David Staniunas
@boxreceiver.bsky.social
archivist at PresbyHistory, menasky-adjacent, obligated to say positions are mine, not PC(USA)'s
Our systems got ransacked by AI traffic, and so we bought shields for that, which totally foul up our UX, which makes it easier for a curious user to just ask a chatbot trained on our content to find box-and-folder sources
David Staniunas@boxreceiver.bsky.social · 2d agoI had to captcha my way into this archives space instance in order to see a finding aid, and when I asked for the print layout -- to see everything at once -- I got blocked
I had to captcha my way into this archives space instance in order to see a finding aid, and when I asked for the print layout -- to see everything at once -- I got blocked
Hal Guffey of Potomac Maryland writes to the Committee of 15, you should do more to rebuke Satan
I am genuinely not sure that Presbyterians understand what a miracle the Confession of 1967 is -- the United States was then* a deeply reactionary society *withholding judgement on "is now"
I am genuinely not sure that Presbyterians understand what a miracle the Confession of 1967 is -- the United States was then* a deeply reactionary society *withholding judgement on "is now"
Learning a little about the Barmen Declaration, and this explanation "the church may not willingly become the victim of state power" is hot fire
Low-key preservation Friday: My colleague discovered this 1865 newspaper clipping under glass, in an unopened package from about 1970. I had some 2mil mylar on a roll lying around, cut that to size and creased it with a bone folder, got an e-flute support under it and here we are
it took me nearly two years but I did get something published on Reefer and the PC(USA) pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Presbyterian response to drug use across the decades
What have Presbyterians done about drugs?
pcusa.org
David Staniunas@boxreceiver.bsky.social · 2y agoI promise to dig into the PC(USA) and the herb from the Tomb of Solomon tomorrow
Well WELL well www.chronicle.com/article/a-sc...
Opinion | A Scholarly Association’s Secret Washington Playbook
Did the American Historical Association ask a corporate lobbying firm for advice on how to silence its members?
chronicle.com
David Staniunas@boxreceiver.bsky.social · 8mo agoA year later, AHA leadership rolls out the same language about "fiduciary responsibility", like who wrote the script?
Sometimes you think you're hot stuff, and then sometimes you have to alphabetize a bunch of files
You know what, this turned out to be fine. Correspondent has internalized prior advice, and I'm grateful to them for that
David Staniunas@boxreceiver.bsky.social · last mo.Correspondence belongs to the recipient, and the recipient of any unsolicited package can refuse delivery or destroy it 📦🗃️
We have a problem: the bound volume as a container of text is not extensible Behold the solution, Sir
The University of Toronto set up a "sceret" response network to pro-PS protests in April 2024; much of that work was done in Teams chat; and on May 29, 2024, UoT created a 30-day retention period for Teams chat
Correspondence belongs to the recipient, and the recipient of any unsolicited package can refuse delivery or destroy it 📦🗃️
Tell me more about what you mean by "Skills: Discretion" (I know what you mean of course -- you're limiting your hiring to someone upper-class)
Spent much of the day with the Central region of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, some 80 people gathered at Greenway PC Lenoir NC. You love to see the PC(USA) flag on display
I freely acknowledge that any administrative history of a right-wing organization in the Church will read like a conspiracy theory. Here's Presbyterians for Democracy and Religious freedom: tinyurl.com/mrxc5ayj
Presbyterian Historical Society - Presto - Archives Database Record
Please include both the Accession Number and Call Number on your call slip.
tinyurl.com
Last night, the Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, Palestinian-American & Moderator of the 214th General Assembly, was joined by other Moderators of the General Assembly of years past to advocate for RIW-04. It was approved, 454-15. Watch the full clip on our TikTok: www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8GkQb1x/ #PCUSA #GA227
Last night, the Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel joined other Moderators of the General Assembly of years past around a microphone to advocate for RIW-04, On Recognizing that Israel Has Violated the Internatio...
TikTok video by PCUSA
tiktok.com
Hell yeah
Alex White@alexjwhite.bsky.social · 2mo agoThis is a stunning article by @faisalahali.bsky.social, covering the radical history of Radio Mogadishu and ongoing efforts to protect its extraordinary archive. There's also embedded audio, if you're curious about how its broadcasts sounded! www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/...
Actually doing the labor to bring workingpeople's archives / oppressed people's archives into institutions was too hard, so we gave up and let the computer write fiction instead
Peter Whitewood@pwhitewood.bsky.social · 3mo agoRebranding a hallucination as a ‘critical confabulation’ that can fill archival gaps is a big no from me.
Reminded of the constituent who slept through a talk I gave one winter on recordskeeping, woke up, interrupted me saying "Ah they've got all these digital ways of keeping authentic records", and then 8 years later, when they ended his term of service, he sent in 2900 individual Word docs, for me
Coming up in about a month! Free-for-SAA-members webinar -- The Tradecraft of Acquisitions and Appraisal. Thank you to @saa-official.bsky.social for making this possible mysaa.archivists.org/nc__event?id...
Event | Society of American Archivists
mysaa.archivists.org
