2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists—a milestone that offers a unique opportunity to reflect on five decades of archival practice, community-building, and collective professional growth. To celebrate, the ACA Blog team has launched a special interview series to spotlight the voices, experiences, and insights of ACA members past and present through intergenerational conversations. Students and emerging professionals interview longtime members, offering a space to share personal reflections, institutional memory, and the evolving landscape of archival work in Canada.

In today's feature, Rohini Singh chats with Ian E. Wilson. This interview has been revised from its original form for clarity and accuracy.

1. The ACA turned 50 this year. As someone who was instrumental in its formation, what does being part of this 50-year history mean to you personally?

To me it is an affirmation of the profession. The formation of the ACA was a logical outcome of the developments within the archives section of the Canadian Historical Association (CHA), as well as the state of the archival profession at the time. When I was a young archival assistant at Queens University in 1967, the role and education of archivists was very vague.

A senior archivist at the Public Archives [now Library and Archives Canada] I knew told me how he read Jenkinson and Schellenberg over a weekend and by Monday called himself an archivist! Archivists were considered failed historians, with several senior archivists who ideally should have become leaders in the profession in the 1960s leaving for teaching positions at the newly established universities. We were also ignored by the CHA. In fact, I served as the chair of the archives section of the CHA but was not invited to their executive meetings. Even though the section ran a four-to-five week-long archival course at Carleton University beginning in1959, there is no mention of the archival section’s existence in the history of the CHA that came out in the 2000s.

At the 1973 annual meeting of the section we were able to organize a full day and a half of professional sessions and began to establish grounds for creating a separate association for archivists. With Anne MacDermaid we evolved the section’s annual publication, The Canadian Archivist/L’archiviste canadien, from a journal that printed reports from different archives to prepare the way for Archivaria, a publication with intellectual and analytical articles from the profession. For me the launch of the ACA was a key moment. It gave a sense of the profession, creating opportunities for anglophone archivists to meet, forming different committees, and the Archivaria is a phenomenal and internationally recognized accomplishment of that.

2. With the benefit of hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently while setting up the ACA? Do you have any regrets?

I deeply regret that we did not form a national bilingual association. We later had to create the Council of Canadian Archives to establish a suitably representative bilingual national body. But we did not have any other option. The Quebec archivists had separated themselves from the anglophone CHA in the 1960s. By the time the ACA was formed the Quebec archivists were already well organized, and they had done some great work. The Quebec archival legislation is far ahead of other provinces and is important to the development of our profession, which includes records management. The ACA, for that matter, has not really included record managers and that has limited the involvement of the larger information management community. We missed out on that, but now it's going to be more important than ever to involve them. With the planned federal budget reductions, the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is going to be heavily constrained and will need the support of a larger coalition of information professionals concerned about the long-term integrity and authenticity of records.

3. Did you, at the time of its formation, have a vision of what the Association would look like in 50 years? Has that stood the test of time?

I think it has. The ACA has grown and evolved, developed serious capabilities with respect to archival standards, and has participated internationally through the International Council of Archives since the 1980s. But as a profession, our voices are not out there. We meet every year and ask ourselves why other people and professions don’t understand the importance of what we do. I went on record at one of the ACA annual meetings in the early 2000s to say that we should not be hosting these gatherings every year. Instead of talking amongst ourselves and convincing ourselves of the righteousness of what we are doing, we should put that time and effort every other year into talking to people who might be interested in our issues like municipal administrators, political parties, universities, chamber of commerce, other organizations, etc. I skipped the ACA meetings for a few years and spent that time meeting those who could be useful allies.

In the mid-1990s, David Cameron observed that while the Symons Report of 1975 emphasised that archives are the foundation of Canadian studies the profession had made great strides except for one area: engaging the public¹. And I think the situation has become worse today. We advocated, myself included, to put more and more records online but the more we work with third-party genealogy-based organisations to make our material accessible, the less visibility and credit we get for the work we do behind the scenes. When I was a young researcher, the then Public Archives was packed with historians, and students from a wide variety of disciplines. We would exchange ideas over coffee, speak to archivists and build relations. Today, the reading rooms at the LAC are empty. We have succeeded in making more records available online but have defeated ourselves in the process. The public today may respect our profession but knows far less about us. We have lost the element of personal interaction and the challenge now is to rebuild that in a digital world.

4. What are some standout memories or milestones from your involvement with the ACA—whether at conferences, committee work, or advocacy efforts?

I have great memories of the friendships we built over the years, of sharing ideas and planning ACA meetings over coffee—or something stronger—of building networks and contacts so one knew whom to contact if faced with a problem. A lot can come out of professionals with common interests and goals coming together to accomplish something. These interactions are now facilitated over emails and Zoom, while we did it through letters.

5. You advocated for the creation of regional and community-based archives in the 1970s. What was your rationale behind this?

This was one of the ways of building public support. During my time in Kingston, Ontario, I understood that an archive with community support is far more useful and effective than a remote institution. I was active in archival acquisitions regionally while working at Queen’s University and recognized that large government archives need to work with a network of regional and local community-based archives to fulfil their mandate of representing Canadian society in all its complexity and diversity. Many agreed with me at the time as well, that the Canadian archival heritage rests with the network of 300-plus institutions across the country—not just with ones in Ottawa or in the provincial capitals. What was needed was for the government-funded ‘Total Archives’ to recognize this and share some of their funding and expertise with the local, regional, university and community-based archives; to see the fulfilment of their mandate in part through the active role of the local archives. The archivists during the 1970s would joke about “Total War amongst Total Archives”. When a prominent Canadian would die, archivists from different archives having competing jurisdictions and mandates might show up on the doorstep of the family of the deceased to acquire the records. Unbecoming!  

The 1980 SSHRC Report’s key chapter was entitled Co-operation or Competition?² The network approach would focus on ensuring that the records are being preserved, properly maintained and are accessible, whether that is happening in a small town or a small organization or in our national institution. A collaborative network of archives would be the way of ensuring that the archival records of minority groups and communities, however defined, are properly maintained. The 1980 SSHRC report recommended that this be encouraged through federal and provincial project grants. Through the Canadian Council of Archives we funded the traveling archival advisors at the provincial level who were out there assisting in setting up this network, and that was the best use of our money. They took some of the load off the provincial archives in setting up local, community-based archives.

6. Western societies all over have been critiqued for the lack of representation within and access to archives of people from non-white, heterosexual identities. What are your views on the degree of inclusivity and representation within Canadian archives? At a time when BIPOC and Queer communities in Canada are striving to represent their histories in their own voices, along with a focus on trauma-informed and people-centred practices, what do you think legacy institutions like the ACA can do to remain relevant in these conversations and support these efforts? 

The main thing the ACA can do is to ensure these conversations are taking place and provide an open, inclusive venue. They should also explore why certain community archives thrive while some bigger institutional archives struggle with working with certain communities. There are certain groups that don’t want to work with government organizations that offer to provide archival services because they are suspicious of the government’s intentions, and what they will do with those records. Rather than asking different groups and communities to give their records, the big government archives need to ask themselves how they could build their internal capabilities to serve those groups and communities. And, as I have mentioned, project grants are essential to encourage community-based efforts and the experience has been that these grants leverage extraordinary voluntary efforts.  There needs to be an exchange of best practices and perspectives on what is the archive’s role; on how to attract students from different backgrounds to the archival studies programs who can then share their perspectives and study archival development seriously. This is where the ACA and the Archivaria can come in as platforms that support these explorations.

7. Sir Arthur Doughty has been someone you are deeply interested in. What in your understanding of Doughty, the person, has helped you understand his choices and decisions as Sir Arthur, the Dominion Archivist?

Doughty was an artist, personable, creative and passionate about the role of archives in developing a national awareness of our past. I became curious about how he became an archivist. That might be the next article I write. Most biographical dictionaries do not mention his educational background and what he did in the U.K. before moving to Canada in 1886. He adopted what he called a “scientific approach” to history—that if two historians were given the same documents then they would write the same historical narrative. That was naïve of him, for we now know that is not possible, but that is what he and his generation believed. At the same time, his own publications and writings were in an older style of romantic, grand storytelling with the heroes, the clash of armies at Quebec, the flags flying and the drums beating. In the 1908 celebrations of the Quebec Tercentenary he helped stage the pageantry on the Plains of Abraham. He started the documentary art collections of landscapes and portraits that are today in the national archives. He drew upon the technology of his time, publishing extensive volumes of documents and using glass lantern slides to make the archives’ growing holdings of documentary art available to schools across the country. In the process, he linked the archives directly to the central priorities of successive governments. The archives became the focus of nascent federal cultural policy and provided practical support for the development of the Canadian historical profession. The archives thrived and I have sought to learn from Doughty’s approach: his successes and limitations. In the course of my career I have worked at a senior level with 2 NDP governments, 3 Conservative and 2 Liberal governments. In every case, the challenge was that of Doughty: how to relate archival development to the concerns and priorities of shifting political perspectives. 

8. Your paper “A Noble Dream” highlights the efforts it took to build the Public Archives of Canada and a Eurocentric historiography of Canada. Do you have any thoughts about the critiques of this process of deliberately constructing a historical account that centres the narrative of the white settlers who built a nation on land stolen from Indigenous nations, and the complicity of the archives in that process?

