SC SHRAB 2009 ARCHIVES AWARDS
The SC State Historical Records Advisory Board (SC SHRAB) recognizes significant contributions to preserving and increasing the appreciation and/or use of South Carolina's documentary heritage through an awards program. The SC SHRAB’s 2009 Governor’s Archives Award and the Award of Merit were presented on February 7, 2009 at the annual meeting of the South Carolina Historical Society held at the Carolina Yacht Club in Charleston.
A SC SHRAB committee selected the following for 2009 awards:
K. Sharon Bennett,
Charleston
For Her Dedication and Contributions to
the archival community and to the preservation of South Carolina's history
Sharon Bennett, now an archivist with the College of Charleston, for many
years served as archivist at the Charleston Museum.
From the nomination: "Sharon has been acting as an unpaid volunteer source of information preservation
and disaster preparedness for the state of South Carolina since the 1980’s. In
publications, presentations, public lectures, onsite hands-on workshops, and in
situations of disaster, she has helped professionals and citizens all over the
state of South Carolina save our archival heritage. She has done this on a
regional and national level as well.
Sharon Bennett is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists, founder and
past president of Charleston Archives, Libraries, and Museums, and the statewide
Palmetto Archives, Libraries, and Museums Council on Preservation. She has also
served as President of the Southeastern Museum conference, and helped numerous
small archives manage their collections. In every professional organization, she
has given of herself and her expertise unstintingly and graciously, always
minimizing her contributions.
In the field of helping others preserve their cultural materials, Sharon has no
peer in the state of South Carolina. A veteran of Hurricane Hugo, she helped her
own institution, others in the city, and scores of individuals salvage damaged
materials; with this experience behind her, she embarked on years of teaching in
libraries, archives, and to citizens groups on how to prepare for disaster – how
to prevent it, and how to repair materials once damaged.
Sharon has taught hands-on disaster workshops (ranging from one to four day
sessions) in South Carolina, Virginia, and Alabama, for various organizations.
With funding from National Endowment for the Humanities and the American
Institute for Conservation, at Fort Bragg, NC, she taught in a new innovative
program to train trainers in an attempt to build a national network for disaster
response. She has authored a disaster resource manual to help archival and
museum staffers to create their own disaster plans.
Sharon Bennett went onsite to salvage fire and water damaged materials when the
Allendale County Court House burned in 1998. Sharon was the sole South Carolina
archivist called to help respond to Hurricane Katrina damage. For nearly a week,
she was onsite in the devastated area, helping individuals and institutions
respond to the unprecedented damage to cultural collections. In that capacity,
in extremely hazardous conditions, she donned Hazmat (hazardous materials)
protective gear and mask to help with dangerous mold growth on collections. She
would have looked like a superhero, or heroine, in that uniform; she does not
need that for her peers in South Carolina who already see her this way. No one
has worked harder, for less recognition, to save our state’s cultural heritage,
than K. Sharon Bennett."
The Historical Center of
York County
For records disaster assistance at the York
County Courthouse, November 2008
For Historical Center staff efforts towards preserving South Carolina
documentary heritage from disaster. In November 2008, the York County
Courthouse experienced a flood damaging the Clerk of Court records. Historical
Center of York County staff did not hesitate to offer assistance. With disaster
plans and supplies in tow, they were instrumental in the rescue of these
one-of-a-kind permanent records. From moving records to safety, making calls
for freezer trucks and vendors, recording the scene, to securing the area, and
offering alternate storage, they helped manage the disaster recovery until SC
Department of Archives and History responders could make it to the scene.
From the nomination: "The Historical Center team was an invaluable resource, and without their assistance damage to the records would have been much more severe and recovery much more expensive."
Attending to receive the award: Nancy Sambets and Brooke Bauer (right)
CGM Computer Consulting, Inc., Columbia
For extensicve free on-site technical assistance to the SD Cepartment of
Archives and History in upgrading and enhancing the Department's On-line Records
Index
For free on-site assistance in upgrading the SC Department of Archives and
History’s Online Records Index to the State Archives’ older historical records.
Since 1999 the SCDAH has been using outside programmers and legacy data
(referred to for many years as the COM Index) to create an online index to some
of the richest portions of its holdings and to link digital images to that
indexing data. Some of the legacy data was already over two decades old,
reflecting peculiarities of centuries old documents and a complicated indexing
strategy. Difficulties with the programming forced the SCDAH to shut down work
on the index.
CGM Computer Consulting literally rescued the SCDAH. CGM committed extensive
programming time, in the hundreds of hours, free to the SCDAH to resolve many of
the most troublesome issues, including placing on-site a programmer to work
directly with SCDAH staff over several months in 2007 and into early 2008.
From the nomination: "The system…CGM has
created makes [the work of staff in data input/updating] many times more
efficient and accurate than it was before. Equally important, we can now do many
things globally [or on a massive scale] that before required labor intensive,
item-by-item work. The technology that renders digitization, indexing, and
linkage cost effective makes possible a research tool that still amazes and
delights researchers around the world. But human intelligence and technical
skills are the key factors in its success. This path-breaking effort would
probably have ground to a halt without the assistance of CGM."
Attending to receive the award: Ken Carter, CGM President (above)