NER’s New Archives Chair

After many, MANY years of service, Donna Stevens is stepping down as NER’s Archives Chair. The region has Donna to thank for the countless boxes of documents, photos, and records that have been sorted, categorized, logged and stored for posterity. Please thank Donna for all her efforts in preserving the history of New England Region for future members and generations.

In her place, Mark Wentworth has stepped up to serve as the new Archives Chair.

For those who don’t know Mark, he was a member from 1993-2005, and participated in the Solo program. As the Region’s Webmaster, he won the Inaugural National SCCA Award for best regional website. For the Solo program, he served as Chief of Timing, Scoring, and Results. He was also the Region Treasurer towards the end of that time. For his service, he was honored as a Gold Pass Recipient.

He then took a break and left the club, where he continued his career in the printing industry and as an antique dealer, until his recent retirement. Now, “I decided to rejoin and get back into Solo. I was so happy to see many familiar (yet somewhat older) faces!” Mark said. “I also noticed a plea for an Archivist to continue Donna Stevens work. Since I have a passion for history and it’s preservation, I went for it.”

Mark Wentworth – NER’s new Archives Chair

Goals and Plans

As he steps in to fill Donna’s shoes, Mark plans to use his background and experience to tackle the following goals he has for NER’s archives.

The current “Analog” Archives:

First and foremost, “continue the great work that Donna has accomplished over the past decade in cataloging documents, photos, and physical memorabilia.” The SCCA Archives have moved to the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen. They are in the process of cataloging, with some digital files available, so he will partner and work with them as needed.

“I’m sure in the future, our analog archives will also live in Watkins Glen, but until that happens, I plan on preserving all that is specific to the New England Region. Creating digital files of 10’s of thousands of documents is not something for one person to handle, so in the meantime I’ll offer “research-on-demand” where members can inquire about a certain driver or event. I can then access the  information we have on hand, and be able to gather and scan all pertinent info for them. I have begun scanning hundreds of loose photos we have in order to make them accessible to the membership. Allowing them to comment on them, either with identification, or adding an anecdote they remember. I’ll make the site of photos available as I populate it.”

The current “Born-Digital” Archives:

Next up, will be our digital archives. “We currently live in a “born-digital” age, and therefore will work to set guidelines for what and where files should reside to ensure they are accessible for future researchers.”

Contact Mark

If anyone has questions about the archives, or interest in locating something within them, please reach out to Mark via phone at 508-341-5651 or via email at markwentworth1958@gmail.com.