16:00:03 Here
16:00:03 we go. Ready.
16:00:13 Hello and welcome everyone.
16:00:15 This is session five which is education and outreach tools to encourage and highlight diversity and collections. And my name is Maria de I'm the director of special collections and conservation at the Maryland State Archives.
16:00:30 Just to let you know a little bit about the tools that you have Merrick is offering a live transcript feature for accessibility. And there are controls, usually a button on the lower half of your screen if you want to either C or highlight the subtitles.
16:00:48 That's your option. We have three speakers with us today, and there will be a live question and answer session following their presentations, feel free to add your questions into zooms q amp a feature throughout their speech, and after the presentations
16:01:05 conclude, I'll be posing questions from the q amp a and also may be bringing in comments from the chat to our panel,
16:01:17 the Maryland State Archives is situated on the traditional homeland of the piscataway and down Conklin people who hold the land and waterways of the Chesapeake Bay region as sacred.
16:01:30 I want to especially give honor and respect to the ancestors. In the past and present elders of the piscataway annoy piscataway Indian nation, and the choco and cedar Ville bands of the Scott away to the ways that I can give my respect is by learning,
16:01:50 and accepting the truth of our collective histories.
16:01:54 And by working to build a mutual understanding to ensure that indigenous communities are visible in the historic record and have access to documents about their histories.
16:02:07 The theme behind this session, grew from conversations several years ago, between my colleagues at the Maryland State Archives. As we were brainstorming about ways we could broaden our services to communities who might need our support to find and to
16:02:24 archive their own records to tell their own stories.
16:02:29 We began with speaking with researchers from some of these communities, and also by collaborating with the governor's office on community initiatives,
16:02:41 the beginnings of advocacy work, often requires you to ask yourself some questions.
16:02:48 You might ask, in what ways do I have the power to work towards healing, the lingering violence and discrimination inherent in our society are their communities, with whom I need to engage.
16:03:03 I invite you to take opportunities to self, educate about the ongoing effects of colonialism.
16:03:11 Determine how you can play an active role in supporting the voices and perspectives of underrepresented communities.
16:03:20 Many archivists librarians, and other cultural heritage professionals are agents of change and advocates for social justice.
16:03:30 It is in this spirit that our panelists today are here to talk about the role of education and outreach in archives, as a form of advocacy.
16:03:44 I'm very honored to introduce our first speaker.
16:03:48 Mario Harley, who is a citizen of the Piscataway, Indian people and member of the wild turkey clan.
16:03:57 Since childhood he has embraced and lived his culture.
16:04:01 He is a graduate of the American University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.
16:04:08 As an adult, he is diligently been involved in researching and promoting his tribal history.
16:04:15 Mario is the lead volunteer instructor for the Charles County, Indian Education Program for Native American students, and he is a lifetime member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.
16:04:31 He has been an active member and perpetuating the piscataway culture, teaching the youth, educating the public and advocating for the lands and waterways that make up the traditional piscataway homeland, which includes most the western shore of Maryland,
16:04:48 Northern Virginia and Washington DC.
16:04:52 Welcome Mario.
16:04:54 Thank you.
16:05:10 Okay, welcome everybody. I'm going to start by giving you a quick overview of Native America today.
16:05:19 This chart reflects where our population exists in what we call Turtle Island.
16:05:34 The data is from the 19th 2010 census from the US and the 2016 census from Canada. As you can see here in Maryland.
16:05:36 We're about one to 2% of the population where many of the states all around us, has been very much decimated of the original people who call that area home
16:05:49 when we're looking at our history.
16:05:52 There's many different ways to assess how we pull our data together.
16:06:00 We read the same books that you read, we look at the same treaties, institutional studies state records church records and our oral history.
16:06:10 And when we look at these documents were looking at it from a different perspective.
16:06:15 We're sort of trying to invert the, the narrative to look at it from our ancestors experiences. And that's very much true and the different treaties that we come across, and I'll get to a little more detail on that as I go through the presentation.
16:06:32 One of the major challenges we have in conducting our research is the naming convention.
16:06:40 When my elders who many now our ancestors began the process of looking into our, our history.
16:06:50 Post, the civil rights movement.
16:06:53 We came into a lot of challenges, trying to figure out how we were captured in the colonial record.
16:07:04 The tribes to our north the Haditha Sahni people the Iroquois people. They called us canola out of their language, we ourselves called ourselves, Scott away out of our language, and both names are captured in the colonial record.
16:07:14 However, there was no naming convention to spell it a certain way. So when you look at this page.
16:07:22 All these terms refer to ourselves.
16:07:26 Throughout history, the name piscataway predominately in Maryland and the 1600s. And once you get into the 1700s, you get all the very nice variations of the word connote taking that to the next, modern challenge is that each time I go into a different
16:07:43 search engine, we get different data. So not only do you have to spell the name 1215 different times, different ways. You got to go back into the different search engines and dig a little deeper, which becomes challenging.
16:07:57 So one of the things that when we're talking to professionals in the research area. Having working with them to develop databases of common terms that will get you all that information relative to your search will be very much helpful
16:08:15 RP people were first contacted by the colonial invasion in the 1634.
16:08:24 By the mid 1600s. Some of our ancestors who chose to maintain their lifestyle decided that they had to emigrate out of our homelands of Southern Maryland Northern Virginia.
16:08:37 And they went south into what is now Southern Virginia, North Carolina. They went westward some ended up in New up in the Central Valley into New York.
16:08:49 later migrating westward into what was then Northwest Indian Territory Ohio, Indiana, Illinois.
16:08:57 After the French and Indian War, some ended up into Canada.
16:09:04 Others found their way out into Wisconsin, and some more force as part of the Indian Removal Act.
16:09:11 Out of Ohio into Kansas. And then after the Civil War.
16:09:17 They were pushed down into Oklahoma on to what was then Cherokee territory. It's kind of amazing that after the Civil War, the only group that last territory and the civil war where the Cherokee when they're fighting with the, with the South.
16:09:35 So we were, along with the Delaware and Shawnee pushed into Cherokee territory and Oklahoma.
16:09:43 So when we're doing our history, going across all those states, it's important that we were able to piece together the history of our ancestors, that they experience going and going through those areas.
16:09:59 When we're looking at some of our documentation.
16:10:02 We start off, of course with the colonial English in Maryland, we were dealing with them. The those individuals that time that was the Catholic colony.
16:10:21 Virginia Protestants overthrew the Maryland Catholics in the late 1600s. And we had treaties with Virginia. Later we have trees with Pennsylvania.
16:10:26 We also have treaties with the British government, they divided the country into the northern War Department of Southern War Department. We were part of the North, Northern War Department.
16:10:37 We also have a treaties with the Second Continental Congress, and also the United States itself.
16:10:44 Some of the most flattering language that was document in our treaties are some of our earliest ones such phrases as to the world's into indoor sounded really nice then and read very well.
16:10:59 Not much meat behind it. And one of our last treaties, we will keep the fire burning, as long as the sun shines and the waters run.
16:11:07 Well I guess it became a cloudy day real quick and somebody built a dam, because the commitments made and these treaties, were never fulfilled.
