An Archivist's Tale

Pamela Cruz, an archives executive, relates the surprising story of her move to New York City to fulfill a goal only to become an asset manager for the records and artifacts of businesses (Polo Ralph Lauren and Miramax) before those experiences helped make her an archivist for various institutions, even Girl Scouts USA.

Ryan Anthony Donaldson, Senior Manager of Heritage and Information Services at the Durst Organization, explains how auctions led him to museums and museums led him to archives, how he accidentally created his own first archives job, and what it is like working for a large real estate firm that is also a family business with a constant eye to the future that is informed by its understanding of the past.

Kerri Anne Burke, Global Curator of the City Heritage Collection at Citi Group, and Alan Delozier, University Archivist and Education Coordinator at Seton Hall University, who are married to each other, inaugurate the 2X2 series of podcasts, where one archivist couple interviewing another archivist couple. Learn how they discovered the profession, discovered each other, and solve archival problems together.

Elizabeth Myers, Director of Special Collections at Smith College, discusses how she developed an interest in archives while working on her Ph.D. in history, how she studied to teach herself to be an archivist, and how she moved from a job as a lone arranger to one managing people at Wayne State and Smith. We also discuss deaccessioning and the Archives Leadership Institute in depth.

Kent Stuetz, former Regional Advisory Officer for the New York State Archives, recounts his tales of helping local governments manage their archives and records, supporting one of the largest grants programs for records in the world, and participating in two successful statewide archives advocacy initiatives.

Danna Bell, Educational Resource Specialist at the Library of Congress, discusses her unexpected beginning as a college dormitory director through her transition to archives and her eventual transformation into a multivalent information professional. Along the way, she discusses the librarianization of archives, her deep work as a leader of archival associations, and her professional focus on service.

Josue Hurtado, Coordinator Public Services and Outreach at the Special Collections Research Center of Temple University, discusses his beginnings in archives at Stanford University, his work with records relating to the AIDS crisis while working at University of California San Francisco, his work at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan, his current position and his work as the coordinator of the Committee for Diversity & Inclusion for the Mid-Atlantic Archives Conference.

Karen Trivette and Geof Huth, hosts of An Archivist's Tale, recount their time at the meeting of the International Council of Archives' Section on University Archives and Research Institutions held in Salamanca, Spain, in October 2018, including the issue of translation in multi-lingual conferences, the death of Geof's former colleague Art Sniffin just before the conference, and the value of the papers they heard and of the friends they made in Salamanca.

William J. Maher, the Director of University Archives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, discusses his start as an archivist, his professional involvement in the Society of American Archivists and the International Council of Archives, his thoughts on the true meaning of "archives," the importance of archives as evidence, and his work internationally regarding intellectual property rights. (Photo Credit: Brian Stauffer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Shelley Sweeney, Head of the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections, describes her work with Indigenous Canadians decolonizing and indigenizing archives, with the Canadian Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, her professional involvement nationally and internationally, and her experience with archives of the paranormal.