With the goal of recording my extended family’s Chinese American Takeout restaurant experiences, the Family in the Chinese American Takeout Restaurant project began by documenting the lessons and values gathered through my upbringing, propelled forward by the wealth of knowledge obtained in interviews. The WordPress website that host this Open content hopes to highlight the importance of personal archiving and encourage future archiving efforts.
On page 167 of Community histories, community archives: Some opportunities and challenges, Andrew Flinn stated that the nature of the “community archives movement… does not fit well with narrow, and perhaps overly restrictive, professional definitions of records and archives and this can invite difficult questions if and when professionals become involved in decisions about what to select for preservation and on what basis, and later on how to properly describe collections.” This project seeks to create a collection that will follow in the footsteps of other community-driven efforts in archiving.
Flinn, Andrew. “Community histories, community archives: Some opportunities and challenges.” Journal of the Society of Archivists 28 no. 2 (2007): 151-176. doi:10.1080/00379810701611936.
Below are sources containing valuable guidelines and advice on how to build community archives and conduct personal archiving.
- Creating a Digital Community Archive. Association of Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS). Accessed February 13, 2023. https://www.ala.org/alcts/preservationweek/resources/commarchive.
- LeFurgy, Bill. “10 Resources for Community Digital Archives” Library of Congress. The signal, June 25, 2013. https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2013/06/10-resources-for-community-digital-archives/.
- Personal Archiving: Preserving Your Digital Memories. Library of Congress. Accessed February 13, 2023. https://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/.