David Staniunas
@boxreceiver.bsky.social
archivist at PresbyHistory, menasky-adjacent, obligated to say positions are mine, not PC(USA)'s
Pinned
Oh that is an attractive picture of files 🗃️
January 15, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Oh that is an attractive picture of files 🗃️
Looking an interview with David Gelzer (RIP) where, in 1975 the government of Taiwan castigates the PC of Taiwan for one of its statements, and says "the business of the church is to take care of spiritual things, put your mind inside the building of the church" app.trint.com/public/2514d...
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app.trint.com
January 13, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Looking an interview with David Gelzer (RIP) where, in 1975 the government of Taiwan castigates the PC of Taiwan for one of its statements, and says "the business of the church is to take care of spiritual things, put your mind inside the building of the church" app.trint.com/public/2514d...
A year later, AHA leadership rolls out the same language about "fiduciary responsibility", like who wrote the script?
Really interesting piece, and it's not surprising to hear people in leadership punt toward "fiduciary responsibility" when disclosure and divestment come up. Really makes clear that the purpose of the organization is itself
IHE reported on protests at MLA over the Exec Council blocking a vote on a resolution. 2 things:
1) the MLA prez calling the EC suppression of a vote “bold” & “courageous” sets a terrible precedent—esp rn for AHA leadership debating their resolution
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
1) the MLA prez calling the EC suppression of a vote “bold” & “courageous” sets a terrible precedent—esp rn for AHA leadership debating their resolution
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
January 13, 2026 at 12:00 AM
A year later, AHA leadership rolls out the same language about "fiduciary responsibility", like who wrote the script?
I like the young person walking away from the camera, in this 1960s church picnic in Grand Rapids, Mich
January 8, 2026 at 4:31 PM
I like the young person walking away from the camera, in this 1960s church picnic in Grand Rapids, Mich
Outstanding production work by my main man Randy on this video combining PHS's two oral histories with Eugene Turner, African American Presbyterian bureaucrat pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Gene Turner Interviewed At Forty Years’ Distance
“My father started a business cutting pine trees for paper. He did well with that until racism destroyed it. The banks told him overnight you can't get any more money.”
pcusa.org
January 6, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Outstanding production work by my main man Randy on this video combining PHS's two oral histories with Eugene Turner, African American Presbyterian bureaucrat pcusa.org/news-storyte...
It's interesting when this happens: Idaho church asks the archives if they have anything on itself, 1984
January 6, 2026 at 7:59 PM
It's interesting when this happens: Idaho church asks the archives if they have anything on itself, 1984
Rev Boyd and family of Montpelier, Idaho
January 6, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Rev Boyd and family of Montpelier, Idaho
*hacker voice* I'm in
January 5, 2026 at 2:14 PM
*hacker voice* I'm in
Surely! when JD was petulantly making vague noises about keeping his archives closed, surely he was remembering Oedipus at Colonus, where the dying man tells Theseus, "Actually no I don't like your disciplinary processes and so I refuse to die here, come on Antigone let's pack it up and move on"
I would like to read new scholarship on this old issue, but also, I'm very content with the Times: "the pipe-puffing Frenchman threatened to pull the plug on the archives because he was furious about “some things the university was doing,"
December 29, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Surely! when JD was petulantly making vague noises about keeping his archives closed, surely he was remembering Oedipus at Colonus, where the dying man tells Theseus, "Actually no I don't like your disciplinary processes and so I refuse to die here, come on Antigone let's pack it up and move on"
Anybody got the PDF of this,, for me 😇
Collection dev/donor ethics case study about Derrida's papers in the new issue of Archivaria. 📜
Armendariz, Anastasia & Kate Orazem. "Fevered Inheritances: Ethics of Care and Donor Power in Starchives." Archivaria, vol. 100, 2025, p. 126-157. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/978334
Armendariz, Anastasia & Kate Orazem. "Fevered Inheritances: Ethics of Care and Donor Power in Starchives." Archivaria, vol. 100, 2025, p. 126-157. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/978334
December 29, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Anybody got the PDF of this,, for me 😇
So one thing bothers me: If the collection had its original folders and order, and it wasn't being reordered / weeded / altered by the researcher, just folders were being numbered, notes being taken, in what sense was it "not catalogued"
December 23, 2025 at 2:11 PM
So one thing bothers me: If the collection had its original folders and order, and it wasn't being reordered / weeded / altered by the researcher, just folders were being numbered, notes being taken, in what sense was it "not catalogued"
Reposted by David Staniunas
agree with this thread and reminds me of a historian I knew who thought archivists were witless bureaucrats because they wouldn’t let him rearrange a processed collection into an order more guided by his particular research query
Hard to say what went on here, but at least it's a story about how archivists are just prissy gatekeepers about things like handwriting and folder labeling, and Readers are the real professionals.
offered to start cataloguing/recording as they went through the box. Offer accepted with guidelines.
an hour passes and the head archivist walks through and sees a reader *WRITING ON THE FOLDERS*!! They stood there for about 2min, jaw open, not believing what they were watching 2/
an hour passes and the head archivist walks through and sees a reader *WRITING ON THE FOLDERS*!! They stood there for about 2min, jaw open, not believing what they were watching 2/
December 23, 2025 at 5:09 AM
agree with this thread and reminds me of a historian I knew who thought archivists were witless bureaucrats because they wouldn’t let him rearrange a processed collection into an order more guided by his particular research query
Hard to say what went on here, but at least it's a story about how archivists are just prissy gatekeepers about things like handwriting and folder labeling, and Readers are the real professionals.
