News & announcements

Are you ready to help shape the future of our region’s history professional network? Northwest Archivists is seeking nominations for members to serve in leadership, working to strengthen our regional network and support the important efforts our members are making in service to the preservation of our region's documentary heritage. 

Why Serve on the Board?

• Skill Development: Gain experience in strategic planning, financial oversight, and nonprofit governance. 

• Networking: Build lasting relationships with fellow members, share resources, and celebrate successes.  

• Professional Impact: Directly influence regional advocacy, education, and advocate for s financial reports and other activities.

Serving on the NWA Board is a rewarding way to give back to the profession while achieving personal growth.

Open Positions & Key Responsibilities

Vice-President/President-Elect serves a three-year term; the first year as the Vice-President and then assumes the role of President upon the adjournment of the annual meeting the year following their election. The third year is spent as past-president.  The President is responsible for supervision over the NWA corporation, presiding at all meetings, and reporting on the activities of the corporation. 

Secretary serves a two-year term working with the President to schedule Board Meetings for the year,  takes Board meeting notes and posts them to the Northwest Archivists website, and other administrative duties.

Idaho, Montana, Oregon State Representatives serve a two-year term and serve as a part of the Executive Board. State Reps are responsible for reporting relevant news to their constituent state, serving as a liaison between the NWA Board and their state’s membership, and actively supports regional efforts pertaining to archives.

Additional details outlining each role are available in the Policies and Procedures.

All candidates must be NWA members in good standing and may not be current Nominating Committee members.

How to Apply

As our Nominating Committee is committed to building a board that reflects the diversity of our region and the many types of repositories we serve, we  invite professionals at all stages of their careers. 

If you are interested in running or would like to nominate a colleague, submit nominations to northwestarchivistsboard@gmail.com. Please submit a 

• candidate statement (250 words) on your interest in serving on the NWA Board that will be shared with the general membership

• a brief resume that will not be shared with the general membership

The deadline for submissions is May 8th, 2026, 11:59 pm PDT.

Thank you for your dedication to NWA and the communities you work with. 

Sincerely,

Gena Peone

Nominating Committee Chair

NWA Past President

Looking for a way to expand your network, get involved in the archives community, and stay current in the field?

Interested in, or had experience with, issues of privacy and confidentiality in the archival setting?

Please consider joining the Privacy & Confidentiality Section Steering Committee.

 

OPEN POSITIONS:

Section Vice Chair (1 position, 3-year term: July 2026 – July 2029)

Duties: Vice chairs are elected annually for a three-year term, serving in year one as Vice Chair, year two as Chair, and year three as Past Chair. Chairs lead the Section by directing activities, organizing annual meeting and elections, liaising with external bodies, appointing committees, and managing administrative matters.

Steering Committee Member (2 positions, 2-year term: July 2026 – July 2028)

Duties: Steering committee members are integral to the work of the section by supporting the sections goals, co-planning/running section activities and events, rounding up relevant information into monthly News Roundups, and joining monthly section discussions. They support co-chairs in leading the Section and provide valuable input and feedback. 

 

QUALIFICATIONS

• SAA members in good standing.
• Though not required, it would be helpful for candidates to have an interest in, and/or experience navigating privacy and confidentiality in an archival setting.

TIME COMMITMENT

Approximately 4–8 hours per month, including a monthly Section group meeting. (Note: Attending the SAA Annual Meeting is not required for service.)

NOMINATION PROCESS

Self-nominations are strongly encouraged! To submit a nomination (including self-nominations), please use our NOMINATION FORM.

*DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS*: Wednesday, April 15, 2026

If you have any questions, please email:

Leslie Schuyler, Chair  Leslie.Schuyler@lakesideschool.org

The Native American Collections Roundtable is accepting applications for their annual scholarship through April 30th 2026. The scholarships help cover the costs of attending the NWA annual conference. 

Three scholarships are available, offering $700 to attendees from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, or Montana, and $900 for one attendee from Alaska.

For more information on the scholarship, or to apply, visit the NACR Scholarship page. 

The Native American Collections Roundtable is a Northwest Archivists Interest Group. Northwest Archivists (NWA) interest groups provide an opportunity to organize around a particular topic or subject related to archives.

Want to get involved in NACR? "Ask to Join" our Google Group to get our email notifications about monthly meetings, events, and opportunities. 

The application deadline for the 2026 Western Archives Institute (WAI) is fast approaching on Friday April 10, 2026. 

