Archives Week celebration kicks off

History happens every day to every one of us. It comes in with the morning newspaper, the letters and e-mails from family and friends, the quilts made for new babies, the cards sent to the relatives of those who have passed on. History is also in the community festivals, the church picnics, the parades and pageants that mark the progress of the years. It's in the family photo album and high school yearbook. This year's celebration of Archives Week explores the efforts to preserve and document the personal and collective histories of the everyday people who helped to make the Genesee Valley what it is today.

The highlight of the celebration will be a daylong workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 13, in the Curtis Theater at the George Eastman House. Just Plain Folk: The Ordinary Makes Extraordinary History will highlight the efforts of individuals and groups in Rochester and in the Genesee Valley as a whole to preserve the often dramatic history of the everyday. The program will show how photographs, coverlets and even songs shed light on the lives and identities of ordinary people. And participants will hear the voices of everyday people, through readings from diaries, letters and personal recollections.

The event will include presentations by William Johnson on the role of photography in everyday life, by Henry Padron on the Latino/a Documentation project at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, by weaver Helen Jarvis who will display a selection of coverlets from the 18th and 19th centuries, by representatives from the George Eastman House and by David Peter Coppen and Laura Mayes Schwiebacher who will entertain us with 19th century Temperance songs. The day will provide many interesting photo opportunities.

The workshop is open to the public. A $7 registration fee includes a continental breakfast, lunch and admission to the George Eastman House. To register contact the Rochester Regional Library Council at 585-223-7570 or visit the website at www.rrlc.org/dhp.html.