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Vol. 26:3 ISSN 0160-8460 September 1998
Staff Member Dick Cameron Named SAA Fellow
At an awards ceremony held during its 1998 annual meeting, the Society of American Archivists inducted Richard A. Cameron, NHPRC's Director for State Programs, as a Fellow of the Society. Established in 1957 and conferred annually, the distinction of Fellow - the highest individual honor bestowed by the SAA - is awarded to a limited number of individuals for their outstanding contributions to the archival profession.
The Society's Committee for the Selection of SAA Fellows evaluates nominees on the basis of the following criteria: appropriate academic education and professional and technical training; a minimum of seven years of professional experience in any of the fields encompassed in the archival profession; writing of superior quality and usefulness in advancing the SAA's objectives; and contributions to the archival profession through work in and for the SAA. As specified in the SAA constitution, election as a Fellow is by a 75 percent vote of the Committee, which consists of the five immediate past presidents and three Fellows selected by the SAA Council.
Presenting the award to Cameron was the SAA's immediate past president, Nicholas C. Burckel, currently a member of the Commission, who made special note of several of the new Fellow's contributions to the profession during an archival career of nearly 25 years. Burckel's remarks were as follows:
"In his first professional position as University Archivist and Curator of the Area Research Center at the University of Wisonsin-Eau Claire, Dick distinguished himself as the University's first full-time archivist, where he developed a model records management program. He also led the embryonic University of Wisconsin System Archives Council in developing a "Core Mission and Minimum Standards" for University Archives, a prototype of what became one of SAA's first set of standards - the SAA College and University Archives Guidelines.
"As Field Director in the Division of Archives and Manuscripts, Dick not only revised operations of the eight regional centers throughout the state, but also initiated major new collecting programs. He also helped conceptualize the highly successful National Conference on Regional Archival Networks.
"His year as program officer for the National Endowment for the Humanities came at a time of organizational change at the Endowment, the consequence of which was a more prominent role for Dick than was typical of these rotating positions.
"Dick is, however, probably best known to most of you as Assistant Program Director for State Programs at NHPRC. Under Dick's patient guidance, the Council of State Historical Records Coordinators and the State Historical Records Advisory Boards have evolved into effective vehicles for intra- and interstate planning, cooperation, and coordination. They are productive partners in the Commission's national program.
"Those who have worked with Dick understand and appreciate his quiet leadership, his high standards, his integrity, his sense of humor, his diplomatic skills, and his commitment to improving the profession. Although his position in a grant-funding program precludes him from election to a major leadership position in the Society, we are fortunate that he has found so many other ways to contribute. For these reasons and many more, we welcome Richard Cameron as Fellow of the Society."
