As a way to promote the AAO’s Institutional members and their presence on Archeion, we are inviting institutions to participate in our new social media series #FeatureFriday. The AAO will share posts on its website and official social media accounts highlighting participating institutions and their holdings.
This is an opportunity for people to discover your institution and Archeion.
Here are the conditions for participation:
Must have an active AAO Institutional membership
Must have content in Archeion (digital objects preferred, but not required).
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email the Archeion Coordinator at archeion@aao-archivists.ca. You can also follow the AAO on social media or check out this page to see these posts and learn more about our institutional members.
Past Features
When did you join Archeion?
About 12 years ago.
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
Because we support consortial instances of AtoM and sharing finding aids through a network.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
The support from the Archeion Coordinator.
Featured content:
Our Dr. Luney fonds (external link) is pretty interesting because they document medical history in the first half of the 20th century.
Final thoughts:
You can follow Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada news at: @csjarchives.bsky.social and https://csjarchive.org/
When did you join Archeion?
We've been contributing since 2018.
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
We do not have a public portal for our archival descriptions. We have a portal for our individual scanned items, but nothing that supports hierarchical description or archival descriptive standards.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
It's free with AAO membership! Also, fairly easy to use.
Featured content:
We have been thinking a lot lately about content warnings [appearing at the fonds level. For example, see] the General Notes field for the Jeffrey Hale Supple Fonds (external link) and the Frank T. Davies Fonds (external link). Another thing we're trying to do for our most 'notable' creators: creating Wikidata records and entering uri's in both the Archeion authority record and descriptive record. I don't know if any researchers have found our holdings/Archeion records through Wikidata yet though. We are also a Federal Crown Corporation so we are publishing our Collection/Fonds-level descriptions in English and French. It is not what RAD says, but since most data at this level is written by archivists as opposed to being original to the fonds, it seems like a good way of trying to make our holdings more accessible in both official languages.
Follow @SciTechArchives and @SciTechImages for more information from Ingenium.
When did you join Archeion?
Ca. 2021
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
We upload our finding aids.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
It's the only online finding aid we have. It is a way for our users to find us and know what materials we have.
Featured content:
I find the Records relating to the Noronic disaster (external link) to be very interesting. They are the radiology records that were used to identify the victims from this disaster.
When did you join Archeion?
The Oxford County Archives began contributing to Archeion shortly after it began, for approximately 20 years.
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
We contribute our fonds level descriptions to Archeion for a variety of reasons. It offers increased accessibility to our collections for those who use our services, as the descriptions are all available online in one location, which we link to from our website. We also appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the wider archival community through Archeion services.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
We enjoy the enhanced accessibility to our fonds and collections descriptions, which in turn enhances accessibility to our holdings as well. We often have researchers contact us after finding our descriptions on Archeion, looking to access the records in our collections. We have a link to our Archeion descriptions directly on our website as well. We have found that it has increased our visibility and allows our services to reach a much wider audience. It is also a fantastic resource for our own research, as we can access descriptions and digital objects from other archival institutions online. We also find it very user friendly overall.
Featured content:
One of these most interesting and significant collections we have described on Archeion is our District of Brock fonds (external link). The District of Brock was the predecessor to Oxford County, before the county's incorporation in 1850. The fonds includes the oldest records in our holdings, dating from 1839 to 1849. The fonds consists of one of the most complete collections of early municipal material to have been preserved in the Province of Ontario. It includes petitions, ledgers, reports, receipts, statements and correspondence. It also contains original motions and rough minutes, which historically were generally not kept, original by-laws (as well as some drafts and copies), summarized collectors rolls, assessment lists, and a school monies account book.
The fonds provides a detailed account of activities of the newly established District Council of Brock, and its administrative and legislative powers. It also reflects very closely the primary concerns and needs of individual citizens. The social, economic and political issues confronting a municipal government during this period are also documented.
When did you join Archeion?
Since ca. 2013
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
To broaden access to our collections.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
To promote our holdings and institution, and to allow researchers to search our collections.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
Ease of use.
Featured content:
Three letter books (external link) maintained by Newton Wesley Rowell while an articling student with the firm of Fraser and Fraser in London, Ontario (1890-1891).
When did you join Archeion?
Ca. 2001
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
The Archives of Ontario contributes to Archeion to improve public awareness of and access to our collections as they relate to the broader Ontario archival community.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
We enjoy that it provides a centralized hub for researchers to learn about archival collections and institutions across the province, drawing connections between the Archives of Ontario's holdings and those of other archives, museums and heritage organizations.
Featured content:
Records from the Archives of Ontario's Alvin D. McCurdy fonds (external link) (F 2076), inscribed on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO's Canada Memory of the World Register, are among the pre-eminent collections for understanding the histories, stories, and contributions of Black Canadians, as well as Amherstburg, Ontario’s role in the Underground Railroad.
Over 100 19th-century photographs from this fonds are available online on Wikimedia Commons via the Archives of Ontario's GLAM-Wiki page.
When did you join Archeion?
8 years ago
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
It's a convenient place to upload our archival descriptions. I like that our records become part of Ontario's archival narrative.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
Ease of use.
Featured content:
Whit-Knit Club fonds (external link) - A great collection with ties to the Second World War. The Whit-Knits were a group of young women who knit socks and created care packages for soldiers from Whitby posted overseas during the Second World War. Incoming and outgoing letters record life on the homefront as well as perspectives from soldiers in various theatres of the War.
Garnet McPherson fonds (external link) - Garnet McPherson was a local photographer who created a photographic slide film showcasing the Town of Whitby in 1987. The collection includes colour photographs of various aspects of the community.
When did you join Archeion?
April 2020
Why does your institution contribute to Archeion?
Being able to be in a repository with a whole bunch of Ontario Archives increases our visibility and helps with discoverability of our resources.
What does your institution enjoy most about Archeion?
The ease of using it! It was a huge help while setting up our Archive to have the support ready to start uploading records to a database right away!
Featured content:
We digitized a lot of early student newspapers (external link) for Archeion (page 2 has a wonderful picture of an early computer at Humber, which is cool!)
We found Archeion a great resource while building our archive from scratch! And although we recently launched our own AtoM, we are looking forward to continuing to use Archeion to increase our reach and discoverability.
