Hi all! I’m Kristen Whitson, joining WiLS and Recollection Wisconsin as the Digital Readiness Program Assistant. I’m so excited to get started on October 1. This position is a one-year, National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)-funded initiative, Building a Wisconsin Digital Readiness Community of Practice. This collaborative, community-driven program will foster the skills and infrastructure necessary for digital readiness in small and under-resourced Wisconsin history organizations, including local, county, and specialized historical societies and historic preservation organizations.
As for me, I’m a recent graduate of UW Madison’s Information School, where I earned my MLIS in May 2020, having focused on archives, digital archives, community archives, indigenous archives…all the archives! Archives is a second career for me; I previously worked in Human Resources for 15 years before deciding to make a change. During graduate school, I completed my practicum with Recollection Wisconsin and the Curating Community Digital Collections initiative — so this position is a natural extension of that work. I also worked with the Madison LGBTQ+ Archive at the UW-Madison Archives as their Social Media and Outreach Assistant; with University Housing as their Archives and Records Management Assistant, and volunteered in archives like the Ho-Chunk Language Division in Mauston, WI and Circus World Archives in Baraboo, WI.
I also have a book coming out in June 2021, with my fantastic co-author Jenny Kalvaitis, We Will Always Be Here: A Guide to Exploring and Understanding the History of LGBTQ+ Activism in Wisconsin. I’m so pleased to be bringing those experiences and relationships into the work we’ll be doing around the state. All of the archival work I’ve done has really fueled my passion for wide access to archival and historical materials, including digitization.
On the personal side, my wife and I live in Oregon, WI, where we’re raising two kids (ages 14 and 18), nine chickens, and a very spoiled cat. We love to garden, cook, bake, and preserve the food we grow or make — beekeeping is next on the homestead agenda! I tend to find myself starting community archives by accident, like my high school’s theater program archive, because I’m so excited about the ways in which looking backwards brings people together for the future. I look forward to getting to know many of you and connecting with you on digital cultural heritage projects!
Building a Community of Practice for Digital Readiness in Wisconsin is supported by an Archives Collaboratives Implementation Grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the granting arm of the National Archives. Read the full implementation grant narrative.
