In recognition of 2009 American Archives Month, the staff of the Special Collections Department at Louisiana State University will host an afternoon symposium on Thursday October 29, 2009, from 3-5 p.m.  Chords of Memory: Archives at Hill and Beyond, will feature a panel of community scholars and writers discussing the role of archives and historical records in their professional and creative pursuits.  The panel includes Dr. J. Michael Desmond, Mary Ann Sternberg, Dr. Suzanne Marchand, and Dr. Richard White, followed by a Q&A session and refreshments.  The symposium will be held in the Hill Memorial Library Lecture Hall in Baton Rouge.

Desmond will describe his use of archival resources at Hill Memorial Library Special Collections for a recently completed architectural survey project of the original LSU campus, sponsored by the Getty Foundation.  Sternberg, the author of Winding Through Time: The Forgotten History and Present-Day Peril of Bayou Manchac (2007) and Along the River Road: Past and Present on Louisiana’s Historic Byway (2001), will offer a perspective on the non-professional uses of archives in popular historical research.  Marchand, author of German Orientalism in the Age of Empire (2009), will offer insights into conducting research at European archives repositories.  White, author of books on Huey Long, Theodore Roosevelt, and the forthcoming Will Rogers, A Political Biography (2010), will discuss archives and the writing of biography.

American Archives Month is a collaborative effort by professional organizations and repositories around the nation to highlight the importance of records of enduring value. Please join Special Collections in celebrating the American record and the often unheralded efforts to preserve our cultural resources and historical legacy at the national, state, and local levels.

For more information on the symposium, contact Brad Wiles at 225.578.7714 or bwiles1@lsu.edu