n.a series of institutes based at the University of Pittsburgh from 1989 to 1994 and 1996 to 1997 designed to help government records professionals develop programs to manage electronic recordsReid 1995, 332Besides workshops, the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA) and the University of Pittsburgh have sponsored six two-week institutes for chief administrators of state government archives on electronic records and strategic planning. The institutes allowed archival administrators to confront issues and concerns raised by the new information technology. Richard J. Cox, administrator of the 1991–93 institutes, wrote in the final report that the program succeeded in raising the awareness of state archivists, but whether an actual change in the handling of electronic records occurred will not be apparent for several years. Nonetheless, participants agreed that the greatest advantage of “Camp Pitt” was the development of personal contacts and networks to deal with electronic records issues.Walch 1997, 147A total of eighty-eight archivists from thirty-seven institutions in thirty-five states attended one or more of the six institutes, affectionately known as “Camp Pitt,” held between June 1989 and June 1994. In 1996 and 1997, institutes were cosponsored by NAGARA and the National Association of State Information Resource Executives (NASIRE).Lowell 1997, 155“Camp Pitt” provided strategic planning skills training for archives administrators from more than half the states, teaching them the techniques of “thinking strategically” with a concentrated focus on the management of electronic records.Olson 1997, 208As the archivists/participants returned to their jobs after two weeks at “Camp Pitt,” an increased awareness of the impact that technological change was having upon their programs went with them.Newhall 2000, 85Another significant Commission project in archival education was the institute which was affectionately known as “Camp Pitt.” Held from 1989 to 1997 at the University of Pittsburgh, this institute was designed to provide senior government archivists and information resource managers with the knowledge and tools to improve their organizations' effectiveness in dealing with information policy issues.Pearce-Moses and Davis 2008, viiiSupported first by the Council on Library Resources and then by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, “Camp Pitt” brought groups largely of state archives leadership to the University of Pittsburgh campus each summer for intensive orientation on technology and program planning.Tibbo 2012, 21In 1989, participants in the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA) and the University of Pittsburgh–sponsored advanced institute for government archivists, affectionately known as “Camp Pitt,” described “the archival management of electronic records” as being “probably the most important, and certainly the most complicated, issue currently before the archival profession.”Rhee 2016, 172, fn. 3The series was also called ‘‘Camp Pitt.’’ For more information about this Institute, refer to Olson (1997) and to University of Pittsburgh, School of Library and Information Science, Council on Library Resources, and National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (1990).Galloway 2020, 203The implications of Camp Pitt for the ultimate creation of a digital archives for the state of Mississippi fall into two categories: planning expertise and the difficulties around technological knowledge, already outlined by Edwin Bridges and Richard Cox in Documenting America, which led to Camp Pitt and the development of digital recordkeeping, not only within state agencies but within the archives themselves.
Notes
Formally titled “Archival Administration in the Electronic Information Age: An Advanced Institute for Government Archivists,” the programs were cosponsored at various times by the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators and National Association of State Information Resource Executives and funders included the Council on Library Resources and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
