An archivist arranges and describes archival collections for long-term preservation and use. We also curate collections, help researchers find things, prepare exhibits, teach classes, and digitize materials – we wear many hats! Being an archivist is a mix of detective work, organizing and tidying, data management, creative problem solving, and community engagement. We work with so many collections, some of which are small, but most are made up of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of individual items. We work in the aggregate, looking at collections holistically, and find sustainable approaches to describing them, preserving them, and helping people discover and use them. There are always fun, unusual, interesting, and moving things to discover as we work through collections. The work is ever changing! The archivist motto is “it depends” because we shift our approach depending on the context, meeting the needs of each collection, researcher, and situation. 

The Boston Public Library didn’t have an Archives Department until the Associates funded your position in 2020. Since then, the Associates has funded one other Archivist position. How did you develop your growing team and what priorities have you set out for your new department. 
 
I was lucky to partner with great colleagues when I first started (particularly Archivist Kim Reynolds) who had a depth of knowledge about the history of the library and how archival collections have been managed in the past. I have learned a lot about past practices, gaps in resources for archival work, and the richness of our holdings. We were able to add two additional positions in my second year at BPL, with one position funded by the Associates. I am grateful to the Associates for seeing the need to expand our capacity, and the importance of supporting staff positions, the people who do the work behind the scenes. We made a point to hire skilled archivists who brought important expertise and background to our team including experience with large-scale data clean-up, digital preservation, community engagement, archival processing, and working with organizational records. All members of the Archives Dept. -- Kim Reynolds, Margaret Peachy, and Crystal Rodgers – play essential roles in building workflows, local practices, and stewarding archival collections across the BPL. For the first few years, we focused on building a foundation and scaffolding of archival practice for BPL, based on national standards and best practices. We also advocated for a processing room, that gives us the spaces to take apart, and put back together, large complex collections (including extra-large architecture plans). We prioritize making our archival collection as accessible as possible, so we built many workflows that help us get materials to the reading room, improve description of collections online, and better understand our holdings so we can provide good references services. 

Are there particular collections or projects at the BPL that have been especially meaningful to you? 

The most meaningful project I am working on right now with the Archives team is our Retrospective Accessioning Project. In this project we are creating foundational documentation for all our 500+ archival collections, from small to very large, to ensure they are accessible and preserved for future generations of researchers. We are working room by room, box by box, to ensure we have at least a minimal level of control over all our archival holdings, and we are learning so much about our collections in the process. A key component of this work is enhancing our inventories and reboxing collections, so they are safe to use in our reading room. Even six months into this multi-year project we were already making new discoveries about our holdings and making these rediscovered collections available in our reading room. We also shared many of these discoveries in our recent American Archives Month open house in October 2024. 

One such collection that is especially meaningful to me is the Alexander Brin Jewish Advocate Research Files, which contains about 40 boxes of newspaper and newsletter clippings, article drafts, and other ephemera collected by the editor of Boston’s longest running English-language Jewish newspaper. I’ve only been able to do a bit of work with this collection (mostly refolding and reboxing materials so they are supported and protected) but I have seen so many rare and unique materials that document the changing landscape of the American Jewish community from 1920-1980. I talk a little about this important collection and the work I have been doing in the video below. I am doing basic work now, but there is much more to do to improve access to this collection. Surveying all our archival collections through retrospective accessioning will allow us to assess what we have, what collections need more work, and where we need to build collections that better reflect Boston’s communities. 

Limiting access to unprocessed collections, we are transparent about what work needs to be done, and we communicate with researchers to get them what they need.  We are applying this strategy to our massive architecture holdings as well! We have thousands of rolled architecture plans that have received various levels of access in the past, but they are very hard to store and provide access to in the reading room. We don’t have full inventories of all of them and are doing a lot of iterative work to improve our inventories and storage of all the materials. Archivist Margaret Peachy has taken the lead on stewarding these massive collections and I have loved partnering with her to find creative solutions to improve storage and access to the architecture plans. Though we have a long way to go, we have made significant progress and are providing access to these collections daily, either remotely or in person. 

If you could encourage more people to engage with the BPL's Special Collections, what would you tell them? 

There is so much to discover in the records of people’s everyday lives, not just in big actions, but in the minutia of daily life, which we can recognize as being like our own. I believe that if we explore the histories of our families and communities, we can better understand our present. There is also true enjoyment to be found in old letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, and the leavings of history. I recently heard a quote attributed to Mark Twain, that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. Discovering those “rhymes” is a true treasure hunt, whether it's a beautiful, illuminated manuscript from 700 years ago, or a doodle on a letter from 1980. Everyone can find something in our collections they connect with. Come explore! 

The Associates' mission is to conserve and promote the BPL's Special Collections. From your perspective, why is this mission so crucial?

BPL is a special and unique resource, in that in addition to the incredible range of library services it provides for the Boston community and beyond, it has world-renowned special collections that are comparable with those held at a handful of universities and colleges in the country. Having these resources at a public library with a mission to provide free access to all, is truly rare. Conserving BPL’s research collections, particularly those in special collections through the support of staff positions, special projects, and programming, is essential for ensuring continued preservation of and access to these important resources.