16:11:18 One of the big challenge we have is when we're looking at the documentation is the level of detail. And of course that goes with the authors and the writers of these documents, but also perpetuated many times, and other documents that are referencing
16:11:36 the original.
16:11:37 And on the left side is talks about the Treaty of Lancaster for 1744.
16:11:42 And you can see Lancaster Pennsylvania Lancaster treaty of the year 1744 1744.
16:11:52 But on this document to the left. It talks about a treaty with the Indians of the six nations, which is the cardinal Sanyo the Iroquois people. And if you're looking at something from a research perspective, at face value.
16:12:06 You most likely will stop right there says okay this has nothing to do with Scott away or canola ancestors.
16:12:15 However, digging a little bit deeper into what were the topics of the treaty, you find other documents and down in here, it talks about the other Indians of President were 20 on and August, 26, you this Oneida center Senecas 16 Tuscarora is 10 containers
16:12:42 a few other minor tribes. So here we have documentation that says, My ancestors were a part of this treaty. And we also have that verbiage, which is, it's a clue, but it's also very destructive to us.
16:13:04 Our history is being lost in the terms of minor tribes or other Indian friends that were captured or their Indian partners.
16:13:04 And this lack of detail that making an Indian a generic and not identifying the specific tribal entities that were participating it wipes out our record our existence, some of our history.
16:13:19 Another challenge we have in this document here is from the Maryland State Archives, and it looks wonderful authentic.
16:13:30 However, the ability to read. Old English is a challenge.
16:13:35 And then to interpret the handwriting of an individual from that timeframe is a challenge.
16:13:42 So, the kind of things we're looking for there's some documents within or main documents within the Maryland State Archives, that has already been transcribed.
16:13:52 But there's still a few out there and has not.
16:13:54 We were hoping that there will be technical specialist available in the future. To begin to do this kind of data transcribing so that future researchers won't have to sort of scratch their head and try to pick it apart.
16:14:09 When doing this I learned a lot about Old English measurements.
16:14:15 The term purchase ducked out a perch was a fish, turns out to be a measurement tool. So we learned a lot in doing this project. And this is another issue in which terminology has a meaning.
16:14:30 It talks here about the chi, and it's spelled a way that was phonetically capture the terms the guy comes from Sekai Indians, and is currently described is the chi a swamp from that same area.
16:14:46 So if you are looking for researching the history of the Kairos swamp.
16:14:50 You will never come to this document called Sokaiya manner. You would never get to Sekai Indians. So being able to link those elements of history, from our perspective is quite important.
16:15:03 It takes a long period of time for us to piece it together. And we're consider ourselves, interesting stakeholders. I would assume someone who's at the college level, just getting involved may not pull the level of depth of interest that we have.
16:15:22 Here's another example of a document that we located within the Maryland State Archives. It's a treaty from 1685 and looking at it, you sort of blur over real quick.
16:15:37 You can't read it, it, but by us identifying 1685 we were able to go to other sources and begin to piece it together. It was a very important treaty from our historical perspective, it ended a conflict with us and the Seneca people, and allowed us to
16:15:56 leave what afford to kinda leave an area of refuge within Sekai a swamp.
16:16:03 But when you look at the description of April 16 at five treaty with the Indians.
16:16:12 You don't easily put that together with Piscataway, and that lack of detailed the generic term of Indians, we lose a lot of history, and you lose a lot of knowledge and people who are searching for certain things are not getting information they're intending
16:16:28 intending to find. So, when we title things, or when we post original documents, having it be able to transcribe it correctly and put the tribal entities names in there, makes a difference.
16:16:43 That's all I have for you today want to kick a quick an overview. I look forward to answering your questions as we proceed forward with the panel. Thank you.
16:16:57 Thank you so much Mario, really appreciate your perspectives. I'm going to introduce our second speaker now.
16:17:05 Dr Gabrielle Ty Heck, is a member of the piscataway Indian nation, and activist scholar, committed to empowering indigenous perspectives.
16:17:17 She is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard University.
16:17:23 Gabby served as an educator historian and curator for nearly two decades, at the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution.
16:17:33 She is now an associate professor of public history at George Mason University, and I would like to give a warm welcome to Gabrielle. Thank you.
16:17:45 Well, good afternoon and just a lot of gratitude to you, Maria and also to Megan and the team for bringing us together today thank you also Mario for a very thorough introduction to the work that's at hand.
16:18:05 Let me go ahead and share slides.
16:18:13 So, for what I'll be sharing with you will be in some ways a
16:18:24 compliment to what you have seen and and how much material there is and how submerged. It has been very similarly, as our people and community has, has been submerged for centuries, but still persisting in place so you know as we start to bring out the
16:18:50 hidden, but still present tangles that exist, and can be so hard to find, as Mara was saying, unless you are incredibly dedicated to this kind of work for many of the, the tribal communities and names and people that are within the papers within the boxes
16:19:19 there there it's just a question of, I think right now what we have is really a convergence of of interest in wanting to look in wanting to seek and seek.
16:19:35 What we can't see so easily, and how to make it into a situation where someone can go and it not be so hard I mean I know with with archives. Yes, it takes a lot of research but in terms of tuning up the finding aids, it really has taken that amount of
16:19:56 effort and now I think we're at a point where we can start to meet each other on both sides. So I wanted to talk about this sense of of Mid Atlantic indigenous Navy being revealed that when I talk about the term indigenous it it's it's a, It sounds like
16:20:14 a big word.
16:20:16 You know, we talk about words that are that are largely seem complex but sometimes people come up with words that are very useful, and indeed Jeanette is one it's a term that's been used probably in the past I would say about 15 years, and it would it
16:20:33 would it refers to is the sense, it's the sense of being indigenous.
16:20:38 The. The quality of being indigenous, and not only you know specifically tribal but what's the approach so some of the point that I would like to make today with you is that it's some of this is, is content, and some of this is formed, meaning that some
16:20:58 of this has to do with the substance of, of the, of the material that's there, but also again you know how is it are organized, how can we be able to see what's there.
16:21:16 So, I'm just to take a bit of a closer view to piscataway as what's been shared and I know we're both looking at, at this getaway. So piscataway Indian nation in Piscataway, can I tribe are two of the state recognized tribes in Maryland, and our people
16:21:39 are along the western shore here's a, here's a map. So just so you can get a sense because you had a bit of a, of a, of a pullback in to see where our diaspora.
16:21:52 Took us.
16:21:55 But really we we range from Washington, DC, what we call the fall line which is what, when you translate the whole dinner Shawnee word for the rapids it's good Nala gonna ways it.
16:22:12 So that's where can i comes from so we from the holiday Shawnee point of view which are, for those of you who are in the other parts of the Middle Atlantic.
16:22:22 New York State and bit of that line along Pennsylvania.
16:22:29 That's really from, from that point of view from the interior where the people below the falls.