 

WAI is an intensive, two-week program that offers integrated instruction in basic archival practices. It is designed for individuals with diverse professional goals, including those whose roles require a foundational understanding of archival skills but who have little or no prior archival training; those assuming increased responsibility for archival materials; practicing archivists without formal archival education; and individuals committed to pursuing a career in archives.

 

Registration fees for WAI are $950 for the two-week program (held July 20-31, 2026). Visit our website to learn more about WAI and to apply.

 

For additional information please contact Marcella Lees, WAI Administrator, and Eric Milenkiewicz, WAI Associate Administrator, at wai@calarchivists.org.

Are you interested in attending the Midwest Archives Conference Annual Meeting, May 14-16, 2026?  If you have never attended a Midwest Archives Conference annual meeting, you are eligible for the Mark A. Greene Award for First-Time Meeting Attendees. Both professionals and students are invited to apply for $250 or $500 of financial support to attend this year’s meeting in Columbus, Ohio, from May 14 to 16. MAC membership is not required.

Registration rates, hotel information, and the conference program are available now on the MAC website. Successful applications reference specific workshops and sessions that support applicants’ professional development and address financial barriers to attending the meeting. Applications are due on Monday, March 16, 2026.

BPE 2026 Registration Open!

 

Registration is now open for the Best Practices Exchange (Un)Conference, which will be held May 18-20, 2026, at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering at Indiana University Indianapolis (in downtown Indianapolis, IN). 

 

Please follow this link for more information about registering for the 2026 Best Practices Exchange. Space is limited, so don’t delay! 

 

View the schedule and session descriptions, now available online: Program & Schedule

 

Best Practices Exchange (BPE) is a community of practitioners who manage digital information that meets annually to share our experiences and have honest conversations about the work that we do. This conference is a great opportunity to share, question, and learn from colleagues across a spectrum of government, academic, and cultural organizations. See the 2026 Conference page for more information.

 

Questions? Email us at bestpracticesexchange@gmail.com 

Social Networks and Archival Contexts (SNAC) is a free, online resource that helps users discover primary source documents, such as photographs, letters, and sound recordings, from all over the world and connections across time and place.

The SNAC State of the Cooperative, our annual meeting, makes a comeback this Spring after a brief hiatus and some restructuring. We are planning a program chocked full of news, plans and recaps of our productive 2025 and what's to come in 2026 and beyond! This year we are planning to open the event to broader networks and have decided to open the event to the public. Visit our website to learn more about SNAC, or get a brief intro by watching this video.

Our program is still being conceived, but we have exciting updates about our #IndigenizeSNAC projects including information about our Mellon grant, exciting cultural-technical news, and more.

When: March 11, 2026, 1-4 pm EST

Where: Virtual

Cost: FREE!

Registration: SNAC State of the Cooperative 2026

APPLY for NWA Awards by April 15, see  Northwest Archivists, Inc. - Scholarships & Funding for more information.

• STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP ($1000) - Grad. students living in/attending school in PNW
• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ($1000) – Individual Members

CONTINUING EDUCATION FUND ($500 per state) - Group Events / Community-building

Through a collaborative effort of the Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands & Peoples of the North American West, the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) department of the MSU Library, and the Friends of MSU Library , Montana State University offers a $3,000 annual award to facilitate research into collections held by ASC.  

The award is intended to defray the costs of either travel to Bozeman to conduct research; to facilitate digitization of portions of a collection to allow a researcher to work remotely; or a mix of the two. Recipients may be academics (including graduate students) or independent scholars who are residents of the United States. We are unable to pay for any costs above the award amount. 

Send applications to the Head of Archives and Special Collections, Jodi Allison-Bunnell (jodi.allisonbunnell@montana.edu) by April 1, 2026.  

 

For full information on application criteria and other details, see https://www.lib.montana.edu/archives/news-and-events/dcta-award.html

The Western Archives Institute (WAI) returns July 20-31, 2026 for an intensive, two-week online program that offers integrated instruction in basic archival practices through a diverse curriculum of synchronous sessions that will be led by the principal faculty member, Dr. Christopher (Chris) Prom. Dr. Prom currently serves as the Coordinator of Sponsored Research Development and Acting Head of the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has extensive experience in archives, has taught several courses for the Society of American Archivists (SAA), and was recognized as an SAA Fellow in 2010 for his contributions to the organization and archives profession.

 

Apply for WAI Here! (Application Deadline is April 10, 2026)

 

Visit our website for further details about the program and to sign up for an upcoming WAI Information Session.

For any questions about the application, applicant qualifications, or the review process, please contact the WAI Administrator,  Marcella Lees, at wai@calarchivists.org.