“A Noble Dream” only deals with the development of the Public Archives up to the end of Doughty’s tenure in 1935. But a key point is that from its earliest days, our national archives broke from the Eurocentric model of a national repository, focused solely on the official record. Brymner did not have a mandate to deal with official records and cast a broad net in securing records from a variety of sources. This gave the archives flexibility over the decades in seeking out other sources as it sought to document Canada society. In my meetings with European colleagues, I found considerable interest in Canadian initiatives seeking to be inclusive in our acquisition approaches and in efforts to open archival research to all. Canada has not followed a European model in developing its national archives but with the archival system has tried an approach to archival service adapted to the needs of our society.  

Archives do not exist outside of place and time. They are, largely established by governments and institutions which provide their mandates, facilities and funding. In terms of acquisitions, for government archives, the selection and preservation of official records is obligatory while the acquisition of private materials is discretionary. And the archives, whatever its ambitions, is limited by the resources it has available and by the abilities of its management to link the archives, its needs and outcomes, to the priorities of its funding body. At its best, the archival system in its holdings should endeavour to seek out records which hold a mirror to Canadian society, warts and all. What historians and other authors do with this record in constructing national historical narratives rests in their hands.  

While there have been scholarly studies of the writing of Canadian history, I am not aware of any that have looked at the relationship over the decades between the evolving historiography and the availability of relevant archival resources. But I have been struck, sometimes pleasantly surprised by how the routine consistent application of archival selection criteria to the official record has not emphasised specific topics but has resulted in the archival acquisition of the records reflecting the decisions and actions spanning the wide range of governmental interests. As research interests shifted from constitutional and economic issues, to social and labour history, to women’s and gender studies and the treatment of minorities and, too slowly, to the treaties, education and the rights of Indigenous peoples, extensive records were available--a foundation on which to build. And the archival system has and continues to respond, documenting achievements and failures, pride and regrets and actively contributing, increasingly online, to the remembered past on which the future is being built.  

9. Looking ahead, what do you hope the ACA will prioritize or continue to build upon in the next 50 years? 

There is still a lot of work to be done, especially now with immediate challenges like the looming budget cuts. It is important for us to think about how to represent the profession when reaching out to allies. Archivists have allies, if only we go out and talk to them. Now is the time to inform, engage with and enlist them, especially those who share our concerns about the integrity and authenticity of the records. It is time to take risks and move out of our ‘comfort zone’.  This support then needs to be made politically and publicly explicit. There is a lot of intrinsic support once people understand what we do and the impact we have on Canadian society. Someone like Charlotte Gray, an insightful historian who is writing in the Globe and Mail supporting archives, and others in the historical research community who are strong supporters. How can we turn this support into awareness and funding for Canadian archives It’s important for all of our institutions to have that kind of visible support and recognition.  

Some years ago the head of the federal public service issued a challenge to the public service. It applies to archives today: INNOVATE, COLLABORATE and ADVANCE WITH COURAGE.

Footnotes:

1. David Cameron. "Taking Stock: Canadian Studies in the Nineties," Association of Canadian Studies (1996).  Commenting on implementation of the recommendations of: T.H.B. Symons. To Know Ourselves: The Report of the Commission of Canadian Studies. Vols 1 & 2. (Ottawa, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, 1975) 

2. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Canadian Archives. Ottawa. 1980. excerpts are available online at www.ianewilson.ca/publications

In this blog post, Sara Janes and Jordyn Curci (Lakehead University) present the work of archiving the Northwestern Ontario International Women’s Decade Co-Ordinating Council oral histories. If you'd like to learn more, make sure to register for the ACA 2026 Virtual Conference to attend the session “Listening to Northwestern Ontario Women’s History”!

1975 was the first year of the United Nations Decade for Women. In Thunder Bay, the Northwestern Ontario International Women’s Decade Co-Ordinating Council was founded, to coordinate and support feminist organizing across the region.

Members of this Council recognized that women’s history in Northwestern Ontario, much like women’s history elsewhere, was under-represented and under-recorded. One of the first projects the Council took on was termed the “Herstory Project,” with goals to collect oral history and archival records, and ultimately to write a book about this under-researched history. The project was funded in 1975, and active collecting began: volunteers and paid researchers visited women across the region, recorded oral histories, and collected documents and photographs.

Funding, and active work on the project, lasted only a few years. But, in that relatively short period of time, over 100 women committed their voices to tape, and shared additional materials with the researchers.

The materials – audio cassette tapes, photographs, news clippings, and project organizing files – were held by members of the Decade Council and then passed to a faculty member with Lakehead’s Department of Women’s Studies. Ultimately, after retirements and faculty turnover, those records were donated to the Archives in late 2024.

Woman feeding farmyard birds. Northwestern Ontario Women’s Decade Council Herstory Project Collection. Photographer unknown.

Herstory, 1975

This was a broad project, and very ambitious. While the Council wasn’t able to complete the work they had initially planned, such as producing a book, the materials that have survived the past 50 years are an incredibly valuable record of women’s experiences in the early 20th century across Northwestern Ontario.

One priority of the interviewers was to speak to older women: some were even born in the 1890s. Another priority of the project was to interview women from across Northwestern Ontario: settler communities around the region were well represented. Most of the women interviewed were working class, and came to these communities because of work: for themselves or for their husbands.

Map showing locations of interviewees, across Northwestern Ontario. Image: Lakehead University Archives.

Another priority was to interview women from various ethnic groups. This is of course difficult to quantify, but in listening to the tapes digitized so far, many of the women interviewed had immigrated to Northwestern Ontario from various European countries in their youth. So far, we have not identified any interviewees who were Indigenous. In some of the interviews, women discuss relationships between the people of their settler communities, and people in local Indigenous communities.

The interviews were unstructured and range in length from roughly 20 minutes, to over two hours. Normally they would begin with the interviewer asking the women to tell them about their life in Northwestern Ontario. The women then speak about their experiences and tell stories, sometimes going in unexpected directions. The questions asked by interviewers tend toward asking about how women were treated differently compared to men in specific scenarios the women experienced. The interviewers were also very interested in any testimony regarding the World Wars or the Depression that the women could provide.

Quote from interviewee Jean Forester, regarding work at Canadian Car & Foundry during the Second World War. Image: Lakehead University Archives.

The Project at Lakehead University’s Archives

Upon receiving the tapes, it quickly became clear that this would be a project with many moving parts. Audio cassette tapes are a nearly obsolete medium, and at 50 years old, we knew it would be important to digitize them for preservation as well as for access. While at Lakehead we do a lot of digitization in-house, because of the age and potential fragility of the tapes, it seemed valuable to outsource the work to access expertise and better-quality equipment. Another challenge we faced in this project was that only a few signed release forms were included in the project records, which means that many of the recordings can’t yet be widely shared.

The Archives has received charitable financial support in the past, and I had for some time been thinking about how we might engage with using Lakehead’s relatively-new crowdfunding platform. This project seemed like one we could communicate effectively around, and which could garner some public interest.

Multiple parts of this project need to happen simultaneously, though. In order to begin digitization, we needed to raise the first bit of money, which meant we needed to get people excited about the project without even having anything available to listen to. Receiving the first few hundred dollars meant we could digitize the first set of tapes – which we made sure all had consent forms available – to begin building online access and better publicity. Since September 2025, Sara was able to speak to the local CBC and to local arts & culture magazine The Walleye; present at the Ontario Library Association Superconference; and plan an event with the local chapter of Ontario Ancestors (OGS); while student workers put together a display for Women’s History Month in the Library.

Photograph of Women’s History Month display at Lakehead University Library. Image: Lakehead University Archives.

All of this work has brought our fundraising total slowly upwards, resulting in 50 tapes digitized, listened to, and given metadata. Because of the lack of signed consent forms, only 11 are freely available online at this time. We hope to increase that number as we search for and reach out to family members and friends.

The women’s stories show a wide range of lived experiences. Within the tapes that have been digitised and made public, each story is incredibly different. For example, Lillian Wolter discusses growing up in Nipigon and becoming a school teacher. She details the difficulty of getting a divorce from her husband, since she was the one who wanted to leave. She describes a conversation she had with her first lawyer where he told her, “You can’t prove adultery on his part, it's pretty difficult to prove that on a man.” She was eventually granted a divorce after her husband had two children and multiple other relationships outside of his marriage to her.

This life experience is different from that of someone like Ksenia Dubinsky, who immigrated from Ukraine to Fort William, and owned a restaurant with her husband during the Great Depression. The story she tells of immigrating to Canada puts focus on the multiple immigrant communities in Northwestern Ontario and how they relate to one another. Each and every story is unique and offers a different perspective on living as a woman during the early 20th century.

There are also commonalities across the stories. Many of the women discuss their active membership in the social and political life of these communities. Women like Caroline Jacobson, who was an active member of the CCF (Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation), and Michalena Stepanik who was a part of The Ukrainian Labour Society and President of the Ukrainian Women’s Association for 12 years, did important community work in Dorion and Kenora, respectively. Additionally, many of these tapes discuss local branches of the Women’s Institute, and challenges in homemaking and raising children.   

Quote from interviewee Michalena Stepanik, regarding raising her children as second-generation Ukrainian immigrants. Image: Lakehead University Archives.

This project successfully illustrates the vast experiences of women and showcases the often hidden part that women play within history. Hearing these experiences in the women’s voices lets them be the narrators of their own stories, correcting misconceptions, and starting new conversations. Those who are interested in this topic can listen to the stories shared above in the voices of those who experienced them.

Stretching Perspectives on Archival Outreach

This project has helped to stretch our definitions of archival outreach. While it has always been something that we found important, the range of activities we’ve been able to take on at Lakehead has been limited by time, resources, and the need to balance many different projects.

