ABSTRACT
The Society of American Archivists (SAA), founded in 1936, is North America’s oldest and largest national professional archival organization that serves the education and information needs of more than 5000 individual and institutional members. The Society of American Archivists also provides national and international leadership for archivists on issues that relate to the identification, preservation, and accessibility of public and private records that have historical value. From ancient papyri to contemporary digital images, such records, created and preserved as evidence of communication, have been an integral aspect of human culture for thousands of years. Archivists traditionally have administered historical record formats such as photographs, moving image film, maps, and textual documents, but today they also deal with the emerging array of electronic communication media, such as audio and video recordings and “born digital” documents such as letters, memoranda, government reports, committee records, and blueprints. An important part of SAA’s work also includes ensuring the preservation of a diverse and representative documentary heritage as well as promoting diversity within its membership and the archives profession as a whole. The Society of American Archivists advocates actively on behalf of archivists regarding issues such as access to public records that are important to the profession, and it cooperates with regional, national, and international archives organizations and such allied professional groups as those representing librarians, records managers, historians, and documentary editors.
