The Society of American Archivists-University of Texas at Austin Student Chapter, along with the UT Graduate School of Library and Information Science and other UT departments, will explore various issues that threaten our collective history during ARCHIVES WEEK 2002: “ARCHIVES UNDER ATTACK”, October 7-12, 2002. These free activities will include presentations by guest speakers on issues of archives in war, archives and accountability, authenticity, and preservation.

The week’s featured speaker, Andras Riedlmayer, will discuss “Archives and Cultural Memory under Fire in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s” in Goldsmith, room 3.120 on the UT campus. Riedlmayer, Bibliographer in Islamic Art and Architecture at the Fine Arts Library at Harvard University and author of several articles about the attack on cultural heritage in the Balkans, appeared as an expert witness in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the U.N. war crimes tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague in April 2002. He and several of his colleagues recently launched an international project to locate and collect microfilm copies of unique manuscripts and documents that were destroyed when libraries and archives in Sarajevo, Mostar, and other towns in Bosnia were burned in 1992-93.

On October 12, from 10 am until 3 pm at the Austin History Center (810 Guadalupe Street), SAA-UT, along with the Austin History Center, will sponsor a public Archives Clinic. Students and faculty from the Archival and Records Enterprise program and the Preservation and Conservation Studies Program of UT’s School of Information, along with staff archivists from the Austin History Center, will be available to share advice on organization, storage, decisions on what you need to keep, and archival preservation. Members of the public are invited to bring in family photos, slides, scrapbooks, documents, and home movies and ask questions regarding the proper way to preserve these materials. Staff and students will provide recommendations on how best to handle your special materials and will invite you to explore examples of potential deterioration and housing solutions. Free literature also will be available.

The SAA-UT is an organization of students in UT’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science. The chapter hosts Archives Week each year as a way to promote awareness of the importance of archives and their function and use in society. For a full list of the week’s events, including readings and maps, please see our website at www.ischool.utexas.edu/~saa/archivesweek.html

ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN AND FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 7:00pm. Dr. David B. Gracy, II, “Even I was Appalled at the Possibilities: The Nature and Impact of Documentary Forgery.” Experimental Science Building (ESB) 333

Thursday, Oct. 10, 7:30pm. Andras Riedlmayer, “Archives and Cultural Memory under Firein the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.” Goldsmith 3.120

Saturday, Oct. 12, 10am-3pm. Public Archives Clinic. Austin History Center, Mayors’ Room. 512-974-7479