Antiracism Resources: DHPSNY Dialogue Follow-Up, Exploring “Our Role as Collecting Organizations: Antiracism, Inclusion, and Making Sense of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Justice in our Field”

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for the first DHPSNY Dialogue session on January 13, 2022. The Dialogue was facilitated by the team at ARIA Strategies LLC, including Aria Camaione-Lind, Ashley Gantt, and Amanda Smith, and focused on creating a baseline for discussion about Antiracism, Inclusion, and Making Sense of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Justice in our Field of archives, libraries, and all kinds of historical collecting organizations. 

The facilitators began with creating group agreements, and then asked everyone their thoughts about collecting institutions and the concept of ‘neutrality’ within our organizations. Participants also broke into small groups to discuss a time they felt energized or challenged by antiracism work, as well as where they are interested in being better supported, either personally or within their professional life. You can view the slides from ARIA Strategies’ presentation here, which include the written Group Agreements + Norms that will be built upon in future sessions. 

Some other readings and resources from the ARIA Strategies that will help participants understand the important background for this series on the New York State level, as well as set the stage for future work and conversation, are linked here:

• Glenn E. Singleton and Cyndie Hays, “Beginning Courageous Conversations About Race” (Learn more about Glenn’s work, including the mission and services offered by Courageous Conversations here.)
• The New York State Board of Regents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Framework and Policy Statement.
• New York State Historical Records Advisory Board - Every Voice | Every Story: Achieving Greater Agency, Equity, and Social Justice in New York’s Historical Record.

Lastly, Aria, Ashley, and Amanda left participants with an easy anti-racist action for everyone to take part in, and we invite all readers of this blog to participate as well! Please select a reading or another piece of media - as short or long as you want - written or created by a maker of color (BIPOC/PGM) about race. You can email your selection to us at info@dhpsny.org and we'll add it to a curated list of antiracism resources, already begun here.

This session was part of a larger series that DHPSNY is hosting with ARIA Strategies, which will include further Dialogues together, as well as engaging webinars. Please register here and join us for the next webinar in the series on March 10, 2022 that will focus on Understanding Antiracism as Collecting Organizations. The next Dialogue will take place in May 2022.

Please let us know any further thoughts or feedback through email at info@dhpsny.org or connect with us on the DHPSNY Facebook page or in the DHPSNY Community Facebook Group.

This post is part of a biweekly blog series on sharing information, promoting resources, encouraging discussion, and amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) doing antiracism work in archives, museums, history sites, and library special collections. DHPSNY is committed to supporting the diverse network of collecting institutions that safeguard and ensure access to historical records and library research materials across New York State. To learn more, visit our first blog post in the series.

To access the full list of resources in this series, visit our Antiracism Resources links spreadsheet.