Table Of ContentARCHIVES AND
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AS
SITES OF CONTESTATION
ARCHIVES AND
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AS
SITES OF CONTESTATION
Mary Kandiuk, Editor
Library Juice Press
Sacramento, CA
Copyright respective authors, 2020
Published in 2020 by Library Juice Press
Library Juice Press
PO Box 188784
Sacramento, CA 95822
http://libraryjuicepress.com/
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kandiuk, Mary, 1956- editor.
Title: Archives and special collections as sites of contestation / Mary
Kandiuk, editor.
Description: Sacramento, CA : Library Juice Press, 2020. | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Explores the
reinterpretation and resituating of archives and special collections
held by libraries, examines the development and stewardship of archives
and special collections within a social justice framework, and describes
the use of critical practice by libraries and librarians to shape and
negotiate the acquisition, cataloguing, promotion and use of archives
and special collections”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020011059 | ISBN 9781634000628 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Libraries and society. | Libraries--Social aspects. |
Archives--Social aspects. | Libraries--Special collections.
Classification: LCC Z716.4 .A73 2020 | DDC 021.2--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011059
Table of Contents
Introduction – Mary Kandiuk 1
Acknowledgements – Mary Kandiuk 5
1. Censorship or Stewardship? Strategies for Managing Biased
Publications and Indigenous Traditional Knowledge in Special
Collections Libraries – Lara K. Aase 7
2. Prison Sentences: Recovering the Voices of Prisoners
through Exhibition, Instruction, and Outreach – Kimberley Bell
and Jillian Sparks 37
3. Getting Out of the Archive: Building Positive Community
Partnerships and Strong Social Justice Collections – Elizabeth
Call and Miranda Mims 63
4. Men, Masculinities, and the Archives: Introducing the
Concept of Hegemonic Masculinity in Archival Discourse –
François Dansereau 81
5. The Gentleman’s Ghost: Patriarchal Eurocentric Legacies in
Special Collections Design – Jesse Ryan Erickson 121
6. Sensitive Materials in the Special Collection: Some
Considerations – Daniel German 159
i
ii Archives And speciAl collections As sites of contestAtion
7. Healing through Inclusion: Preserving Community
Perspectives on the Komagata Maru Incident – Melanie
Hardbattle 175
8. Ethical Cataloging and Racism in Special Collections –
Elizabeth Hobart 203
9. Invisible in Plain View: Libraries, Archives, Digitization,
Memory, and the 1934 Chatham Coloured All-Stars – Heidi
L.M. Jacobs 223
10. Refocusing the Lens: Creating Social Justice Encounters
for Students in the Archives – Peggy Keeran, Katherine Crowe, and
Jennifer Bowers 249
11. White Folks in the Black Archive: Questions of Power,
Ethics, and Race around a Digital Editing Project – Clayton
McCarl 285
12. Breaking Barriers through Decolonial Community-Based
Archival Practice – Krista McCracken and Skylee-Storm Hogan 307
13. “Certain Moral Reflections”: Digital Exhibits and Critical
Scholarship—The Case of the Kipling Scrapbooks Digital
Exhibit – Jessica Ruzek, Roger Gillis, and Diana Doublet 329
14. Controversy and Campus Legacies: A University Archives
Caught in the Crossfire – Anne S.K. Turkos and Jason G. Speck 359
15. Contesting Colonial Library Practices of Accessibility and
Representation – Margarita Vargas-Betancourt, Jessica L. English,
Melissa Jerome, and Angelibel Soto 383
Table of ConTenTs iii
16. The Importance of Collecting, Accessing, and
Contextualizing Japanese-American Historical Materials: A
California State University Collaborative – Gregory L. Williams
and Maureen Burns 413
17. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (with Clarity, Context, and
Patience): Ethical Considerations for Deeds of Gift and
Transfer Agreements – Katrina Windon and Lori Birrell 471
About the Authors 497
Index 505
Introduction
This edited collection provides an opportunity for librarians, archivists,
and allied professionals to share their efforts to apply a critical practice
perspective to their work with archives and special collections. Librar-
ians and archivists strive to resituate and reinterpret existing hegemonic
collections and are committed to democratizing the historical record
through the development of collections from a social justice perspec-
tive. There is a recognition on their parts that furthering justice requires
disrupting archival practices and structures. The strategies librarians and
archivists employ are driven by questioning past practices and entrenched
power structures, and approaching their work through a new and criti-
cal lens.
Common threads run throughout the chapters with many authors
raising the same issues and concerns. That archives and libraries are not
in fact neutral and that historical, political, social, and economic forces
influence what they collect, how they shape what they collect, and how
they make available what they collect is a theme that resonates through-
out the collection. This in turn has a profound effect on what stories
are told and what voices are heard. Colonial practices have dominated
recordkeeping, description, and spaces, and a culture of privilege and
exclusion has prevailed over community access and engagement. There
is strong interest in documenting historical injustices and reaching out
to historically marginalized communities, thereby transforming inter-
pretations and creating new narratives. During this period of transition,
librarians and archivists re-examine their spaces as well as their work from
a critical perspective and look to create archives and special collections
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