{"id":25857,"date":"2025-07-16T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/?p=25857"},"modified":"2025-07-21T15:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T15:48:15","slug":"ask-an-archivist-interview-featuring-the-oma-and-osqa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/2025\/07\/16\/ask-an-archivist-interview-featuring-the-oma-and-osqa\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Ask an Archivist&#8221; Interview featuring the OMA and OSQA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3292\/files\/2025\/07\/2025-Ask-An-Archivist-Interview-1024x421.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25858\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3292\/files\/2025\/07\/2025-Ask-An-Archivist-Interview-1024x421.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3292\/files\/2025\/07\/2025-Ask-An-Archivist-Interview-300x123.jpg 300w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3292\/files\/2025\/07\/2025-Ask-An-Archivist-Interview-768x316.jpg 768w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3292\/files\/2025\/07\/2025-Ask-An-Archivist-Interview-1536x631.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3292\/files\/2025\/07\/2025-Ask-An-Archivist-Interview-624x257.jpg 624w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/3292\/files\/2025\/07\/2025-Ask-An-Archivist-Interview.jpg 1895w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ask an Archivist Interview: the OMA and OSQA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Oregon Multicultural Archives and OSU Queer Archives were interviewed by Choice, a source of reviews of new books\u00a0and digital resources for academic libraries that  publishes a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.choice360.org\/features\/category\/ask-an-archivist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bi-monthly feature called \u201cAsk\u00a0an\u00a0Archivist\u201d<\/a> to profile select special collections. The feature is intended to introduce readers to the treasure trove of materials housed in all kinds of archives\u00a0and libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be sure to check out the interview <a href=\"https:\/\/www.choice360.org\/feature\/oregon-state-universitys-oregon-multicultural-archives-and-osu-queer-archives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Oregon State University\u2019s Oregon Multicultural Archives and OSU Queer Archives: A conversation with curator Natalia Fern\u00e1ndez about the collections and how they center marginalized communities in Oregon&#8221;<\/a> to see the responses to the questions posed below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Oregon State University (OSU) houses the\u00a0Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA)\u00a0and\u00a0OSU Queer Archives (OSQA). Can you provide an overview of the two collections and the types of materials they include?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both the OMA and OSQA contain a substantial number of university records, including meeting minutes and photographs from student organizations and documentation on the activities carried out by cultural centers on campus. Could you speak more about these records? How do documents from university groups and initiatives help center and amplify student voices?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The\u00a0OMA\u00a0and\u00a0OSQA\u00a0also feature oral history interviews with students, staff, and members of the wider Oregon community on their histories and experiences. Could you speak to the importance of oral histories, particularly for communities that are currently facing erasure? What does the transcription and cataloging process for the OMA and OSQA\u2019s audio files entail?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Oregon Tribal Archives Institute\u00a0resulted from a grant project created by the Oregon Multicultural Archives. Can you describe the project and your work with Oregon\u2019s nine federally recognized tribes? How does the Institute support the tribes\u2019 autonomy when it comes to preserving and cataloging their histories?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I understand that the OSU Queer Archives are overseen by you, an archivist, and Bradley Boovy, a professor. What is the value of archivist-professor partnerships? How can they enrich the development and use of archival collections?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What outreach efforts do the OMA and OSQA engage in? How do the collections build community among students and faculty, other universities, and the wider public?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In an article about the OSU Queer Archives titled \u201cCo-Founding a Queer Archives,\u201d you and Boovy write that, \u201c\u2026archives have the ability to shift the culture at institutions of higher education towards greater visibility and acceptance by acknowledging and validating the experience of marginalized students and other members of communities connected with universities including faculty, staff, alumni, and administrators.\u201d Can you speak more about archives\u2019 ability to \u201cshift the culture at institutions of higher education\u201d and how they can create opportunities for new stories and modes of understanding?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections &amp; Archives Research Center (SCARC) recently held an exhibit called \u201cAnti-Racist Description Activities in the OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center.\u201d What does this exhibit entail, and how does OMA center anti-racist decision-making?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oregon Multicultural Archives and OSU Queer Archives were interviewed by Choice, a source of reviews of new books\u00a0and digital resources for academic libraries that publishes a bi-monthly feature called \u201cAsk\u00a0an\u00a0Archivist\u201d to profile select special collections. The feature is intended to introduce readers to the treasure trove of materials housed in all kinds of archives\u00a0and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6078,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[124479],"tags":[1345955],"class_list":["post-25857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oregon-multicultural-archives","tag-oma"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6078"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25857"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25862,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25857\/revisions\/25862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}