The theme of this year’s annual meeting is Small Steps, Giant Leaps. Reflecting on the advancements that our organization and profession have made over the last 50 years, we are now – like NASA planning for their Mars mission – setting our sights on the next frontier.

Coming together in-person for the first time in three years will be exciting and invigorating for all of us. It will be a chance to share our ideas face-to-face and discover how great it is to rocket into the future together on our great archival mission.

The Local Arrangements Committee is excited to welcome SSA members to Space City. After not seeing one another for what feels like forever, we hope you’ll reconnect with colleagues at the welcome reception Wednesday night at the Hyatt Regency. Friday’s reception at the Houston Public Library’s historic Julia Ideson Building offers another opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve all come, individually and collectively. And of course, along the way we’ll have a lot more great programming, including conference sessions, pre-conference workshops, and repository tours. 

On top of that, it’s a Golden Jubliee! This meeting celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Society. Charter membership opened May 5, 1972, and remained open through June 8 of that year. An organizational meeting was held in the Fall of 1972, in Denton, Texas, at North Texas State University and Texas Woman’s University. The following summer (1973) a conference was held in Norman, Oklahoma, inaugurating SSA’s annual meeting tradition. Join us as we salute the past, present, and future of our organization!

It’s fitting to celebrate this milestone in Houston, which will join Austin and San Antonio as the only cities to host the Annual Meeting four times. SSA previously came to Houston in 1979, 1993, and most recently in 2008. But while it may be familiar territory in some ways, we’re willing to bet there will be something new in Houston for everyone to discover. To help you get around, we’ve prepared a guide to Things to Do in Houston, as well as resources for Airports and Transportation. 

To help ensure the safety and health of our membership, please check and abide by our COVID policy.

This year’s conference theme may also take on new meaning: after two years of Small Steps outside our homes and in our work environments, we recognize that traveling to an in-person conference may constitute a Giant Leap. We hope you’ll be able to join us. 

If you need to get in touch with the Local Arrangements Committee please contact Norie Guthrie at slg4@rice.edu. She can refer your requests to the other team members.