1.
CROSSING BORDERS:
Why Archival Science Students Benefit from
Interdepartmental and Transdisciplinary Coursework
Archival Education and Research Institute (AERI) | July 10 - 13, 2017 | University of Toronto Faculty of Information
Itza Carbajal | Master’s Candidate, University of Texas at Austin
Emma Whittington | Master’s Candidate, University of Texas at Austin

2.
About Us:
Emma
Dual Master’s degree candidate, University of Texas Austin School of
Information and Department of Latin American Studies. Research focuses on
archives of print histories, mimeograph technologies, and 20th century
protest movements.
Itza
Master’s degree candidate, University of Texas Austin School of
Information. Research focuses on community self-representation,
digital archives, collective memory keeping.

3.
1. Discuss recent coursework
2. Provide critical reflections
3. Draw broader conclusions
Why are
we here:

4.
Queer Archives Course Details
Number of Students
12 total
Academic Background
Journalism
Sociology
Communications
Anthropology
English
Studio Art
Exposure to Archival Research
2 / 3 had little to no
archival research exposure
Degree Representation
3 graduate students
9 undergraduate students
- Taught by Ann Cvetkovich, Spring 2017. Upper-level undergraduate
course, cross listed in Women & Gender Studies and English Dept.
-Based on queer and feminist theories that extend understanding of what
an “archive” constitutes (archive as affect, ephemera, traces)
-Course met twice a week for 1.5 hours at various sites across campus
(classroom, HRC classroom, Benson Latin American Special Collections)
-Independent and collaborative archival research of LGBTQ collections at
the Harry Ransom Center (HRC)
-Design and staging of public exhibit titled “Coming Out of the Archives,”
at the HRC, using their collection materials

5.
Moving between archival collections
and literature, film, video, and visual
art, this course will take up queer
theory and research methods as it
explores activist approaches to
archiving, knowledge production,
and art-making.
-Cvetkovich, Queer Archives
Syllabus
“

6.
Class Experiences
❏ Witnessed diverging ideas about the nature and
function of archives between the humanities and
archival studies lenses.
❏ Incorporation of more capacious understandings of
“archives”
❏ Ability to demystifying archival practice

7.
Class Experiences
❏ Interaction between two populations that otherwise
would not likely have met
❏ Compared emerging paradigms to the practical
experience
❏ Provided opportunity for listening to criticism of
archival practices
❏ Witnessed deficiencies of archival tools (Finding
Aid)
❏ Engaged in dialogue about access barriers

8.
The
bigger
picture?

9.
Background on Archival Studies at UT iSchool:
● Master’s degrees are are MSIS degrees
● 40 hours coursework
○ 9 hours ‘core’ coursework
○ 27 elective hours, 12 of which can be from outside the
iSchool (no more than 6 from any one department)
● Few iSchool students pursue archives related extracurriculars
● Yet over 13 NON-iSchool courses offered at UT Austin in last 3
years contain “Archives” in the title

10.
Conclusions

11.
❏ Considering joint publication: broadening to include professor and
student viewpoints
❏ Begin formal data gathering phase
❏ Compare UT’s curriculum to other archival education programs in the
U.S.
❏ Conduct participant interviews (ourselves, classmates, archival
students, iSchool faculty)
❏ Involvement with our iSchool’s Curriculum Committee
❏ Conversations with faculty at UT Austin to encourage cross-listing of
courses
❏ Encourage transdisciplinary co-teaching efforts
What’s next:

12.
[Archival studies] must be
subject to continuous critical
reexamination, empirical
testing, and consequent
reshaping.
White & Gilliland, 2010
“

13.
References
Bastian, Jeannette A., and Elizabeth Yakel. 2006. “Towards the Development of an Archival Core Curriculum: The United
States and Canada.” Archival Science 6 (2): 133–50. doi:10.1007/s10502-006-9024-4.
Caswell, Michelle. 2016. “‘The Archive’ is Not An Archives: Acknowledging the Intellectual Contribution of Archival Studies.”
Reconstrcution 16 (1). http://reconstruction.eserver.org/Issues/161/Caswell.shtml.
Cook. 2009. “The Archive(s) Is a Foreign Country: Historians, Archivists, and the Changing Archival Landscape.” The
Canadian Historical Review 90 (3): 600–632.
Cox, Richard J., and Ronald L. Larsen. 2008. “iSchools and Archival Studies.” Archival Science 8 (4): 307. doi:10.1007/s10502-
009-9092-3.
Gilliland, Anne, and Sue Mckemmish. 2004. “Building an Infrastructure for Archival Research.” Archival Science 4 (3–4):
149–97. doi:10.1007/s10502-006-6742-6.
Gilliland, Anne J., and Hariz Halilovich. 2017. “Migrating Memories: Transdisciplinary Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching
about Diasporic Memory, Identity and Human Rights in Archival Studies.” Archival Science 17 (1): 79–96.
doi:10.1007/s10502-016-9265-9.
White, Kelvin L., and Anne J. Gilliland. 2010. “Promoting Reflexivity and Inclusivity in Archival Education, Research, and
Practice.” The Library Quarterly 80 (3): 231–48. doi:10.1086/652874.