ALI Cohort

Amber L. Moore (she/her), Head of Processing and Collections Management at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library’s Archives Research Center, ensures that the stories of African Americans are seen, heard, and preserved. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a passion for African American history and a commitment to increasing access to archival collections. Amber most recently led the processing of The Joseph Echols and Evelyn Gibson Lowery Collection at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library. Previously, she has worked at Harvard University on the Angela Y. Davis papers, Emory University on the “Revealing Her Story: Documenting Black Women Intellectuals” project, Syracuse University and the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans. Amber graduated from Simmons College’s School of Library and Information Science with a MLIS and earned her BA in history from Spelman College.

Andrea Battleground (she/her) is an archival program director, curator, and oral historian originating from North Carolina and based in New York City. She brings more than 16 years of experience with archival stewardship and collection activations. Battleground is currently Assistant Director, Archives for Film at Lincoln Center and was previously the recorded media Reference Archivist at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Battleground curated the 2016 Black Ballots Mixtape and the 2021 Made In Harlem film program and co-facilitated the “Black Film as Protest” virtual film series. She has co-created oral history projects with BOMB Magazine, The Gates Preserve, and the Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Her areas of interest engage moving image and oral testimony as they relate to histories of the African diaspora in the U.S. and holistic approaches to archival practices.

Arnetta C. Girardeau (she/her) JD, MSLIS, MA is the Copyright and Licensing Librarian at UNC Charlotte. She is the Libraries’ subject specialist on copyright issues, drawing on  experience as a lawyer and librarian. She earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, the Master of Arts from Duke University, a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law, and the Master in Library Science from Florida State University.  In addition to providing behind-the-scenes leadership on licensing, permissions, and Fair Use for the Library, Arnetta meets directly with students and faculty to address how copyright and related issues affect their teaching, research, and scholarly publishing. She is interested in how applying an ethical lens can uncover the invisible legal frameworks in cultural heritage institutions – and the bespoke solutions that will lead to sustainable collecting, preserving, and access to collections. She looks to the examples of Phillis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, and Belle da Costa Greene in her work at the intersection of law, ethics, and cultural heritage.

Beaudry Rae Allen (she/her) is currently the Preservation and Digital Archivist for Villanova University and is responsible for the collection management and born-digital preservation of the University since 2018. Previously, she was an archivist responsible for processing collections from the American Religions Collection at University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition, she serves on the organizing group of A4BLiP (Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia), Chair of the DEI committee of PACSCL (Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries), and Vice Chair of SAA’s Archivists of Religious Collections Section Steering Committee. She has a Masters in Archival and Records Management from San Jose State University and Masters in European History from Villanova University.

Betts Coup (she/her) is the Interim Head, Special Collections Processing Team, Technical Services for Archives and Special Collections at Harvard University, where she currently manages a team of processing and accessioning archivists and all related documentation. She has been responsible for the development and editing of description (and redescription) policies and has carried out numerous processing and accessioning projects. Betts has engaged in usability studies of finding aid content and continues to be driven by questions about accessibility, usability, and archival description in her daily work. She is the Vice Chair of the SAA Description Section Steering Committee and a member of the inaugural SAA User Experience Section Steering Committee and has previously served terms on the EAS Section Steering Committee. She is the Chair of the SNAC Editorial Policy and Standards Working Group and a member of the SNACSchool team. Betts has an MLIS with a focus on Archives Management from Simmons University and an MA in the History of Art and Architecture from New York University.

Brittany Newberry (she/her) is the Music & Popular Culture Archivist at Georgia State University. Prior to working at GSU, she worked as a Processing Archivist at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library. Brittany is an active member of the Society of American Archivists and the Society of Georgia Archivists. During her career, she has presented on various conference panels and has given several presentations on her work and research, such as her work on virtual archives and donor relations. As a member of the BIPOC community, Brittany actively researches and pursues professional interests related to her community. These include African American archives, social justice and archival activism, student-centered archives, and donor relations.

Chianta Dorsey (she/her) is the Division Chief for Archives and Special Collections at the Chicago Public Library. She started as a Reference Archivist at the Amistad Research Center where she managed reference, outreach, and access services for researchers. She oversaw the preservation program at the Center for Research Libraries and served as the University Archivist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She was a 2017 DLF Fellow and served on the NDSA’s Task Force on Membership Engagement and Recruitment. She holds a BA in History from Xavier University of Louisiana and a dual Master’s in History and Library & Information Science from Simmons University.

David Castillo (he/him) is a reference archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, where he supports researchers in accessing records of federal law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice and FBI. He is also a union steward and officer of NARA’s employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees, Council 260.

