SAA San Francisco 2008

I am attending the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) -- held in San Francisco this year -- as a presenter, having put together a successful proposal: "Leveraging Outreach to Further Your Goals: Tips for Small Repositories." The germ of the idea had come to me in late September of 2007, very close to the deadline for proposals, and I sent out an email to the Lone Arrangers ListServ, looking for volunteers to participate in a panel discussion. I immediately got responses from three volunteers, all of which looked really promising, so I took the role of moderator, fine tuned the idea and sent the proposal to SAA. I also contacted several of the SAA groups looking for endorsements (recommended but not required) and was happy to be endorsed by the Lone Arrangers Round Table Steering Committee.

In the end, we were selected, and given the time slot of 8:30 A.M. Thursday morning. I must say it was a pleasant surprise to face a full room at that hour. Each presenter, Melinda Isler, Allaina Wallace, and Darlene Richardson gave interesting presentations, from very varied perspectives, and I was pleased with audience response, based on questions. More information is available on the SAA website, and the session was taped, so tapes or CDs are presumably available from SAA: go to www.archivists.org

My husband, Marc Pevar, LU Class of 1967, accompanied me on the trip, and yesterday (Thursday) after a busy morning (my session, followed by one on rethinking finding aids), we took a break from the conference to travel to nearby Oakland, to meet Ghanaian artist Anthony Komla, whose home and studio are in the neighborhood of Fruitvale. Mr. Komla recently donated a magnificent wooden bas relief carving commemorating Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and his association with Lincoln University. Anthony Komla had been inspired to create a piece honoring Nkrumah for the 50th anniversary of the founding of independent Ghana in 1957, and had contacted me in the Langston Hughes Memorial Library after discovering the Ghanaian leader's ties to Lincoln University. I had seen the carving, which Mr. Komla had shipped to the President's office just a few weeks ago, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet the artist and see his workshop, located in the garage of his home in Fruitland. We told him that the likely permanent home for the commemorative Nkrumah piece will the Lincoln University's International Cultural Center, which is currently under construction. Mr. Komla hopes to visit the university for a formal presentation at some future date.