Happy Records and Information Management Month!

April is Records and Information Management (RIM) Month! Here at SMA we work closely with our records management colleagues in the City Clerk’s Office who are tasked with ensuring the proper maintenance and disposition of city records throughout their lifecycle. We were excited to join them and other records management partners – including the City Clerk’s Information Services team and Seattle IT – for an event celebrating RIM Month on April 16 here at City Hall. The event included presentations on current and upcoming records management projects and offered lots of fun swag from participating departments. We were thrilled to participate and help celebrate the often unsung but critical work of the city’s records management program.

Recently Processed: Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute Posters

We recently received an accession of posters from the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute that show the variety of events sponsored by the center over the years. With the help of our volunteer Natalie Edmonds, they are now processed and available as Record Series 7420-03.

The posters cover almost 40 years of events including plays, concerts, dance performances, musicals, and film. Highlights include annual teen summer musicals, African American film festivals, hip hop weekends, jazz concerts, cultural festivals, and more. Some have been signed by the performers or filmmakers. Read more about the collection and see examples of the posters at our Primary Sources blog!

Find of the Month

Sometimes we come across folder titles that cry out for further investigation. When we saw a 1971 file labeled “Haircut Incident” listed in Mayor Uhlman’s records, we couldn’t resist heading to the vault to check it out.

The folder turned out to contain records documenting a dispute about whether firefighter Gary Medica’s hair was too long. Witness statements from several officers relayed who had told him to get a haircut and when, allegedly over the course of several days. At roll call on July 4, Medica was finally told to have a fellow firefighter cut it for him right then or be suspended; he refused, saying he would go to a union barbershop when it reopened after the holiday. He served a two-day suspension for insubordination.

The union’s newsletter told Medica’s side of the story along with a photo of him with arguably not very long hair. City Councilmember George Cooley read the account and wrote to Mayor Uhlman saying he was “astonished” at the case and asking the mayor to intervene. The mayor apparently asked Fire Department officials for details of the incident. They again laid out the timeline and argued that Medica wasn’t suspended for his hair but rather for refusing a legitimate order.

In the end, the suspension was upheld. Read the full story and browse past Find of the Months on our website!