This article concerns one notable feature of narratives around child welfare records: the prevalence of stories of records destroyed in natural disasters. These stories have the power to rouse strong emotions for people who grew up in institutional “care.” Care Leavers, many of whom have a justifiable lack of trust in institutions and authority as a result of their childhood experiences, are skeptical about the supposed loss of their records in fires and floods. They remain suspicious that the records do exist but are being withheld to protect the reputations of the institutions. This article considers Gilliland and Caswell’s notion of “archival imaginaries” in the context of missing, lost, or inaccessible child welfare records in Australia. The authors argue for an approach to describing these records that is not only person centred but also trauma-informed. The article presents two case studies that demonstrate the potential of applying this approach when describing records supposedly destroyed by fires and floods. Descriptions need to document the full story of the records, whether they materially exist or not, in a way that validates and acknowledges Care Leavers’ strong feelings about records and demonstrates archival organizations’ commitment to remediating the damage and hurt caused by past practices.

abstract:This article concerns one notable feature of narratives around child welfare records: the prevalence of stories of records destroyed in natural disasters. These stories have the power to rouse strong emotions for people who grew up in institutional "care." Care Leavers, many of whom have a justifiable lack of trust in institutions and authority as a result of their childhood experiences, are skeptical about the supposed loss of their records in fires and floods. They remain suspicious that the records do exist but are being withheld to protect the reputations of the institutions. This article considers Gilliland and Caswell's notion of "archival imaginaries" in the context of missing, lost, or inaccessible child welfare records in Australia. The authors argue for an approach to describing these records that is not only person centred but also trauma-informed. The article presents two case studies that demonstrate the potential of applying this approach when describing records supposedly destroyed by fires and floods. Descriptions need to document the full story of the records, whether they materially exist or not, in a way that validates and acknowledges Care Leavers' strong feelings about records and demonstrates archival organizations' commitment to remediating the damage and hurt caused by past practices.résumé:Cet article concerne une caractéristique notable des récits entourant les dossiers de la protection de l'enfance : la prédominance des histoires de documents détruits à la suite de désastres naturels. Ces récits ont le pouvoir d'attiser des émotions fortes pour les personnes ayant grandi dans ces institutions de « soins ». Les personnes ayant quitté ces institutions – dont beaucoup ont un manque de confiance justifiable envers les institutions et l'autorité à la suite d'expériences vécues à l'enfance – sont sceptiques concernant la présumée perte de leurs documents à la suite de feux et d'inondations. Elles demeurent également méfiantes lorsque les documents existent bel et bien, mais quand leur accès est restreint pour protéger la réputation des institutions. Cet article utilise comme trame de fond la notion d'« imaginaires archivistiques » développée par Gilliland et Caswell dans le contexte de dossiers de protection de l'enfance en Australie qui sont disparus, perdus, ou inaccessibles. Les autrices plaident pour une approche de description de ces documents qui n'est pas uniquement centrée sur les personnes, mais également informée par les traumatismes. Cet article présente deux études de cas qui démontrent le potentiel d'application de cette approche lors de la description de documents soi-disant détruits par le feu ou lors d'inondations. Les descriptions doivent documenter l'histoire complète des archives, qu'elles existent matériellement ou non, d'une manière qui valide et reconnaît les sentiments des personnes qui ont quitté les institutions de « soins ». De plus, ces descriptions doivent démontrer l'engagement des organisations archivistiques afin de remédier aux dommages et blessures causés par les pratiques antérieures.

abstract:In order to undertake liberatory memory work, engage effectively with communities and individuals, and centre people rather than records in their work, archival organizations must be aware of trauma and its effects. This article introduces the concept of trauma-informed practice to archives and other memory organizations. Trauma-informed practice is a strengths-based approach for organizations that acknowledges the pervasiveness of trauma and the risk and potential for people to be retraumatized through engagement with organizations such as archives and seeks to minimize triggers and negative interactions. It provides a framework of safety and offers a model of collaboration and empowerment that recognizes and centres the expertise of the individuals and communities documented within the records held in archives. Trauma- informed practice also provides a way for archivists to practically implement many of the ideas discussed in the literature, including liberatory memory work, radical empathy, and participatory co-design. This article proposes several areas where a trauma-informed approach may be useful in archives and may lead to trauma-informed archival practice that provides better outcomes for all: users, staff, and memory organizations in general. Applying trauma-informed archival practice is multidimensional. It requires the comprehensive review of archival practice, theory, and processes and the consideration of the specific needs of individual memory organizations and the people who interact with them. Each organization should implement trauma-informed practice in the way that will achieve outcomes appropriate for its own context. These outcomes can include recognizing and acknowledging past wrongs, ensuring safety for archives users and staff, empowering communities documented in archives, and using archives for justice and healing.résumé:Pour entreprendre un travail de mémoire libérateur, s'engager réellement auprès des communautés et des individus, et placer les gens au centre de leur travail plutôt que leurs documents, les archives doivent être conscientes des traumatismes et de leurs effets. Cet article amène le concept d'une approche tenant compte des traumatismes pour les archives et les autres organismes de mémoire. L'approche tenant compte des traumatismes est une approche fondée sur les forces pour les organismes qui reconnaissent le caractère envahissant des traumatismes ainsi que le risque et le potentiel pour les gens d'être traumatisés à la suite de leur implication auprès des archives et qui cherchent à minimiser les déclencheurs et les interactions négatives. Elle fournit un cadre sécuritaire et offre un modèle de collaboration et d'émancipation qui reconnaît et met de l'avant l'expertise des individus et des communautés documentées dans les archives. L'approche tenant compte des traumatismes fournit également une façon pour les archivistes de mettre en pratique de nombreuses idées mises de l'avant dans la littérature, notamment le travail de mémoire libérateur, l'empathie radicale, et la co-création participative. Cet article propose plusieurs secteurs où une approche tenant compte des traumatismes pourrait être utile dans les archives et pourrait mener à des pratiques archivistiques tenant compte des traumatismes, lesquelles entraînent des améliorations pour tous: les utilisateurs, les employés et les organisations de mémoire de manière générale. La mise en œuvre d'une pratique archivistique tenant compte des traumatismes est pluridimensionnelle. Elle requiert une révision complète des pratiques, théories et processus archivistiques et une considération des besoins particuliers à chacune des institutions de mémoire et aux individus qui interagissent avec elles. Chaque organisation devrait mettre en œuvre une pratique tenant compte des traumatismes de la façon qui lui convient pour atteindre ses propres objectifs. Ces objectifs peuvent être, entre autres, de reconnaître et admettre des torts passés, de garantir la sécurité pour les utilisateurs et les employés des archives, de redonner le pouvoir aux communautés documentées dans les archives, et d'utiliser les archives pour la justice et la guérison.