16:22:37 And so coming from DC current DC, which is an Acosta in or Nikesh tank or neck a tank is one of the people and then coming down the Potomac River, all the way out to where it spills into the bay, the Chesapeake Bay which is known as mother waters are
16:22:59 or the great shellfish Bay. And then along this western shore between the Potomac and the Patuxent River, what you find is a group of people that that were organized originally into what we call achieved or meaning that there's like a central Central
16:23:18 higher.
16:23:21 Chief, and then those that are interconnected to that center so it is more hierarchical it's very similar, almost in a mirror view of what you might see with the power 10 confederacy to or Pascal, or actually pout and chief them to the south.
16:23:40 And then all along every river and tributary.
16:23:45 You'll find people's like Sekai as port tobaccos Nanjemoy is mad a woman's UConn MacOS all along this way and then, you know, in, in, in the times before everybody was parceled and pieced out you certainly have capacities to go across the river so just
16:24:07 getting a sense of the general homeland.
16:24:12 We are a people with history. Right. And very much. I'm based in reality originally so that's part of the issues with written records is that they have to be taken from other points of view for a very long time, but there is a history and our folks do
16:24:33 come from originally from the, from the eastern shore.
16:24:37 There was an original tack or chief that came from the eastern shore about they said 13 generations before the ark and the dove. And so these are these are pieces that are oral history sometimes that are embedded in in other writings that again you have
16:24:54 to dig out and you can see that both and have Golder from Pennsylvania, and also in the relations that come out of Maryland.
16:25:05 Um, and then there's also, you know, this is a very long history 10,000 years of human presence. We're Algonquin people interconnected people with with materials that certainly are in Maryland, but also materials that are in unexpected locations at times
16:25:26 that we're still trying to find out you know where are these, where are some of these original materials and, in, in, In Europe, for example.
16:25:39 I want to just talk about this idea also of submergence I've been very interested in seeing how, you know, beef prior to colonization our people were matrilineal had 70% plant based economy, use something called three sisters agriculture, which is corn,
16:26:01 beans and squash which is quite fascinating that this also comes from so America so definitely reveals a longer history than most people think about. I'm sorry.
16:26:13 Didn't mean to advance that people are healers clan mothers council women chiefs where I want which are called marijuana's goes and really had this cosmic view of of balance.
16:26:24 So, these are also, when we look at at archives you know where, where is the feminine part of of archives so it's almost a submergence within the submergence.
16:26:43 For most of you who know something about Maryland history. We know that in March 1634, two ships came the ark and the dove which were carrying over, Maryland, Marylanders who had never even asked permission.
16:27:02 So this is where we start to see these processes and also the layers of documentation.
16:27:09 So, the documentation that exists. And again, as you know, Mario was saying, if, if you are not dedicated to the intense intricacies of this entanglement of trying to trace it out for years.
16:27:28 It can be very difficult to find this material.
16:27:33 So we have church records of course which are linked into conversion and into mission ization but also places and spaces that that are people who were converted in 1640 of course Maryland being a Catholic colony and still in this place St Thomas manner
16:27:54 and St. Ignatius which is where the original mission was set up and our people are still buried, and the church also experienced a fire and I believe as a 1067 so there's a lot of missing material.
16:28:12 We have archives of Maryland the proceedings of the council there's Jesuit relations.
16:28:20 There some records from traders and so then after that we start to have a very specific kind of of history that that then occurs, which is somewhat of a radio silence.
16:28:37 So I wanted to just point out you know that, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland breaking some records it's broken records but not in a good way.
16:28:48 Some of the materials that we also have because of the processes that took place historically, you see the kinds of historic processes that that have taken place and other American Indian histories.
16:29:03 But what we also have which is very distinctive, and and sometimes very difficult to talk about on the, on the Atlantic seaboard is that by the very early 18th century, are people, when they
16:29:22 Our people, when they are people became, in a way, they were tribalist, but the the reservations were dishrag unrecognized and taken over after the Protestant rebellion.
16:29:38 And then after that soon after that people became racialized to the same people then become classified generally as free people of color mulato sometimes you can see it even on the eastern shore of like once a reservation is dissolved, somebody who has
16:29:55 a tribal designation.
16:29:57 Once the reservation is dissolved they are reclassified as mulato or black or Negros, so it is a very and, and at the same time. There is also a lot of intermarriage and blending to account for as well.
16:30:15 So I did want to bring up in just a couple of minutes, that we have that I found. Just to kind of tantalize you what you can find. When, when material becomes searchable but again this this notion that if I had not dedicated
16:30:39 a great deal of my time my study my scholarship my energy my interest over decades into just wondering what's what's around, I would not have found this really intriguing case and I just wonder how many more there are that because of Maryland.
16:31:00 Because of the archives of Maryland being online and being searchable.
16:31:06 I just decided to start playing around with the multiple spellings that you saw Mario Harley put up for not just Piscataway, and when can I not really being in Maryland, but for all the different, what we call, Chief dumb tribes tributary tribes all their
16:31:25 different spellings and wanderings and saying what happens if I click on this and what happens if I click on that and I clicked on. I was checking around chapter CO and suddenly this case came up that I gave a much more detailed presentation of this case
16:31:44 for historic St Mary's city and I've been working on it on and off, over, over the years, but this extraordinary case came up about a woman named Nancy man who's mentioned as their queen.
16:32:01 And this.
16:32:03 This was brought up in this piece, just showed up in the archives and it said that her.
16:32:16 Her daughter's tomb had been robbed and was in the custody of john rose late constable of chapter go hundred be delivered to the said queen or such she shall direct to receive the same so just wondering you know who, who is this.
16:32:27 And what what happened and what we can see as we go forward.
16:32:43 Their reservation was established in 1651 perhaps the very first, it could have been the first one of the first reservations, and what would become the United States.
16:32:54 It really was a stronghold for those who stayed and then we see a silence after 1712 so I had originally found this material around 2009 and I talked to a colleague and friend of mine named Dr.
16:33:05 King, Julie king.
16:33:08 And she went and, and did the archaeological material and the archaeological surveys of the site and found where, where the, where the settlement had been and pulled it up.
16:33:23 So it was really being able to take these pieces from two different directions and start to reveal the story, and then to be able to go back and then start to trace Nance and and and the chop to co Indian Queen and to see what had happened so we first
16:33:39 see her emergency and 1706.
16:33:45 And then, again, it's still not settled in 1707.
16:33:49 When you start to look at who is Tesla Dine and then looking at 1709 of who is Mr Greenfeld, that's when I, you know, you really start to realize that that these are become Protestants, who have taken over also other reservation land nearby.
16:34:06 And it's, it's not until much until just a couple of years later finally that that we see some level of resolution to this case of of what it happened to her and how restitution was made.
16:34:23 So these are just, I mean this basically what I have here on these little parts that's all that we've got, you know, and so then you come back and you start to put this into, into view.
16:34:35 But what happens if we're able to have a better. Fuller sense of how much more easily we could access this kind of material and uplifted that it's been hidden for so long.
16:34:48 So I like to call this a, in a sense, an idea of repatriating history.
16:34:53 really a notion that, that we,
16:34:58 especially for Native women native people in general, pieces are so submerged but I'll have to tell you that when this story Nancy and and came up.
