Ephrata Alumni Association

Key Note Speaker Chosen:
Jerry Handfield

Digital Preservation Pioneer

The EHS-100 Reunion committee has selected Washington State Archivist Jerry Handfield as the keynote speaker at the opening ceremonies of the EHS-100 Reunion. Handfield traces his work on the innovative Washington State Digital Archives back to a history project he did in high school in Norwich, Connecticut. He had to virtually "move" a 1830s-era family from the East cross-country to the Oregon territories, drawing upon historical people and events. As his research took him through memoirs, biographies, newspapers and public records, he became more absorbed in the work than expected. He relished solving mysteries, and discovered a dedication to and a knack for historical research. He felt the vitality of history and sensed that the lines connecting the past and present are taut and humming with relevance. His career course was set.

In the early 1990s Handfield learned about the value of electronic records for government archives. After he got some advanced electronic records training at the University of Pittsburgh, he realized the urgency for archives to meet the digital age head on. Since an archive has millions of public government records, what could be better for the citizens than posting 19th century records on a website? He appointed Indiana’s first electronic records archivist in 1993.

During a conference and a vacation to the Pacific Northwest in 2001, Handfield consulted with Washington State officials regarding their unexpected vacant state-archivist position. This encounter led to the Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed offering Handfield the job with a specific request to help him build the nation's first state government electronic records archives. Handfield accepted.

Handfield led the Washington State Archives staff -- most of whom were traditional paper-trained archivists -- to adopt a new technology and a new way of dealing with digital archives. "This was not just another format change," Handfield said. "This was a revolution." He led the institution in its pioneering launch of the Washington State Digital Archives in 2004.

Locally, Handfield is remembered for his keynote address presented at the opening ceremonies of the year-long celebration marking the 100th year of Grant County’s formation as a county. His interest in the local history and of Ephrata was quite evident in his well-received presentation. He intends to research the area’s history further and to conduct interviews of persons who will be relevant to his presentation during the Ephrata High School 100-year reunion in June 2014.