Tina Calabro, Outreach and Preservation Manager at the Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium, and Sierra Green, Senior Outreach Archivist at the Heinz History Center, will participate in a panel discussion at the August 2025 annual conference of the Society of American Archivists.
The panel is entitled “Archiving for Justice: Access and Reparative Practices in Engaging Disabled Communities.” Calabro and Green will speak about the unique collaboration between the Consortium, a disability community-based archive, and Heinz History Center, a history museum with an active research library and archives.
Their talk will highlight how a group of disability advocates successfully launched the Consortium to preserve Western Pennsylvania disability history, and established strategic partnerships – such as with the Heinz History Center – to reach its goals. Over the past ten years, the collaboration with the Heinz History Center has resulted in a variety of collections, educational events and publications.
Calabro and Green will highlight the rich mutual benefits that can be realized in such long-term partnerships between community groups and cultural institutions, including greater representation in large-scale exhibits, strides in accessibility, and other initiatives. They will also discuss how they have navigated the tension between protecting personal information and providing access to archival collections that document the disability community.
