Congratulations to 2021 W. Kaye Lamb Prize winners

Congratulations to Kirsten Wright and Nicola Laurent for winning the 2021 W. Kaye Lamb Prize for their article “Safety, Collaboration, and Empowerment: Trauma-Informed Archival Practice,” published in Archivaria 91 (Spring/Summer 2021).

The Lamb prize is awarded annually to honour the author of the Archivaria article that, by its exceptional combination of research, reflection, and writing, most advances archival thinking in Canada. It is the senior award of the journal for the best article overall. The winner of the Lamb Prize is selected by General Editor, with the assistance of the members of the Archivaria Editorial Board.

The citation reads: In this important article, Kirsten Wright and Nicola Laurent call on archivists to reflect on the ways in which the traumatic impacts of archives (both the records and the institutions) can be identified and dealt with. Building on deep research into trauma-informed frameworks and years of thoughtful conversations on trauma-informed archival practice, the authors lay out precisely where and why a trauma-informed approach is necessary, and offer detailed advice on how this approach can be enacted in archival contexts in order to mitigate trauma. Their theoretical and practical model is incredibly beneficial to working archivists and archival thinkers, as it delineates a clear path forward for this much needed shift in our professional and scholarly spaces.