Making Space: Developing the Northeast Florida History Community of Practice

Northeast Florida (NEFL) has served as a port of entry for diverse communities throughout history, from the existing indigenous population to European colonizers and formerly enslaved African Americans, to historic and ongoing immigrant and descendent communities from Lebanon, Albania, and many Asian countries. Parallel to-and in collaboration with-these communities, organizations, businesses, and associations have preserved and made accessible these histories and inheritances through their collections and collaborations. Lacking a centralized record keeping organization for the region, these groups have approached preservation and access from different backgrounds, methodologies, and funding sources. The NEFL History Community of Practice Project seeks to develop a digital platform for history professionals to discuss, share, plan, and reflect on their respective needs and purposes that inform NEFL's history and future. The presenters will share the landscape of organized history professionals in NEFL, the results of the pilot survey sent to 20 current professionals and determine the next steps. The presentation will appeal to archivists, librarians, curators, registrars, and collections stewards who seek to develop, expand, and/or digitize a community of practice to include professionals with diverse backgrounds, expertise, and goals working in the same geographical area. The chair will open with brief biographies and the history of the NEFL. Panellists will discuss the challenging work of organizing history professionals and the survey results to determine next steps for the community of practice. The chair will facilitate Q&A to close.

The Northeast Florida History Community of Practice Project is a developing digital platform for discussion, planning, resource-sharing, and collaboration. The area is home to diverse communities and their cultural and historical inheritances held in repositories from archives and libraries to historical preservation associations and social organizations. The lack of a central record-keeping organization or repository has required them to preserve and share their materials in silos, with inconsistent outcomes due to inequitable resources. The presentation will provide an overview of the history of the area, previous organizing work, the results of a pilot survey, and a plan for improvement.

Panel Discussion