Community Archives news

Yearbook portrait of Benton James

ASU archivists hoping to learn more about early African American students

The eyes grab you first. They stare at you from the black-and-white photo, soft and, it seems, inquisitive. Zoom out, and you notice the man’s appearance. Well-dressed in a suit jacket, a white dress shirt and a tie that is knotted perfectly. His hair is short. His name is Benton James and, in 1924,...

Illustrated graphic with individual portraits of seven people

ASU Library welcomes first cohort of ‘memory keepers’ to a new fellowship

This fall the ASU Library welcomes seven students to the Community Archivist Fellowship Program, which seeks to inspire community and tribal college students to become professionally trained archivists or librarians. “This program is extremely crucial because Black, Indigenous, and People of Color ...

A student and archivist reviewing archival materials together.

Community college students invited to apply for Community Archivist Fellowship

Become a memory keeper for your community! The Community Archivist Fellowship Program at the ASU Library seeks to inspire community college students to become professionally trained archivists or librarians. Students will be introduced to community-driven archives and work closely with archivists an...

Illustrated graphic of two hands surrounding an open envelope with text Archives Glow

ASU student-produced podcast focuses on community history, memory, healing

Looking for a new podcast to listen to this summer? The Community-Driven Archives Initiative at the ASU Library recently launched a new podcast series titled "Archives Glow" about community history, memory and healing. Episodes highlight the importance of BIPOC experiences and storytelling, center t...

Black and white archival photo of the Ohnick Family, parents and four children

Japanese American family’s history now part of ASU Library archives

A new archival collection donated by a Japanese American family is now part of the ASU Library. The Ohnick Family Papers document the lives and experiences of a Japanese American family living across the American West in the 19th and 20th centuries. Beginning in 1848, the collection includes corres...

Group of young Japanese-American ladies at Poston War Relocation Center, circa 1942. CP AWHC 126, Greater Arizona collection, ASU Library.

Fighting the Silence: Understanding the Japanese-American Student Experience during World War II

  Group of young Japanese-American ladies at Poston War Relocation Center, circa 1942. CP AWHC 126, Greater Arizona collection, ASU Library. I met Astha in the Fall semester of 2022 when she visited the Wurzburger Reading Room in t...

An archival black and white image of a group of people posed for the camera sitting in front and standing in back

ASU Black Collections symposium reimagines, centers communities in archives

A new archival repository within Arizona State University's Community-Driven Archives (CDA) Initiative will host a two-day hybrid symposium on Thursday, April 20, at Hayden Library on the Tempe campus and Saturday, April 22, at Burton Barr Central Library in downtown Phoenix.  The Black Memory and ...

Person looking at artwork on a wall

ASU Library exhibit honors work of former ASU art professor

In September 2019, Shannon Walker got a phone call from two faculty members in the Arizona State University Art Building. They told Walker there were boxes collecting dust in a storage area, and asked if she wanted to come over and look at what was inside the boxes before they cleared the room out....

Portrait of Jessica Salow

Contribute to the preservation of Black history and stories in Arizona

Jessica Salow, assistant archivist of Black Collections More than a decade ago, the Arizona Archives Matrix Project showed that Arizona’s Latino, Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, Indigenous, and LGBTQ communities have long been ex...