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The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists / JENNIFER COMPTON

Swansea University Author: JENNIFER COMPTON

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.69589

Abstract

This thesis is a mixed methodological study of Oklahoma’s archival workforce that is particularly attentive to job transitions, technological advances, generational change, and economic pressures. The overarching argument is that Oklahoma archivists demonstrate their resilience through their contrib...

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Published: Swansea, Wales, UK 2025
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Crook, Sarah ; Anderson, David
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69589
first_indexed 2025-05-29T15:58:09Z
last_indexed 2025-06-06T04:11:48Z
id cronfa69589
recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2025-06-04T13:47:04.3698123 v2 69589 2025-05-29 The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists 25ffb66a7eb663c9a1af2d2a9102cf88 JENNIFER COMPTON JENNIFER COMPTON true false 2025-05-29 This thesis is a mixed methodological study of Oklahoma’s archival workforce that is particularly attentive to job transitions, technological advances, generational change, and economic pressures. The overarching argument is that Oklahoma archivists demonstrate their resilience through their contributions to state-level organising at the grassroots of the profession. This organising, I show, seeks to bolster resources for the repositories and their communities, ensuring the long term survival of the archive. The key challenges, discussed in depth in this thesis, are Oklahoma’s economic pressures and the archival workforce’s generational changes. There exists a gap in the literature and data within the United States on archival employees, specifically within Oklahoma’s libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs). This research bridges that gap by providing data and qualitative perspectives collected via interviews from Oklahoma’s archivists. Most of the participants interviewed were retired or late-career; this allows readers to understand better the lasting impact of their work within the state. The use of oral history employs an insider/outsider research perspective to adhere to standards and practices with the LAM communities. Implications for the state of Oklahoma include the need for diversity of personnel within the profession, a need to make visible the invisible labour performed during employees’ day-to-day activities, and the loss of historical information due to lack of staffing and funding within repositories. E-Thesis Swansea, Wales, UK Oklahoma history, archival history, archival workforce, oral history, generational change, grassroots organising, Oklahoma economic factors, technological advancement, organisational culture, institutional memory 21 5 2025 2025-05-21 10.23889/SUthesis.69589 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Crook, Sarah ; Anderson, David Doctoral Ph.D 2025-06-04T13:47:04.3698123 2025-05-29T16:54:42.8348161 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - History JENNIFER COMPTON 1 69589__34392__fa68e91851794ae49cb6fe6e6bcd7cb4.pdf Compton_Jennifer_L_PhD_Thesis_Final_Cronfa.pdf 2025-06-04T13:37:00.4675323 Output 2898958 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The Author, J.J. Compton, 2025. Licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike (CC-BY-NC-SA) license. Third party content is excluded for use under the license terms. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en
title The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists
spellingShingle The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists
JENNIFER COMPTON
title_short The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists
title_full The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists
title_fullStr The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists
title_full_unstemmed The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists
title_sort The Resilient Workforce of Oklahoma’s Archivists
author_id_str_mv 25ffb66a7eb663c9a1af2d2a9102cf88
author_id_fullname_str_mv 25ffb66a7eb663c9a1af2d2a9102cf88_***_JENNIFER COMPTON
author JENNIFER COMPTON
author2 JENNIFER COMPTON
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.69589
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - History{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - History
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description This thesis is a mixed methodological study of Oklahoma’s archival workforce that is particularly attentive to job transitions, technological advances, generational change, and economic pressures. The overarching argument is that Oklahoma archivists demonstrate their resilience through their contributions to state-level organising at the grassroots of the profession. This organising, I show, seeks to bolster resources for the repositories and their communities, ensuring the long term survival of the archive. The key challenges, discussed in depth in this thesis, are Oklahoma’s economic pressures and the archival workforce’s generational changes. There exists a gap in the literature and data within the United States on archival employees, specifically within Oklahoma’s libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs). This research bridges that gap by providing data and qualitative perspectives collected via interviews from Oklahoma’s archivists. Most of the participants interviewed were retired or late-career; this allows readers to understand better the lasting impact of their work within the state. The use of oral history employs an insider/outsider research perspective to adhere to standards and practices with the LAM communities. Implications for the state of Oklahoma include the need for diversity of personnel within the profession, a need to make visible the invisible labour performed during employees’ day-to-day activities, and the loss of historical information due to lack of staffing and funding within repositories.
published_date 2025-05-21T05:41:52Z
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score 11.42897

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