But here, we find ourselves working hard not just to share information about one, specific collection – the majority of which is not yet accessible to researchers. Another major goal of this project is to connect with the family members and friends of the women whose voices are preserved on the tapes: to connect them to those recordings, so that they can listen to the voices again.

To date, we have connected with family and friends twice. There is a great deal more work to do: in confirming full names, looking for potential family, and reaching out. We have hopes that our fundraising will support a part-time student position to engage with the recordings more deeply, and to speed up this work.

Young woman on a train. Northwestern Ontario Women’s Decade Council Herstory Project Collection. Photographer unknown.

The Listening to Women’s History project is still very much in progress, but it has already led to meaningful outcomes: reconnecting people with the voices of their family members, providing insight into lives lived across rural Northwestern Ontario, and getting members of the public more interested in our collections and what we do. Archival outreach can feel like a constant uphill battle, but it also creates meaning and support.

And ultimately, these tapes will provide an invaluable historical resource to all those who wish to use them.

Sara Janes is University Archivist at Lakehead University, and has also held volunteer roles with the ACA, AAO, and Thunder Bay Museum. Sara’s work focuses on collection development, digital preservation, and improving access to historical documents through outreach and public engagement.

Jordyn Curci is in the process of completing her Honours Bachelor of Arts in English at Lakehead University. She is currently working in the archives at Lakehead as an Archives Assistant.

2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists—a milestone that offers a unique opportunity to reflect on five decades of archival practice, community-building, and collective professional growth. To celebrate, the ACA Blog team has launched a special interview series to spotlight the voices, experiences, and insights of ACA members past and present through intergenerational conversations. Students and emerging professionals inteview longtime members, offering a space to share personal reflections, institutional memory, and the evolving landscape of archival work in Canada.

In today's feature, Grace Park chats with Erica Hernandez-Read, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Can you tell us about your first experience with the Association of Canadian Archivists? What drew you to become a member? How did you first become involved with the ACA? 

My first experience with the ACA was back in 2002 at the Vancouver conference. I had been out of school for about a year and as a new professional working in the Lower Mainland, I had no professional development funds at all. So, it was an amazing opportunity for me to be able attend a conference of ACA’s calibre so close to home. I remember having read so many interesting articles from Archivaria in school and being able to listen to some of these authors speak at this conference, it was just an incredible experience.  

I believe there were a few ACA@UBC events that I probably attended while at UBC but I wasn't actively involved in the ACA until several years later. It took me a while to get my nerve up to volunteer even though I knew it was an important way for me to network and make those important collegial connections, as well as to continue my growth as a professional. After getting over that initial hesitation, I've pretty much been an active member since 2006.  

You said you’ve been involved since 2006. I'm curious about what keeps you motivated to stay involved every year, especially since you've been involved in many different capacities. How has it been like and how has it helped in your journey?  

When I first started volunteering at the committee level, it was to build my collegial network and my professional portfolio. Back in 2006 I was the only archivist in my institution, and it was important for me, as a new professional, to have colleagues to bounce ideas off of and learn from. But I soon came to understand that working in that kind of dynamic environment with like-minded and amazing people was a powerful way to explore new ideas and new ways of doing archival work — where we could amplify the ideas people were writing about and help support their introduction into archival practice. Helping to encourage, or support, the evolution of our professional practice in this way has been so meaningful and exciting to me both personally and professionally — it’s what’s fuelled my desire to continue on my 20 years (and counting) journey with the ACA.  

You are currently the Head of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). I feel that British Columbia is an interesting place because of its geography and the distant location of cities and towns. You’ve emphasized the collegial aspect of networking. Have these collegial networks been one thing that helps connect you with these dispersed archive communities? 

Absolutely! Having found meaningful growth as a professional through collegial networking myself, I've really tried to actively reach out and connect with those somewhat isolated folks working in community archives in my region. Given the distances between communities in the northern half of BC, along with the smaller population bases and lower access to “big city” amenities, it can be very difficult to entice trained archivists to move north of Kamloops. But trained, or not, there are still people doing archival work in northern communities and what's been important to me is to try to connect with these people, and make connections between these people — to ACA, to AABC, to myself and my institution, and to one another. To support that collegial communication within the region so they know they're not alone but rather part of a broader archival community.  

It’s clear that the creation of community and networking through the ACA is something that you're very proud of. What are some standout memories or milestones from your involvement with the ACA? 

One of my standout memories would have to be my work as the ACA representative on the “Response to the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee Taskforce of the Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives,” also known as the TRC-TF. Working with a group of amazing archivists, heritage professionals, researchers, and educators from across the country, we laboured tirelessly for 7+ years to research and develop the framework. It was such a mammoth task, so emotionally challenging and at times overwhelming. Many people didn’t think we’d finish, but we did. I’m proud of this work and honoured to have realized this accomplishment in collaboration with my TRC-TF colleagues. We did the best we could for our colleagues across the country — to help them develop better archival practices — and for every Indigenous person who had ever been denied archival access to the documented truth about systemic colonial violence against themselves, their families and their communities.   

Another milestone from my involvement with ACA is when I was President. I had the honour to work with the Indigenous Matters Working Group (IMWG) to research and compile “Caretaking Memory: A Resource Guide for Archival Practitioners working in Indigenous-centred Archives.” We also undertook an assessment of ACA services, programs, events, membership frameworks, governance, and organizational structures in light of the recommendations outlined in the Reconciliation Framework. We made recommendations to the ACA Board for strategic changes to support the fundamental need for Indigenous-focused equity, diversity, and inclusion within the ACA. This important work came out of the recommendations of the TRC-TF and were actualized by the ACA, by this working group. I’m excited to see where this work leads the ACA in future.   

On a related note, what kind of significant changes have you seen in the archive profession? How have changes been reflected in the ACA? What has the rate of change been like? As someone who has recently graduated from the MAS program, I feel there is more conversation on community archives, participatory archiving, and oral history of Indigenous histories. 

In my early years as a young professional, I often felt like change within the profession moved at a snail’s pace. But once the TRC’s “Calls to Action” came out in 2015 and the broader non-Indigenous population started learning the truth of our shared and parallel histories and our complicity in the ongoing legacy of colonial violence against Indigenous People, I felt people were finally willing to open their minds to a revised understanding of Canadian history and the role of archival practice in daylighting those revisions. And while changes to archival practice (or any professional practice really) certainly don’t happen overnight, they are happening and the ACA has played a fundamental role in supporting this change. Not only has the ACA provided a safe space for difficult conversations to be held, it has also facilitated myriad educational opportunities for archivists looking to update or revise their core practices. Ultimately, it has supported the centering — or privileging of — historically marginalized collegial voices. 

What would you like the ACA to prioritize and continue to build upon for the next 50 years?  

I’m hoping that the ACA continues to balance the needs of the university-trained, professional archivist with those who have learned their craft through lived experience. Through post-graduate studies we are able to conceptualize and test new archival methodologies, technologies, and theories. But our true strength lies in understanding those methodologies, technologies, and theories through the lens of “diversity of lived experience” as provided by archival practitioners and public researchers. It’s via this diverse allyship that we as a collegial body can assess applicability, versatility, and scalability of our academic-centred advancements by running them through real-world applications. Through inclusion and consideration of myriad voices, we have the opportunity to continue to actively work against the marginalization — or downright exclusion — of any person(s)/communities from representation in record descriptions, as well as from our profession and its evolution. Through greater continued inclusivity, we’ll be able to more comprehensively and iteratively assess what works versus what doesn't and identify whose research needs are being met versus whose aren’t, helping to contribute to a stronger archival profession and practice overall. That is my dream for ACA, idealistic though it may be!  

On one last note, do you have any advice for early career archivists or new ACA members trying to start engaging with the profession? 

Imposter syndrome is real! Everybody has it. Whether you’re new to the profession, or just new to the ACA, I would wholeheartedly recommend volunteering for and actively engaging with the ACA. You will absolutely learn new skills, expand your collegial network, and contribute to the continued development of the archival profession in Canada. Plus, you’ll get to meet some truly amazing people! 

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists—a milestone that offers a unique opportunity to reflect on five decades of archival practice, community-building, and collective professional growth. To celebrate, the ACA Blog team is launching a special interview series to spotlight the voices, experiences, and insights of ACA members past and present through intergenerational conversations. Students and emerging professionals will interview longtime members, offering a space to share personal reflections, institutional memory, and the evolving landscape of archival work in Canada.

In today’s feature, Carolyn Smith chats with Catherine Bailey for an insightful conversation.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience in the archival field.

Catherine: I have been a member of ACA for many years. Originally from Edmonton, I completed my training at the UBC archival studies program from 1986 to 1988. Following that, I moved to Ottawa to accept a position at the then-National Archives of Canada, intending to only stay a few years. 30 years later I retired from Library and Archives Canada after being a government records archivist the whole time. I am now a retired archivist living in Ottawa, though I remain actively involved with the ACA through my work with Archivaria and the Records Management Working Group.

In essence, that summarizes my 36-year professional journey.

Can you tell us about your first experience with the ACA? What drew you to become a member?

Catherine: I joined the ACA quite some time ago—back in 1985, when I was a summer student working as an archival assistant at the Provincial Archives of Alberta in my hometown of Edmonton. That year, the 10th annual ACA conference was being held there. Brian Speirs served as the program chair and Jean Dryden as the local arrangements chair, and both were wonderfully encouraging to the summer students. They urged us to get involved and to attend the plenary session.

