On April 2, ProjectARCC was awarded the New England Archivists‘ Archival
Advocacy Award for 2016. Each year, NEA grants the Archival Advocacy Award
(AAA) to an individual or institution demonstrating extraordinary support
of New England archival programs and records – politically, financially, or
through public advocacy. The award was presented at the NEA Spring 2016
Meeting awards ceremony in Portland, Maine. Past recipients include Digital
Commonwealth and Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC).

NEA’s former president Jill Snyder presented the award and highlighted ProjectARCC’s work to motivate the archival profession to affect climate change. She mentioned ProjectARCC’s collaborations with the Society of American Archivists’ Committee on Advocacy and Public Policy (CAPP), the American Library Association’s Sustainability Roundtable, and DearTomorrow.

Casey Davis accepted the award on behalf of ProjectARCC and thanked the New England Archivists for awarding ProjectARCC with the Archival Advocacy Award. She noted that just a year ago at NEA’s Spring 2015 meeting in Boston, Casey gave a presentation at REPS’ “Revolt Against Complacency” session, identifying areas in which archivists could make an impact on climate change. Several NEA members immediately responded to the call to action, and on Earth Day 2015 ProjectARCC was formed. Today, ProjectARCC’s membership has grown to more than 60 members across the United States.

Congrats to the entire ProjectARCC community!

Over the past year, ProjectARCC has presented at numerous conferences,
including the Society of American Archivists, the Association of Moving Image
Archivists, and Massachusetts COSTEP. This month, Rose Oliveira and Genna
Duplisea will be presenting at the Keeping History Above Water conference
in Newport, Rhode Island. ProjectARCC has hosted several events this year,
including one at ALA Midwinter in collaboration with ALA’s SutainRT and “On
the Brink,” in collaboration with Simmons College SCoSAA.

Members have contributed numerous blog posts on the ProjectARCC blog, as
well as for the SAA Issues and Advocacy blog  and New England Media and Memory Coalition. ProjectARCC members have been interviewed by Infotecarios, a publication for Latin American information professionals, and Lost in the Stacks, a public radio program. ProjectARCC has also hosted Tweet-ups in collaboration with ALA’s Sustainability Roundtable. ProjectARCC member Eira Tansey recently published a peer-reviewed article on climate change risks and impacts.

During COP21, ProjectARCC members marched with thousands of other activists
at the Boston March for Jobs, Justice and Climate.

ProjectARCC members are making impacts within their own institutions, including
curating exhibits featuring historical materials documenting climate change,
and creating and distributing surveys on sustainability and building
efficiencies.

ProjectARCC committees are continuing to work on specific projects,
including collecting stories from archivists on disaster experiences
(Protect), creating a brochure describing actions that archives can take to
become more sustainable (Reduce), compiling a list of archives that
preserve collections related to climate change (Elevate), and assisting
DearTomorrow in preserving their collection of letters, photos, and videos
to the future (Preserve).

And finally, ProjectARCC is collaborating with Library Juice Press on a
colloquium in May 2017 titled “Libraries and Archives in the Anthropocene,” which will take place at New York University. More information to come about this event!

Our thanks to the New England Archivists for awarding ProjectARCC the 2016 Archival Advocacy Award and for their support of our work. Congratulations to everyone involved in ProjectARCC!