What is Underrepresentation and Why Does it Matter for the University of Illinois Archives
Ballard-Lawrence, Jessica E.
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/128596
Description
Title
What is Underrepresentation and Why Does it Matter for the University of Illinois Archives
Author(s)
Ballard-Lawrence, Jessica E.
Issue Date
2025
Keyword(s)
archives
underrepresentation
underrepresented groups
historically excluded
marginalized
Date of Ingest
2025-05-28T15:38:08-05:00
Abstract
In recent years, archives have increasingly created positions focused entirely or partially on filling in the record gaps of underrepresented groups. The University of Illinois Archives has shown some commitment to filling in these gaps since its founding in the 1960s and has recently made more intentional decisions to diversify the collections while following a careful and ethical collection development process. To ensure an ethical approach, it is critical to understand what the archival gaps are, why they exist, and what lessons can
be learned from the underrepresented communities that have enriched the University of Illinois campus but have been previously excluded from the archives. For this reason, I devised an interview study with the University of Illinois archivists to learn about the ways
underrepresented groups are defined and comprehend the ways each archivist intentionally pursues initiatives to help fill in the gaps.
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