By that point, I already knew I was going to be an archivist—it was clear to me even then—so I was very eager to participate. I no longer remember exactly what the plenary was about, but I do remember enjoying it and wanting to continue being involved. The following year I applied to the Master of Archival Studes program at UBC and when I got there, Terry Eastwood was incredibly encouraging about becoming involved with the ACA. We also had a lot of encouragement from Hugh Taylor, who was a visiting professor in my first term. And honestly, the passion that those two had for the archives and ACA was a powerful source of positive reinforcement and further inducement to get involved.

My first experience with a full ACA conference was in Hamilton in 1987, themed “Archives in the Information Age.” At the time, I was specializing in what were then referred to as machine-readable records. I found the entire conference was really exciting, especially being able to meet, in person, many of the archival figures that I had just spent a year reading about in great detail. I met people like Terry Cook, Harold Naugler and Jay Atherton and countless others.

That was also when I discovered the East–West softball game, and from that moment, I was hooked—I was fully in. That was my first direct involvement with ACA, just as a conference participant. But after that I started to get more involved. Once I got to the National Archives of Canada, there were a lot of people there who worked with the ACA and were very encouraging. I thought, well, I'll just start volunteering – and so I did.

How has your work as an archivist evolved over the course of your career, and what role has the ACA played in that journey?

Catherine: Full disclosure: apart from the four summers I spent working at the Provincial Archives of Alberta, I spent my entire career as a federal government records archivist at National Archives and Library and Archives Canada. That experience shaped my perception about my work and how it evolved.

I would say that overall, I don’t believe the fundamental nature of archival work—the core principles and underlying practices—has changed significantly over the years. What has changed though, is how we go about applying those principles and the specific methods we use in practice.

I did a lot of thinking about this, and for me, the development and implementation of macro appraisal based on functional analysis, that was a game changer. I've often said it's a rare treat for a recent graduate in archival studies, particularly one who's been immersed in learning appraisal theory, to walk right into a testing ground for a new approach. But that's what happened to me.

Since I joined the National Archives not long after the findings of the DeschênesRoyal Commission were released—the commission that investigated the destruction of immigration records potentially containing information about Nazi war criminals—I witnessed firsthand how profoundly those findings reshaped archival practice.

The findings of the Deschênes Commission were a very, very significant game changer for government records appraisal practices, particularly in terms of processes and documentation.

In terms of the practice, at the time I joined, appraisal had been largely based on trying to identify the secondary value of records, which is following what Schellenberg had outlined. When I was reading about appraisal in school, that made sense to me. But once I began examining actual records—under specific instructions to assess them and make recommendations about how they might be used in the future and by whom—I realized that it was often quite straightforward to identify a record’s secondary value.

In fact, it soon occurred to me that everything has a secondary value to somebody for something. And if you kept on doing this for government records you were going to get a tsunami of archival records. I think it took me about two years of shifting from the, “oh this is really cool, we need to preserve it” to “there's an awful lot of records here, is there a good reason this should not be disposed of”?

Shortly after I started working, macro appraisal was starting to be developed. As it was articulated and refined over the coming years, I'd say it had strengths and weaknesses. But overall, I thought it was a good means of dealing directly with exponential record growth and it didn't matter what the format was, because at the same time, it was preserving key archival principles and practices.

To a certain extent, this approach also helped us manage the growing pressures of budget cuts and staff reductions. That said, conducting extensive research with increasingly limited personnel was both time‑consuming and challenging. These constraints were not unique to us; many of our colleagues across the country, in institutions of all sizes, were facing the same realities. Eventually, even in the latter part of my career, I'd say about the last five or six years, events pushed us to think even more strategically in terms of macro appraisal and disposition and actually come to accept the component of risk management and reappraisal as being essential parts of government records programs. I'd have to say that neither one of those two concepts was easy to embrace, but it was a very, very necessary evolution for the kind of archival work that we were carrying out.

We come to the second part of that question, which is, what role did the ACA play in this evolutionary journey? And I think it's fair to say that although the approach started and was centered at the National Archives, the evolution of macro appraisal was playing out regularly and very publicly within the context of the ACA. Year in, year out, we had spirited debates at conference sessions, in workshops, at special interest section meetings, and of course, we had articles in Archivaria.

For me, the Association has been an integral part of my world for more than three decades. The ACA has been a very important part of my own personal journey. I was reflecting on this, when I retired from LAC and I got my chance to stand up in front of all my colleagues. I had an opportunity to thank them for their support and encouragement over the years, and I talked to them about how that support allowed me to not only thrive professionally but have some great experiences and develop important skills that touched every part of my life. That applies equally to my own work in the ACA community. Quite simply, I don't think I would have been the archivist that I was, or the person that I am today, without the work and the experiences I've had in ACA.

I've said many times that being an archivist isn't a job. It's a calling. And when you have a calling and you find other people who have the same calling, what you end up with is a community. Communities are very useful, very helpful and very supportive.

What are some standout memories or milestones from your involvement with the ACA—whether at conferences, committee work, or advocacy efforts?

Catherine: You know, I thought about this a lot. I thought, hmm, I have a lot of really good ones. If somebody gets me going, we could be here for a really, really, really long time. So, I'll just try to pick out a few that I think might resonate. First and foremost, for me, it's anything to do with working on Archivaria. I’ve been involved with the journal in some capacity ever since I began my career as an archivist at the National Archives. I believe my involvement began around issue number 29. And since we're up to number 100 right now, that is a really, really, really long time. I know that journal very well—almost inside out—because over the years I’ve done everything from coordinating the teams of volunteer archives staff who proofread the galleys, all the way to serving as General Editor, along with many roles in between.

I am especially proud of the work I contributed to e-Archivaria. I was the technical coordinator behind the scenes working on setting up the platform and under the direction of general editors, Barbara Craig, and particularly Bob McIntosh, who was general editor when it launched. And there was a great deal of hard work from a lot of people, we ended up having to proofread an awful lot of scanned galleys and change the metadata right before it went live. And that wasn't what we'd planned on, but we had a lot of people step up and give us a hand at that point. We still managed to complete it on time, which was remarkable. What we produced is a truly significant archival digital resource. It is especially meaningful, in our 50th year, to have a journal that has endured for the entire half‑century and is still going strong. That is certainly something to be proud of.

Another good memory for me was co-editing the first ACA website back in 1996 and later as the editor, I took it through a full redesign in 2002. That was particularly a highlight because I'd never led such a large project before. It was a fantastic opportunity to work with a broad range of members and find out what they wanted or needed from the website and then turn those wants and needs into an honest to God reality.

I started thinking a bit more about other standout memories, and one that feels especially fitting to mention now is being in the audience in Halifax in 2010 for Terry Cook’s closing plenary session, “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Next Generation of Canadian Archivists. Reflections and Prospects,” which was the last ACA talk he gave.

As was so often the case with Terry, the session was thoughtful and inspiring. He spoke about the passing of the torch across the various generations of archivists that have brought Canadian archives to where they were in 2010 and where they would go after that. I remember being in the audience and recall a standing ovation.

It was one of those moments that made me feel genuinely proud to be part of the profession—and, at that stage of my career, to feel like I might be one of the people he was symbolically handing that torch to. And later, as I approached retirement myself, I found myself thinking it’s time for me to pass the torch on to the next generation in fine tradition. It remains a particularly meaningful memory for me.

If anyone is curious, the transcript of Terry’s speech is still accessible. Through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, if you look at the ACA website as it appeared in June 2014, the announcement of Terry’s passing includes links to the archived version of the speech. It’s quite something to revisit.

If you’re interested, you can find the transcript on the old ACA Website in the Internet Archive from June 2014.

In your view, what have been the most significant changes in the archival profession in Canada over the past 50 years?

Catherine: There's been an awful lot of them, but I must admit that when I was reading Terry Eastwood's blog interview, he pointed out the development of pre-appointment education for archivists and I would have to say when I was thinking about it, I had to agree. Although, of course, I'm slightly biased because I'm a rather early-ish product of that education.I do believe that having multiple graduate programs available—regardless of their individual emphases or the varied backgrounds of the students who enter them—provides an essential common ground for the profession. That shared foundation of core knowledge and understanding ultimately strengthens the archival field as a whole. It filled a gap and it gave common language to a lot of new people starting in the profession.

What's significant for me, is that the comfort level with digital technology and digital records has increased dramatically.When I started out, I wrote my thesis on electronic records and there was a wonderful quote from Trudy Huskamp Peterson that I used in my thesis. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like “many of us would like to perhaps retire before the monster in our midst on machine readable records”. I understood that perspective at the time, but that is no longer the case. Archivists have since reached out and fully embraced technology, using it effectively to gain intellectual and physical control over their holdings.

They are making excellent use of technology to make their records accessible to a wide range of users. The generation of archivists that has followed mine also seems far more willing to invest the necessary time and energy into preserving digital records—with varying degrees of success, and they’re not so worried about getting digital preservation perfect the first time. I find this very encouraging, because my sense is that we spent an enormous amount of time strategizing, discussing, and debating how we were going to approach digital preservation, yet we made comparatively little concrete progress. Perhaps we were worried about making mistakes. I mean, I certainly felt that way for some things, but I think that there has been a fundamental shift. People just get out and deal with it now. This is a game changer.

There is one more significant change I’ve observed over the past 50 years: the growing emphasis on advocacy for archives as a vital societal resource. Increasingly, archivists and archival institutions are asserting the importance of archival records as essential evidence for holding governments and organizations accountable. This is coupled with a drive for deeper community engagement and having archival collections that reflect very diverse groups of people and are built for the communities that have traditionally either been very outside of or very mistrusting of official repositories. And that's really, really come to the forefront, I'd say, in about the last 10 years or so. It’s fascinating to watch how this continues to unfold. I think it’s a very positive trend, and I’m genuinely interested to see where it leads next.

