ROAR: A Community Archives Initiative

Tartan Community Archive Initiative

 

Overview

ROAR (Repairing Our Archival Record) is a community archive initiative dedicated to collecting and preserving the stories of all communities at Carnegie Mellon University. The Initiative is part of the University Libraries’ ongoing commitment to capture the rich tapestry of history on our campus. This initiative began with the University Archives' Fall 2020 exhibit What We Don’t Have: Confronting Absence of Diversity in the University Archives, which explored gaps in our collections and highlighted the behind-the-scenes work of archivists. Through this initiative, the University Archives strives to build a collection that reflects our community.

 

Goals

Representative Narratives:

  • Make existing collections that represent the experiences of historically marginalized communities more visible and easy to use.
  • Build and foster relationships with community members—faculty, staff, students, alumni, and neighbors—and groups on campus.
  • Involve community members in the descriptive process so that their history is documented in a way that reflects their community.

Reparative Archival Practices:

  • Reprioritize how we select new collections and when we make them visible.
  • Allocate our resources in a more balanced way to better support all members of our community.
  • Review and revise existing archival descriptions to update them for modern usage.

 

Partner with Us

Want to ensure your community history is preserved for future Tartans? Contact Crystal Johnson, Community Collections Processing Archivist, at crystaljohnson@cmu.edu for information on how to manage your community’s archive and/or donate materials to the University Archives.

 

Donate

It is through the remarkable generosity of our supporters that we are able to embark on this incredible journey to build ROAR. Please consider supporting our work by making a donation to the University Archives Fund, dedicated to supporting the needs of this project.

For more information, or to inquire about specific giving opportunities, please contact: libraries-advancement@andrew.cmu.edu.

 

Updates