Elisabeth Seelinger (she/her), CA, has been a Congressional Archivist for over 20 years and currently works on Capitol Hill. She earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s in History, with a specialization in archives, at the College of William and Mary. She has served in SAA’s Congressional Papers Section, and since 2013 has performed the roles of Webmaster and Membership Director for her local chapter of ARMA International. She also volunteers for a local historic preservation and decorative arts organization. Elisabeth lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband, Matt, and their three cats.

Emily Jones (she/her) is an Archivist with the Access & Outreach team at Gates Archive, located in Seattle, WA, and has been with the organization since 2018. She earned her MA in History with a certificate in Archives and Records Management from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, that same year.

Isaac Fellman (he/him) is Managing Reference Archivist at the GLBT Historical Society, a queer historical society in San Francisco. He has previously worked at the California Historical Society, Charles M. Schulz Museum, and the Oregon Health and Science University. Isaac is also the author of three novels.

J.E. Molly Seegers (she/they) has been the Director of The Arthur H. Aufses, Jr., MD Archives and the Mount Sinai Records Management Program since 2021. She previously served as the Museum Archivist for Brooklyn Museum. Working in archives, libraries, and museums for more than ten years, she also held roles at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Special Collections and College Archives, the Museum of Modern Art Library, the Frick Art Reference Library, and the Rockefeller Archive Center.

Jaimi Parker (she/her) is the Historic Preservation and Archives Officer for Tarrant County, Texas. She earned her master’s degree in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University, with a focus on collections management, and previously worked for a university special collections creating exhibitions and planning and conducting various types of community outreach programming including a major translation project for digital exhibitions and finding aids. She has been in her current position as Historic Preservation and Archives Officer for just over a year and a half, and in this position, she manages a small staff and a 10,000sqft archive, and is also laying the foundation for a strong historic preservation program to encourage governments, organizations, and communities within the county to preserve historic sites and buildings. Through all of this, her main focus is on the leadership of her team of employees and volunteers, to encourage success of projects and the department as a whole.

Jessica L. Webster (she/her) is the Digital Initiatives Librarian and Associate Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY). She holds an MLS in Archives and an MA in History from the University of Maryland. As Digital Initiatives Librarian, her responsibilities include designing long-term archival preservation and access systems, developing workflows for processing born-digital materials, and selecting and digitizing print materials for access. In addition, she has developed and taught archives-focused undergraduate credit courses and serves as library liaison to the history department. She has served as the principal investigator for a series of processing and digitization grants at Baruch, and is currently serving on the Advisory and Advocacy Board of a large Mellon-funded grant to support a CUNY-wide archival network.

Joy Novak (she/her) is the Head of Special Collections at Washington University in St. Louis. In this role, she oversees collection development, access, instruction, and outreach activities across all seven collecting areas for the department. She also serves as core faculty in the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts’ Illustration and Visual Culture MFA program. She earned her PhD in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and her MA in Public History at the University of California, Riverside.

LaToya Devezin (she/her) is a member of the Office of Innovation’s Description team for the Digital Engagement Division of the National Archives and Records Administration. Prior to joining the Digital Engagement Division, she worked as an archivist for the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum of the National Archives and Records Administration in Atlanta, GA. In addition to her work at the Carter Library, she’s also worked on NARA projects with the Digital Preservation Division and with the National Archives Museum redesign.  Before her relocation to Georgia in 2018, she was the African American Community Archivist for the Austin History Center of the Austin Public Library, where she was responsible for collecting, preserving, and making available materials relating to people of African descent in Travis County, Texas and implementing social justice initiatives to preserve historic sites and neighborhoods for marginalized communities.

Laurel McPhee (she/her) is the supervisory archivist of Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library, where she has worked since 2014. She leads and collaborates with a team of librarians, manuscript processors, and specialists to make collections of personal papers, organizational records, unique visual resources, and digital objects preserved and accessible. She is a co-author of the 2020 revision of the Guidelines for Efficient Processing in the University of California Libraries. Laurel earned her Bachelor of Arts from Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts and her MLIS from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lisa Nguyen (she/her) is a Digital Archivist at UC San Francisco Library, Archives and Special Collections (ASC) where she oversees the appraisal, acquisition, and transfer of digital materials, and ensures their long-term preservation and accessibility. At the core of her work, Lisa harmonizes ethical considerations with technological advancements in research, aiming to connect people to the diverse narratives found within the boxes and bytes of universities and local community collections. Prior to UCSF, Lisa was at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University where her notable achievements include acquiring collections on modern Asian history and US-Asia relations, leading a digital transformation initiative, and curating award-winning exhibitions like “China: A Century of Change,” (recipient of the Katherine Keyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Catalogue Awards) and “We Shot the War: Overseas Weekly in Vietnam.”

