October means Halloween, pumpkin spice lattes, and most importantly Archives Month! This Virginia Archives Month we are highlighting the relationship between self-expression and archives with the theme The Art of Self: Expression in the Archives.
Archival collections in repositories all over the Commonwealth document different modes of self-expression. Whether it is in William R. Shields’ poetry found in Washington & Lee’s collections, designing a tattoo using a rare book on botanical prints from the Library of Virginia, or drawing fashion inspiration from a Sonia Delaunay design at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, you can find forms of expression everywhere in the archives.
In addition to viewing examples of self-expression from the past, archives can serve as sources of inspiration for your own works of self-expression today. You may be inspired by a cultural tradition documented in an oral history, a sketch found in a manuscript, or a photograph.
Examples
1989 advertisement for Cooking with Pride found in the Richmond Pride used to create a fun Virginia Pride button.
Undated, [circa 1960] diagram of a dining hall [D-Hall] at James Madison University used as inspiration for a tattoo.
Expression and Fair Use
To pair with this theme of self-expression, our Archives Month zine this year, Being Fair While You Create: An Intro to Fair Use, focuses on the basics of fair use, the part of U.S. copyright law that allows portions of copyrighted works to be used for criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
You can download Being Fair While You Create: An Intro to Fair Use through the Virginia Archives Month 2024 website.
Only a judge in a court of law can truly determine “fair use,” but there are guiding principles to help assess if the manner in which you are using material is responsible and ethical or if it falls into overt copyright violation. These four key factors are:
- The Purpose and character of the use
- The Nature of the copyrighted work
- The Amount of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
- The Effect upon the potential market value of the copyrighted work used
To make navigating fair use a little easier, there are additional fair use resources available on the Virginia Archives Month 2024 website. Additionally, the Library of Virginia as well as other Virginia archival repositories have submitted images available through the Virginia Archives Month 2024 Flickr album which lend themselves to fair use.
Archives are for creatives, so…
Archives Month Events
Check out a larger list of Archives Month events happening across the state on the Virginia Archives Month 2024 webpage.
October 5th
Archives Month Tour of the Library of Virginia | 11:00 a.m.
Archives Month Tour of the Library of Virginia | 1:00 p.m.
Explore an archival institution near you in October for American Archives Month, starting with a tour of the Library of Virginia! Archives Month celebrates those institutions and individuals that help to preserve and make accessible the important records of our actions as residents, businesses, religious groups, government, and society. This work can give us a sense of being part of a larger picture and helps us begin to recognize our connections to others — family, community, nation, or a group defined by ethnicity, religion, work, or play.
This year’s Virginia Archives Month theme is “The Art of Self: Expression in the Archives.” After the tour, attendees will have the opportunity to express themselves by making a zine using images found in archival collections from across the Commonwealth.
October 17th
Fair Use: One Weird Trick to Unlock Creativity in the Archive | 6:00 –7:30 p.m.
Copyright can seem like a labyrinth of mostly dead ends when it comes to using archival materials in new, creative projects. Questions about copyright duration, ownership, and other gnarly issues can leave archivists and creators feeling stuck. Enter fair use: if your use (or your patron’s use) is a fair use, you don’t have to figure out who the author was, whether they died over 70 years ago, or whether a long-lost deed of gift transferred copyrights to the archive or left them with the donor. If your use is a fair use, there’s no payment or permission required. Brandon Butler has been helping libraries, archives, and their users make fair use of collections materials for over 15 years, most recently as an attorney to documentary film, television, and podcast producers who rely heavily on archival materials to bring their stories to life. Join us to learn more about this one weird trick that cuts through copyright’s Gordian knot.
Tippler's Thermometer; from the Antebellum miscellaneous manuscripts, 1818-1861
Holdings of the Museum of the Confederacy Collection; part of the holdings of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society housed at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture; image courtesy of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. Mss3M9722a68
October 26th
Archives Month Tour of the Library of Virginia | 10:30 a.m.
Archives Month Tour of the Library of Virginia | 2:00 p.m
Explore an archival institution near you in October for American Archives Month, starting with a tour of the Library of Virginia! Archives Month celebrates those institutions and individuals that help to preserve and make accessible the important records of our actions as residents, businesses, religious groups, government, and society. This work can give us a sense of being part of a larger picture and helps us begin to recognize our connections to others — family, community, nation, or a group defined by ethnicity, religion, work, or play.
This year’s Virginia Archives Month theme is “The Art of Self: Expression in the Archives.” After the tour, attendees will have the opportunity to express themselves by making a zine using images found in archival collections from across the Commonwealth.
Workshop | The Art of Zines: Self-Expression in the Archives | 12:00-2:00 p.m.
In honor of Virginia Archives Month, expand the ways in which you engage with archives. Join us for a zine-making workshop that celebrates this year’s theme, “The Art of Self: Expression in the Archives.” Delanie Utterback, an artist, illustrator, and visual arts teacher at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies, will demonstrate collaging techniques and lead participants in creating zines using reproductions of archival materials from a variety of Virginia repositories. Participants will leave with a zine of their very own — plus a better understanding of what archives can be used for and the relationship between fair use and art. All materials will be supplied.
