Episode 75: Context is the Thing (Karen Trivette and Geof Huth)

Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of the podcast, return to discuss their archival lives during the pandemic and their plans for the podcast's future and even the one archival trip they have planned for this year.

Natalie Baur, Archivist-at-Large, tells us her story of encountering the profession, which transported her to Miami, then Ecuador, and then to Mexico, where her story has become one of an archivist for hire continuing to work in a global pandemic.

Karen Jamison Trivette and guest host Alex Joseph interview fashion scholar Lourdes Font, professor of history of art at the Fashion Institute of Technology. They discuss the life and work of Max Meyer, a principal at Abraham Beller and Company, a New York City-based women's cloak and suit manufacturer, and examine how archival materials helped tell his story.

Molly Tighe and Matt Strauss tells us their stories of moving from a masonry company and Japan into archives, how they met, and how they keep their archives thriving and relevant in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.

After a long absence, An Archivist's Tale presents a poem to David B. Gracy II, one of our guests. Geof Huth of AAT wrote and read this poem.

Anne-Flore Laloë, Archivist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, tells us how a masters of English and a PhD in geography led her to archives, what it is like to work with helpful molecular biologists, how she, as a lone archivist, manages an organization with facilities in multiple countries, and how records of science can enchant the mind.

Saad Eskander, former National Archivist of Iraq, speaking to us from Iraqi Kurdistan, tells an inspiring story about his work running his nation's archives and his struggle to repatriate national records taken by the US government and even journalists, and he explains how archives can show us a way to the truth and toward a better and more just world.

Karen and Geof, hosts of the podcast, return alone together to discuss how their work has changed and how it has remained the same during the coronavirus pandemic. They discuss what they learned about their operations and how they might change when they return to work.

Rosemary Pleva Flynn, the Chair of the Society of American Archivists' Dictionary Working Group, talks about the origins of this just-released Dictionary of Archives Terminology, an online-only dictionary for archivists, explains how entries are created, and details the rich features of the dictionary. Find DAT at dictionary.archivists.org.

Tamar Zeffren, Archival Collections Manager at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, tells us how archives kept her from becoming a lawyer, explains how she worked odd archives jobs when beginning her career during the Great Recession, and explains how her archives team continues their work while working from home during the Coronavirus Pandemic.