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ARCHIVAL EXPERIENCE


Ruthie and Bill Katz Archives at North Shore Congregation Israel, Glencoe, IL   
Contract Archivist • 07/01/2015 - present
Volunteer Archivist & Co-Chair of Archive Committee • 2003 – 06/30/2015          
  • Establishing and managing an institutional archive of 100 years of congregational materials while supporting research needs of the executive director, staff, international and external clientele.
  • Writing the archival collection development policies and procedures, along with the records retention policy.
  • Responsible for recruiting and managing volunteers, maintaining a budget, and soliciting archival donations.                        
  • Processing the collection by re-establishing order, weeding, re-housing, and creating the taxonomy.
  • Provide outreach for the archive promote the history of the congregation by utilizing Facebook, creating exhibitions, a digital library for Confirmation photographs and programs, leading presentations to groups and writing articles for (internal and external) publications. 
  • Document activities and events through photography, video and streaming; handle all digital conversions. 

Archives & Special Collections at DePaul University, Chicago, IL 
Project Archivist • 09/16/2019 – 06/30/2020
  • Surveyed, developed a processing plan, arranged and described the National People’s Action Collection and created an EAD finding aid.
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Japanese American Service Committee, Chicago, IL
Part-time Archivist • 10/16/2018 – 09/05/2019
  • Accessioned donations, processed and cataloged (Eloquent) collection and materials to enhanced access for researchers.
  • Administered and updated the records management program for organizational records.
  • Supported research needs of the executive director, staff and international and external clientele. 

Kenamore & Klinkow, LLC 
Contract Project Archivist • 02/22/2018 - 11/05/2018
  • Arrange and describe archival records of the American College of Healthcare Executives. 
  • Arranged and describe materials in the Morton Windsor Salt Historic Archives; digitize selected materials from collections to upload to SharePoint.

Temple Sholom Chicago, IL 
Archivist Consultant at  • 2017 - 2019
  • Developed the plan to create their institutional archive and guided them through the process.
  • Wrote the archival collection development policies, procedures, taxonomy and the records retention policy.

Rexam Beverage Can Company, Chicago, IL
Contract Project Archivist in the Legal Department • 04/2011 – 05/26/2011
  • Appraised legal documents, scan and created a descriptive inventory of off-site records for efficient retrieval.
  • Evaluated outdated patents to select materials of historical value for retention and transfer to the archives.

SDI International Corporation: Motorola, Inc. Legacy Archives, Schaumburg, IL
Contract Project Archivist • 08/2010 – 06/29/2011
  • Appraised records, video and image collections: processed, weeded, arranged, re-housed, developed a taxonomy, described and created accession and location records in the Oracle database: MIMSY.


Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Skokie, IL
Institutional Archivist Consultant • 07/06/2010 – 07/12/2011
  • Established an institutional archives including writing policies, procedures, and taxonomy.
  • Located, appraised, processed institutional records and started to catalog in KE-Emu.
  • Trained staff to manage and develop the institutional archives.

Media Burn, Chicago, IL  
Archivist/Educator Intern 87-hours • Spring, 2010            
  • Developed business and marketing plan for a “Participatory Online Secure Educational User Community,” in the form of a Wiki for​ K-12 and Higher Education markets. 
  • Special emphasis on the use of Web 2.0 principles of collaboration, including social media tools for marketing strategy: See business plan for the MBEC.
  • Professionally digitized and cataloged video content to posted online for greater access.
  • Specialized Applications: iMAP, Digital Rapids Stream, Alfresco and Tyfresco.

Robert M. Myers Archives at Society of the Divine Word, Techny, IL,
Archivist Intern 43-hours • Fall, 2009
  • Processed, arranged and described (finding aid) for the Fr. Edward J. Norton, SVD Collection.
  • Digitized audio recordings to determine enduring value for the collection.
  • Created a presentation and outline.​
Merle A. Branner Information Professional & Educator • © 2023 Web Design by Merle A. Branner
www.merleabranner.com • merleab@me.com • 847.361.1170