The Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) is a regional archivist association serving the Midwestern region of the United States. MAC was founded in 1972 and held its first fall meeting in the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. While MAC has over 800 members from various states and countries, the MAC region is composed of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. 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. Annual conferences also often include themes, such as "Documenting Rural America" (the theme of the 1986 conference held in Hudson, Wisconsin.
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 meeting in San Francisco. 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 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 Source: 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 2021-2023: Tamar Chute 2023-2025: Jennie Thomas
References
External links
Archival Issues MAC Newsletter