Melissa J. Nelson: Working and Teaching with Racist Archival Materials

Abstract

This talk will explore the workshop “Description and Access for Anti-Black Archival Materials.” This workshop was designed to address anti-Black racism in archival records by providing methods on how to create inclusive descriptions, minimize harm, and develop a critical mindset for understanding the impact of descriptive and access practices. Developing and providing a workshop of this nature comes with its challenges. Fostering a culture of respect, safety, and communication. Responding to complex inquiries. Pouring emotional and academic labour into the formation and delivery of the workshop. This talk will delve into these issues and more. This talk will offer a behind the scenes look at what it is like to instruct a workshop virtually on anti-racist practices in archives as a Black woman.

Speaker Bio

Melissa J. Nelson is an archivist, researcher, writer, and educator who is based in Toronto, Ontario. She comes from a long lineage of Jamaican storytellers and memory-keepers. Her work and research interests include the preservation of Black cultural heritage and ethics of care in the preservation of harmful archival materials. Melissa is the author of “Archiving Hate: Racist Materials in Archives,” which has been referenced by several collecting institutions, including, University of Waterloo Special Collections & Archives, The United Church of Canada Archives, and Baker Library of Harvard Business School. Melissa offers the workshop, “Description and Access for Anti-Black Archival Materials” which was first delivered at the Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference. Melissa is currently the Research Assistant in Equity and Diversity for McGill University School of Information Studies. Melissa holds a Master of Information Studies from McGill University. She received a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History, with a minor in Sociology, from Carleton University.

About the Series

The IBPOC Voices Speaker Series is a series jointly hosted by the UBC School of Information and IDEAS@UBC. Held in place of the school’s usual in-person colloquium, the series offers a platform for IBPOC information professionals to share their valuable experience and research on a range of topics related to library, archival and information studies.