Scope and Content Monthly ACA Newsletter
January 2026, Volume 7, Issue 01 |
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Click here if you are having trouble reading the newsletter.
The next Scope and Content will be published February 5th, 2026. If you have any comments or feedback, please contact the Communications Committee.
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Remember, the time of year when the future appears like a blank sheet of paper a clean calendar, a new chance.
– Promise by Jackie Kay
I think this excerpt from the poem by Jackie Kay is rather fitting for the start of another new year. Following a year filled with celebration but also uncertainty, the thought of starting the year with a “clean calendar” is very appealing. And our calendar starts with some good news. On February 9, the ACA welcomes our new Executive Director, Mab Coates-Davies!
Mab Coates-Davies (they/she) joins the ACA from the Textile Museum of Canada, where they most recently served as Chief Operating Officer. Raised in Edinburgh, Scotland and Toronto, Mab holds a bachelor’s degree in Public History from Concordia University and is passionate about creating meaningful, inclusive experiences in nonprofit and cultural organizations. Mab recently completed a master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership and Philanthropy at Carleton University, where their research focused on volunteerism, organizational change, and disaster philanthropy.
Mab has conducted archival research in Scotland, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, and sees archives as crucial public infrastructure, essential to preserving collective memory, strengthening communities, and engaging in evolving public dialogue. They bring a strong commitment to sustainable, equity-grounded programs and people-centred leadership, and are excited to get to know ACA members and better understand their priorities, needs, and passions. I look forward to working with Mab in the coming months.
I would like to end my message by thanking everyone who has renewed their membership in the ACA for another year. If you have not had an opportunity to renew your membership, you may still do so. Please visit our Membership Benefits page for more information on how to renew/join.
Sincerely,
Anna Gibson Hollow, President
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ACA 2026 Conference: Call for Proposals
The 2026 ACA Annual Conference will take place virtually from June 8–11. The submission deadlines are as follows: Proposals Deadline: January 31, 2026 Student Proposals Deadline: February 28, 2026
Poster Submissions Deadline: Will be released at a later date
This year’s Program Team Co-Chairs are Jesse Carson and Alyssa Hyduk, who can be reached at program.team.2025(at)archivists.ca. Please visit the conference page on the ACA website for more details.
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Access and Privacy Special Interest Section Relaunches
The Privacy Special Interest Section is being relaunched and will be co-chaired by Jesse Carson and James Franks. Planning is underway for an inaugural meeting in Q1of 2026. The SIS seeks to establish a foundation for archivists to openly connect and share perspectives on access to information and privacy practices. Further details, including meeting logistics and registration information, will be shared via the website calendar.
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Carr McLean Discount Available for 2026
Carr McLean is once again offering a discount for both individual and institutional ACA members for the 2026 membership year. This 10% discount can be applied to any order over $100 and is non-transferrable. The discount code will remain effective until December 31, 2026.
To obtain the code for the 2026 calendar year, please login to the members only site and go to the Member Benefits page. You will need to have an active membership to obtain the code. |
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Archivaria 100: Special Issue - Legacies of Critical Theory in Archives (Fall/Winter 2025) is now available online.
Many thanks to the authors who have contributed to the new issue, the peer reviewers who have offered their time and expertise, as well as to the Archivaria Editorial Team for all the hard work it takes to put an issue together. In the newest issue you can look forward to reading:
Glancing Backwards
- Derrida, the Scene of Archiving, and the Unhappy Consciousness – Brien Brothman
- Michel and Mathurin: Finding Foucault in the Archives – Steven Maynard
- Red Jenkinson: Tracing Indigenous Influences on Canadian Archival Theory – Raymond O. Frogner
Facing the Horizon
- Fevered Inheritances: Ethics of Care and Donor Power in Starchives – Anastasia Armendariz, Kate Orazem
- “Should We Just Burn It All Down?”: Slowness and Institutional Barriers to a Critical Future in Archives – Josh Wilson
Looking Within
- The Archival Turn as Practice – Ann Cvetkovich
- Love in the Archives: Towards a Theory and Praxis of Archival Care – Jennifer Douglas
Shifting Directions
- Provenanced Aesthetics: The Beauty of Decay in Dawson City: Frozen Time – Patrick Keilty
- “A Self You Have Not Yet Learned How to Love”: Building Asian/Queer//Queer/Asian Possibilities Through Archival Speculation – Yingying Han, Travis L. Wagner
Book Reviews
- Andi Gustavson and Charlotte Nunes, eds., Transforming the Authority of the Archive: Undergraduate Pedagogy and Critical Digital Archives – Claire Malek
- Tanya E. Clement, Dissonant Records: Close Listening to Literary Archives – Heather Dean
- Gracen Brilmyer and Lydia Tang, eds., Preserving Disability: Disability and the Archival Profession – Elizabeth A. Pineo
Exhibition Reviews
- Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and Art Gallery of Ontario, Joyce Wieland: À cœur battant; Joyce Wieland: Heart On – Dylan Adamson
- Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Alanis Obomsawin: The Children Have to Hear Another Story – Kate Nugent
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In the Field: The ACA Blog
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If you’d like to submit a blog post, please read and complete this form. We look forward to your contribution!
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ACA@50 | In Conversation with Shelley Sweeney
In this 50th anniversary blog 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. Read the full article here.
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The ACAF has recently added these items to its store: |
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Limited edition and numbered ACA Anniversary Print. Designed and printed by the Carleton University Book Arts Lab, this beautiful print is only $75 + tax. Prints come in a plastic sleeve, but a tube can be purchased for an additional $3 for safe transportation.
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ACA vintage Arthur Doughty Mugs. Unearthed recently! There are a limited number of mugs produced by the ACA, which feature an authentic likeness of Arthur Doughty, and the quote ,“Of all national assets, archives are the most precious: they are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilization.” Mugs are $20 + tax each.
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These items and more can be purchased online and shipped to you directly (note that shipping costs are priced separately). All proceeds go toward funding publicly available scholarships, bursaries, and other financial assistance for post-secondary students, graduates, and professionals who are pursuing education and training in the fields of archival sciences, record keeping and information management! |
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SAA’s New Issue of Archival Outlook Out Now
Archival Outlook is SAA's award-winning bimonthly magazine. Articles focus on best practice and how-to pieces on timely and relevant topics, how archives are used by the public, and archivists on the job. In addition, the magazine updates readers on important association business and the work of SAA's many shared interest groups. You can read the November/December issue online here.
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Submit your job opportunity here and it will be posted to the ACA website. We will also share this opportunity on our social media channels.
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Do you have news you’d like the ACA to share via its social media channels? Contact the Communications Committee to give us the details! Communications(at)archivists.ca
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The next issue of Scope & Content will come out on
Thursday, February 5th, 2026. See you then!
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Contact Us
Suite 1912-130 Albert Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4
Email: aca(at)archivists.ca
www.archivists.ca
The ACA office is located on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial. |
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