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists—a milestone that offers a unique opportunity to reflect on five decades of archival practice, community-building, and collective professional growth. To celebrate, the ACA Blog team is launching a special interview series to spotlight the voices, experiences, and insights of ACA members past and present through intergenerational conversations. Students and emerging professionals will interview longtime members, offering a space to share personal reflections, institutional memory, and the evolving landscape of archival work in Canada.   

In today’s feature, Lily Liu chats with Shelley Sweeney—former Head of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections and an ACA Fellow, among other accomplishments—for an insightful conversation.

What brought you to the field of archival studies and practice?  

I did not have any real understanding of archives when I began. I did a Bachelor of Arts in Latin and was going to go down to the States and continue with classical studies. One of my Latin professors asked what I was interested in and he said they had students who became rare book librarians. So I went to the rare book library and asked the person behind the counter if I could talk to the rare book librarian. She said: “Well, the rare book librarian isn’t here today, but the archivist is; do you want to speak to her instead?” I said, not having any idea what it meant, “Sure, I’ll talk to her.” I talked to Laurenda Daniells, the Archivist for the University of British Columbia, and after I had spoken with her she said: “You don’t want to become a rare book librarian; you want to become an archivist. The first archival studies program in North America is starting this fall and I think you should apply.” So I did apply and I did get into the program and was one of the first ten students enrolled in the Masters of Archival Studies program. That was the first full-time MAS in North America. That was in 1981. 

How has your work as an archivist evolved over the course of your career, and what role has the ACA played in that journey?

When I retired from the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, I asked them to not give a traditional party; I gave a talk, and that was kind of my last hurrah. And I remember how shocked people were when I described what the profession was like when I started. I started using a typewriter. We didn’t have computers; we didn’t really deal with copyright; there was no privacy legislation at the provincial level when I started in 1983 at the University of Regina Archives. There wasn’t really any understanding of contracts or contract law.  

The profession, for us, was far simpler. I had a chance to get my feet under me without having to deal with critical issues like privacy, oral histories, interviews, copyright. There are so many layers now—electronic records, born-digital records—we didn’t have any of that. So if you talk about the archival field evolving, we did it with the ACA. I went to pretty much every ACA conference and I would hear about what was coming down the pike, and how people were dealing with it. It really kept me in the loop of what I needed to do. And that kind of gets back to the archival studies program—we were given the theoretical basis, and then we were able to use the ACAto augment our basic knowledge by being exposed to what was going on in the archival world. The ACA conferences were integral to my understanding of the archival world. I found it was not just the presentations but meeting other archivists in the same situations that you are. We were able to get together and discuss what the issues were that pertained to our spheres. That made a huge difference in helping me grow as an archivist.

The ACA has long served as a space for dialogue, debate, and collaboration. Are there any discussions or shifts within the Association that you feel have had a lasting impact?

Yes. I think if you’re looking at what the profession is dealing with today, it has continuously changed. The Association has changed. Reconciliation, for example; an emphasis on community archiving; the representation of marginalized groups within the archives; and understanding our role in facilitating the contributions of others so that we’re not gatekeeping but are more facilitators. There were also a lot of viewpoint changes on the need for equity between not just the researchers, but also between donors and archivists, and to be more representational. The education has changed with these priority shifts. 

How did you, alongside colleagues, come to write the first Code of Ethics for the Canadian archival profession? What were the contexts and/or reasons that drove its creation?

It was an accidental occurrence. I think it was Debra Barr who was supposed to lead that activity, but she was not able to take it up and I ended up looking after the committee. When I entered the profession there was a lot of competition for archival collections between different institutions in Canada. There were acquisition conflicts, and we didn’t really understand privacy so we weren’t handling privacy properly; there were lots of potential areas for conflicts to arise. The profession was interested in developing ethical guidelines that would help archivists in their daily lives. Hence the section that spoke about individual situations.  

Thus, the end result was that we had a preamble which had the ethical principles, followed by the text, which was very much taken from the Society of American Archivists’ Code of Ethics. Now, with Zoom, unlimited calling, emails, the rest of it—it’s so much easier to communicate in a way that we didn’t have. And I think had we been able to get together on a regular basis, the final outcome would have been a better reflection of the community. I think we had one meeting. It was expensive to fly across Canada to get together back then. It was still a worthwhile endeavour, and I think it showed that the profession through the ACA was developing mechanisms and tools that would assist archivists in their daily functions. 

Are there any memorable moments of joy and/or purpose you’ve experienced during your career that sustained and/or affirmed your dedication to the archival profession?

I can think of a couple of moving experiences that indicated to me how important it was that we, as archivists, are involved in this profession. The first was a man who came to the University of Regina Archives. He was looking through yearbooks. These were the years where there was no possibility for adoptees to make any contact with their birth parents. He was looking for somebody who looked like him. It was such a powerful memory for me seeing how important it was for people to be able to access information about themselves and the world around them.  

The other instance was a young man. He was interested in images of the water tower that used to be on the University of Manitoba campus. Each time we found something, he would want a copy of it. He said that he used to be in a facility for children with developmental disabilities; he was across the river from the University and could see the water tower from his room and this watertower was a source of comfort for him. It was both poignant and yet there was an element of joy, being able to provide something of meaning, something that would provide comfort to someone. So that particular encounter has always stayed with me. But there havebeen many encounters.  

Looking ahead, what do you hope the ACA will prioritize or continue to build upon in the next 50 years?

I think the ACA’s role is to prepare its members for new challenges and for what’s coming next and what they should be doing to stay relevant. I mean—this whole thing with AI, authenticity, and what information means when there is so much disinformation and inauthentic or made-up records—so I look to the ACA to be at the forefront of that. And how it does that is not the actual ACA structure or office; it’s the members themselves—it’s the members who write, present papers at the conferences, or publish in Archivaria or Scope and Content, make announcements… it’s keeping everybody apprised of what’s going on and how we should be dealing with this. So that’s where I see the ACA as critical—the ACA will become more relevant over time. 

What advice would you offer to early-career archivists or new ACA members who are just starting to engage with the profession?

Volunteer in the profession—it’s the easiest way you can make important connections. It’s the connections that you make with other archivists in Canada that really give you support in your day-to-day work. If you run into a problem, you can phone somebody or put out a question on Arcan-L… a lot of the situations you encounter will not necessarily be encounteredby other archivists in your province. So when you’re able to make contacts across Canada, you might find that one person who’s dealing exactly with what you're going through. You need to get to know other people and those people will put you contact withothers and you will be able to use that network. It’s kind of an obvious thing, and yet, people don’t realize how important it is to have those networks. For new professionals, getting involved in the ACA is a good way to broaden your contacts and help build your professional confidence and you know you’re helping others. You're participating in something worthy. 

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists—a milestone that offers a unique opportunity to reflect on five decades of archival practice, community-building, and collective professional growth. To celebrate, the ACA Blog team is launching a special interview series to spotlight the voices, experiences, and insights of ACA members past and present through intergenerational conversations. Students and emerging professionals will interview longtime members, offering a space to share personal reflections, institutional memory, and the evolving landscape of archival work in Canada.   

In today’s feature, Dharani Persaud chats with Jean Dryden—former President of the ACA and Editor of Archivaria—for an insightful conversation. 

* Image - ACA Conference in Montreal, 1992. © Shelley Sweeney. 

What was the catalyst for you being a founding member of ACA and why did you decide to help start it?  

I began my archival career when I joined what was then the Public Archives of Canada in September 1972 after my master’s degree. I was just a newbie; the only experience I'd had of archives was to do research in archives, because there was no academic training. You learned on the job. At that point, the only association that archivists had was the archives section of the Canadian Historical Association, because at that point, archives were perceived as a profession of and for historians. I attended the archives section meeting in 1973 and discovered there were other people who did what I did, and it was exciting to realize that I was part of a broader community. Around that time, three archivists in Toronto had been thinking about founding an association and they went coast to coast to meet with archivists in various provinces to ask whether they thought this was a good idea. And later it was agreed that, at the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association in 1975, we would indeed pass a motion to establish the ACA as a separate association. I’m not sure that it can be said that I had a big role in founding the ACA, but I was fortunate enough to be present at that meeting, and I was supportive of it. I never imagined that someday we’d celebrate the 50th anniversary, so I'm quite thrilled to be part of marking the occasion.  

What are some standout memories or milestones from your involvement with the ACA—whether at conferences, committee work, or advocacy efforts? 

There are many things I'm proud of that were done under the auspices of the ACA, but one of the things I'm proudest of is that in 1986, when I was the ACA president, we hired an office manager. Until then, the work of running the organization was done by volunteers  on our dining room tables, often on our own time, but we really needed some help. We had no office, but we hired a person. I remember at the annual conference in Winnipeg that year, I skipped the baseball game because I was running over the numbers again wondering if we could really afford this. But it was the right decision and the person we hired was really good and took some of the administrative load off the ACA board members so they could focus on other substantive issues. 

For me personally as well, new archivists at the Public Archives had to take an in-house course to learn about archiving, and the requirement for that course was to write a paper on some topic of interest. I picked copyright just because it had a reputation of being very hard and technical and boring, and I thought well, I’ll never look into it on my own, but since I have to write a paper on something, I might as well pick copyright! And I'm pleased to say that my paper was published in the very first issue Archivaria. At that point, I was far more interested in descriptive standards, but over the years I realized I was in fact interested in copyright and so eventually, decades later, I went back to school to get a PhD looking at copyright issues. And now I am a leading educator about copyright among archivists in Canada. I was able to do that within the framework of ACA, and it was that paper that I wrote that opened me to the subject.  

