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Archives Awareness Week

Celebrated each year during the first week of April, this week provides the opportunity to highlight the importance of preserving the documentary heritage of Ontario’s communities.

2023 Archives Awareness Week News

Archives Awareness Week will be April 3 to April 6, 2023 - “Step into your community”

This year’s Archives Awareness Week (AAW) will be held from April 3 to April 6, 2023! The theme this year, “Step into your community”, will be a warmup for the upcoming conference!

As part of AWW, we are bringing back our featured Instagram vignettes from you! On Thursday, April 6, 2023, the AAO will publish a series of short vignettes submitted by membership via our Instagram account. We are asking volunteers to submit recorded (sound and video) answers to any or all of the following questions. Examples from your collections will be encouraged!

  • Tell us about a unique outreach initiative your archive has been working on?
  • Tell us about a new partnership within your archive.
  • How are you engaging with your community?
  • What is a document, photograph, recording, or item that sparks more questions than answers?
  • Tell us about an archival surprise, something unexpected!
  • What is the strangest thing that you have discovered in your collection?
  • What archival process or specific record in your collection keeps you up at night? 
If you would like to participate in the AAW vignette event, please contact Tiffany Ribeiro at webadmin@aao-archivists.ca  prior to March 21, 2023, so we can coordinate the recording and sharing of your vignette. Space is limited!

As per tradition, the AAO will be hosting a Twitter Takeover event. On Monday, April 3, 2023, a roster of guest archivists will take over the AAO Twitter account @AAO_tweet to answer your questions and comments related to work in the archives. If you would like to participate, please contact communications@aao-archivists.ca by March 21, 2023, to book a one hour slot! Teams are welcome! Hurry - space is very limited this year!      

We encourage members to program events and engage in social media initiatives. If you would like us to promote your own AAW event please let us know prior to March 21, 2023 so that we can include it in next month’s Original Order of Things newsletter.

Tweeting about events? Use the #2023AAW hashtag!

Posters

Archives Awareness Week 2023: PNGPDF








Tips for Archives Awareness Week

There are many ways you can celebrate and promote archives. Here are a few ideas to try during Archives Awareness Week:

  • Organize a workshop
  • Sponsor a lecture by a researcher who has used your collection
  • Organize a walking tour
  • Visit local schools
  • Create an online exhibition
  • Host a ‘lunch and learn’ at your institution
  • Display an archival film
  • Write an article for your local paper, or publish a blog post
  • Tweet/Facebook entries from a journal for a week using #2017AAW
  • Host a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of your institution
  • Host an open house
  • Host a tea, serve a dessert baked from a cookbook in your collection
  • Host an ‘Ask A Conservator’ event (online or in person)
  • Host an online Q&A “Ask your Archives”
  • Highlight an underrepresented community in your archives and seek records this week

Not sure how to promote your archives or an event? Here are some resources to get you started:


The Archives Association of Ontario (AAO) is led by a committed community of volunteers from across the province. 

705-1 Eglinton Ave. East, Toronto ON, M4P 3A1

aao@aao-archivists.ca  |  (647) 343-3334

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