Outreach of the Franciscan Historical Archive of Zapopan, Mexico.

 In the article “Preoccupied with our own gardens”: Outreach and archivist”, the author analyzes the challenges of the social reach of archives. He uses the example of the discovery of letters from a feminist found by a doctoral student among the shelves of an archive. The impact of this discovery overshadowed the fact that the letters had always been preserved in the archive, but no one knew of their existence.

This situation leads the author to reflect on the challenges of projecting the archive to the community and society in general. The most traditional way to promote the archive is through temporary exhibitions; however, as Erickson states, exhibitions have the disadvantage of having limited social reach as they are confined to a specific space and time, requiring users to travel. During our class on Thursday, November 16, we brainstormed some other options for archives to connect with the community. Among the options mentioned were public presentations, workshops, brochures, guides, media features, displays, publications, etc.

My personal research has primarily involved working with archives related to some branch of the Catholic Church. These archives, being the product and property of a religious institution, often pay less attention to outreach, as their existence would initially be for the internal use of the institution.

Nevertheless, in recent years, I have observed a gradual but progressive change in the presence of the Franciscan Historical Archive of Zapopan in the community. In 2024, the 500 years of Franciscan presence in the New World will be celebrated. This significant event for the order has prompted the archive, which preserves a large number of documents dating from the arrival of the first Franciscans with Hernan Cortes to more recent times, to undertake various outreach strategies resulting in a greater local and international presence.

As a researcher and user of this archive, I can highlight among the most impactful and far-reaching elements, the international conferences that started during the COVID-19 crisis entirely virtually and have continued in a hybrid format in the following years.

These international conferences, all focused on celebrating the 500 years of the order's arrival, have propelled the archive's presence internationally. The use of technological tools such as conference platforms made it possible for a much larger audience to participate and, at the same time, exposed the archive's holdings to a broader range of researchers and potential users, as in my personal case. These conferences also brought the role of the archivist closer to users by creating a network of researchers and archivists through social media and emails, allowing researchers abroad, or even those in Mexico outside the region of the archive, to remotely explore the collections.

Another key element in the archive's outreach, as discussed in class, is the use of social media. In the case of the Franciscan Historical Archive, they remain more active on the Facebook platform (https://m.facebook.com/p/Archivo-Hist%C3%B3rico-Franciscano-de-Zapopan-AHFZ-100063655328010/). On this platform, they constantly post interesting data about the collections they preserve, as well as virtual exhibitions, conferences, publications, etc.

I have chosen to refer to the case of the Franciscan Historical Archive of Zapopan because it seems to be an example of the efforts and challenges faced by archivists, as mentioned by Erickson in his article. However, I must acknowledge that, unfortunately, despite efforts for greater archive promotion, these efforts often remain incomplete in the face of other challenges the archive faces, such as a lack of personnel leading to slow remote user response and a slow digitization process that hinders remote access to collections.