Securing our past: Delivering the IAFFE Organizational Archives to Duke
Securing our past: Delivering the IAFFE Organizational Archives to Duke
21, August, 2024
Summer 1994 newsletter
During the week of August 4, three intrepid Archives Committee members traveled to Duke University in North Carolina from Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, DC, joining our Duke-resident IAFFE member to review, organize, and turn over IAFFE materials - some in storage for 20 years - to the archivists at the Duke University Rubenstein Library.
IAFFE, via the Archives Committee, has been working for more than two years to negotiate a contract to deliver our organizational archives to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Duke University, where they will be maintained and made ready for future scholars to study IAFFE’s development and its contribution to the growth and influence of the field of feminist economics. IAFFE’s records will join the existing collection which includes the papers of Barbara Bergmann, Anita Summers, Juanita Kreps, Charlotte Phelps, and Anna Schwartz (the only women so far among many men), as well as the papers of the American Economics Association.
After IAFFE signed the contract in May, Andrew Armacost, the Head of Collections and Curator of Collections at the Rubenstein Library, arranged for the approximately 35 boxes of records stored in Colorado to be shipped to the Duke Library. Andrea Collins and AnnMarie May each shipped additional materials.
Here’s where we started:
2 trolleys and a table of boxes in our “storage” room
The signed contract specified that IAFFE would work with the Rubenstein archivists to do an initial review of the files and remove materials that should not be stored, including members’ personal documents, credit card receipts, duplicates, etc. In addition, archivists and the IAFFE team developed a broad organizational scheme to place similar subject files together, such as conferences, other projects, governance including board meeting minutes, financial statements (generally annual), and so on. All files and boxes were checked and all personal information was removed.
The signed contract specified that IAFFE would work with the Rubenstein archivists to do an initial review of the files and remove materials that should not be stored, including members’ personal documents, credit card receipts, duplicates, etc. In addition, archivists and the IAFFE team developed a broad organizational scheme to place similar subject files together, such as conferences, other projects, governance including board meeting minutes, financial statements (generally annual), and so on. All files and boxes were checked and all personal information was removed.
By the end of our five-day workweek, the seven of us working together had touched every file in every box. Treasures were unearthed, friends in old photos were remembered, and the growth of IAFFE was visible via its artifacts. The archivists were extremely pleased that we were able to contribute so much time to help the cataloging work (the next step) go much more quickly than it often does. It was fun for all of us to work together and get to know each other through laughter which contributed to our ability to keep going! Our work resulted in 30 new archival boxes (33 linear feet of records) from the 40 boxes we started with. Each labeled and with an index of categories within. 10 boxes containing personal financial records, passport copies present in the travel grant files, and duplicates were segregated for shredding.
In keeping with the IAFFE tradition of having a celebratory meal, we also shared a wonderful dinner at a French restaurant in Durham.
The library’s goals include, in addition to making its collections available to researchers, sharing materials with students and members of the public in appealing displays and public programs, in order to inform public decision-making and demonstrate the value of collecting and maintaining archival materials. Andy estimates that the materials are likely to be accessible summer of 2025.
The archival experts from the Rubenstein Library who assisted us besides Andrew Armacost were Laura Micham, Director of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, and Jonathan Smith, Curator of the Economists’ Papers Archive, while the IAFFE team was Joan Combs Durso, Heidi Hartmann, Edith Kuiper, and Jean Shackelford.
For more information about the Archives Committee, you can read here
The teamwork and dedication of the archives committee in preserving IAFFE's history, ensuring its future accessibility and impact is incredible. Thank you.
Congratulations to the Archives committee for this amazing achievement!