Lee Miller receives
Academy of Certified Archivists
Distinguished Service Award

The Academy of Certified Archivists presented Leon C. Miller with its Distinguished Service Award August 12, 2004 at its annual meeting in Boston. Miller is head of the Manuscripts Department at Tulane University’s Howard-Tilton Memorial Library in New Orleans. He is a past Regent and past President of the Academy and a past president and past Distinguished Service Award recipient of the Society of Southwest Archivists.

Miller has held several ACA positions, most concerning membership and outreach, including the Membership Committee (1990-1991), the Task Force on Development and Outreach (1991-1992), and the Outreach Committee (1993-1996).

In 1996 Academy members elected Miller Regent for Outreach. With examination applications at a record low, he created a working outreach committee with members aligned with every major archival association in the US and Canada; redesigned the newsletter as an outreach tool and acted as editor; distributed gratis copies of the new newsletter to student groups and archival organizations; negotiated advertising exchange agreements with other archival organizations; designed and wrote new ACA brochures; adopted the Archives listserv as an outreach tool; and inaugurated a press release program.

After one year, the number of persons sitting for the examination increased 42%; after two years, almost 200%. That number, if maintained, would ensure the survival of the organization.

Contributing to the Academy’s recovery was the “You Pick Your Site” program, which Miller proposed in 1998. It allowed anyone to hold the certification examination in their hometown if five candidates took the test at the same location. In the program’s first year, the number of examination sites rose from four to ten, and the number of candidates jumped from 37 to 77. It continues to be a popular program, with examination sites in locales as diverse as Houston, Honolulu, and Hong Kong.

In 2000 Academy members elected Miller Vice-President / President-Elect. One theme of his term was demystifying the examination process. He strongly supported Anne Diffendal’s proposal to create Item-Writing Workshops where Academy members could practice writing test questions and learn the techniques and principles guiding ACA test development.

Miller also appointed a blue ribbon committee to review the role delineation, redesigned the ACA website to serve as an outreach tool and acted as the Academy’s web editor, created a new ACA logo and visual style that were applied across the ACA’s website and publications, created the Charter Member program, proposed the Consultant Referral Service, and proposed the Archival Recertification Credit program. During the two years of his term, the number of examination candidates increased by more than 60%.

“I’m grateful and humbled to receive the ACA Distinguished Service Award,” Miller said. “During both of my board terms, I enjoyed the privilege of learning from some of the finest archivists in our profession. They taught me a great deal and they always impressed me with their willingness to work together collegially and cooperatively on behalf of our profession. My association with them will remain one of the warmest memories of my career.”