ARCHIVES FAIR 2003
October 15, 2003
12:00–5:00pm
Lecture at 2:30
Smithsonian Institution, Ripley Center

Please join the DC Caucus of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) for the 6th Annual D.C. Metropolitan Area Archives Fair, which will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 15, from noon to 5:00 p.m. at the Smithsonian Institution’s Ripley Center. At 2:30 there will be a lecture by two National Archives and Records Administration employees who recently returned from Baghdad and will discuss Iraqi Jewish materials which were damaged as a result of recent wartime activities.

The Archives Fair will feature exhibits on local, national and world history and will showcase regional archival collections. The following repositories will be represented: American Red Cross; Corcoran Gallery of Art Archives; DC Public Library; Defense Technical Information Center (DoD); George Washington University; Historical Society of Washington DC; Howard University, Moorland Spingarn Research Center; Library of Congress (LC), American Folklore Center; LC, Manuscript Division; LC, Prints and Photographs; National Archives and Records Administration; Naval Historical Center, Operational Archives Branch; Smithsonian Institution (SI), Archives of American Gardens (Horticulture Services Division); SI, Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery; SI, National Air and Space Museum, Archives Division; SI, National Anthropology Archives; SI, National Museum of American History, Archives Center; SI, Office of Smithsonian Institution Archives; University of Maryland; and University of the District of Columbia, Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives.

At 2:30 there will be a lecture in the Ripley Center Lecture Hall titled “Assignment: Baghdad.” Doris A. Hamburg, Director of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Preservation Programs, and Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, Director of the NARA Document Conservation Laboratory, recently returned from Baghdad, Iraq. They were on an assignment to review archival materials documenting the Iraqi Jewish community through the centuries, which were severely damaged during the recent hostilities. Ms. Hamburg and Ms. Ritzenthaler will give an illustrated account of their adventures in Baghdad, as well as a discussion of the condition of the archival materials and the preservation strategies being developed to secure the future of this important collection.

Directions: Take an Orange or Blue Metro train to the Smithsonian Stop and exit onto the Mall. The entrance to the Ripley Center is between the Smithsonian Castle and the Freer Gallery.

For information please contact Kristine Kaske at kaskek@si.edu or 202-633-2330.