By Meryl Brodsky | June 2, 2025
At the IASSIST 2024 conference, the Organizational Archive Action Group was formed to commemorate IASSIST’s 50th anniversary conference: IASSIST 2025. Action Group members included: Margaret (Peggy) Adams, Meryl Brodsky, James Capobianco, Michele Hayslett, Thomas Lindsay, Christine Nieman Hislop (IASSIST Archivist & Action Group Coordinator), Zac Painter, Cindy Severt, and Wei Yin.
Oral History Project
The Action Group decided to take on two projects in preparation for the conference. One was to conduct oral history interviews with long-time IASSIST members. Interviewees were asked to share their memories and reflections on past conferences, reflect on IASSIST’s impact on their careers, discuss significant projects they took on as IASSIST members, such as the development of the IASSIST Quarterly, and what they would like to see in IASSIST’s future. The Action Group conducted and recorded 9 interviews via Zoom.
Interviewees included several Past Presidents, Achievement Award winners, and long-serving editors of the IASSIST Quarterly:
- Margaret Adams, 2012 Achievement Award Winner & Organizational Archive Action Group, USA
- Tuomas J. Alaterä, Past President 2015-2019, Finland
- Karsten Boye Rasmussen, 2023 Achievement Award Winner & Past IQ Editor-in-Chief, Denmark
- Peter Burnhill, Past President 1997-2001 & 2018 Achievement Award Winner, United Kingdom
- San Cannon, Past President 2019-2023, USA/United Kingdom
- Ann Green, Past President 2001-2005 & 2016 Achievement Award Winner, USA
- Winny Nekesa Akullo, Africa Regional Secretary, Uganda
- Walter Piovesan, 2018 Achievement Award Winner & Past IQ Managing Editor, Canada
- Cindy Severt, 2004 Local Arrangement Committee & Organizational Archive Action Group, USA
Full recordings with transcripts are being processed and will be available in the summer of 2025. These will be shared via the IASSIST Oral History Project page. If you would like to learn more about the IASSIST’s Oral History Project, please contact the Archivist at archivist (at) iassistdata.org
The Action Group also created a short compilation video for presentation at the IASSIST 2025 conference. The video was shared during the Closing Ceremony and at the Banquet in We The Curious (science museum) in Bristol. This ten-minute video shares some of the highlights from the oral histories, with an emphasis on conferences.
This video is posted on IASSIST’s YouTube channel : IASSIST 50th Anniversary Conference Video .
IASSISTers could view the 50th Anniversary Conference Video playing on screens anchored from the ceiling at We The Curious.
Map of Conferences
The second project the Action Group undertook was to create a map of past conferences. This map shows the locations of all conferences, pre-ordinal meetings, and workshops from 1974-2025, including the workshops offered by the Africa Chapter. It highlights locations and regions that served as repeated hosts for past IASSIST conferences and it demonstrates the geographic gaps and future opportunities for expanding global participation. One of the hallmarks of IASSIST has been its international perspective. This map was shared as a poster titled “IASSIST at 50: Where Have We Been and Where are We Going” during the poster session at the IASSIST 2025 conference. You can view the poster digitally on Zenodo. You can view the poster digitally on Zenodo .
Christine Nieman Hislop and Meryl Brodsky pose in front of the 'IASSIST at 50' poster displaying a map of all 50 conference locations.
Share Your Photos with the IASSIST Archive!
And finally, there is now a form to submit your photos from past IASSIST conferences to be preserved in the IASSIST Archive.
In celebration and recognition of 50 years of IASSIST conferences, the IASSIST Archive is collecting photos from past conferences. The Archive can only accept photos with people if everyone in the photo has given their consent to being photographed and to their photos being shared. If you are unsure of a person’s consent, please do not submit the photo.
We are happy to accept photos of conference venues, conference food, conference memorabilia, conference cruises/boats/ships, and host city/nearby location landscapes. You can upload up to 10 photos from one conference year. If you want to submit photos from multiple conferences (and please do!), please submit this form multiple times, once for each conference.
To submit your past conference photos, please visit bit.ly/iassist_image_archive. Please contact Christine Nieman Hislop, IASSIST Archivist, with any questions: archivist ( at ) iassistdata.org