Returning Rooted: Reflections from the Mellon Community-Centered Archival Practice Institute at UC Irvine

I recently returned from the University of California, Irvine, where I was invited to participate in a week-long Mellon-funded Summit on community-centered archival practice. The gathering brought together archivists, scholars, and community memory workers from across the country—representing institutions such as UNC Charlotte, the University of Massachusetts, UC Santa Barbara, California State University, Arizona State University, UCLA, the Library of Congress, City College of New York, Harvard University, Prairie View A&M, the University of Nevada, the University of Washington, the University of Puerto Rico, and the University of South Florida.

Together, we explored how universities and cultural organizations are reimagining what it means to support public memory infrastructure through partnerships that honor community knowledge, cultural labor, and ancestral continuity.

Representing Georgia

I was the only participant representing Georgia, but I carried with me the spirit of the incredible work already being done here—the community archives, grassroots preservationists, cultural centers, and teaching artists who have been stewarding Black memory long before institutional funding caught up.

As I sat in those sessions, I thought of Holly Smith at Spelman College, Derek Mosley at Auburn Avenue Research Library, Tiffany Atwater at Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library, and Laniece Littleton at Atlanta History Center and the collaborations we’ve shared where students are introduced to archives not as cold repositories but as living, breathing ecosystems of care. Their continued support in bringing my work and my classes to the archives has been foundational in shaping the next generation of memory workers.

The conversations at UC Irvine affirmed what I already knew: we are part of something larger. Across the nation, archivists are linking arms to center communities, not collections—to build sustainable, equitable, and emotionally intelligent practices that honor both the people and the materials that shape our shared history.

Doing More from Home

I returned to Atlanta more inspired than ever to build deeper partnerships between academic institutions, community organizations, and independent archivists in Georgia.

There is so much brilliance here—and I feel compelled to do what it takes to connect it.

The Radical Archive Project has always been rooted in collaboration, but this experience deepened my conviction that community-centered archiving is not just a practice—it’s a form of care, a politics of presence, and a commitment to justice.

I am inspired to continue to gather, plan, and build together. Ensuring Georgia’s public memory infrastructure reflects the depth, diversity, and dignity of the people who make it.

Because when we invest in archives, we are investing in each other.