Can you share an archival project or initiative you’ve been involved in that reflects the values or mission of the ACA? 

On the topic of copyright, when ACA first started, we didn't have a standing committee on copyright but there were occasions when amendments to the Copyright Act were underway, and an ad hoc copyright committee would be appointed. I was usually on the committee to submit our responses, criticisms, and suggestions for improvement.  

I was also very involved in the first task force funded by SSHRC to actually look into the feasibility and process for developing descriptive standards for Canadian archives. And by golly, we did it! It was recognized that our needs were different from librarians so we couldn't just use library cataloging standards, but there was also no need for archivists to completely reinvent the cataloguing wheel. So that knowledge was really helpful in the adaptation of library standards to archival material. 

One last achievement is that I was the editor of Archivaria for five issues. Archivaria is one of the flagship publications of the archival profession worldwide, very well respected globally, and it was an honor to be editor.  

In your view, what have been the most significant changes in the archival profession in Canada over the past 50 years? 

I think a significant achievement is the development of descriptive standards, which I mentioned earlier. But I'd say the biggest one is the establishment of graduate programs to train archivists. None of us that were at that founding meeting would be hired today with the qualifications we had then. But now we've got a well-established master’s degree in various forms, depending on the institution, and it's the standard qualification to enter the profession. Underlying that is the clear understanding that archivists are information professionals in their own right, and not just handmaidens to historians, or a subspecies of librarian. When I look back on my career, I just think it is absolutely wonderful that there's now recognized graduate level criteria for entry into the profession. 

How would you describe the legacy of the ACA in shaping the archival landscape in Canada—and what does being part of this 50-year history mean to you personally? 

I think the ACA has, of course, shaped the archival landscape in Canada, but also internationally, both with the reputation of Archivaria, and with the contribution of Canadian archivists to many international committees. Their work with the ICA has left not just a national legacy, but also a Canadian legacy within the international archival community. 

To me, it's provided a community of professional colleagues and dear friends. When you serve on an executive with somebody or on a board, or on a committee – that's a special connection that lasts a lot longer than your tenure on that committee or board. And ACA has enabled me to build and develop the skills to achieve goals, whether they be personal goals or goals on behalf of the profession. It was a practice ground to learn how to chair meetings or build an agenda or how to move things forward on a project. So for me personally ,I'd say those two things -- community and personal development-- have been part of the ACA’s legacy. 

Looking ahead, what do you hope the ACA will prioritize or continue to build upon in the next 50 years? 

Keeping up with rapidly changing technology is a huge challenge and, tied into that is a need for robust continuing education programs, whether the ACA delivers them or whether it’s the academic institutions that offer graduate archival education. But I see this as really important because technology is moving so fast. It is very hard to catch up to or keep up.  

A second issue, which is one we've never solved properly or effectively, is the need for greater public awareness about what we do. That is, I think, why we all enjoy going to the ACA Conference so much, because everybody understands what we do. You don't have to explain. And it's very nice to be able to talk shop, but we spend too much time talking to ourselves and not enough time on outreach, and I'm probably as bad as anybody, but it's still a problem. So, I would like to see more effort put into that.  

What advice would you offer to early-career archivists or new ACA members who are just starting to engage with the profession? 

Get involved! Join an organization like the ACA, or if your province has a provincial archives association, join that as well. And attend conferences or join a committee if there's a topic you're particularly interested in, just to learn more about the topic, contribute something, and add to your professional network. And don't be shy! Don’t be awestruck by the leaders in the profession, people are happy to be recognized. They'd be thrilled that you came up to talk to them!  

Jean Dryden 

An information professional with qualifications in archives, librarianship and records management, Jean Dryden has many years of experience as a staff archivist and archival administrator in the public and non-profit sectors. She began her archival career at the Public Archives of Canada (1972-1976), before moving to the Provincial Archives of Alberta (1976-1986). She then moved to Toronto to become the Chief Archivist of the United Church of Canada/Victoria University Archives (now known as the General Council Archives) (1986-1999). In 1999, she established a consulting practice in archives, records management, and copyright, and in 2002 entered the doctoral program at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation (2008) investigated the copyright practices of Canadian archival repositories in making their holdings available online. After completing her doctorate, she taught archives and records management at the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland (2008-2011). She then returned to Toronto to resume her consultancy. She is an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. A well-known copyright educator, she has presented scores of workshops on copyright to archivists, librarians and educators in Canada and the U.S. She is a member of the International Council on Archives’ (ICA) Expert Group on Legal Matters, and she represented the ICA at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Copyright Committee from 2015-2024.  She was named a Fellow of the ACA in 2013. 

Dharani Persaud 

Dharani Persaud (they/she) is a writer and PhD student in the School of Information at the University of British Columbia. Their research interests centre on Caribbean indenture diaspora studies, the role of memory work in constructions of community, and the subversion and (re)configuring of colonial archives. Dharani is an uninvited settler on the stolen, traditional, and ancestral lands of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxw.7mesh (Squamish), and lwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. 

Sam Frederick volunteers with the ACA’s Professional Development Committee (PDC) and serves as the PDC Liaison on the Conference Planning Committee. Sam has been on the committee since April 2022. 

Q: What made you want to get involved as a volunteer with the ACA? 

A: I was involved with the ACA student chapter during my master’s program at the University of Toronto, which was my first introduction to the association. After graduating and settling in a new province, I was interested in further opportunities to network in the field and contribute through the ACA. 

Q: What interested you about the Professional Development Committee? 

A: I’ve appreciated the opportunities through the ACA to be a lifelong learner, and I wanted to see more of the behind the scenes in how these workshops are developed and contribute to expanding the offerings based on members’ needs and interests. 

Q: What has been the most interesting or rewarding aspect of volunteering on the Professional Development Committee? 

A: It’s been really interesting to follow the current interests and trends in the field and see how they influence the workshops that are offered and that people request. There have been some common themes throughout the time I’ve been involved with the PDC but some newer topics coming up in recent years. 

Q: How has volunteering with the ACA helped you build connections or community? 

A: I've met a lot of people through volunteering with the ACA, not only those I’ve worked directly with on committees but also presenters and facilitators from the workshops and conferences I’ve been involved with. It’s been a great way to learn from what others in the field are doing across the country and find unexpected opportunities for collaboration. 

Q: Which areas of PDC are you excited to contribute to in the future?  

A: We have some fun plans for a celebration of the ACA’s 50th that I’m excited to see come to fruition. It’s also been great to get feedback from folks about the kinds of training and workshops they’re interested in and to seek out new and returning facilitators for those skillsets. 

Q: What do you wish more people realized about the Professional Development Committee, or about volunteering for the ACA more broadly? 

A: You don’t need to be settled or established in your career or to have loads of experience to serve on a committee. All perspectives are valuable, especially with the PDC where we want to offer learning opportunities that people from all stages in their studies or careers would benefit from, and what better way than having those perspectives directly on the committee. I would love to see more early and emerging professionals involved in the ACA! 

* Image credit: Sam Frederick

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Association of Canadian Archivists—a milestone that offers a unique opportunity to reflect on five decades of archival practice, community-building, and collective professional growth. To celebrate, the ACA Blog team is launching a special interview series to spotlight the voices, experiences, and insights of ACA members past and present through intergenerational conversations. Students and emerging professionals will interview longtime members, offering a space to share personal reflections, institutional memory, and the evolving landscape of archival work in Canada.  

In today’s feature, Grace Phippard chats with Terry Eastwood—former President of the ACA and Editor of Archives Bulletin and Archivaria—for an insightful conversation.

* Image - ACA Conference opening reception in Hamilton, Ontario, 1987. Foreground (L-R): Rick Stapleton[?], Gary Mitchell, George Brandak, Anne MacLean, Jim Burrows, Sandra Kiemele, and Vincent Ouellette. © Catherine Bailey.

Can you tell us about your first experience with the ACA? What drew you to become a member? 

ACA was formed in Edmonton (my home town) in 1975, when archivists met as the Archives Section of the Canadian Historical Association and determined to form their own professional society to pursue their own mutual development and that of the field and discipline in which they worked. I attended that meeting and came away from it with the appointment as the Editor of the ACA’s newsletter, Archives Bulletin. I was then nearly two years into my archival career, and was one of a host of archivists, many of them also in the early years of their careers, who were drawn into the work of ACA to promote the professional development of its members and improvement of their practice. It was a joy to work with colleagues, to learn from them, and, best of all, to make so many dear friends from across the country. 

Over the course of your career, you served as President and Vice President of the ACA, as well as Editor of Archivaria. What accomplishments or contributions to ACA are you most proud of? 

In June 1980, a resolution was passed at the annual general meeting of the ACA that the Association establish a task force on standards for the arrangement and description of archival materials. After failing to find funding for such an endeavour, the task was taken up by the Bureau of Canadian Archivists (BCA), the umbrella body at that time representing ACA and l’Association des archivistes du Quebec (AAQ). The Public Archives of Canada then provided funds for Marcel Caya for AAQ and me for ACA to draft a funding proposal to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC), which in November 1983 awarded BCA a grant of $97,250 (the first ever grant by SSHRCC to archival research endeavour) to establish a Working Group on Archival Descriptive Standards, which Marcel Caya for AAQ and I for ACA chaired, and which issued its report entitled Toward Descriptive Standards in December 1985, and which led to the work to develop RAD, in which I was also involved. I feel honoured and, yes, proud of having had the opportunity to take part with many others (and in this regard I must recognize the work of Jean Dryden on the writing the final report and Laura Millar, who helped make sense of all the data we gathered of current descriptive practices) in this important work for the archival field, which began with a resolution at an ACA meeting. 