16:35:07 So many piscataway and Chesapeake area, women and other native women and other people interested in women's history were just amazed. And, of what we can open up for us to be able to restore and share and understand more about our history which is really
16:35:24 archives at its best and its most truly liberating form so if you liberate the terms and liberate what's on paper. It's all part of the process of uplifting and liberating communities, and also safeguarding and promoting sovereignty and pride in in current
16:35:47 generations so with that all I'll close. Thank you.
16:35:52 You see if I can get to the stop share.
16:35:56 Thank you so much for your wonderful.
16:36:03 Um, so far our third speaker we're going to turn to a completely different sort of initiative that's kind of out of the same branch of work that we're doing at the Maryland State Archives, and to talk about that today, I'm inviting.
16:36:20 My colleague Corey Lewis. He is the Senior Director of digitization and constituent services at the Maryland State Archives, where he has worked for more than 20 years as a digitization specialist.
16:36:34 He currently oversees, many of the services that our archive provides other state and local government agencies, along with managing daily operations and imaging production.
16:36:47 In addition to all of these roles. He is also one of our most dedicated outreach archivists, he can often be found in one on one conversations and at events, educating the public about the power of digital preservation and access.
16:37:05 He has been instrumental in building our connections with small groups and individuals alike.
16:37:11 And I am very happy to introduce my colleague, Corey.
16:37:17 Thank you, Maria.
16:37:26 All right, thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share with you today.
16:37:29 So I'm going to talk a little bit about the real estate archives outreach, our approach to dealing with community partnerships.
16:37:39 Um, I would say that over the past few years. We internally got the archives, really decided that we needed to begin to engage with the community in general, one to work abroad and was preserved and what will remain in the greater body of archival records
16:37:54 for the future, but how exactly what we accomplished that.
16:37:58 We begin by contacting local groups, and by local groups, it's not just underrepresented groups, it's also smaller groups that you certainly may not have the access to the resources and the knowledge that we have available to us, beginning with these
16:38:14 conversations. The real goal was to foster genuine relationships. It's mainly about how can we be of assistance, how can we help you achieve your goals.
16:38:23 How can we help you preserve what's important to you. And certainly, your aspect of knowledge history.
16:38:30 Once you once we've established those genuine relationships, and we've established there is a commitment to their cause in terms of their preservation of our greater view of making the records more accessible.
16:38:42 We could then move on to other areas.
16:38:48 So one area that we begin with and again some of this is prior to the pandemic was offering our resources.
16:38:56 We would schedule a number of one on one sessions or invite groups in to take advantage of and as you see the photo to the left.
16:39:04 Proper photo handling proper storage.
16:39:08 Proper digitization procedures for their photographs and for their collections, again, genuine relationships. Our main goal was to help these groups further along their preservation efforts.
16:39:20 And so, again, anything we can do to assist in that area. We certainly were more than happy to provide as a pandemic limited for all of us our ability to invite groups and to have this one on one conversations we begin to come up with virtual programs
16:39:36 that we could invite groups in actually did find this you know, as we all struggle with. How do we communicate during the pandemic. It's actually allowed us to bring in a wider range of groups.
16:39:48 People could schedule they wouldn't have to attend face to face at the archives. So, one of which was a collections training that was done by our Special Collections team.
16:39:58 And this is may 1 of 2020. This is in, attended by several groups and links.
16:40:06 Local Mason's group.
16:40:08 East Baltimore historical library, the beats legacy center, amongst others. And I thought the interaction was great. We got a lot of feedback. We continue to stay in touch with these groups.
16:40:21 To this day, and so I think a lot of goodwill came out of this.
16:40:25 Supporting preservation efforts. So again, this is all ties into offering our resources.
16:40:32 Again prior to the pandemic.
16:40:34 We had scheduled a community collections day
16:40:40 can perceive it up the lights. Sorry.
16:40:43 So the community collections day The purpose of this day was we were inviting members and groups to come in again sharing our resources digitization as we all know, has a lot to do with funding.
16:40:55 Some groups is simply are not able to digitize their records beyond what you can do on a flatbed. And so we are in a unique position to have camera systems oversize digitization capabilities, as well as a wealth of knowledge about these type of capture.
16:41:12 So we had a community collections day, that was attended by a few groups, it was not as successful as we would have liked to have been the wide range of groups that we did invite, but the effort was there, and certainly before the pandemic we had planned
16:41:26 to do another one to engage with more groups, I think, again, it was a very positive experience, the groups were able to come in, they were able to bring what was important to them.
16:41:35 We were able to talk to them a little bit more about conservation digitize their records why they waited hand them a USB drive.
16:41:43 And they would take the images with them, as well as their documents. And again, another step in fostering a lot of goodwill between us and those particular groups.
16:41:54 One of the groups that attended that continued to stay in touch with us, and had some specific issues where the blacks the Chesapeake.
16:42:05 Okay, so in 1984 blacks of the Chesapeake began to document African Americans who worked and continue to work in the maritime and seafood processing industries and the Chesapeake Bay was foundation serves a community with a wide range of historical, cultural
16:42:21 and educational activities in 2000 the Library of Congress and Congress designate this foundation as a local legacy project for highlighting this little known aspect of Maryland's history.
16:42:33 So, at one of the board meetings we attended and this board meeting was for again the base legacy Center, which was the only High School and enrolled accounting from 1932 to 1966 for African Americans that board meeting had a lot of other groups there
16:42:49 that were kind of meeting, just to talk about how they could partner. And so we gave a short presentation there to talk about digitization efforts and outreach.
16:42:59 And so one of the groups as I mentioned that contacted us was the blacks the Chesapeake, so we initially raised the site visit to see their conditions of the records that they currently had stored, which of them seem to be the biggest issue.
16:43:13 So upon the site visit. We certainly recognize that they have less than ideal conditions for storing for proper archival storage.
16:43:24 They had their records in a number of places but one of which we thought was the most troubling was a warehouse facility.
16:43:31 Again, as you can see this is no way to store a lot of these records that had a lot of historical value meddling to them but to the state of Maryland.
16:43:40 So after a lot of discussion,
16:43:44 mainly with the state archivist Tim Baker, our Special Collections team.
16:43:48 What we decided was that we could come up with a plan to help them get a lot of their material out of their facility into our proper archival storage.
16:43:57 So we arranged a transfer transfer in conjunction with them, where we were able to provide them with over 40 Records Center boxes on they begin to rehearse this material, and then transport to a rolling run facility to ensure proper archival storage.
16:44:12 And at that point, we were setting the stage to begin to identify the general subjects people and events within each container magic imagine, this is a large undertaking.
16:44:23 That certainly as much as we have a lot of passion for engaging with the community. This is not something that we can completely undertake ourselves.
16:44:30 So we began to brainstorm and come up with creative ways to continue to project to keep it going to move towards what would be more of an ideal situation for them and for us.
16:44:43 That led us to and 2019 through an existing partnership that we have with Antonio County Public Schools. We were able to identify five interns for credits and these are all high school seniors who all applied, they would come in, they worked.
16:45:01 I believe for five to six weeks on site, six to eight hour days.
