Behind the Scenes at the Archives
On Wednesday July 24, 2024 LGBTQ-RAN visited two renowned Midwest archives with archivist Doris Malkmus as she guided viewers in a tour of the back room of the Nicholas Tretter Collection of GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota and the lofty Reading Room of the Wisconsin Historical Society Library. Curator Aidan Bettine showed how the Nicholas Tretter Collection builds relationships with donors, processes collections, and keeps them secure in subterranean stacks. In a visit to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Archivist Lee Grady demonstrated and discussd how users discover LGBTQ history in its storied Reading Room. This webinar was a unique opportunity to get an inside look into an archives and learn more about their use.
Doris Malkmus earned a Ph.D. in history at the University of Iowa and an M.S. in Archival Science from the University of Michigan. Doris also conducted oral history projects at the Iowa Women's Archives and the Sisters of Loretto in Kentucky. She retired as archivist at Penn State. Doris initially served as LGBTQ-RAN archivist and oral historian from 2002 until 2005 and then returned to the team in 2017 in order to fulfill her passion for helping individuals contribute their personal narratives to a broader social history.
Aiden Bettine (https://www.lib.umn.edu/about/staff/aiden-bettine) is the Curator of the Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota Libraries Archives and Special Collections. He is an archivist and public historian who researches and teaches local history pertaining to race, gender, and sexuality in the Midwest. Aiden holds Master’s degrees in both Library and Information Sciences and Critical Ethnic Studies. He is completing an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Public History and Archival Science at the University of Iowa. Prior to becoming Curator of the Tretter Collection in August of 2022, he founded the LGBTQ Iowa Archives & Library, a community archives and lending library in Iowa City, IA. He also served as Community & Student Life Archivist at the University of Iowa.