By Helen Wong Smith, University of Hawai’i and SAA Past President

Despite serving on the AASLH Leadership Nominating Committee in 2018-2019, attending the AASLH Annual Conference from Hawaiʻi has not been possible in the past, with my allocated professional development funds dedicated to attending Society of American Archivists (SAA) conferences, archives being my primary profession. My platform during my SAA presidency this past year has been collaboration and the Douglas Evelyn Diversity Fellowship provided the opportunity to practice this effort by attending AASLH’s conference in Mobile in September.

I presented “How Cultural Competency Can Impact Your Institutions and Your Stakeholders” as a pre-conference workshop, preceded by a public webinar on bridging cultural gaps several weeks prior. It was a joy to have Richard Josey, the 2024 Program Committee Chair, join me on the webinar and express the importance of my topic. Due to the hurricane impacting travel to Mobile, several participants were unable to attend but those who did conveyed their appreciation for the workshop and the delivery of the topic. Several participants expressed interest in further instruction on the topic and I hope to secure approval from the Council for State Archivists to share an asynchronous 10-module course I developed with AASLH members.

Helen and Richard in Mobile

Given my professional interest in representing marginalized and underrepresented cultures and communities in archives, I attended sessions at the conference focusing on these topics, including “Bridging Sources,” “Telling the Past through Archaeology, Oral History, and Archives,” “Walk the Walk: Engaging Community through Participatory Archives,” and “Creative Approaches to Primary Sources.” The breadth of topics recognizes the diversity of interests of AASLH members. “Striking the Balance: In-Person vs. Digital Experience,” “Tiers without Fears: Ranking Your Collections,” “Leading from the Middle,” “Disrupting History: Incorporating a Native Lens,” and “Itʻs a Culture Thing: Authenticity at Work” were those I was thrilled to attend. I took away excellent recommendations, novel approaches to challenges, and greatly appreciated those speakers who shared their presentations and resources with attendees through the conference app.

As with any in-person conference, the informal connections one makes can be just as fruitful as the sessions. As a consultant to Hawai’i-based cultural heritage organizations and repositories, the exposure to the diverse membership of AASLH allowed me to increase my knowledge of shared efforts. The request to wear your organization’s t-shirt on Friday facilitated conversations with other attendees about shared resources. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to experience the AASLH conference in person and hope there are future opportunities to contribute to the knowledge base of the organization.