16:45:06 I'm sure not every day was as joyful as it seems there was a lot of repetitive work, but they did an excellent job, they were again they're not archivist, but they were trained to do a rough inventory, so we had a clear picture of what we've had at our
16:45:23 facility now. And so also the box of the Chesapeake was aware of what was in their collection that certainly would help them inform their decisions about digitization and preservation moving forward.
16:45:39 The interns did an excellent job as best I could do here is I gave us a small screenshot of the spreadsheet that they worked on, they were able to bring a lot of inventory control to this collection that was much needed.
16:45:52 They added description media type offers dates and information that can be used as embedded metadata, or for the hosting of a digital collection at some point.
16:46:05 This was a highly successful effort in our opinion on using this students who again are being trained by our staff on site supported, as well as them having some interaction with the owner, and we were able to return a lot of the material to him that
16:46:20 was either repetitive. It was not unique, or this is personal in nature.
16:46:26 And what we ended up with is a little bit less than 40.
16:46:29 cubic feet of material that we currently have house at our Annapolis facility.
16:46:36 So digitization and access. So, a large part of the goal for blacks of the Chesapeake was to expand their projects reach into make the general public more aware of what they have and what they have to offer.
16:46:50 And what better way to do that and digitization and again digitization is also another step in preservation as well as we all know.
16:46:59 So we begin to offer our resources where we could with photographs scanning. So we do have several volunteers that come in on a weekly basis.
16:47:08 And as a low priority project, they were able to go through and digitize several of the photographs are identified by our interns and the owner as good placeholders for the beginning of additional exhibit.
16:47:33 goes back to often your resources, your connections with Johns Hopkins, we were able to work with them to get all of their VHS digitized as well. And so we now have the tapes back, as well as the, the video formats that ever created in our archival storage.
16:47:42 At some point access will be allowed to those records I mean to those videos but again bourbon allow that to be handled through blacks of the Chesapeake so they can complete control of their collection.
16:47:55 What we do offer though for them is our Google Image storage we can exist in somewhat of a as a dark archive, where we do provide proper, and long term preservation for their images, and other formats that they've created, while allowing them to be the
16:48:11 main access point. Certainly if someone is to come into our search room, we wouldn't be able to provide access. But again if you were looking for a digital exhibit or thumbprint of this collection, everything would bring you back to blacks the Chesapeake
16:48:25 as it should be.
16:48:27 We were able to as well through a, an existing partnership with the not crap, have their collection hosted on digital Maryland online digital Maryland online is an amazing resource for any mail vendors were able to host your collections there freely.
16:48:42 There's no limit to what you can place there.
16:48:47 They can be locked out to be private. It can be public. And so I really recommend to any group that we talked to about exploring those contacts and certainly sharing that information.
16:48:55 I don't want to be a go in between I'm going to put people directly in touch with someone who can help them achieve their goals. So with this particular case, digital marathon lines and like the appropriate place to provide access to these images, they
16:49:07 certainly have a digital asset management system, they can do a lot more things and ours currently can.
16:49:17 So grants. We did get to a point where I'm resources again as we all have our own duties that are drawing us to our daily jobs.
16:49:29 There's a limit to how much interaction we can particularly give and hands on interaction we could give it back to the Chesapeake, and so we did begin to talk to them about and point them to different grant opportunities.
16:49:42 Rather, we're not accessible and their first attempt at a grant, but we were able to do is on a monthly basis.
16:49:49 We would offer some of our staff that had expertise with grant writing.
16:49:54 We would review their grant and give them suggestions. Just little steps along the way. Again, this may have been an hour to over time, every month. Taking a look at some of these documents, but this was invaluable to them, happy to report that this year
16:50:09 after last year, not getting the grant they were successful in getting the craft this year. What that allows them to do was to hire a full time archivists who can come on site to the real estate archives.
16:50:23 And continue the necessary work that will allow this collection, they'll add more value to this collection allow us to add it to not only our catalogs, but ensure that the process begins of the preservation of these digital images.
16:50:39 Now the other thing that they have managed to do and I think this is great for them, because I do believe in, while you're working with these groups, again, to foster a genuine relationship.
16:50:49 I believe you want to continue to let them maintain control over imagery. And so, they will be now funding through our website.
16:50:59 And, you know, they've sent over some prototypes or some templates as well as what they're looking at and you know kind of give them advice, as we can but I'm static for them looking at where this project started to the point they are now now at some
16:51:11 point they will be looking at applying for larger grants and I think that that's certainly a wise thing for them to do they have many goals. As far as traveling exhibits and other ways to expand their reach.
16:51:28 But certainly,
16:51:27 okay. But certainly, black to the Chesapeake, I believe is a really good model for many institution, and how you can manage it with system, and accomplishing their goals.
16:51:39 Without taxing too much of your own personal of your own resources, so looking forward, and again my images here are a lot of fist bumps, but I think that is certainly the way to go with P pandemic normally would be a handshake but we're all trying to
16:52:04 limit the amount of contact we have.
16:51:59 So yes, as I mentioned, I think this is a blueprint for partnership for certainly us internally, it really showed us our capabilities to provide assistance.
16:52:08 Every group, certainly has unique needs. So when you are going to engage with these groups, you certainly need to listen and figure out exactly where they are.
16:52:17 Every group that I've come in touch with has different ranges, whether it's were from the age of the owners of collections to their technical abilities to their them just being comfortable with, allowing you to host a collection.
16:52:34 I normally generally say those conversations to the, to the end I mean I really think that it's really about what we can do for you to help you move your preservation goals forward, and it's about the greater good just ensuring that these smaller institutions
16:52:48 and groups have access to proper archival procedures.
16:52:54 I do think again, it's my last point on this slide that our limited resources, really you know again I'm really proud of our team here, it did allow for an effective partnership that again move blacks in the Chesapeake, as long as some of these other
16:53:09 groups, along to the next level of a project.
16:53:16 But I can say in sharing with you in closing, is that a lot of our outreach, I believe, is really geared towards the local groups. And again, I want to reiterate that underrepresented groups as well as smaller institutions.
16:53:37 I think that they are willing to talk with anyone who can help them achieve their goals. And so as long as you are going in with that mindset. I have found that the community can be very responsive.
16:53:51 It has led to larger conversations, larger connections. Other partnerships that are certainly being developed at this time. And so all in all I think it's worth your time when your institutions time to put the effort into reaching out to these groups
16:54:06 in an effective way.
16:54:09 Thank you.
16:54:16 Thank you so much Corey, and thank you to all of our speakers today.
16:54:21 I'm going to lead off there actually are quite a few q amp a questions coming in.
16:54:29 And we've got a lot of commentary in the chat also so we'll, we'll get to that.
16:54:35 But I'm Corey if you want to turn your video on again, I'm sure. Join us now. All right.
16:54:50 And just thinking about what Corey was saying about building relationships. That's kind of that one of the keys that we thought about as we created this session and as we've been doing work out for several years really concentrating on community building,
16:55:09 but in from your perspectives, what are some avoidable mistakes that people might make as they're starting to build a relationship with communities that have historically not had a seat at the table.
