I won an award for my research on archival personas & the history of emotional labor among archivists! The award committee said it’s an “important and thoughtful consideration of the public perception of archival work through time.”
My co-authored article titled, “Archivists and Emotional Labor: Preserving Personas and Personal Identities in Archives,” won the 2025 MARAC Arline Custer Memorial Award for Best Article.
This award recognizes the best original, well-researched books and articles relevant to the general public and archival community & written or compiled by individuals and institutions in the MARAC region, which encompasses the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
I’m proud of this ongoing research project with my long-time collaborator & peer Kristen J. Nyitray! Most recently we presented on archivists, emotional labor, and its ties to AI in archives back in September at Kingston University in the UK.
For the last few years, we’ve given talks at international venues about the research like: how the cultural heritage field prophesizes AI’s usefulness to archival work, ways archivists have long been using AI since the 90s, introduced 3 original archival personas to emotional labor demands, and more. I’m excited to see where we take this next.