Casper College’s Western History Center is “in disarray,” and requires a laundry list of changes, a consultant hired by the college foundation concluded.
Consultant Sara Davis, archivist for the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center, detailed a list of concerns with the local institution, ranging from how records are being stored, to how many people are staffed to oversee them. Her major takeaway: the history center cannot be sustained as it is right now.
In the midst of a state budget crisis, Casper College in February announced it would eliminate 15 positions at the institution, with eight of those coming in the form of layoffs. The former archivist was among them.
When word got out that the history center may be without a full-time archivist, local historians began lobbying college administrators and the Board of Trustees to reverse course — so far without success.
College administrators assert that the center is a priority, but limited resources have tied their hands.
The decision to hire a consultant came when it appeared the archivist position would certainly be cut, Vice President of Academic Affairs Brandon Kosine told the Star-Tribune in May. He said the college was committed to maintaining the Western History Center — which houses, among other records, the Star-Tribune’s archives — but needed professional insights into how to manage the space on a limited budget.
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Casper College administrators say the staffing decision was a budgetary necessity. Local historians contend that without the archivist’s knowledge of the collection, donors will lose confidence.
“This is just unfortunately one of those programs that we can’t sustain because it’s not reimbursable by the state. And so we need a professional to come in and help us with what are the things that we need to do to at least maintain a minimum level of service given the means that we have,” he said at the time.
The report, which Kosine first said he expected to receive by the end of May, was not available to the public until early August.
Changes made by college administrators prior to receiving that report, like moving the archives under the purview of the library director and eliminating the sole full-time archivist position, directly contradict the consultant’s recommendations.
Davis’ recommendations are, however, in line with what several members of the public have been saying: the archive needs a full-time professional archivist. Two of them, actually.
Currently, an “archive specialist” is splitting their time between the history center and the college library.
The report acknowledges that budget constraints make that a difficult goal, but that if the college cannot maintain the center according to best practices, it should consider downsizing.
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“To move forward with collecting, Casper College must invest in the Western History Center’s capacity to maintain its current collections, increase its square footage for additional donations, and boost its digital capabilities,” Davis concludes.
She adds that several archives within the state have voiced willingness to accept some of Casper’s collection, including the Fort Caspar Museum, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the American Heritage Center.
Davis took particular issue with the history center being overseen by the library director, calling the current organization “detrimental to the archives.”
She also found roughly 40% of the history center’s collections haven’t been processed, and that many items aren’t adequately stored.
“Archival materials are stored on the ground, staked into corners and on top of cabinets, and housed in bags or other non-preservation quality storage containers with little to none environmental monitoring of the spaces,” she noted.
Davis’ report is a 50-page document, with analyses of everything from the history center’s mission statement to its disaster preparedness plan. But it also offers solutions for resolving the problems. She recommends digitizing more of the collection to make it searchable outside of the center and provided more than half a dozen grant opportunities for officials to consider.
A college spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to a question on what the institution’s next steps will be given the consultant’s findings.