offered to start cataloguing/recording as they went through the box. Offer accepted with guidelines.
an hour passes and the head archivist walks through and sees a reader *WRITING ON THE FOLDERS*!! They stood there for about 2min, jaw open, not believing what they were watching 2/
an hour passes and the head archivist walks through and sees a reader *WRITING ON THE FOLDERS*!! They stood there for about 2min, jaw open, not believing what they were watching 2/
December 22, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Hard to say what went on here, but at least it's a story about how archivists are just prissy gatekeepers about things like handwriting and folder labeling, and Readers are the real professionals.
Reposted by David Staniunas
My shop had a hand in supporting the return of a Kiks.ádi object this year, and I got to write about the collecting habits of Sheldon Jackson, and frankly the amateurish practices of East Coast museums in the 20th c pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Returning the Raven Helmet
Image
pcusa.org
December 22, 2025 at 3:09 PM
My shop had a hand in supporting the return of a Kiks.ádi object this year, and I got to write about the collecting habits of Sheldon Jackson, and frankly the amateurish practices of East Coast museums in the 20th c pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Going to give a little care to some 100-year old photos. Had been stapled to basic cardboard
December 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Going to give a little care to some 100-year old photos. Had been stapled to basic cardboard
My shop had a hand in supporting the return of a Kiks.ádi object this year, and I got to write about the collecting habits of Sheldon Jackson, and frankly the amateurish practices of East Coast museums in the 20th c pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Returning the Raven Helmet
Image
pcusa.org
December 22, 2025 at 3:09 PM
My shop had a hand in supporting the return of a Kiks.ádi object this year, and I got to write about the collecting habits of Sheldon Jackson, and frankly the amateurish practices of East Coast museums in the 20th c pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Incoming agricultural missions content alert! Photos from Pakistan, 1990s, including parade float dedicated to corn/maize. Collection of Ann and Richard Rowe
December 18, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Incoming agricultural missions content alert! Photos from Pakistan, 1990s, including parade float dedicated to corn/maize. Collection of Ann and Richard Rowe
I'm not obsessive over this kind of thing (texts exist for use) but consarnit
December 16, 2025 at 8:01 PM
I'm not obsessive over this kind of thing (texts exist for use) but consarnit
In December 1969, after about 8 months of campaigning for reparations from American Protestant churches, James Forman came to the NCCC General Assembly in Detroit. PHS has tapes of the event pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Voices of the National Council of Churches, Detroit, 1969
Newly-digitized audio from the National Council of Churches helps us understand the radical moments of Detroit in 1969.
pcusa.org
December 16, 2025 at 6:13 PM
In December 1969, after about 8 months of campaigning for reparations from American Protestant churches, James Forman came to the NCCC General Assembly in Detroit. PHS has tapes of the event pcusa.org/news-storyte...
Man I go away for a couple days and whammo 📦 🗃
December 15, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Man I go away for a couple days and whammo 📦 🗃
Reposted by David Staniunas
Yeah, I tried it yesterday on one of the hardest 19th-c hands I know (obscure DC socialite who has a few transcribed letters up on our site, but not a ton).
It did shockingly well!
Of course, then I tried throwing a handwritten Yiddish letter at it, and it confidently spouted nonsense
It did shockingly well!
Of course, then I tried throwing a handwritten Yiddish letter at it, and it confidently spouted nonsense
Idk that's pretty interesting gemini.google.com/share/11f25c...
Gemini - direct access to Google AI
Created with Gemini
gemini.google.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Yeah, I tried it yesterday on one of the hardest 19th-c hands I know (obscure DC socialite who has a few transcribed letters up on our site, but not a ton).
It did shockingly well!
Of course, then I tried throwing a handwritten Yiddish letter at it, and it confidently spouted nonsense
It did shockingly well!
Of course, then I tried throwing a handwritten Yiddish letter at it, and it confidently spouted nonsense
Idk that's pretty interesting gemini.google.com/share/11f25c...
Gemini - direct access to Google AI
Created with Gemini
gemini.google.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Idk that's pretty interesting gemini.google.com/share/11f25c...
Reposted by David Staniunas
The Unification Commission voted Thursday to recommend to the 227th General Assembly (2026) that in-person gatherings of the 228th General Assembly be hosted by el Presbiterio de San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from June 11-22, 2028. Read more: pcusa.org/news-storyte... #PCUSA
December 8, 2025 at 4:56 PM
The Unification Commission voted Thursday to recommend to the 227th General Assembly (2026) that in-person gatherings of the 228th General Assembly be hosted by el Presbiterio de San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from June 11-22, 2028. Read more: pcusa.org/news-storyte... #PCUSA
Just in alongside records of Chapel Lane PC Midland MI, receipts from my shop for their 1980 and 1997 deposits of records
December 8, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Just in alongside records of Chapel Lane PC Midland MI, receipts from my shop for their 1980 and 1997 deposits of records