Description
The work of the Brandeis BLK Archives Collective in the past two and a half years has examined many aspects of archival work in relation to questions of power and privilege. The Collective (or BBAC for short) was formed at Brandeis University in the fall of 2016 by establishing connections between Black activists of the #FordHall2015 movement, students and alumni of the University, and archivists. The initial aim was to talk about how to properly document #FordHall2015, the most recent Black student movement, through a series of video conference calls and a community meeting.
We grappled with the issues of using the tools, resources, and personnel of the same institution which the movement was trying to hold accountable. As we began to dialogue with one another, the interest group soon moved to raise our awareness of the broader picture. We discussed how archival work is done and what would be required to make this work more relevant and less destructive to our minoritized communities and to activists in particular.
This paper examines questions of archival practice from within an active cooperative project. It draws on the wisdom of students, alumni, staff, faculty, and some among them, archivists.