In June 2023 I was contacted by my counterpart, Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) President Nicola Laurent, asking if Archives and Records Association of New Zealand (ARANZ) was interested in pursuing a joint Conference late in 2024. With an enthusiastic “Yes” in hand, the planning began in earnest to hold the first ARANZ Conference in 6 years in Ōtautahi | Christchurch.
Our first milestone: pick a theme. Theming is fundamental to the conceptualisation and delivery of a successful event. A theme sets the tone for the entire experience and drives all subsequent planning decisions. The theme is the first impression people will have of an event. With this knowledge in hand, we set about thrashing out the details – defining the event goals and purpose, ensuring relevance and weighing up our budget and event parameteres. We also reviewed the values and purposes of ASA and ARANZ to align our proposed theme. As a counterpoint to the past few years of no/few conferences, digital dominance of the sector, and restrictions due to COVID, we landed on the theme of Opening the Archives. This was the Committee’s leading statement:
The conference aims to bring together a wide range of views on what ‘opening’ the archives means; how this has been, or might be, achieved, and when it should not. It is also a space to explore the challenges and opportunities posed by new technologies, increased accessibility, and the acknowledgement of historical and cultural sensibilities.
Next up – venue. Where to host over 200 attendees? While this may appear to be a large group, in the grand scheme of venues, we soon found out this was too many people for a host of potential vnues, but too small on a cost basis for larger event spaces. After due consideration and site visits across Christchurch, we settled on Te Pae Conference Centre. Billed as, “the city’s gathering place”, Te Pae is located in the centre of the city and is close to all of the large heritage institutions of Ōtautahi | Christchurch. As a large contingent of attendees would be from overseas staying in CBD accommodation, this was an important consideration.
With theme in hand, the grind was about to start. We were ready to put a call out for presenters and speakers, and topics that could be presented on included: Digital accessibility; Access to and repatriation of displaced archives; Privacy and ethical considerations; Cultural considerations; Audiences: who is missing?; Social responsibility; Reparative description, Indigenous self-determination; Teaching with archives; Community outreach and access; Archival education; and, Using technology to improve engagement. The intitial call for papers was off to a slow a start, with only 10 papers received after we neared the deadline in February. This was to be extended by a few weeks.
At the same time, we also put a call out for workshops and a venue to hold them, and potential tours of the city and heritage institutions. This involved yet more driving for site visits, communication with venues, quotes, writing up proposals, on top of project work as a consultant.
After many a sleepless night, I was starting to think this all felt like Wayne’s World 2…
The rollercoaster of event planning was about to speed past the ebb of the current – after a communications and media blitz, coinciding with the extension to the extension of the deadline for the call for papers, we were informed that we now had a whopping 120+ proposals in hand! We also had Jarrod Coburn, GM of Ferrymead Heritage Park, join the Conference Committee and offer up the Park as the venue for workshops.
By October, and after another media blitz, the Conference Committee had to close registrations early as we had reached our in-person limit of 230 people attending, with 90 signed up for our Conference Dinner at the Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral. In addition, 100+ individuals would be joinning us virtually from across the globe. We also had 12 dedicated volunteers to manage the tasks of managing question and answer sessions, manning the registraton/information desks, and ironing out problems as they arose.
From left to right: (Back) Evan Greensides, Eleyna Rider, Leo Zhou, Shirley Hodge. (Front) Herbert Stockman, Tina Liu, Lydia Klimovitch.
Conference Day 1 started at 4:00pm with a mihi from Te Ngāi o Tūāhuriri, followed by introductions from the leaders of ARANZ, ASA and PARBICA. The Awards Ceemony was kicked off by ASA with recipients in several categories announced for the 28th Annual Mander Jones Awards. ARANZ followed with the annual Ian Wards prize for a published work which makes substantial, imaginative and exemplary use of New Zealand archives and records. This year’s award went to Richard S Hill and Steven Loveridge for Secret History: State Surveillance in New Zealand, 1900–1956 – a masterpiece which will soon be added to my book collection.
