[Personal_archives] Personal archives and private consulting services in Canada

[Carrie Schmidt]

Hello listserv members,

I am hoping someone (or many!) may be able to help me out.

I am a relatively new archivist (MLIS McGill 2006) who has worked in a
couple of institutional archives and have recently relocated to Vancouver
from Montreal. I would like to start a personal archives consulting business
here in Vancouver and am having difficulty with market research.

While in Montreal, I physically organized & electronically catalogued a
private music collection of 5700+ items, and also digitized, catalogued and
preserved a private photo collection. Those 2 contracts gave me the idea
that I might make a living off of offering services like that; I have a
feeling that many people would like their own educated & experienced
personal archivist/librarian ..... but that's just it: a feeling. I have no
concrete proof of the sustainability of such an endeavour.

Do you know of anyone in Canada who offers personal, private
archives/library services -- organizing/preserving/etc. books, music,
stamps, ephemera, photos, family history, etc.? I have been in contact with
a few people in the US who offer similar services, but have only been able
to find one other person in Canada who does something similar, though
various local historians & memoirists have indicated to me that there IS a
market in Vancouver for a service such as what I propose, though it is
rather high-end and hidden.

I'd also like to be very clear that in no way am I interested in usurping
any future personal archives deposits to archival institutions -- if
individuals are interested in depositing their items with an established
archives, I would urge them to contact the archives directly. I am cognizant
of issues surrounding original order, arrangement & description, etc.

I welcome any and all feedback/information.

Thank you,
Carrie Schmidt (BA University of Alberta, MLIS McGill)

-- 
archivist. editor. writer.
carrieschmidt at gmail.com
vancouver, bc
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/personal_archives/attachments/20091213/7968dd06/attachment.html