The Pandemic, The President, and the Press: Access to the White House Correspondents' Association Emails

Abstract

In collaboration with the White House Correspondents’ Association, the University of Maryland School of Journalism, and College of Information Studies, the UMD Libraries established the White House Correspondents' Association Pool Reports Collection in order to preserve and make discoverable pool reports shared among members of the WHCA. Newly available in 2021, this searchable database offers timely insights into the challenges of reporting during the pandemic and the presidential election. These presentations will explore the tasks of collecting, processing, and making emails available. Topics include: establishing a born-digital archive across multiple departments; harvesting, transforming, and redacting messages; extracting metadata; and how archives must tread a fine line between access and privacy.