Day 2 began with morning tea before the Conference Keynote, Dr Stanley Griffin, took the stage. Dr Griffin delved into the profound relationship between archives and society, viewing archives not merely as repositories of historical artifacts, but as dynamic reflections of the cultures, identities, power dynamics, and social justice struggles of their times. Showcasing Memory: Opening Society to its Archives reflected upon archival theory, Caribbean archival experiences and the evolving landscape of digital culture, exploring how archives are caught in the dynamics of capturing the multifaceted layers of human existence.
After a break, the Conference was slit into three streams, featuring interactives discussions, individual papers and a panel. I attended the interactive discussion stream and found the first presentation by Kirsten Wright & Constance Thurley-Hart on practitioners who work within low-budget institutions interesting with some practical tips and tricks to overcome hurdles. The following discussion, Harvesting, nourishing, and thriving – Digitalpasifiks journey to provide access and visibility of Pacific Culture, was interactive and encouraged attendees to actively engage with the Digital Pasifik site.
Photo credit: Eleyna Rider
Post lunch, Hinerangi Himiona headed the Loris Williams Memorial Lecture, Toi Tū He Whakaputanga! Toi Tū te Tiriti!. The korero traversed He Whakaputanga (1835 Declaration of Independence) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840 Tiriti o Waitangi), their development and the foundational agreements that set out the expectations Māori had to share Aotearoa. It was successful in inviting the audience to gain insight into some of the expectations, aspirations and challenges Māori people and communities face, particularly in relation to archives that evidence Māori existence and, too often, leave a yawning gap in Māori voices. I caught up with Hinerangi at the Conference Dinner afterwards regarding iwi archival storage and hope to continue our korero into the future.
The follow up plenary panel, Nā te iwi, mā te iwi! By the tribe, for the tribe!, was held by Helen Brown and Takerei Norton of Ngāi Tahu Archive, and Joanna Condon of Archives New Zealand. The panel traversed the history of the Ngāi Tahu Archive, comprising collections of the former Ngaitahu Maori Trust Board, records of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, and personal papers of selected individuals. Since 2020 the Ngāi Tahu Archive has been co-located with Archives New Zealand in the Christchurch office, fulfilling an important Te Tiriti partnership that has benefitted both parties. Showcased within was an overview of the mahi involved in mapping place names across the motu and available online via the amazing digital platform, Kā Huru Manu.
The last session of the day was dedicated to lightning project talks. Made up of 10 minute slots, each presenter giving all they had to demonstrate how a recent program of work had a positive impact on their collection and users. A presentation by Maja Krtalic, Associate Professor Victoria University Of Wellington, School Of Information Management, on the future of personal archives hit deeply – not only because I had previously worked with Te Manawa on the Peter Bush Archive, but also because I have accumulated tens of thousands of photographs in my lifetime. I have found that we archivists are great at managing others records – not so much our own collections. If I don’t sort it, someone else will need to one day! After Jodie Kell’s presentation on Collaborative performance and archiving of songs in languages from Western Arnhem Land, it was my turn to showcase Archives Central shared services model and success with the new database and CMS. As last speaker of the day, I received a number of questions and had great discussions with those interested in the model – a great way to end the day and head off to dinner at the Cardboard Cathedral to catch up with colleagues.
Photo credit: Richard Foy
Day 3 began with the Conference Keynote by Michele Leggott and Catherina Field-Dodgson, entitled, She is the female speck in the history of texts. Ans she is the scout of its presence’: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris. The presentation explored the art and writings of Emily Cumming Harris (1837–1925), highlighting her overlooked contributions to New Zealand’s cultural history. Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson intricately pieced together Harris’s life and work through archival and photographic fragments, including her botanical artworks and poetic endeavors. A forthcoming book, Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris, will delve deep into Emily’s story in 2025.