16:55:24 Does anyone want to comment on that.
16:55:32 I guess I'll take a stab at this one, um, honestly, again it goes back to that point. Again, not to hate to be repetitive here but it is about fostering those genuine relationships.
16:55:43 The last thing I speak about is what the archives would want in return. The first questions line of questions is always about how can we assist with your preservation efforts, trying to find out exactly where their project is their level of comfortability
16:56:00 with speaking with us.
16:56:03 You know all those things but again it generally starts with, how can we help, um, you know as I stated, a lot of the resources that we take for granted.
16:56:14 A lot of these institutions are struggling with every day. Um, and so that's really where it comes from, and just being willing to listen and then kind of take that in and form.
16:56:21 Your, your next steps from that.
16:56:26 From a travel perspective. There's the old adage of the government is here to help.
16:56:34 And we've known from generation to generation. That's not always true.
16:56:40 So there is a reluctance often for the tribal citizens to put the cards on the table to come to and work with formal state entities, because the data that's provided or the information that's provided could be used in a manner that is not to the advantage
16:56:59 of the people.
16:57:01 So, the trust factor and working with other state entities and organizations is critical.
16:57:10 So that we build those relationships and have that understanding and know that what is attempted to be communicated would be beneficial for all parties involved.
16:57:25 I'd like to add to both of those and also just because I have to say that most of most of my work has been community based history, both with it. I've been on both sides of it I've been in the community and and been all over the hemisphere working with
16:57:44 the tribal people as well and indigenous communities and other other communities.
16:57:50 Um, I have to say that yes you know I really both both.
16:57:54 Both of these perspectives are really important and then also to remember especially small communities, you know, they don't necessarily have a dedicated a tribal Historic Preservation officer like they don't necessarily have somebody who is doing something
16:58:13 full time that it can be overwhelming that there is also materials that may be highly problematic, you know as Mario saying I know in the, in the, in the Maryland archives, for example, there's some health studies that you know even though they give like,
16:58:32 you know, in certain areas, certain, certain archival pieces like even if if there's supposedly a pseudonym to try to. I try to hide people's whereabouts in a small community still know who everybody is right so.
16:58:46 try to hide people's whereabouts in a small community still know who everybody is right so. So those are all those are all really important things to consider.
16:58:53 I think also taking your time. You know, and being relational instead of extractive. I'm getting a sense of of really taking the long term because there's been so many projects, I'm not to necessarily also assume that what you have to offer may be of
16:59:11 interest, you know, so, so that that, how, how can we, what what's of interest in the archives and I'm just going to be really really upfront that, you know, any kinds of paid internships training capacity building within the within the community itself.
16:59:33 That's not just volunteer you know I would say really consider including people if you're applying for grants or looking for you know funding include people with consulting fees.
16:59:48 I'm just, you know, it's because that's how you would think about it possibly with any other professional experts so approach a community in that way as well.
17:00:02 Thank you all.
17:00:04 from one of our speakers are one of our attendees today, the question this is for Mario and Gabrielle.
17:00:13 What has the reaction from the piscataway tribes been to digit, what, what is the your reaction, and the piscataway tribes reaction to efforts in digitizing the materials, and they're talking, particularly I think about the materials we shown from the
17:00:33 archives Maryland online are that are you, you and these communities largely in favor or what are the challenges to having these records available and digitized Gabrielle Would you like to go first.
17:00:52 Oh sure, um, overall, especially you know these colonial records of digitization historic records are incredibly helpful. I mean, it's it's it's a it's an it's an amazing resource right especially for people who maybe you know they don't have the travel
17:01:13 time I mean, or again like they don't have somebody who can can go in or because things are so obscure so it's easier to do that kind of work. I would say though you know they're there are pieces that you know especially like if you're looking in the
17:01:37 Atlantic up in New York, Pennsylvania areas like that. You may have very sensitive material. Um, so it's, you know, this is another level of of creating a longer term relationship with people so that it's not just a reactive like oh we found this what
17:01:49 do you think, but having that that long term so that when something comes up, you know that you can call people because there may be material that should be shielded that you know it's either sacred material or it's very sensitive.
17:02:04 So ways to have access to it that's maybe only community based but overall I think the digitization is incredibly important people are doing this in Native communities right like not just like communities but unity of scholars are made of community scholars
17:02:21 that we see digital access to repositories that are being done, just on the, on the scale of seeing what kinds of materials should go into like tribal archive so like organizations like a tom the Association of tribal archive librarians, the libraries
17:02:40 and museums is a really important resource but at the museum we did a lot of digitization and access but also with some consultation if there was something that seemed to potentially be sensitive so I think always asking is a good way to go.
17:02:56 Just to add to that, digital taxation is kind of a broad term, um, in doing research into our travel experience.
17:03:08 There are roles role, what types of individuals and their oral histories.
17:03:14 There's the old VHS tapes and cassette tapes and all this reel to reel tapes and all these types of different varieties, and the technology moves so quick, is that you have this tape in your hand, but there's no machine to read it anymore.
17:03:34 And with lot of the tribes, there's no central source to retain it so individuals have pieces here pieces there.
17:03:42 So the digitization is important, but it's just important to have a structured environment that allows for central forcing, as well as the let the technology be advanced with the current changes.
17:03:57 So you still have relevant information from the past that can be used in the future.
17:04:04 Thank you all.
17:04:06 Um, This question is for Cory.
17:04:09 What did you work out regarding the transfer or ownership of the blacks of the Chesapeake collection and does the organization retain the ownership rights and the collection is considered on deposit.
17:04:37 So, um, I guess, for was a two part answer. So not only do we retain retain documents and photographs which they in some way, gifted to the archives. There's a ladder exhibits that we've also taken as well.
17:04:42 That's a temporary situation, they're looking for and we're helping them look for institutions that will put these exhibits.
17:04:50 Currently up so they can be out and seen by the public and not sitting at a warehouse.
17:04:55 That's a decision that we allow them to come to on their own. Our efforts again but really mainly just to get those records, out of those conditions and get them here into a safe environment.
17:05:08 I believe they became very comfortable with us, as I believe they saw that our intentions are really about helping them out and preserving this you know great aspect of melons history.
17:05:17 And so they got to a point where they decided, this should be the permanent repository for those physical records.
17:05:25 Now again, as I mentioned that, to not undercut any efforts date or thoughts that they may have about monetizing their images or anything in that way, the access part is handled more through another third party and not through the Maryland State Archives.
17:05:41 So I hope that answers your question.
17:05:45 Yes, thank you. Actually, there was a follow up question that just popped up in the chat, I think is relevant to what we asked Marianna Gabriele a minute ago and I think it's worth pausing for it.
17:06:01 What are people's attitudes relevant to oral history and graphic and or artifact objects are they interested and motivated to share.
17:06:17 I guess it's Gabby do the first, I'll go and take the lead on this one the first shot.
17:06:23 Um, oral history is an important part of our story.
17:06:28 Unfortunately, there has been individuals through sort of pollute the pool with individual desires and thoughts, and what they want history to be as opposed to what was factual.
