We would like to acknowledge the support from Rare Book School and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion, and Cultural Heritage, Curtis Small, Marian Toledo Candelaria, Barbara Heritage, Danielle Culpepper, and our peer reviewers.
Meaghan Alston, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ellen-Rae Cachola, University of Hawaii Law Library, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Azalea Camacho, Special Collections, California State University, Los Angeles
Yao Chen, University of California Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara
Sandy Enriquez, Special Collections and University Archives, University of California, Riverside
Clinton Fluker, Stuart A. Rose Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University
Lorena Gauthereau, Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage, University of Houston
Monet Lewis-Timmons, University of Delaware
DeLisa Minor Harris, John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library, Fisk University
Amanda Moreno, Special Collections and Museums, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
Ayshea Khan, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
Rosa Peña, Los Angeles County Library and La Historia Historical Society
T-Kay Sangwand, Digital Library Program, University of California, Los Angeles
Curtis Small, Special Collections and Museums, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
Jasmine Sykes-Kunk, John Hay Library, Brown University
Krystal Tribbett, Special Collections & Archives, Orange County and Southeast Asian Archive Center, University of California, Irvine
Annie Tucker, Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, Washington State University
Margarita Vargas-Betancourt, Latin American & Caribbean Special Collections, Department of Special & Area Studies Collections, University of Florida
In June 2019, Rare Book School received a $1.5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage, a six-year program which aims to advance multicultural collections through innovative and inclusive curatorial practice and leadership. Forty-five fellows who identify with diverse racial or ethnic communities and/or who work primarily with collections that document minority, immigrant, and non-Western cultural traditions will participate in this program over six years.
Comprising three overlapping cohorts of 15 fellows each, the fellowship will seek to fulfill four core goals: 1) developing skills for documenting and interpreting visual and textual materials in special collections and archives; 2) raising awareness within professional communities about the significance of inclusive, multicultural collections, including their promotion, development, and stewardship; 3) building connections with diverse communities and publics through strategic programming, outreach, and advocacy; and 4) advancing careers by establishing new pathways and skills for professional growth. See the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage page for more information.
Meaghan Alston, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Meaghan Alston is a project archivist at Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this position she leads efforts to provide access to legacy manuscript collections in the library’s Southern Historical Collection. She is a member of the library’s Conscious Editing Steering Committee which supports ethical and inclusive descriptive practices in Wilson Library. Prior to her position at UNC-Chapel Hill, she served as Prints and Photographs Librarian at Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. Meaghan was a 2019 HBCU Library Alliance/Digital Library Federation (DLF) Authenticity Project Fellow.
Ellen-Rae Cachola, University of Hawaii Law Library, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Ellen-Rae Cachola is the granddaughter of Ilocano plantation workers and is the mentee of Hawaiian demilitarization organizers. She is the Evening Supervisor & Archives Manager at the University of Hawaiʻi Law Library. She trains and supervises student workers in processing library and archival materials for public access. Ms. Cachola is also a lecturer for the Department of Ethnic Studies at UH Mānoa. Through her work in libraries, archives, and instruction, she uses information to shed light on how systems of oppression, such as imperialism and settler colonialism, affect different communities, and stages opportunities for decolonial dialogue and intersectional organizing.
Azalea Camacho, Special Collections, California State University, Los Angeles
Azalea Camacho is the Archivist & Special Collections Librarian at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA). She aims to preserve the diverse lives and narratives reflected in the student population of Cal State LA, as well as the major contributions their communities have made to the history of Los Angeles. Equally important to her is exposing and fostering student curiosity in the field by providing engaging opportunities for the campus community. Her scholarly interests revolve around building community-centered archives and establishing programming for underrepresented communities.
Yao Chen, University of California Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara
Yao Chen is the librarian for East Asian Studies and Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She manages multicultural and multilingual collections and provides research consultation and instruction services to campus and community users. She is passionate about promoting local archival holdings to engage the local community and to enhance the mutual understanding of the US and East Asian countries. Her research interests include information literacy, East Asian librarianship, and data management in arts, humanities, and social sciences. Her professional interests are community archiving and curation.
