A project by Steven D. Booth and Brenda Gunn

In his 1983 SAA presidential address, David B. Gracy II proclaimed that the archival profession was experiencing its “first archival revolution.” Nearly four decades later, we ask the question, “If there was a first, then what are the subsequent revolutions?” The Archival Revolutions Project explores the history of archival revolutions to understand the impacts on the field of paradigmatic shifts in theory, ideas, practice, and perceptions.

From September through October 2021, we facilitated nine focus group sessions with 42 archive workers from across the archival landscape: multigenerational, varying geographical locations, diverse backgrounds and experiences. We asked the participants for their thoughts on what archival revolutions had occurred since Gracy’s presidency, what revolutions may still be unfolding, and whether some revolutions have not succeeded. Finally, we asked the participants how they would define an archival revolution.

From the information gathered, we will propose the transformational moments and paradigmatic shifts that define archival enterprise at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries.

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Explore the Revolutions & Evolutions Below:

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