What do you think is unique about archives in Canada? How have the ACA and Canadian archivists influenced the global archival landscape over the past 50 years? 

The most usual claim for a distinctive feature of Canadian archival institutions is the so-called total archives concept of its public archives, which preserve both public and private records, a tradition begun by the government of Canada and followed in the provinces and in civic governments, although such is not unknown in the institutional circumstances of archives in other countries, but perhaps not so widely as in Canada. 

As for the influence of ACA and Canadian archivists worldwide, I would say that the tenor of presentations at ACA meetings were widely respected by attendees from out of the country, as were the writings of Canadian archivists in Archivaria. Canadian archivists were prominent in many international organizations, at international meetings of archivists, and in efforts to spread knowledge of archival science, and many eloquently voiced their perspective on archival matters, but I would be loath to cite any specifics in the matter. 

In your view, what have been the most significant changes in the archival profession over the past 50 years? 

At the risk of tooting one’s own horn, I would say that perhaps the most significant change is the advent and growth of pre-appointment education for the profession in our universities. I knew very little when I was hired in 1973, and proved, I suppose, that one could indeed learn on the job, but that is a far cry from having the breadth of the discipline exposed to one before undertaking practice. 

The other change I would note, is that 50 years ago the scope of archival institutions and places where archival knowledge was usefully employed were really fairly restricted. Now, the places where people with an archival education are employed has grown and will no doubt continue to grow to the benefit of the Canadian society. 

Recently, the news and popular discourse has questioned the importance of archival work. Given that so much of your career has involved advocating for the profession, how do you feel public opinion on archives has evolved? What do you think we can do to combat misinformation regarding the profession and make the public aware of archival work? What do you think is the role of archives in society, especially one where truth is increasingly called into question? 

I suspect these important questions cannot be adequately addressed in a few words. And, as preface to the forthcoming, forgive me for feeling I am going out there on very thin ice. 

Let’s face it, it is enormously difficult to tease out plausible truth about the past. The records reposing in archival settings tell only part of the story of what happened in the past, and all kinds of things can happen that prevent all the records that could reveal a better picture of what transpired from finding their way to archival care. People who are aggrieved about happenings in the past may well think that archival institutions, which are often an arm of the body at which they aim their grievance, are no place to find the truth, even that archives are somehow complicit in obscuring the truth. Still, the best one can do is expose what one has that reveal matters relative to a person’s quest, and, if relevant, where else the person may go in the pursuit of understanding. Along the way, there may be opportunity to show sympathy for person’s quest and understanding of both the possibilities and constraints it faces. It is all about avoiding becoming embroiled in disputes about truth.  

Of course, the real place where the rubber hits the road from the archival perspective in this quest for truth, at least in the sphere of public records, lies in the adequacy of archival institutions to appraise and acquire the breadth of records to support such truth seeking. 

What do you think are ACA’s greatest accomplishments? 

I think its accomplishments fall into these categories: (1) providing a situation for the expression of ideas about archives and their circumstances, in both senses of the word archives; (2) advocating regarding matters important to the health and welfare of archival institutions and the profession; (3) acting as an agent of continuing education for archivists.  

In the first instance, its publications have carried the load, as have the annual conferences. In the second instance, ACA committee and special bodies in which ACA was represented have done important work to formulate an archival perspective on matters important to the field or develop tools for the work, like RAD. In the third instance, workshops, publications, and even informal exchange of ideas have a positive influence on the professional development of its members. I am not sure how much has been done in all those realms lately for I have been for some years not been directly involved in ACA affairs, but do think that those things ought to be the motivating force of our national professional association. 

What does being part of ACA’s 50-year history mean to you personally?

In my previous answers, I think I have given some indication of the role ACA played in my professional life. I involved myself in its affairs in many ways, some of which I have revealed here, and I was sometimes even a critic of its shortcomings, in which of course I shared the blame (or ought to have), but ACA meant a great deal to me. It gave me countless opportunities to improve myself; it offered me challenges to meet as I held some or another office in the association; it offered me a circle of colleagues and friends off which to bounce ideas, hit the dance floor with, engage in friendly debate with, learn from, play baseball with in the annual east-west game, and generally be part of my gang going out to try to make things better in the field. It would not be amiss to say it played a huge part in allowing me to do many of the things I came to do in the profession. We all just buoyed each other up to do the things that we thought needed to be done for the profession and in our particular field of work. 

What advice would you offer to early career archivists or new ACA members who are just starting to engage with profession? 

As one might expect from my answer to the previous question, my advice is simple: get involved. Attend a conference, engage with colleagues to find those with whom you feel you have some connection; join a group doing something for ACA in which you are interested. Do not feel intimidated. It won’t take long for you to find a place where you fit in and people who share your circumstances, interests, or concerns.  

Terry Eastwood was an archivist at the Provincial Archives of British Columbia from 1973-81. In 1981, he assumed the position of Chair of the Master of Archival Studies Program in the then School of Librarianship at the University of British Columbia. He served the ACA as newsletter editor, Vice-President. President, and Editor of Archivaria, and spoke many times at ACA conferences. He taught in the MAS Program for 26 years, retiring in 2007. He is currently a volunteer processing records at the City of Richmond Archives. 

Grace Phippard is a student in the Master of Archival Studies and Master of Library and Information Studies program at the University of British Columbia. She currently works in the University Archives and Records Management Office at UBC, as well as in the Archives at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and as the Coordinator of ACA@UBC. In 2024, Grace graduated with a BA in History from Smith College, where she also worked for two years as an Assistant Processing Archivist. 

In 2022, Canada released its Indo-Pacific Strategy investing in comprehensive Canadian intervention in the Indo-Pacific region. At the 2023 ASEAN summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invited current Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Canada for a state visit. Canada and the Philippines recently concluded negotiations on a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement and are in exploratory discussions on a Free Trade Agreement. Meanwhile, the Filipino community in Canada remains one of the fastest-growing and largest immigrant populations in the country.

Image: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shake hands at the ASEAN 2023 conference in Indonesia. Image courtesy of canadianfilipino.net 

As archivists have noted for decades—from Duranti’s (1989) explication of the role of archives in government functions, to Zinn’s famous 1977 speech extolling the political role of archivists, to developments in analyses of power and archives (e.g. Schwartz & Cook, 2002)—the world of geopolitics is not so far removed from the archival discipline. As the Canadian and Philippine governments strengthen their military and economic ties, the question of historical records remains a vital one.

From 1965 to 1986, Marcos Jr.’s father, Marcos Sr., was president of the Philippines. Marcos Sr.’s regime was notorious worldwide for the 1972 declaration of martial law leading to hundreds of thousands of human rights violations, ultimately resulting in his 1986 ouster by a mass mobilization of people in Manila. The 2022 election of his son to power rode on the heels of a concerted campaign of disinformation about the Marcos Sr. era and especially the rampant human rights violations during that time (ICHRP, 2022). Recordkeeping by human rights advocates has been a key component in asserting the rights of Filipinos during both regimes.

In the context of the Marcos family’s return to power, Filipinos in Canada today—many of whom are political refugees from the Marcos Sr. regime—have asserted the importance of archival initiatives to preserve and make accessible government and personal records. This blog post will discuss community archives initiatives and perspectives on archives among human rights defenders in the Philippines and in the Filipino-Canadian diaspora.

Community Archives in the Philippines

Filipino archives, like all archives, are necessarily political. Archives of the state facilitate the governance of the Philippines, while personal records evidence the lives and perspectives of everyday people. This political relationship has been recognized by activists in the Philippines and in the diaspora as a reason to participate in archival work. Here in Canada, we can take lessons from the highly politicized work of community archivists in the Philippines to relate our profession to the needs and experiences of marginalized communities.

Memory projects such as the Philippine government-led Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission and the grassroots Bantayog ng mga Bayani (National Heroes Monument) preserve records of human rights violations under martial law (1972-1986). Beyond the history of martial law, new community archives projects have emerged in response to historical revisionism. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) noted during its 2022 international observers' mission that the election of Marcos Jr. into power was facilitated by the rewriting of history. Mass disinformation campaigns aimed to erase, downplay, or justify the rampant human rights violations and corruption under the Marcos Sr. Regime.

The Philippine Labor Movement Archives (PLMA) is one project with the goal of preserving the history of people’s movements in the Philippines. This project aims to combat historical revisionism by shedding light on the milestones of the Filipino working class over the past decades in their struggle for wages, jobs, rights, and genuine social change. Envisioned to be a community archive of workers’ historical narratives of political and economic struggle, the PLMA was established in 2022 shortly after Marcos Jr. assumed presidency.

In their 2023 exhibition entitled ‘Paggawa ng Alaala, Alaala ng Paggawa,’ the PLMA featured reproductions of photographs from the Marcos Sr. and Marcos Jr. regimes to visually draw the parallels between the two administrations, including low wages, high prices, rampant labor and human rights violations. As one archivist from the PLMA explained, “within these two governments, the militant struggle of Filipino workers persists and proves that truly, the masses are the makers of history.”

Other examples include the recordkeeping practices of Indigenous peoples in the Philippines, which are intrinsically linked to anticolonial struggle. In the Cordillera region of the Philippines, Lara Maestro’s 2019 thesis “Alternative becomings, alternative belongings” highlights the role of traditional records in maintaining a history of political struggle to defend ancestral lands.