In order to undertake liberatory memory work, engage effectively with communities and individuals, and centre people rather than records in their work, archival organizations must be aware of trauma and its effects. This article introduces the concept of trauma-informed practice to archives and other memory organizations. Trauma-informed practice is a strengths-based approach for organizations that acknowledges the pervasiveness of trauma and the risk and potential for people to be retraumatized through engagement with organizations such as archives and seeks to minimize triggers and negative interactions. It provides a framework of safety and offers a model of collaboration and empowerment that recognizes and centres the expertise of the individuals and communities documented within the records held in archives. Traumainformed practice also provides a way for archivists to practically implement many of the ideas discussed in the literature, including liberatory memory work, radical empathy, and participatory co-design. This article proposes several areas where a trauma-informed approach may be useful in archives and may lead to trauma-informed archival practice that provides better outcomes for all: users, staff, and memory organizations in general. Applying trauma-informed archival practice is multidimensional. It requires the comprehensive review of archival practice, theory, and processes and the consideration of the specific needs of individual memory organizations and the people who interact with them. Each organization should implement trauma-informed practice in the way that will achieve outcomes appropriate for its own context. These out comes can include recognizing and acknowledging past wrongs, ensuring safety for archives users and staff, empowering communities documented in archives, and using archives for justice and healing.

This article discusses the development of a new online training course, A trauma-informed approach to managing archives, for the Australian Society of Archivists. It outlines why such a course is needed, who its audience is, and provides a brief overview of what is covered. Trauma is pervasive and affects everyone, and this course provides information and training materials about what this means for archives and how archivists can better support people having a trauma reaction. It introduces the concept of trauma-informed practice, expands on that notion to outline what trauma-informed archival practice may look like, and also discusses vicarious trauma and the impacts this may have on archives workers. The article provides information about when the course will be available, and how people will be able to access the course.

This article discusses issues around the display and use of historical language now considered offensive. Taking as a starting point the non-neutrality of archives, archival systems and documentation, it considers the role of archivists in upholding and reproducing dominant power structures through archival description. It also examines the implications of the uncritical reproduction of historical language in archival description, catalogues and finding aids. It considers the balancing act between reproducing this language and potentially causing offence and distress, and not providing full and accurate information if it is not displayed. While much has been written previously about these issues, there are fewer links to practical actions which may be taken to mitigate these issues. Therefore, a case study is presented using the Language Policy developed by the Find & Connect web resource in Australia, to consider how archives and archivists can be more transparent in their archival description practices. It discusses the development and content of the policy, implications for work on the web resource, and public reception to the policy.

Engaging with Records and Archives: Histories and Theories provides a selection of papers from the 7th International Conference on the History of Records and Archives (I-CHORA 7), held in Amsterdam...

The concept of ‘the record’ is core archival theory and archival methods. In looking at reinventing archival methods, we must ask whether the traditional notion of the record is still applicable and how the record connects and links with material not considered part of the record. Definitions and conceptualisations of what a record is tend to be very broad, but I suggest that for many or most archives, the concept of what a record is – and therefore how records are collected, managed and accessed – is narrower. In examining how archival methods are to be reinvented, I suggest that a broad approach be taken and records of all types be considered.

Use of social media by companies, universities and government has increased dramatically in the last few years. Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne, Australia, was aware that many activities were being undertaken on social media - but it wasn't known what channels were being used, for what purpose or by who. This article describes some of the activities undertaken at VU to keep track of its social media, including finding out what was out there, creating a governance framework for social media, and dealing with the records of social media.

LibGuides. Victoria University Archives. Footscray Technical College (a division of F.I.T).