Welcome to MARAC - Friday

It's Friday morning at 9:15am and many of my colleagues are gathering to hear the plenary address of Thomas Dublin, professor at Binghamton University. (Go to Albany! - private joke there, when prospective students tour Binghamton, students will often yell at them to go to Albany, while at Albany, the call is to go to Binghamton, both schools are university centers in the State University of New York system. I went to Albany.) Professor Dublin is speaking on his recent book, The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century, and focusing on his archival research and oral histories he conducted in documenting the coal industry.

I have chosen to check in with the outside world and let you all know what is happening here in lovely Scranton, PA. Driving into town yesterday afternoon, I was at first struck by the SNOW that still sat on the sides of Interstate 81 as we travelled through Pennsylvania. It is mid-April, yes, but the weather is still unseasonable and the area was hit with some snow in the past two weeks. Someday, spring weather will arrive. It is a little more mild here today with temperatures nearing 60 degrees.

Thursday at MARAC meetings for me is consumed by meetings. As an officer in the organization, I chair one committee, serve as ex-officio to two others, and go to Steering Committee meetings in the evening. So I was busy yesterday. The Steering Committee meeting turned out to be a very "romantic" affair as evidenced by the picture below. There is a good account of what happens at Steering Committee meetings (sans the secret handshake) at my good friend Geof Huth's blog.


One of the highlights for those who come to MARAC meetings is not an organized event. The Hospitality Suite, which Geof also refers to on his blog, is where members can go to unwind (drink) and relax (drink) and talk about the conference (drink). My wife and I went off to the Hospitality Suite to confer (drink) with our friends before retiring. It was here that we learned an exciting piece of news. Two good friends, archivists themselves, got engaged yesterday! We are very happy for them. My wife and I also met at a professional meeting and we happily pass the mantle of the official couple of MARAC to them with all our best wishes.

The sessions scheduled for today are wide ranging and interesting. I however, am finding it difficult to find something that is relevant to my work. This is something that I struggle with when I come to conferences, finding sessions that are appropriate to go to. I do like to go to sessions that are fun, but I sometimes feel guilty. I have another problem. I evidently like to sleep and must be really, really tired. I can be in the most exciting session but the eyelids will become heavy and I have to stop myself from snoring all too often. But anyway, I hope to get to a couple of sessions today and will try to report on them this evening.