VRA Conference Minneapolis 2024

What does a library or archive do when over 250 disaffiliating United Methodist Church (UMC) representatives arrive at the door with all their records? When faced with this question in 2023, Pitts Theology Library staff acted swiftly and decisively to ensure that these records would represent more than a difficult moment in the UMC tradition by contributing to a project much larger in scope and scale that will benefit people across the state. Fortuitously, the influx of records from former UMC churches coincided with a digital humanities project led by Pitts, the Historic Rural Church Archive. The goal of the project is to support researchers, genealogists, and churchgoers exploring the histories of rural communities through the focal point of local churches across Georgia. Our panel will discuss the workflows involved in managing an unexpected and rapid accession of church collections, including accessioning, processing, and description. We will also discuss the new procedures we developed to expand engagement with the materials through the HRC Archive, including plans for community contributions, outreach activities, scanning days at local libraries, and more.

This panel is a case study on collaborative archiving and digital humanities practices with lessons learned about managing expectations, community-submitted records, holistic workflows, and external partnerships. Attendees can expect to learn just how messy an unexpected, large-scale acquisition can be but also see the potential of digital projects for making the best of archival materials for a wide audience.