The Conference was once again split into breakout sessions. I took Stream 3C for more lightning talks. The sessionwas started by Dr Ann Hardy, explaining the workings of Whizzard, allowing staff and students to search the NBN Television archives – a world first video content discovery and playlist solution. It was great to see the amazing work my successor in the Archivist role at Palmerston North City Library, Dr Ralph Body, has completed by digging into the community archives and crafting the story of Manawatū Enterprises Incorporated. Another colleague, Dr Eric Boamah, was also a highlight, explaining how school’s generate heritage materials, the current challenges they face, and how they can rectify these issues and ‘open’ up their holdings further.
The National Archivist Panel with Anahera Morehu, Timoci Balenaivalu, Mamao Tafao and Simon Froude brought together the perspectives of national archivists from across the region. This high-level discussion considered the effects of geographic diversity, historical and cultural impacts, available resourcing, technological improvements and changes.
The final act of Day 3 was a “box off” between the two fastest times posted at the National Archives of Australia (NAA) stall. These were posted by Chief Archivist Anahera Morehu and Mark Pacey, Local Heritage Specialist at Wairarapa Archive. Mark took out the crown with a blistering 11 second sprint, once again proving that the efficiency of local authorities over central government (/s).
Photo credit: Eleyna Rider
Our final day consisted of workshops and the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration Symposium. I opted for the workshops at Ferrymead Heritage Park and attended Nicola Caldwell’s Opening Digital Archives: Introduction to Born-Digital Collection. This was a good refresher/beginner’s course for professionals, and included hands-on scenarios that required lateral thinking.
After a packed lunch prepared by Ferrymead, we moved on to Sarah Powell’s workshop on Copyright Essentials for Archivists. Having to manage copyright myself for a few years, this topic can prove tricky at the best of times – throw in attendees from a multitude of nations, and a wide amount of variables in legislation also had to be covered. Sarah did this very well and managed to answer all of the questions thrown at her.
The most important takeaway from the workshop was the fact that New Zealand’s copyright term has been extended from 50 to 70 years as a result of the New Zealand-European Union Free Trade Agreement (NZ-EU FTA). The extension was intended to align New Zealand with international norms and the European Union, and to put New Zealand artists on a level playing field with their overseas counterparts. I was able to immediately advise a previous client of this change and they will begin applying the 70 year term ASAP. Thank you, Sarah!
At close of the Conference, more than 380 people attended in-person and online, enjoying all that our impactful speakers and sessions had to offer. When all is counted, we played host to 38 presentations, talks or panels, held 4 workshops and hosted 1 very important Symposium on the 5th anniversary of the Tandanya Declaration. The Conference was an amazing chance to network with new friends, catch up with old colleagues across the GLAMR sector, and start planning for new, exciting projects to continue the work of opening our archives.
The Gretchen Ruben quote, “The days are long, but the years are short” springs to mind to sum up all the planning, preperation, logistics and corralling that was required to make the Conference a success. While the Committee had it’s triumphs and tribulations, as in any project, it is always important to remember to appreciate the present moment and not miss out on the action as it is happening.
Finally, a massive thank you to all on the 2024 Conference Committee: and those doing the hard-yards of logistical work at ASA:
- Nicola Laurent – ASA President, Convenor of the Opening the Archives Conference, and new mum
- Richard Foy – ARANZ President who readily stepped into the Presidency after I left to focus on contracting work and family life with a new child
- Sue Shorter – EO for ASA and logistics persona extraordinaire
- Chelsea Harper – Education Officer at ASA and also an amazing duck aligner/cat wrangler
- Claire Dowling – The person you can always count on to get anything done or found
- Jarrod Coburn – Our Ferrymead venue host that could be found managing logistics, setting up rooms and making our tasty lunches
- Eric Boamah – For his expertise in the IM and tertiary sectors, and championing ARANZ and the Conference to his students
- Hannah Hibbert – ASA Vice President who diligently took all of our Committee minutes and followed up on any issues
- Kathleen Stringer – For her continued support of ARANZ as Secretary and lending her experience to the Conference Committee
- David Swift – For getting PARBICA involved and many of its members over to Aotearoa for in-person korero
