Self-Care in Archives & Memory Work
Introduction
Archival work often requires various forms of affective and emotional labor from archivists and librarians navigating materials, subjects, and content that can sometimes be contested, difficult, or traumatic. While working to honor and care for these records and histories, it is important to remember to also honor and take care of ourselves. The following is a collection of curated resources, articles, studies, and websites that can help information workers practice self and collective mental health care, engage in radical empathy and boundaries, and manage secondary trauma and implement trauma informed approaches to archival work. We all deserve work places and environments that are healthy, happy, and safe. Please take the time to explore these resources and bring some of these training, perspectives, and tips to your archival workplaces!
Note: While some of these resources are not directly created by archivisits or within memory work organizations, the tools can still apply to the care we provide ourselves and our collective spaces.
Graphics & Shareables
Radical Empathy in Archival Practice Poster and Postcards
Creating and maintaining a culture of self and collective care at Raising Voices
Self and Collective Care Zine by Raising Voices
Hell Yeah Self Care by Meg-John Barker
Archives & Records Association (ARA), UK & Ireland: Health and Wellbeing - Emotional Support Guides
International Council of Archives (ICA) - Template: Responding to Vicarious Trauma
Articles & Blogs
From Human Rights to Feminist Ethics: Radical Empathy in the Archives by Michelle Caswell and Marika Cifor in Archivaria 81 (Spring 2016)
Revisiting an Ethics of Care in Archives: An Introductory Note by Caswell & Cifor (referencing their 2016 article)
Talking About Self-Care in LIS in ALSC Blog, 2018
Not 'Just My Problem to Handle': Emerging Themes on Secondary Trauma and Archivists by Katie Sloan, Jennifer Vanderfluit, Jennifer Douglas, 2019
Downloadable Presentation: Sexton, A; (2019) Working with traumatic records: how should we train, prepare and support record-keepers? Presented at: Archival Education and Research Institute (AERI) 2019, Liverpool, UK.
“Full of Emotions”: Emotional Labor and Emotion Regulation Strategies in Archives Settings by Taylor Wolford, 2021
Radical Empathy in the Context of Suspended Grief: An Affective Web of Mutual Loss by Elvia Arroyo-Ramírez, 2022
Regehr, C., Duff, W., Aton, H. et al. “Humans and records are entangled”: empathic engagement and emotional response in archivists. Arch Sci 22, 563–583 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-022-09392-5
Mental Health Awareness Month: Some Issues and Resources for Archivists in Society of American Archivists Blog, 2023
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Archives by By Malcolm Mathieson in Archivist at Amnesty International, 2023
Managing vicarious trauma in the archives By Adria Carpenter in University of Minnesota, 2024
Websites
The Trauma-Informed Archives Community of Practice
Self-Care Resources for BIPOC in LIS
Trauma-Informed Archives Resource List provided by the Association of Canadian Archivists
Videos & Podcasts
Applying Radical Empathy Framework in Archival Practice
What is self-care, and why should archivists care? with Dorothy Berry in Season 5, Episode 2 of Archives in Context
Video Presentation: ICA/PCOM - Archivists encountering trauma in archives: Introducing the vicarious trauma template, 2024