The explicitly political creation and activation of records is part of the Filipino activist project of asserting historical truth in contrast with the disinformation of the current regime—a deeply grounded and practical objective that differs greatly from the subjectivist trends in Western postmodern archival thinking. In service to the working class, the PLMA broadens the archival concept of “context” to refer to the sociopolitical situation in which records were created. Similarly, Cordillera recordkeeping preserves records in the context of Indigenous struggle—a practice which may also be of special interest to archivists in Canada working with the records of Indigenous peoples here.

Filipino Community Archives in Canada

Many Filipinos in Canada retain records of their experiences in the Philippines, including experiences of political activism and repression. These records remain in houses and garages, on USBs and phones, ranging from newspaper clippings about arrests of activists, to testimonials prepared for class action lawsuits and publications, to photographs of monuments and other more recently created records.

Because of the context of political repression in the Philippines, many survivors of martial law hesitate to donate their records to archival institutions even overseas for fear of censorship. In interviews with Filipino survivors of martial law living in Canada, I learned that survivors generally “want records to be preserved long-term for present-day and future access by activists and the broader public,” but still hesitate to donate records because “the state’s custody over records gave it power over the historical narrative” (Carlin, 2023, pp. 62-63). Some have experienced the use of old records by the current regime to facilitate contemporary state harassment—for example, one interview participant noted that records from his Marcos Sr.-era arrest in the Philippines were used in the 2020s by state agents to find and intimidate him in Canada.

Image: Different books entitled Political Economy from the personal collection of interview participant and martial law survivor Ed. Image courtesy of Ed, used with permission.

Several local efforts have been made to preserve this community history. Grassroots organizations across Canada have activated records of martial law to build intergenerational connection within the Filipino diaspora, including through interviews and panel discussions with survivors.

Other examples include the 2019 photo exhibit “Kwento’t Litrato – Stories of Filipino Migrant Life in Alberta” launched in Calgary and Edmonton to share oral stories and photographs of migrant workers in the province. In Montréal, Migrante Quebec and Anakbayan Montreal held the “Gintong Batas” (Golden Rule) exhibit in 2022 to share the experiences of martial law survivors living in Québec. In 2023, Kamalayan Konsciousness and Myseum of Toronto held an exhibit titled “Patuloy ang Laban” (The Fight Continues) featuring photographs and other records from martial law survivors.

There is a vast quantity of records in personal custody among the Filipino diaspora in the country, and many efforts to activate and publicize these records. However, there have been few long-term initiatives by the archival community thus far to preserve Filipino activist records with the consent and direction of Filipino activists themselves.

Preserving and Protecting Philippine Democracy

Records play a crucial role in ensuring accountability and good governance. Archives are essential to both the functioning of the state and the participation of the public in political life. Yet for many Filipinos, archival institutions are sites where sensitive political records can be censored or even weaponized for further harassment.

In light of Canada’s growing political, economic, and military involvement in the Philippines through its Indo-Pacific Strategy (including billions of dollars set aside for military collaboration and funding, surveillance technologies, expedited visa processing, and Canadian-led agricultural production in the region), Canadian archivists can and should consider the ramifications of our field for the Filipino diaspora. There are many opportunities for archivists to connect with local Filipino diaspora organizations to preserve the rich history of Filipino activism and advocacy in the Philippines and in Canada. Archivists in Canada can build international solidarity with archivists, librarians, records managers, and memory workers in the Philippines through direct organization-to-organization partnerships and participation in Canadian solidarity alliances with Filipino people’s movements.

Image: Toxic Tour poster (April 27, 2024). Courtesy of Canada-Philippine Solidarity for Human Rights.

Our field can also take inspiration from efforts in other academic disciplines to conduct research and professional activities in direct and explicit support of social justice, such as the concept of “people’s research” from the International People’s Research Network. The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has facilitated partnerships between Canadian institutions and Filipino organizations devoted to human rights, including exposure trips to learn from Filipino human rights defenders on the ground and observer missions to witness and record the human rights situation. These trips are also opportunities for archivists and archival institutions to build strong political connections with Philippine groups that preserve important human rights records and use archival work to assert human rights in the Philippines. To learn more about ICHRP, plan an exposure trip to the Philippines with your institution, or invite Philippine archival experts and recordkeepers to Canada, email info@ichrpcanada.org. Archivists can also directly contact the Philippine Labor Movement Archives at laborarchive.ph@gmail.com.

As a Filipino archivist in Canada, I hope to see more work in the Canadian archival field to support grassroots people’s movements in Canada, the Philippines, and worldwide. While the Philippines and Canada are far apart, Western intervention in the Philippines is at the heart of our migration from our homeland—and so the experiences of Filipinos in Canada and those in the Philippines are deeply connected. As the Canadian government asserts its influence in the Philippines and other countries in the region, and as more and more international students, temporary foreign workers, and other migrants from the Philippines come to Canada, Canadian archivists can play a crucial role in ensuring that human rights are respected and can even directly support people’s struggles for justice and liberation.

Further reading

Carlin, I. (2023). Archives for a new world : revolutionary personal records in the Filipino-Canadian diaspora [MAS thesis]. University of British Columbia. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/83493

Duranti, L. (1989). The Odyssey of Records Managers. ARMA Records Management Quarterly, 23(3-4).

Global Affairs Canada. (2024). Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. Government of Canada. https://www.international.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/indo-pacific-indo-pacifique/index.aspx?lang=eng

ICHRP. (2022). Final Report of the Philippine Election 2022 International Observers Mission. International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines. https://ichrp.net/final-report-of-the-philippine-election-2022-international-observers-mission/

Maestro, L. (2019). Alternative becomings, alternative belongings : Cordillera case studies of records in context [MAS thesis]. University of British Columbia. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/69906

Schwartz, J. M., & Cook, T. (2002). Archives, records, and power: The making of modern memory. Archival Science, 2(1–2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02435628

Zinn, H. (1977). Secrecy, Archives, and the Public Interest. The Midwestern Archivist, 2(2), 14–26.

Isabel Carlin

Isabel Carlin is a researcher at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia (UBC). They received their Master’s of Library/Information Studies and Archival Studies at UBC in May 2023. Isabel’s MAS thesis explored the personal records of Filipino martial law survivors.

In fall 2024, the Association of Canadian Archivists launched an anniversary logo contest. The purpose of the contest was to kick off the 50th anniversary celebrations with members in a fun and engaging way. Four logos were submitted as part of the contest with 201 members voting for their favourite logo. Olivia White’s logo received the most votes and was declared the winner of the competition. This logo will be used by the ACA during its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2025.  

 

In this blog post, Olivia reflects on their logo submission and the ACA’s anniversary year. 
 
Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself? 
I've been working in the archival field since 2017, beginning as an Archives Assistant at the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections. This experience led me to pursue a Master of Information, specializing in Archives and Records Management, and a Master of Museum Studies at the University of Toronto. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to work at several archives and information institutions around Ontario. I am currently the Digital Preservation Archivist at the Simcoe County Archives. I find managing born-digital records and learning about their quirks to be a fun challenge, particularly as digital records become more prevalent in archives. I enjoy volunteering in the archival community, both with the Association of Canadian Archivists and more recently with the Archives Association of Ontario. Outside of work, I like visiting galleries and museums, playing video games, and baking. I am also a newly initiated dragon boater and enjoy drawing and sewing in my free time. 
 
Q: What inspired you to create your logo? 
I thought submitting a design would be a fun way to participate in the ACA’s 50th anniversary celebrations and it also gave me an opportunity to try my hand at digital art. I wanted to create a logo that was associated with the current branding of the ACA, but naturally something that acknowledged the 50-year milestone. Thinking along these lines, I was inspired by the connection between a golden anniversary and a gold medal. From there, the design started to take shape. 
 
Q: What tools did you use to create the logo? 
I started by sketching thumbnails using pencil and paper to play around with the ACA letters and the number 50. Once I had some ideas down, I created a few mock-ups using the design software 'Inkscape' and made adjustments until I was happy with a final design. 
 
Q: Are there any design elements in the logo that you would like to highlight? 
While I wanted to keep the design fairly simple, I felt that it was important to maintain a connection with the existing ACA branding. I thought a good way to do this was by pulling in the deep red colours from the current ACA logo along with the maple leaf, because of the significance of the ACA as a professional association on a national level. Again, I was attracted to the colour and shape of a gold medal which I felt complemented the 50-year anniversary. 
 
Q: Reflecting on the ACA’s 50th anniversary, what are your hopes for the association over next 50 years? 
I hope the Association continues to strive to be a welcoming space for informational professionals, at any stage of their careers, to form important connections and gain valuable experience. I believe the archival community is stronger when we can collaborate and rely upon one another for support, and I think the ACA can be a great way to cultivate these connections on a national level. 
 
Q: Is there anything else you would like to share? 
I'm very grateful that my design resonated with the ACA membership. Happy 50th Anniversary to the ACA, and here's to 50 more! 

Amanda Oliver 

Amanda Oliver is a Director at Large for the Association of Canadian Archivists. 

Call for Participation  

The ACA blog team is launching a special interview series to celebrate the Association of Canadian Archivists' 50th anniversary! Starting in May and running throughout the summer, this series will highlight the voices, experiences, and insights of the Association’s members, past and present. We invite you to take part, either as an interviewee sharing your own reflections or as an interviewer learning about the experiences of more seasoned archivists. If you're interested in participating or have someone in mind, please contact the blog team at blog@archivists.ca. Let’s celebrate this milestone together!