Clinton Fluker, Stuart A. Rose Library, Emory University
Dr. Clinton Fluker serves as the Curator of African American collections at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Library where he develops dynamic archival collections and innovative programming about African American history and culture. Fluker is also an adjunct professor at Clark Atlanta University where he teaches courses on digital humanities and contemporary movements in black speculative fiction. Fluker is the co-editor of The Black Speculative Arts Movement: Black Futurity, Art + Design (2019), a collection that enters the global scholarly debate on the emerging field of Afrofuturism studies. In the following conversation, Fluker poses questions to Andrea Jackson Gavin about approaches for developing advocacy programs and projects, and best practices for garnering financial support in special collections.
Lorena Gauthereau, Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage, University of Houston
Dr. Lorena Gauthereau is the Digital Programs Manager for the University of Houston’s “Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage” (“Recovery”). There, she helps develop scholarship and programming for Recovery’s US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) and manages data curation for US Latino collections. Dr. Gauthereau also teaches interdisciplinary courses through UH’s Center for Mexican American Studies. Previously, she served as a CLIR-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Gauthereau received her PhD in English literature and her MA in Hispanic Studies at Rice University. Her research interests include Chicano studies, US Latino studies, Chicana feminism, digital humanities, affect theory, and decolonial theory.
DeLisa Minor Harris, John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library, Fisk University
DeLisa Minor Harris is the Special Collections Librarian at Fisk University’s Franklin Library. Connecting students, faculty and staff, researchers, scholars, and the Nashville community to the many historical collection holdings of Fisk University is Ms. Minor Harris’ top priority. In Special Collections at Fisk University, Ms. Minor Harris has curated five exhibits, including “Lord, I’m Out Here on Your WordFisk Jubilee Singers: Singing from spirit to spirit.” In 2016, she contributed two articles published in the enlarged two volume set of the Encyclopedia of African American Business (ABC/CLIO). She has twice presented at the Annual Conference for Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH): in 2017, discussing a photograph preservation project and Fisk University; and in 2018, on the Student Army Training Corps during World War I. She was a 2019 HBCU Library Alliance/Digital Library Federation (DLF) Authenticity Project Fellow.
Rosa Peña, Los Angeles County Library and La Historia Historical Society
Rosa Peña is a graduate student in the MLIS program at San José State University. She currently works for the Los Angeles County Library. Rosa finds ways to connect the diverse community to their library. At the library, she creates programs that celebrate the power of books. Rosa is also the current president of La Historia Historical Society. La Historia is a community archive that celebrates the culture of El Monte/South El Monte barrios. Oral histories, publishing of a Cuentos (stories) book, and creating a virtual exhibit at the museum are her current projects.
Jasmine Sykes-Kunk, John Hay Library, Brown University
Jasmine Sykes-Kunk is Head of Research Services at Brown University’s John Hay Library. Ms. Sykes-Kunk is especially interested in centering and amplifying Black voices which have often been hidden and buried within cultural heritage collections. She is passionate about expanding access to these materials by developing engaging and imaginative programming such as the digital exhibition about Black Solidarity Day that she recently created. She earned her MSLS at Clarion University and holds a degree in communication with minors in Africana studies and fine art photography from the University of Pennsylvania.
Margarita Vargas-Betancourt, Latin American & Caribbean Special Collections, Department of Special & Area Studies Collections, University of Florida
Dr. Margarita Vargas-Betancourt is the Latin American and Caribbean Special Collections Librarian at the George A. Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida. She coordinates the processing of Latin American manuscripts, and serves as a liaison to faculty and students. She uses her background on colonialism, ethnohistory, and diversity to identify and highlight the hidden voices in archival collections, and to serve and empower Latino students at the University of Florida. In 2016, she was part of the team that got the SAA Diversity Award for the Latin American and Cultural Heritage Archives Section webinar series “Desmantelando Fronteras/Breaking Down Borders.”