Twin Cities Archives Round Table

Mark your calendars for the 2026 Minnesota Archives Symposium to be held on November 9, 2026 at the University of Minnesota’s Liberal Arts Engagement Hub in Minneapolis! We are currently planning a full day of programming with speakers in the morning, an un-conference in the afternoon, and group outings to nearby restaurants for those who want to socialize over lunch.

Registration for the 2026 Minnesota Archives Symposium will be free, with coffee and light refreshments provided; attendees will be expected to provide or pay for their own lunch. Keep an eye out for a call for participation in September, with registration to follow in October.

There are some great events coming up in June and July that TCART members should know about:

• The 2026 BitCurator Virtual Forum is coming up on on Wednesday, June 17th. No need to be a BitCurator user to attend — sessions will cover a wide range of topics related to digital archival collections. You can register via Eventbrite,  check out a preview of the schedule, or see more registration details on the BCC Forum website.
• The Midwest Art Conservation Center is offering an in-person workshop on environmental controls.  The one-day workshop will cover international guidelines for Museum environments, as well as the impact of these environmental factors over time and for different material types. In a practical exercise, participants will gain hands-on experience using instruments for measuring temperature, relative humidity, visible light, UV radiation, and air quality. In the afternoon, more in-depth environmental analysis will be discussed using data collected by the Chazen Museum of Art on the University of Wisconsin – Madison campus as a case study.  Cost for the workshop is $300. For more information or to register, visit the MACC workshop page.
• Join Minnesota Media Arts on June 17 for a free hands-on workshop on audiovisual preservation at SPNN (8:30 AM–3:30 PM). Learn how to care for tapes, slides & films, get practical digitization tips, and connect with fellow media stewards. Pre-registration required — sign up via Google Registration form or learn more at their website (https://mnmediaarts.org/archiving-workshops.html).

Lastly, if you’re interested in helping to plan the Minnesota Archives Symposium, email us at tcartmn@gmail.com! Just a few hours of your time will help make the symposium a huge success.

There were no TCART updates for March or April, as we were busy planning our Spring Meeting for Friday, May 1! The Spring Meeting was a great success; attendees enjoyed a special presentation by staff of the Mayo Clinic archives teams in Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona about the different ways they’ve been working with each other and on each of their campuses to connect staff and patients with collections.

During the business meeting, we held our annual elections for President and Treasurer; we elected Micah Janette to the role of President and Sonja Isaacson as Treasurer. Thank you to our outgoing officers Kate Hujda and Heidi Heller for their years of service, and a warm welcome to both Micah and Sonja!

Registration is now open for the 2026 Spring Meeting!  The event is free, but you must register by Friday April 24 to attend.  You can check out the agenda and register online.  Zoom information will be emailed to registered attendees on Monday April 27.

This year, the positions of President and Treasurer are up for election — both our president, Kate, and our treasurer, Heidi, have reached their term limits and will not be able to run again.  More information about the roles are available on the TCART website and in the bylaws (PDF).  To nominate yourself, please submit a short statement to be shared with the membership indicating which office you are interested in, and why you would like to serve as a TCART officer. Statements of interest should be sent to tcartmn@gmail.com by April 13, 2026.