Four members of OAA traveled to Durant, OK on September 18th to deliver a pre-conference workshop at the Oklahoma Museums Association 2019 annual meeting. David Peters, Treasurer, Jennifer Green, Vice President, Kera Newby, Member, and JJ Compton, Secretary, developed and presented a half-day workshop, Archival Description for Museum Professionals. The workshop included an overview of description for groups of items, discussion on metadata, and focused on understanding archival description at the collection, series and container levels. Attendees took part in small group exercises that explored the use of controlled vocabulary and DACS required fields. Before concluding, each attendee created a finding aid they could take back to their museum and use as a guide to describe archival materials in their holdings. The workshop was well attended and participant questions led to a discussion of archival theory of provenance and arrangement. The workshop is part of OAA’s advocacy for archival work and desire to connect with professionals in Oklahoma that practice similar disciplines. Materials and support were provided by the Oklahoma Historical Records Advisory Board.
