n.a set of archival materials that is geographically dispersed and held within multiple repositories, or sets of archival materials so dispersedRappaport 2011The National Anthropological Archives has recently acquired a rare collection of original negatives made by photographer Edward S. Curtis during his work on The North American Indian, as well as a body of Curtis’ papers. This talk will present highlights from the acquisition and discuss the research-in-progress into the archival “Diaspora” of Curtis’ photographs and manuscripts.Krebs 2012This research contextualizes the archival creative friction catalyzed by the historical pattern of information flow away from Indigenous communities into the archival diaspora, the impact of the relatively recent passage of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and the dynamic development of Indigenous related protocols.Punzalan 2014, 346Tracing the movements of archival diaspora illuminates some of the most complex issues that face archival photographic collections. In the case of the Worcester photographs, the framework helped identify factors that can challenge any effort to reconnect the various pieces of this dispersed collection.Herbert, Simmons, and Wilkinson 2020, 4By using EAD (Encoded Archival Description) and EAC–CPF (Encoded Archival Context – Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families), SNAC addresses the problem of the archival diaspora, revealing collections and connections and allowing users to find information that would have taken months of research to locate.the geographic dispersion of archival fondsRinn 2020, 1Due to the nature of the book, the word “diaspora” is used frequently. For the purpose of clarity in this review, the terms literary diaspora, archival diaspora, and diasporic collections will refer to archival collections that are spread out over multiple locations.
