Process and Progress in Community-Driven Archives

Gillian McCuistion, a technician with the archive project, draws on parallels between SHC community organizing of the 1960s and 70s and the community-driven nature of their partnership with the Southern Historical Collection today. Follow this link for access to the… Continued

John Davis reflects on the Coalition’s work planting community activist seeds and frames the archive project as an opportunity to assemble the record of organizing efforts that grew out of them. Follow this link for access to the full-length panel… Continued

Jack Beckford offers insight into the role the Student Health Coalition Legacy Fund has played in uncovering and supporting ongoing work on issues in Appalachia related to the SHC’s activism in the 1960s and 70s. He lists Appalshop, the Highlander… Continued

Margaret Ecker describes a “fringe benefit” of the archive project as it pertains to the collective memory restoration of community stories, such as those belonging to Howard and Fay Elliot of St. Charles, Va., J.W. and Kate Bradley, Maureen O’Connell,… Continued

John Davis reflects on the process of being involved in the archive project, noting the joy of collectively rediscovering the Coalition narrative and the challenge of packaging it according to over-arching themes and other common threads. Biff Hollingsworth adds that,… Continued

Biff Hollingsworth, Collecting and Public Programming Archivist with the Southern Historical Collection, elaborates on early institutional reluctance to undertake such a non-traditional and labor-intensive archive project. He emphasizes their myriad of considerations, all of which ultimately positioned this partnership as… Continued

John Davis reflects on early hesitations and reluctance among some Coalitioners to participate in the archive project. Follow this link for access to the full-length panel discussion with the Websters. Recorded December 2022. Continued

Biff Hollingsworth, Collecting and Public Programming Archivist with the Southern Historical Collection, delineates more of the timeline at the start of UNC’s partnership with the Student Health Coalition. Margaret Ecker recounts their first phone call in early 2013, a conversation… Continued

Jack Beckford notes that prior to any official connection with the Southern Historical Collection, Margaret Ecker and Lark Hayes had decided to make a documentary film about the Coalition story–an initiative born from energy at the 2012 Landon House reunion… Continued

The Websters discuss the role of Coalition (and other) gatherings in creating momentum for the archive project. John Davis notes how they spurred collective memory recovery and reflection. In reference to a 2009 Center for Health Services (CHS) gathering, Rosie… Continued

Biff Hollingsworth, Collecting and Public Programming Archivist with the Southern Historical Collection, delineates various methods at the center of its community-driven partnership with the Student Health Coalition archive project, all of which are non-traditional to the standard deposit-model. Follow this… Continued

Biff Hollingsworth, Collecting and Public Programming Archivist with the Southern Historical Collection, provides important context to the development of a partnership with the Coalition. He explains that at the same time Coalitioners first started to explore restoring and preserving their… Continued

Margaret Ecker elaborates on the early dissonance among archive project participants about who to partner with and where to document the Coalition story: at Vanderbilt’s University Archives or UNC’s Southern Historical Collection. Follow this link for access to the full-length… Continued

Margaret Ecker and John Davis offer insight about the initial impetus behind and collective vision for the SHC archive project. They cite the collective memory restoration that transpired at a 2012 Landon House reunion, the subsequent inspiration to further uncover… Continued

Biff Hollingsworth, Collecting and Public Programming Archivist at the Southern Historical Collection, provides an excellent thumbnail description of the ongoing shift in archiving toward community-driven, values-based collecting practices. Follow this link to learn more.   Full footage of the 2017… Continued

Lark Hayes suggests a focused approach to participant recruitment and story collection for the archive project. John Davis supports this strategy and ends the meeting with a thematic “bucket” yet undiscussed: stories about opposition to the Student Health Coalition (SHC).… Continued

Margaret Ecker delineates some emerging themes from the Student Health Coalition Archive Project in the effort to cement a framework for their story collection process and website structure. These thematic “buckets” include partnership and collaboration, empowerment, student activism, and service… Continued

Amidst discussion about the archive project’s outreach initiatives, John MacArthur and Paul Joffrion offer insight into why this work matters and how it can be of use to researchers and/or community organizers today. Recorded at a gathering held on June… Continued

My name is Biff Hollingsworth and I am the Collecting and Outreach Archivist for the Southern Historical Collection at UNC Chapel Hill. My main responsibility at the Southern is to curate new collections and projects, which means that I work on… Continued