MARAC - Friday morning

After arriving safely in Wilmington yesterday afternoon, in plenty of time for my meetings in the afternoon (Thank you jfla!), I made my way through the halls of the Doubletree Wilmington, meeting and greeting with my MARAC colleagues. I spoke with a few people about heading out for dinner in the evening, and before I knew it, we were a group of 15, who arrived at the Iron Hill Tavern for dinner. Among the guests at dinner were Spellbound, ArchivesNext, jgreen31, and that Ed guy from PA. We all enjoyed several good beers and some outstanding food and great courtesy rides to and from the brewery via the hotel shuttle.

Returning to the hotel after dinner, I had time for a quick dip in the hotel pool before it closed, which I soon realized was below what was serving as the MARAC Hospitality Suite. Luckily, I was not wearing a speedo. Back up to the room and fell asleep in my comfy hotel room bed, in the dark. I had some responsibilities this morning, state caucus meeting and a plenary address, and I had every intention of attending them - until I woke up at 9:00 (full disclosure, I did wake up at 6:00, but the lure of the dark, the comfy bed, and the lack of small children asking for a show - pushed me back down for a few more hours of slumber).

Downstairs to see the assembled archival group while we waited for the first block of sessions to begin. I opted for Session 1, Congressional Collections Collaborations, which featured the Archivist for the United States Senate, who discussed the collaboration between the Congress and the National Archives. Karen gave a very good presentation recapping the creation and work of the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress and how the National Archives (and the Archivist(s) of the United States) had worked very closely to help protect the records of Congress. And its especially nice when an archivist closes her presentation with quote from Lewis Carroll.

The next speaker is Sheryl Vogt, from the University of Georgia, who spoke to the existence and work of the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress (ACSC). As my head starts to throb (pollen counts are through the roof here, too), I am making a plan to head up to my room to take something, so unfortunately I will miss out on the final speaker, Betsy Pittman from the University of Connecticut.

The afternoon will feature more sessions, but first a lunch meeting with my Local Arrangements Committee co-chair for the Alexandria MARAC Meeting, which will be in Spring 2011 and one of the co-chairs of the Program Committee to discuss logistics. Tonight, I will meet with my panelists for the session tomorrow, which I am chairing. There is also a movement afoot for several people to go to a minor league baseball game tonight, the Wilmington Blue Rocks vs. the Winston-Salem Dash at Frawley Stadium here in Wilmington. A spontaneous JAL Tour event!