Dear Northwest Archivist Members,

I am reaching out to you today because of our mutual passion for archives and our desire to grow paid internship opportunities within our organizations. I'm chair of NWA’s Paid Internship committee, a group committed to fostering ethical labor practices within the archival profession. In 2019, we announced the launch of the NWA’s Archivist-in-Residence Program. Despite all the challenges of the past two years, we’ve successfully funded and awarded two AiR residencies. These paid opportunities make it possible for a new professional to afford accessing valuable work experience, and it’s a program we are committed to expanding.

The residency for 2021 was awarded to Valeria Dávila Gronros and Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound (MIPoPS). Valeria has just completed her residency where she researched and developed best practices for captioning and transcription of audiovisual materials, to support ongoing accessibility efforts at MIPoPS. Additionally, she created closed captions and transcriptions for 20 videos from the MIPoPS collection. Learn more about Valeria and her project in her first blog post on the NWA site: https://northwestarchivists.wordpress.com/2021/05/13/introducing-nwas-second-resident-for-the-archivist-in-residence-program-valeria-davila-gronros/

The impact of COVID-19 on our profession has been staggering. Layoffs, budget cuts, furloughs, and closures have been devastating to many of us personally and professionally. At this time, it’s more important than ever that we commit ourselves to equitable labor practices in our profession. Our creation of paid internship opportunities serve to uphold the value of our work and are a necessary component to meeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion commitments. 

In fundraising for our second residency, we were able to raise more than $750 from NWA membership and $4,500 from corporate sponsors. We’re hoping to beat that goal so that we can continue to grow the residency program. We hope to raise $1,000 from membership by December 15 in order to offer a robust residency opportunity anywhere in the NWA region.

We’re now asking membership to consider donating to the Archivist-in-Residence Program. (To those who have already donated - thank you!) NWA can accept payment in two ways:

1. Electronic donation via the NWA Donation page by selecting the "Archivist in Residence" program category. (There is a small transaction fee that will be taken out of the donation).
 
2. A check made out to "Northwest Archivists" with "Archivist in Residence" in the memo. Send check to:
 
Anneliese Warhank
Montana Historical Society
PO Box 201201
Helena, MT 59620-1201

Don’t forget to check if your institution or partner’s company provides matching donations! As NWA is a nonprofit, all donations are tax deductible.
I hope you will consider joining us in investing in the next generation of archivists and the archival profession as a whole. Please feel free to reach out to myself or any of the other members of our committee if you would like to continue the conversation. 

With gratitude,
Rachael Woody

The NWA Paid Internship Exploratory Committee:
Rachael Cristine Woody, Rachael Cristine Consulting LLC (Chair, Oregon)
Laura Cray, Oregon Historical Society (Oregon)
Sara Piasecki, National Park Service (Alaska)
Rachel Thomas, George Fox University (Oregon)
Kathryn Kramer, C.M. Russell Museum (Montana)
Erin Passehl Stoddart, Michigan State University Libraries (Michigan)