#uwm libraries

#AskAnArchivist Day

October 13, 2021 is #AskAnArchivist Day. Bring all your archival related questions to Twitter where graduate interns Maddi Brenner and Jamee Pritchard will be taking over the @uwmlibraries Twitter account for the day. 

What questions can be asked? 

We are eager to respond to any and all questions you have about archives and archival work. No question is too silly … 

• What’s the craziest thing you’ve come across in your collections? 
• If your archives had a soundtrack, what songs would be on it? 
• What do archivists talk about around the water cooler? 
• What’s a water cooler and why did people gather around it to talk?

…and no question is too practical.

• What should I do to be sure that my emails won’t get lost? 
• I’ve got loads of digital images on my phone. How should I store them so I can access them later on? 
• How do you decide which items to keep and which to weed out from a collection? 
• As a teacher, how can I get my students more interested in using archives for projects? 

How does it work? 

#AskAnArchivist Day is open to everyone—all you need is a Twitter account. To participate, just tweet a question and include the hashtag #AskAnArchivist in your tweet. Your question will be seen instantly by archivists around the country who are standing by to respond directly to you. 

Have a question for a specific archives or archivist? Include their Twitter handle with your question. UWM Libraries’ Twitter handle is @uwmlibraries. We may not know every answer right away, but we will get back to you after we’ve had the chance to do some digging. 

Don’t have a question right away? Search Twitter for #AskAnArchivist and follow along as questions and answers are shared.

Get ready! 

Archivists from universities, museums, historical societies, churches, businesses, local and state governments, and other organizations are taking to Twitter to answer your questions all day long on October 13 at #AskAnArchivist.

Photo:UWM Photo Collection, UWM Archival Collection 6, Box 6, Folder 9. Mellencamp Hall, 1954. 

New Digital Collection: Desi Wisconsin, 1950-79

Today the UWM Libraries officially launch the Desi Wisconsin Digital Collection!  The collection contains oral history interviews and photographs documenting the experiences of some of the first South Asian immigrants to Wisconsin.  Here is a brief description from the collection’s webpage:

“Whether it was segregation in the 1950s or the cultural and political tumult of the 1960s and 1970s, South Asian immigrants to Wisconsin confronted a world fundamentally alien to that they had left behind. Neither black or white, these individuals managed to raise families and often succeeded in their careers. From a few dozen students, professionals, and businessmen and their families who settled in Wisconsin, the presence of South Asian immigrants grew exponentially as they became tightly integrated in the fabric of their communities. The journey to develop a distinct identity as South Asian Americans in Wisconsin over the course of decades is highlighted in this collection of oral histories from some of the first South Asian immigrants to Wisconsin.”

The black and white photograph from 1955 featured above shows Joni and Chandra Raja outside St Luke’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was shared by Sharath Raja as part of an oral history interview with Lajwanti Waghray.  Sharath Raja’s full interview and collection of photographs can be found in the Desi Wisconsin Digital Collection.