Lightning Talks
Included below are a list of the Lightning Talk Presentations along with their descriptions.
Community History Project: Stories of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Molly Woods - Connecticut Historical Society
The Connecticut Historical Society’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting. The project focused on collecting oral history interviews to document the impact of Covid-19 on Connecticans, particularly on Black and Brown communities. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. I will discuss how we used a spreadsheet to ingest compound objects into the CTDA.
Adapting a Collaborative Digital Photo Platform to the My Town My Story Project
Bettina Fabos - University of Northern Iowa & Fortepan.us
Bettina Fabos will introduce the Fortepan.us photo history collaborative portal. For a year, the Fortepan.us team has been working with CTDA to create Fortepan CT, which will be integrated into the My Town My Story project. Soon, any participating CTDA institution can embed a beautiful timeline-based portal onto their website and instantly create a photo archive platform to display photos and documents. It will be as easy as embedding a Google map.
Archives + Artifacts = Magic!
Kim Harris Thacker - The Ethel Walker School
In an effort to increase student interest in the unique history of The Ethel Walker School, Archivist Kim Harris Thacker pairs hands-on research in the school's archives with trowels-in "digs" throughout campus. Her work has resulted in the opening of the new Interactive Museum at The Ethel Walker School--a "please touch" rather than a "don't touch" zone.
All archivists know that their work can be dusty...but how about muddy? Let's think outside the acid-free box with this lightning talk!
CT Humanities Updates on Statewide Digital Initiative
Khalil Quotap - CT Humanities
There are many ways people connect to the world around them, and it can be overwhelming. CT Humanities is currently working on two major digital projects that aim to help bring people and information together. Come to hear about the exciting updates on these new systems and how you can benefit from what they can do for you and your organizations.
The CCSU Veterans History Project
Brian Matzke - Central Connecticut State University
CCSU's Veterans History Project contains oral histories from over 800 Connecticut Veterans. In addition to interviews, the project scans and preserves photographs and documents related to the veterans' service. Those items were originally hosted locally, but in 2022, faced with the news that the university would sundown our server in the next few years, we undertook a project to migrate the entire collection to the CTDA. This talk describes that process and highlights items from the collection.
Avon's Quest to Save America's Treasures
Tina Panik - The Awesome Avon Library!
Learn how projects aligned for the Avon Library’s pursuit of a Save America’s Treasures Grant! This $50,000 project, Expand & Launch Avon’s 19th Century History, will allow them to use both CTDA and CT Collections to showcase the items held within the Avon History Room and Avon Historical Society's collections, integrating their stories for the first time in history.
My Town, My Story
Kenia Rodriguez - CTDA
In our communities we are taking and sharing photographs, videos, documents but often without thinking about capturing these moments for future generations to explore. The CTDA is embarking on a 2-year project to explore and develop a culturally competent and sustainable preservation process, designed for the diverse populations of CT to preserve, share, and amplify their immediate and collective histories. Join us as we explore the goals of this project to reduce barriers to documenting, contributing, and preserving our communities.