Liza Posas (she/her) is the inaugural Archivist and Special Collections Librarian for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Co-founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, this museum is scheduled to open in Los Angeles, California in 2025 and dedicated exclusively on storytelling through images. Liza’s role as Archivist will be developing engaging and interactive programs that examine the intersection of art, archives, and community stories. Before joining the Lucas, Liza served as the Head of Research Services and Archives at the Autry Museum of American West. In this capacity, she oversaw the long-range planning and implementation of the Autry’s archival program, especially the development of interdepartmental procedures and practices related to proper and ethical stewardship for archive collections that contain culturally sensitive information or restricted tribal knowledge.

Lolita Rowe (she/her) is the Assistant University Archivist for Outreach & Engagement at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. In her role, she partners with student groups, alumni, and faculty to enhance the diversity of the archives. Prior to this, she worked as the Community Outreach Archivist at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University. During her tenure, she produced two different podcast series, Rose Library Presents: Community Conversations and Rose Library Presents: Behind the Archives, comprising 25 episodes. Moreover, she collaborated with the Metro Atlanta community to collect, preserve, and provide access to diverse voices in the archive. Before that, she served as the Reference and Outreach Coordinator for UNC Charlotte, assisting with collection development and outreach activities in the library’s rare book, manuscript, and university archives collections. She also served as the community liaison for the local nonprofit historical group, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Heritage Committee (CMBHC). She attended the Georgia Archives Institute, the ACRL Immersion program, and was honored with an award from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Committee. Lastly, Lolita currently serves on the Board of Directors of Invisible History.

Rachel E. Winston (she/her) is an archivist, curator, and Black memory worker based out of Austin, TX. She is the founding Black Diaspora Archivist at The University of Texas at Austin, and leads the university’s effort to build a library special collection documenting the Black experience across the Americas and Caribbean. She is an alumna of Davidson College and The University of Texas at Austin.

Samantha Bradbeer Stephens (she/her) has served as the historian and archivist for Hallmark Cards, Inc. since 2011. Prior to Hallmark, she acquired hands-on experience at several libraries and museums, including the Ike Skeleton Combined Arms Research Library and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Samantha is a Certified Archivist, and holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Kansas and a M.A. in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University. Samantha is an active member of the business archives sections of several organizations, including the Midwest Archives Conference, Society of American Archivists, and International Council on Archives. She has also held several leadership positions in local organizations, and recently served as the president of the Kansas City Area Archivists. In her spare time, she shares her knowledge of management and preservation of archival materials and objects with future archivists, librarians, and museum curators as an adjunct professor at Haskell Indian Nations University.

Samantha Crisp (she/her) is the Interim Associate Director and Public Services Archivist for the Center for Southeast North Carolina Archives and History at UNCW’s William Madison Randall Library. She previously served as the director of the Outer Banks History Center in Manteo, North Carolina and as the special collections librarian at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. She has a special interest in teaching with primary sources and primary source literacy. She has an MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sandy Rodriguez (she/her) is the Associate Dean of Special Collections & Archives at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries. In this role, she is responsible for administrative leadership of rare books and manuscripts, university archives, sound archives, digital projects, digital scholarship services, and cataloging and metadata; and for advancing the Libraries’ diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. As an active labor ethics advocate, she served as a Co-Principal Investigator for an IMLS National Leadership in Libraries grant-funded project from 2018-2020, Collective Responsibility: National Forum on Labor Practices for Grant-Funded Digital Positions, and more recently, as a co-convener of Mutual Aid at Work, a joint project of the Archival Workers Collective and Digital Library Federation’s Labor Working Group.

Selena Ortega-Chiolero (she/her) is the Museum Specialist for Chickaloon Village Traditional Council (CVTC) where she is responsible for the CVTC Permanent Collections and Archives that house the history and cultural expressions of the Ahtna Dene of Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax (Chickaloon Native Village). Selena supports the Tribe’s Culture and Historic Preservation Department’s work in cultural site preservation, cultural tourism, and repatriation. Selena’s academic and professional background straddles both museums and archives. She holds certifications in Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Tourism from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and George Washington University, respectively, and will be completing her Masters in Cultural Administration (Tribal Museums and Cultural Centers) in May 2024 from IAIA. As an active member of Museums Alaska’s Advocacy Committee, the Past-Chair for the Native American Archives Section, and current Council Member of the Society of American Archivists, she continues to dedicate her time towards helping to reframe the understanding and practices of cultural heritage ownership, management, and access so that it acknowledges Indigenous identity, lifeways and knowledge systems.