From Archives to Argument Symposium:
In this online symposium in 2021, Gale and our series of guest speakers discussed the creation and purpose of digital archives, how they can be used in teaching and research, and finally how to unlock new perspectives using text and data mining. Divided into 4 days, the symposium covered the following areas

DAY 1: UNLOCKING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
Day 1 explored the depth and versatility of Gale Primary Sources collections, and the institutes that Gale partners with topreserve the past.

DAY 2: NEW PERSPECTIVES
Day 2 Researhers shared their experiences and theirdiscoveries as a result of research using a variety of digital archives both open-access and proprietary.

DAY 3: ADVANCING DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP THROUGH TEXT AND DATA MINING
From inquiry to discovery, exploration to validation or accusation, day 3 looked at unique content and unravel the using 21st century tools and data visualisation techniques for teaching, learning and research.

DAY 4: SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE
Day 4 closed the symposium with a guest speaker followed by an open forum panel for questions and discussion.
From Archives to Argument Symposium:
Day 1: Unlocking the Past for the Future
How an Archiveis Made - Set Cayley
Some collections arrive neatly organized and others arrive heaped into boxes. How does one create order from clutter? Covert print content into digital, searchable archives? Where do we start? What goes into the making of an Archive?
Overview of Gale Source Libraries - Damian Almeida
During this presentation, Damian will provide an overview to the 100+ source libraries that Gale partners with to create Gale Primary Source archives. Gale has collated the source libraries, numerous collections and the archives they belong to in one easy to use document & this will allow academics, researchers and librarians to search through the source library collections quickly.
Dangerous Archives - Seth Cayley, Daniel Jones and Maddie Smith
What is it like to be the custodian of archival material that society considers - or once considered - dangerous or objectionable? What are the ethical questions to consider around enabling access to such content, both in physical and digital form? In this session we will hear about the experiences of the curator of the British Library's "Private Case" collection of erotic literature, and also the perspective of the archivist of the Searchlight Archive, which holds material documenting fascist and racist organisations around the world.
Marginalized Voices And Hidden Histories; Unlocking The Past With Institutional Partners -Phil Virta
Gale’s multi-part Archives of Sexuality and Gender program is the largest digital collection of primary source documents relating to the history and study of sex, sexuality, and gender. The program presents queer history and culture since 1940, sex and sexuality from the 16th to 20th centuries, and activism and culture in Southern Africa and Australia during the 20th century. Philip Virta will discuss how the program was developed, the partner institutions Gale worked with, why we worked with them, their motivations, barriers to progress, the sheer pleasure of working with fascinating individuals, the joy of representing marginalized people, and the narratives of hidden histories found in the archives.
Preservation, Privacy and Access: A Digitisation Tale - Linda Chernis & Debora Matthews
In 2020 GALE included 25 collections from the GALA Queer Archive in its latest series in the Archives of Gender & Sexuality. This presentation looks at the experience of a relatively small, queer archive undergoing a large-scale digitization project for the first time. The GALA archivist, Linda Chernis will begin by giving a short overview of GALA including its history and scope of collections. Debora Matthews, who was contracted by GALA to project manage the digitization process on behalf of GALE and GALA will then speak about her experiences with the project, such as how collections are prepared for scanning, some of the challenges involved, and the very important step of making sure material did not compromise anyone’s safety or privacy, a crucial aspect when digitizing and publishing any archive material online, but even more so in the context of an archive that records stories of marginalised and at-risk groups, such as GALA.