Friday's Reception at the Pennsylvania State Capitol

The attendee reception at this fall's MARAC meeting will be held in the stunning Rotunda of the Pennsylvania State Capitol. This extensively preserved space is full of history and drama, the perfect meeting space for a few hundred archivists and archival professionals. Tours of the Capitol will be available during the reception, but if you can't wait then you can view a spactacular 360 degree tour of the space on the Capitol's website.

The Local Arrangements Committee has also arranged a "Taste of Pennsylvania," highlighting foods from the many cultures and regions of PA, including samples from local breweries!

From the conference program:

Join us in the Rotunda of the historic Pennsylvania State Capitol for the MARAC member reception. Guests will enjoy “Tastes of Pennsylvania,” foods reflecting the various cultures and traditions of the Keystone State. Tours of some of the more impressive areas of the Capitol will be offered during the reception. Built in 1906, President Roosevelt described it as “the handsomest building I ever saw.” Come and relax with your colleagues and learn the architectural history of this grand building. The State Capitol is located on Third Street. From the hotel, turn right on Second Street and walk four blocks to Pine Street. Turn right, and walk two blocks to Third Street. Walking is suggested, however a shuttle will also be available.

Developing Effective Grant Applications to Get the Money Still Out There!

Based on the success of past resume and interview clinics, this year's program committee is offering a grant clinic. Coordinated by James Tammaro, a Regional Advisory Officer for the New York State Archives, this grant clinic will allow precious one-on-one time with people from granting agencies or fellow archivists that have experience submitting successful grant applications. Whether you have an application that you would like some comments on or if you just have an idea that you want to run by someone who has been there before, our participants will be available for your assistance. Scheduled from 2:15 to 5:30 on Friday November 12th, you'll find the grant clinic stationed in the Exhibit Hall (Lancaster room)

Participants:
Alex Lorch, National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Maria Holden, New york State Archives
Ann Marie Przybyla, New York State Archives

Coordinator:
James M. Tammaro, New York State Archives

Social media + conferences

With the promise of wifi throughout the hotel brings the challenge of serving all of the MARAC attendees social media needs! What services do you plan to use at MARAC - and more importantly, on which services do expect to see a presence by MARAC while you're at the conference? We don't need to be everywhere you are but if you're looking for us then we'd like to know about it.

I've created a poll, located to your right in the toolbar, where you can select the tools that you think you'll likely use or where you think our established presence would be helpful.

Here are a few tools that are already being used:

Google Calendar for MARAC events
This doesn't look like much unless you go to Nov 11-13, but there I've added all the workshops, tours, sessions, and other exciting events. We'll be adding more as they come along, including any unofficial meet-ups that are sent our way. To subscribe and add this public calendar to your own Google Calendar, select the icon in the lower right corner. Inspired by Mark Matienzo's SAA 2010 Google Calendar.

Twitter:
Stay tuned to the newly created MARAC Twitter account, @MARACtweets. You can also contribute to the conversation using the hashtag #marac.

Facebook Event page
You don't have to RSVP here, but why not? Could also be used as a space to share restaurant suggestions, swap related articles, and point to conference summaries. Looks like you need to be logged in to view the Event page.

View the conference program online now!

The final conference program has been posted to the MARAC Conferences webpage. In the program you will find all the information about the conference including the speakers, sessions, workshops, tours, and hotel and registration costs and information.

If you have additional questions, please feel encouraged to comment here or contact the PC or LAC co-chairs using the contact information listed on the MARAC Conference webpage.

Preserving the American Historical Records (PAHR)

The Plenary speaker at MARAC this fall will be Kathleen Roe, Director of Archives and Records Management Operations at the New York State Archives. One major compenent of her presentation will be the Preserving the American Historical Records (PAHR) legislation, which is currently under debate in Congress. If you would like to learn more about PAHR, including how to contact your Congressional representative and encourage their support for the bill, a good place to start is the webpage hosted by SAA: http://www.archivists.org/pahr/

Here you'll find an overview and current status of the bill, sample letters of support, how to contact your representative, and the listing of current supporters. The Plenary session with Kathleen Roe will take place on Friday, November 12th at 9am in the Carlise room. We hope to see you there!

Strangers in a Strange Land: Archives and Politics

Archivists document politics. Archivists observe politics. Archivists talk and argue about politics. Yet rarely do archivists become involved in politics on behalf of archives. Kathleen Roe, Director of Archives and Records Management Operations, New York State Archives, will deliver our plenary and discuss professional involvement with politics initiated recently on the federal level as we advocate for NHPRC, for Preserving the American Historical Record (PAHR), as well as a range of issues at the state level throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. What role should this play in the life of individual archivists, institutions, and our professional organizations? What have we learned so far about what we can really accomplish in political settings? As archives and archivists become further involved in politics and advocacy, we need to focus on becoming both comfortable and conversant in this strange land so we can better ensure the health of our organizations and profession.

Restaurant Review-Neato Burrito on 2nd St.

It may be July, but there's never a bad time to start a reviewing the local fare in downtown Harrisburg. I asked my 12 year old son to help me review Neato Burrito, not too far from the Hilton. He got a chicken burrito with cheese, vegetarian refried beans, chili, and lettuce.

12 year old- I'll come right out and say it, the food isn't the best I've ever had but, overall the experience is good. It's style was unique and also the restroom was the probably the most unique I've seen. Although the restroom was small it's still unique. The food was surprisingly bland but it makes up for it in quantity, it was not a good place if you just want a snack. The style of the whole restaurant is seemingly a bomb shelter mixed with the 70s. The tables are metal, the booths can sit a group of 4, you can also eat outside. The service was relatively fast, with you only having to tell them what you want on your burrito. The cost was also relatively low being at 28$ for 4 large burritos (note: the burritos come in one size) and 2 large sodas.( My rating 9/10)So if you want a family friendly restaurant, that's relatively cheap, and gives you lots of food(and leftovers), but don't care much on how it tastes then head to Neato Burrito.

(Note: I love Neato Burrito and like to go there for lunch. The bathrooms are great, cut outs of ads from 1950 through 1970s are pasted on the wall. The men's room has a car motif.)

Introduction

Welcome to the blog and online meeting space for the Fall 2010 MARAC meeting. In this space we'll be posting information about our presenters, speakers, workshops, and tours as well as helpful information about the general Harrisburg area. Please watch this space for additional content in the future! Information on MARAC conferences is located on the MARAC website.

Theme: The Politics of Archives
When: November 11-13, 2010
Where: Harrisburg, PA
Hotel: Harrisburg Hilton, Downtown Harrisburg
Room rate: $119
Local Arrangements Committee: Co-Chairs Jesse Teitelbaum (Pennsylvania House of Representatives)jteitelbaum@pabmc.net and Pam Whitenack (Hershey Community Archives) pwhitenack@hersheyarchives.org.
Program Committee: Co-Chairs Cindy Bendroth (Div. of Records Administration, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission)CBENDROTH@state.pa.us and Lindsey Loeper (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) lindseyloeper@umbc.edu.