n.an archivist who facilitates the appraisal and preservation of records of enduring value by closely observing or becoming involved in the work of records creatorsWinget 2011, 32This project employed two types of observations: 1) an “embedded archivist” at an Austin, Texas game development company; and 2) day-long observations at a number of participating studios. The “embedded archivist” spent one day per week for five months at a game development company. This company had three concurrent projects at different stages of production during the observation period. Observations were specifically focused on the types of documentation created, the purpose of those documents, version control for game assets, and the presence or absence of a records retention policy. Huth 2016a, 15To be proactive, archivists must be involved within their larger institutions, the ones beyond and encompassing the archives. An academic archivist must be active within the affairs of the college or university, maybe even more so than within the library that usually houses the archives. In a state government archives, a team of archivists must be active within the whole of state government. Such archivists are embedded archivists who are active in the actual work of their parent institutions, who serve on committees outside of the archives, and who work frequently on projects with state or city agencies, whether or not the projects are of central concern to the archives. Kosstrin 2016, 205–206Comprised of a curated collection of artifacts from Company members—Miller, performers Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones, dramaturg Talvin Wilks, videographer Lily Skove, installation artist Maya Ciarrocchi, and embedded archivist Rachael Riggs Leyva—Dance Fort features collaborators’ notes, sketches, emails, and reflections from during and after the rehearsal process, video clips from process and performance accompanied by collaborator voiceovers, and clarifications from the collaborators as to their conceptions of the work from within. Cullingford 2017I am delighted to report that we at the University of Bradford now have our own embedded archivist. Not familiar with this term? An embedded archivist works within the structure that is creating the records and is therefore ideally placed to encourage and foster an archiving culture.Matthaei 2018I have joined the professional photographers at T Coast for more than a dozen lunches now. I am here for the Taco Salad and comradery but mostly I am here to listen. And to ask questions. I am an embedded archivist.Chatain 2018In short, I am very close to the content creators. They move fast, they produce an extraordinary amount of content, and they needed help. Being an ‘embedded’ archivist in this context is not just about the end of the line; it’s about understanding and supporting the entire lifecycle. It’s archives, records management, knowledge management, and more, all rolled into one big job description.an archivist who collaborates extensively with an instructor who is teaching a course with or about archivesBlack 2016We seek additional panelists who can contribute to a broader understanding of public history instruction, and in particular those that consider the following questions: what benefits can be gained from collaborative instruction between archivists, public history practitioners, and university professors? What are the challenges of such collaboration? How might these collaborative relationships shift traditional roles of teacher and practitioner? How might such collaboration move beyond simply trotting out old stuff for students to “touch and feel”? How can students, through the help of the archivist, build skills for recording and interpreting local history? Are there classrooms beyond those in history and public history that would benefit from the support of an “embedded archivist”? What are the implications of the “embedded archivist” for the broader community?Anderberg et al. 2018, 191A one-on-one teaching session calls for a different kind of lesson than a class session, just as visiting the classroom once calls for a different kind of lesson than the long-term approach of an embedded archivist. Fic 2018, 291My colleague feared that, without intensive support, his students would not be able to complete the independent research assignment. He asked for assistance in designing a curriculum that would integrate students’ acquisition of content knowledge and their development of historical research skills. To accomplish this, I became an “embedded archivist” in the course for the first half of the semester. My colleague and I created a scaffolded approach to archival instruction that, over the course of six weeks, led students through the stages of the research process. Purdy and Jenkins 2019, 101We fully “embedded” multimedia archivist Trent S. Purdy in the course, making him a critical partner in content delivery and methodology of the semester’s investigations of media archaeology, with archival media as primary sources. With significant hands-on and applied components, the course tested students’ textbased expectations of graduate work, while the embedded archivist stretched the traditional boundaries of archival instruction.
Notes
Embedded archivists1 become involved in organizations in order to develop relationships, better understand the records of an organization, or participate in documentation efforts.
