Western American Literature. His current research explores the narratives surrounding Teresa Urrea, a religious and political figure who incited Indigenous uprisings leading up to the Mexican Revolution. The project considers Indigenous agency as a force for social change at the end of the 19th century.

Published
2022-05-23
How to Cite
Weaver, Robert G., and Zachary R. Hernández. 2022. “Oral History, Donor Engagement, and the Cocreation of Knowledge in an Academic Archives”. Archivaria 93 (May), 72-97. https://www.archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13837.
Section
Articles