17:06:42 So you always got to take it with a grain of salt, and look for corroborating information from multiple perspectives.
17:06:50 We don't want to discount it at face value with like everything else credibility and historic context is a factor.
17:07:01 As far as artifacts, walking through Southern Maryland on a, on side of one of the river ways on any rainy day you'll maybe find an artifact, a piece of pottery a piece of stone.
17:07:14 So it's plentiful.
17:07:17 Um, it's something that was important to our ancestors is important to us because it's a link to our pasts. These are something that somebody in our families, touch, they created it had a purpose, it helped them in the quality of their lives.
17:07:31 So it's important to us. And we find so many people that have pilfered sites at their own personal collections, and to do just just to have they say they have something of our ancestors.
17:07:50 And we find that kind of disturbing at times. We're grateful that so many things has been preserved.
17:07:55 But having that removed from the people is a factor. A classic example, would have been.
17:08:03 When the state does authorized digs at certain sites with the intent of finding something when they do find something, it becomes state property is no longer given back to the tribe is given for us to be able to teach our young so they can see and touch.
17:08:22 It's held into warehouses, in a place that's very difficult to access and you got to ask the right questions in order to see what's there. So there's a lot more that can be done to make it more friendly from to the native communities.
17:08:40 It's just something that needs a lot of work. and there's a lot of opportunity for improvement.
17:08:49 Just also adding compliment and this, I think
17:08:55 you know it, it also brings up this this question that is certainly true in archives but also you know museums any other kind of repository, is that there's this Congress, you know, there's always that there's always the tension between what belongs in
17:09:12 the larger, you know, either state or federal or county or university setting. What kind of support, and maybe this is also going back to our their question about working with communities.
17:09:26 What, what's the possibility of not just having access but also supporting communities and maybe having some of their own spaces to, you know, to be able to, you know, keep in hold and and work with and set what I like to call them ancestral parts I mean
17:09:44 there's there certain kinds of collections that you know ethnographic that are definitely available and more widely shared, I think, like, though, that when you deal with indigenous history.
17:09:59 You have to include oral and you have to include the sensory, you must because those are the first person viewpoints, you know, even if, even if there's maybe some filters of interpretation or what questions were asked, especially when you're going into
17:10:17 some of the older history.
17:10:21 Sometimes what the only First, the actual first person historic voice that you may have is an object.
17:10:29 And then you can cross check you know when you talk about cross checking, something that I've done and other indigenous scholars have done is that you don't, you can sometimes cross check with with other like like we've done a lot of cross checking with
17:10:45 her new shiny, for example, and this is really interesting, kind of, you know, ways of working so I think that that those are those are pieces that you really have to think about, I'm actually teaching a doctoral seminar in world history the semester
17:11:01 at Mason and and really looking at it from, you know, indigenous voice perspective we're doing oral histories on on the American Indian Movement, activists right now.
17:11:11 And so, so there. So if we don't have the morality.
17:11:33 quite, there are, they can be quite durable. So I would, I would really really uplift.
17:11:37 I'm using multiple primary sources and primary not only being.
17:11:48 Thank you. Thank you for those answers. This actually segues very well to a question that was asked to query by one of the attendees.
17:11:58 Have you included oral history interviews in your work.
17:12:05 And this person wonders about collecting oral history traditions on Maryland's Eastern Shore, particularly with diversity among longshoreman, and the fishing crabbing industry on the Chesapeake, yes so yes and yes, I'm Porto blacks with the Chesapeake's
17:12:25 expansion, with their grant is to really dig into oral histories now part of the guidance with that and part of the offering our resources, has been connecting them with one school in particular with Morgan State, who for their seniors have courses that
17:12:41 focus specifically on oral histories. So as part of some of their field studies or just in general the partnership. We've made certain opportunities available where they can connect with these groups.
17:12:53 These students can help structure and add guidance to not only the questions that are asked, but help structure.
17:13:00 This the entire program for these institutions and it's a win win the students get again the field study work that's meaningful and a lot of ways, with me in particular I mentioned in working state because it's also relevant to them in terms of that necessity
17:13:16 of the blacks of the Chesapeake owner.
17:13:20 But again, we're focused mainly on the storage side of it. So again, counseling them on different ways to ensure that they're able to store these oral histories, make them accessible is kind of our role in that part of it but yes or history certainly
17:13:35 has its place. And so we are always, I'm going to push forward with with all aspects of any collect any of the collections.
17:13:47 And I like the fact that that incorporates the community.
17:13:53 Blacks on the Chesapeake's lunar and his volunteers and the students working together to capture the community story and archives is in the supporting role, which I think is definitely a win win.
17:14:11 So this question is on a slightly different tact and it goes back to a slide, Mario that you showed with the various tribal names. And there's actually a question earlier that I want to kind of bring in two together so that you can respond to both of
17:14:30 these.
17:14:31 So, this attendee mentioned the slide that you have a different tribal names spelled in a way that you have found to or know to look for.
17:14:46 How would you want to see that incorporated in a finding aid and then earlier another participant mentioned that there are Library of Congress name authorities.
17:14:58 That would include tribal names, but would these be helpful and consolidating the naming and Gabriele you might also have some thoughts about that to the context of the educational work you've done.
17:15:16 In the context of the educational work you've done. Um, let me begin by saying, I am an amateur as far as conducting research. So, that which the Library of Congress may have out there, I have no awareness of.
17:15:27 So I know from a user perspective.
17:15:31 If I go into Google and Miss type something, three or four things that are closely worded that way may pop up and make assess me in my search. So, I would advocate that if there's other search engines that can have that kind of table that a base built
17:15:47 to it. That is what we would be looking for and would help other researchers who are dive into our history.
17:16:00 Yeah, I definitely agree i mean you know I definitely agree I mean anything that makes it, anything that makes it easier to find and and again you know this is not just relevant archives I just kind of saw from something about you know we're talking about
17:16:16 the Mid Atlantic. There's an immense amount of material in the Pennsylvania archives I spent actually more time with Pennsylvania archives.
17:16:25 Then with Maryland. Because, Maryland like you only get yeah there's only so much and then, you know, that's it. So just there the there's a lot more.
17:16:36 really, if you want to take up, especially more more culturally informed in many ways I think so, yeah, I think just just being able to have that, that material available, because, you know, when you're talking about the community engagement, um, and
17:16:56 it's not just, it's not just scholars but, and even scholars right because think about it we're talking about, well in both, both situations like with indigenous and African American material, which also, that's another, I just want to make a comment
17:17:15 that in the Mid Atlantic to consider those to be entirely separate categories is a huge mistake you miss so much because these communities like merge and overlap and beat sometimes become each other and all different ways so if you're just looking at
17:17:33 one and the other you're going to miss a lot. Um, but just to say like with scholars you know how many people have the K through 12 education about Native Americans, you know, or black history read.
17:17:48 So, so just to say you know Mr just to say like, yeah you know what the levels between sometimes amateur and professional when you're talking about, like, our, our community perspectives, it can it can really, it doesn't always separate that way either.
17:18:13 Thank you.
17:18:26 Corey you mentioned, because of the pandemic we did a collection training as a virtual presentation in May last year.
