Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2025 9:00 AM-4:30 PM
Workshop Partner: the Aquinnah Cultural Center
Host Site: Annual Conference of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums
The Community Archiving Workshop (CAW) is organizing a one-day workshop in partnership with the Aquinnah Cultural Center. This workshop is organized in conjunction with the annual conference of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. The workshop begins with educational presentations addressing the identification of audiovisual formats and their risk factors. Participants will then break into groups and work together to inspect and inventory the collection. There will also be demonstrations of film inspection and audio and video digitization. Through the workshop, the collection partner, host site, and other day-of participants will learn to identify different audiovisual formats and their risk factors, establish controlled vocabulary for description of collections, and document and prioritize collections for preservation. Workshop participants will be handling compact audio cassettes, VHS tapes, and optical media.
Workshop team: Afsheen Nomai, Marie Lascu, Moriah Ulinskas, Pamela Vadakan, and Selena Ortega-Chiolero.
About our Collection Partner: The Aquinnah Cultural Center (ACC) is a Wampanoag historical and cultural center located on the ancestral homelands of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah (WTGHA) on the island of Noepe (commonly referred to as Martha’s Vineyard). Our mission is “to preserve, educate, and document the self-defined history, culture, and contributions of the Aquinnah Wampanoag people.” As a tribal-centered institution, the ACC serves the 1,538 enrolled citizens of the WTGHA–302 of whom live on-island; their families; Wampanoag people from our sister-tribes; and the broader Island public. Originally established as the Museum Committee of the WTGHA, the ACC was incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) in 1997. In 2005, the ACC secured its permanent home at the Edwin DeVries Vanderhoop Homestead, a historic Wampanoag house that was purchased by the Town of Aquinnah and leased to the ACC. Guided by the adage that there can be “nothing about us without us,” the ACC has centered Wampanoag voices and expertise at all levels of the organization’s structure since its inception. For the past two decades, we have operated a seasonal Wampanoag history museum; maintained and expanded our collections; held an annual Native American Artisans’ Festival; offered traditional craft workshops for Tribal families; developed best practices workshops for Island educators; and organized a number of culturally and historically relevant events for Tribal families and the general public. It is our privilege and responsibility to steward our community’s history and material culture, ensuring community access and the preservation of our stories and belongings for generations to come.
Here are all the links you need for today:
Inventory form
Label placement guide
Workflow