The Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) is a regional

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can consi ...

association serving the

Midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. MAC was founded in 1972 and held its first fall meeting in th
Bismarck Hotel
in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. While MAC has over 800 members from various states and countries, the MAC region is composed of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. MAC holds annual conferences with roundtables, panels, and workshops targeted towards archivists, curators, and librarians. Conferences have addressed such topics as federal funding for archives, documenting social history through the records of various ethnic groups, conservation, and data reporting standards for archival institutions. Other presentations have discussed how an archives can tie into their parent institution's anniversaries and big events, or how to make popular music collections a part of your archives. Annual meetings include informational sessions and notable plenary speakers, such as Pulitzer Prize winning author Leon Dash, who spoke at the 2006 Annual Meeting in

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomingto ...

. Annual conferences also often include themes, such as "Documenting Rural America" (the theme of the 1986 conference held in

Hudson, Wisconsin Hudson is a city in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, its population was 12,719. It is part of the Minneapolis–St. Paul Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The village of North Hudson is direct ...

History

The Midwest Archives Conference officially began in May 1972 with 111 members although the idea of a regional conference had been discussed as early as the 1971

Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the org ...

meeting in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. At a second meeting on September 29–30 MAC adopted a constitution, amendments, and elected officers and Council members. The ''MAC Newsletter'' began quarterly publication in January 1973. Due to the efforts of

Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler is an American archivist who has served as the Chief of the Conservation Laboratory at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) since 1985. Education Ritzenthaler received her undergraduate degree in Engl ...

and others MAC began publishing its scholarly journal, ''The Midwestern Archivist'' (later ''Archival Issues)'', in 1976 . An early review of ''The Midwestern Archivist'' by Trudy Huskamp Peterson notes that the first two issues included only articles and book reviews, with plans to include additional material in later issues.

Publications

MAC offers the following publications: *''The Midwestern Archivist'' (1976–1991) *''Archival Issues'' (1992–current) *''MAC Newsletter'' (1973–current)

MAC presidents

*1972–1975: Archie Motley *1975–1977: Jacqueline Haring *1977–1979: Mary Ann Bamberger *1979-1981: Nicholas Burckel *1981–1983: Patrick Quinn *1983–1985: James Fogerty *1985–1987: Mary Janzen *1987–1989: William Maher *1989–1991: Nancy Lankford *1991–1993: Valerie Gerrard Browne *1993–1995: J. Frank Cook *1995–1997: Mark Greene *1997–1999: Pat Michaelis *1999–2001: Frank Boles *2001–2003: Cheri Thies *2003–2005: Steve McShane *2005–2007: Elisabeth Wittman *2007–2009: Dennis Meissner *2009–2011: Tanya Zanish-Belcher *2011-2013: Ellen Swain *2013–2015: Amy Cooper Cary *2015–2017: Jennifer Johnson *2017–2019: David McCartney *2019–2021: Erik Moore

References

External links

*
Archival IssuesMAC Newsletter
{{Authority control Academic conferences Archivist associations Recurring events established in 1972 Midwestern United States 1972 establishments in the United States Professional associations based in the United States Organizations established in 1972