annual meeting

2026 Northwest Archivists Annual Meeting --Tacoma, Washington

June 24-26, 2026

Grit and Memory: Preserving the Stories That Built Our Communities

The 2026 NWA Annual Meeting gives us an opportunity to gather, collaborate, and learn from the work of archivists from across our membership. Our 2026 meeting will be held in Tacoma, Washington, also known as Grit City. The theme for 2026 is Grit and Memory: Preserving the Stories That Built Our Communities. Grit is the ability to overcome obstacles and challenges in our work: burnout, understaffing, budget cuts, backlogs, growing large workloads with shrinking resources, and many other challenges. How does grit help us to overcome these challenges and preserve the stories of our communities? At the same time, others have critiqued the concept of grit, so we ask, what does it mean to critique the concept of grit in the archival profession? Do we always have to be so gritty and make do with what we have? Or, can we find creative ways to identify and remove obstacles that should not be there for ourselves, our colleagues, our profession and our users?

The Program Committee seeks diverse perspectives that help us strengthen our professional practice, our institutions, and our communities. Through this call for proposals, the committee aims to connect Grit and Memory with thoughtful discussion through a variety of viewpoints, experiences, and expertise. 

Read our Call for Proposals and find the Submission Form, both listed below!

Questions? Please contact Program Committee Co-Chairs: Nikki Koehlert: nikki.koehlert@multco.us or Tabitha Masters: tabitha.masters@mt.gov.