The City of Ottawa Archives, is currently working on a Gap Analysis and Documentation Strategy about racialized women in technology. An archivist is currently writing a report documenting the gap in the Archives collection where there is little related to racialized women in tech, and tech in general. The research involves looking into other institutions’ archives, researching the history of tech in Ottawa, researching the current state of tech in Ottawa, and what university tech programs and community organizations for racialized women in tech are available. The Documentation Strategy aspect of the report will suggest how the archives can acquire records that represent racialized women in tech. The report also considers other archives that are also focused on the topic, to avoid competing with each other and not split up records between different institutions.
This project is part of the City of Ottawa Archives’ Tapestry initiative, which seeks to diversify the Archives’ holdings. The mandate of the City of Archives is to preserve not just governmental records but community records as well, in keeping with the concept of Total Archives. The current holdings reflect the colonial origins of Canada and thus do not represent the entire community. The Archives is currently striving to address this lack of diversity, and increase awareness of the diversity in Ottawa’s history, through the Tapestry project.
