Advisor: Sarah Story
Contact: advisor@mbarchives.ca
Sarah Story, 2024. Photo taken in Sarah's rural hometown of Grandview, Manitoba (Treaty 2 Territory).
Background
The AMA's Advisory Services is one of the programs offered to support and encourage the development of sustainable archives throughout Manitoba. The Advisory Services Program was established in 1990. Diane Haglund, Conference Archivist for the the United Church of Canada, was the Association's first Advisor and Coordinator until 2011.
With the elimination of the National Archives Development Program (NADP), Advisory Services became a voluntary-run service. For nearly 14 years, volunteer archivists have filled advisory requests. Most notably was Ala Rekrut, Conservator at the Archives of Manitoba, who voluntarily served members in this capacity for many years.
In September 2024, Sarah Story was hired as Archives Advisor and Office Manager, officially stepping into these roles in January 2025. Under the direction of the Board, Story manages the AMA office and provides guidance and resources to archivists and volunteers around Manitoba. Presently, she is working with the board to forge a new path forward for the Advisory Services Program and rebuild the AMA's capacity to serve a membership much in need of advisory and training services, particularly in rural, remote, and community-based archives and heritage settings.
If you are in need of guidance, information, or hands on training support to care for the archives of your community, group, or organization, please reach out to Sarah anytime. She will set up an advisory consultation or site assessment, virtual meeting, or phone call to discuss your needs/request. Sarah is also available to respond to questions via email.
Through site assessment, individual consultation, and/or hands on training, the Advisory Service Program offers:
Advice to archives working to improve procedures and practice
Guidance to organizations, communities, and individuals caring for their archival records
Support to organizations and communities that may wish to start an archives
*New in 2026* - Bi-Monthly Virtual Meetups for Community Archivists and Heritage Workers
A bi-monthly virtual meetup for "lone arrangers", rural and northern heritage workers, and community volunteers caring for collections, and working archivists in need of a support network. In this virtual space we gather to share experiences, encourage each other, learn, and discuss relevant issues. The first part of the meetup is an unstructured conversation for members to share experiences and info, and the rest of the meetup is a dialogue that focuses on a specific archival topic of relevance. This topic is based on need and determined by the participants. Please note: The meetup is members-only.
Who is eligible for Advisory Services?
AMA members, not-for-profit organizations, businesses (that have existed for 5+ years and do not have an agreement with an existing archives), community groups, and individuals with significant historical records.
Note: Eligible applicants must be willing to make their archives publicly accessible and/or available to their community within a reasonable period of time after the completion of receiving advisory services support.
Looking to hire an archivist?
If you would like to hire an archival professional to work on your collections (to perform functions such as appraisal, accessioning, arrangement and description, digitization, digital preservation) or to advise you in your work, the AMA is willing to share job postings with its membership and to direct you to our networks. Please note that there is no referral service for those looking to hire archivists on a fee-for-service basis at this time. To inquire about posting a request for archival support, please contact the office at amaoffice@mbarchives.ca
Resources:
The AMA has compiled useful resources that can be found on website under the Resources tab.