17:18:34 Could you give a quick overview of that and other virtual presentations, you did to help build relationships with community groups and I, and I know because I also am at the Maryland State Archives that a lot of this work was actually very informal.
17:18:53 Yes, definitely. So, I believe we, the group that was targeted for the collections training really was about inventory control on the grocery brought together we're all at the same point on so a lot of the questions that we asked them, allowed us to tailor
17:19:09 So a lot of the questions that we asked them, allowed us to tailor presentations to that specific groups need so it wasn't just a overall collection development, a lot of it had a lot to do with inventory control, identifying media types, whether it's
17:19:22 duplicated material as opposed to unique material mom to allow them to really make informed decisions.
17:19:29 At that point to then go do their work, their diligent work, and then come back to us when they have this inventory control to talk about the next steps of what they are hoping to do beyond that.
17:19:41 So that's that was the training and may the other outreach, generally is more specific. So whether it's talking about proper handling for records, whether it's talking about digitization for photographs standards of things of that nature.
17:19:58 I'm just really, again, more specific and focused in on those specific particular topics. And so, at times in conjunction with Special Collections we would send out surveys as well.
17:20:10 And it really gives you an idea of your audience and what they're interested in and so you kind of tailor your, your talks to that.
17:20:21 Thank you.
17:20:26 One of the attendees asks, Are there any native link data initiatives happening now, since all of the records seems siloed and different archives.
17:20:39 And I can just say from the Maryland State Archives Special Collections perspective, I have not seen any native link data initiatives specifically targeted at state records and.
17:20:53 And what we're really talking about today with both Mario and Gabrielle is looking at the public record the English settlers records.
17:21:04 In particular, so these are out there online because they are NT, considered the state of Maryland's public records.
17:21:12 There was another question later on about have any repatriation and Gabrielle they also say remain creation
17:21:29 NAGPRA efforts been applied to archival material so with the English records, those are Maryland's government records, but that certainly might be very different when you're talking about records that are private records that have been donated to an archive,
17:21:50 or objects as we were talking about just a bit earlier. So I wonder if either of you have any general comments on
17:22:01 sensitivity of records and also any digitization efforts that you're aware of.
17:22:12 Yeah, well, you want to go first this time, sir.
17:22:18 I'm good tag team.
17:22:20 So, so I think we're.
17:22:23 Okay, a couple of things. One, just so that everyone is so, so NAGPRA is a Native American graves protection and repatriation act which is a federal act there's actually a similar repatriation act in Maryland, and these tend to go towards objects, human
17:22:44 remains.
17:22:46 You know funerary objects or what they call objects of cultural patrimony.
17:22:53 Um, so that's a fascinating question about the idea of of archives, being having claims, I actually have not seen an archival claim under NAGPRA.
17:23:14 I'm not saying it doesn't exist, and it also would probably depend you know if there was something that was like a piece of something that would be an archival document or material about that would need to be returned or should be held by by people other
17:23:30 than the state.
17:23:33 So that's a really interesting. That's a really interesting question.
17:23:36 Overall, in terms of like mass linkages i mean you know outside of database, you know, the usual kind of like library databases.
17:23:46 I also don't know about like interlinked ones but that would be really fast. That would be amazing for some for tribe like ours because you know you have that trace between Marilyn and especially like Maryland going up into Pennsylvania and then up into
17:24:07 up into New York State out into Ohio you're the Old Northwest. So, so the that's a really great idea, I don't know.
17:24:17 I haven't heard of it. There's something called the Northeast Indian papers portal used to be the yellow Indian papers, but these are, again you know this is like consolidating into an archive, that's a model actually you should all take a look at because
17:24:31 it also is something that doesn't just have the archival note, but then they they talk to tribal cultural and tribal scholars, or you know my say travels guys that's not necessarily mutually exclusive to academic.
17:24:46 It can be both.
17:24:48 Um, it can be both. Um, and so they will add in commentary and metadata and keywords and interpretations and descriptions of archival material that is there too so so do take a look at that it's a really interesting model as well but that's kind of me
17:25:07 talking a bunch about do I exactly know know about the interlink.
17:25:14 That's just my knowledge anyway.
17:25:17 Just to add a few additional things comments. The whole idea of the Nagra gets into a lot of government classification.
17:25:27 There's a terminology of federal recognized Indians and state recognized Indians and unrecognized Indians about 15 years ago or so there was a documentary came out called 500 nations.
17:25:39 Since then, we've gone up to about 580 nations.
17:25:43 Now, I can almost guarantee you know new Nations has arrived in that time frame is just the government has changed its ability to acknowledge what's already been there.
17:25:54 So you're dealing a lot with a lot of those those politics when you're dealing with our people in Maryland, many tribes along the eastern seaboard that you're in different classifications, and sometimes with Nagra, they'll work with you, and sometimes
17:26:09 they were stayed because you're not federally recognized, we need to go talk to another tribe out in Oklahoma, or upstate New York or somewhere else. And you don't get the respect of being able to stand up for your ancestors to stand up for your ancestors
17:26:25 artwork or artifacts, as we left behind. So you when you get into this whole world of different categories categorization within the federal government.
17:26:35 There's a lot of still barriers out there that need to be addressed. And a lot of that work will definitely lead into the documentation and the partnership aspect
17:26:49 and care and there's one quick little follow up Gabrielle. Someone asked if you would repeat the name of the northeast and the unarguable framework.
17:26:59 Yeah, let me just get a quick look and they'll put it right in the chat. Okay. Okay, thank you.
17:27:04 Um, so, I guess, as we get close to the end of our time, I want to just find out if any of you have any other comments that you wish to make anything that you did not get to say today that you would you would like to leave our audience with.
17:27:25 I guess as I was the first presenter I'll take the lead.
17:27:42 Um, I want to give a lot of thanks to Megan. She has been very helpful. From my perspective, and helping us navigate through a lot of this documentation. It's been going on for several years now, and we're not paying her a dime.
17:27:47 But we have been granted so much wonderful information so much insight and so much assistance. So a person on your staff has done a fantastic job. We appreciate all the little things she does will get an email and then we'll be talking two or three hours.
17:28:03 Afterwards are trying to figure out how to make it happen, or how to bring that product to fruition. So I just want to say thank you for what your organization does, and specifically to Megan for her persistence throughout the years.
17:28:16 Thank you.
17:28:29 Also like, sorry.
17:28:31 Where did you want to go.
17:28:33 Okay.
17:28:34 It's like, zoom awkwardness. Um, but you know I just. Yes, thank you so much, you know, knowing, from where this research has started over, you know, you just a very very long time.
17:28:50 And seeing that you know if we keep working to bring things to light and make those connections to be sitting here at this point with all of you with this level of interest because you know archives is also one of those points of like collective collective
17:29:09 memory collective consciousness and the way that that's structured.
17:29:15 It really, it really matters.
17:29:17 And so, just yeah just a thanks and thanks to Korea as well really really wonderful learning about your work as well, and and where those, those pieces come together.
17:29:33 So, not much I just want to say the same thank you to the other panelists as well very informative sessions on.