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Six New Fellows Honored at ARCHIVES / CHICAGO 2007
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Class of 2007 SAA Fellows (From left) Laurie A. Baty, Joel F. Wurl, Christine Weideman, R. Joseph Anderson, Jane Kenamore, and Robert S. Martin. |
Six members were inducted as Fellows of the Society of
American Archivists during the annual awards ceremony
Aug. 31, 2007, at the Fairmont Chicago: R. Joseph Anderson,
Laurie A. Baty, Jane Kenamore, Robert S. Martin, Christine
Weideman, and Joel F. Wurl.
Established in 1957 and conferred
annually, the distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed
on individuals by SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions
to the archival profession. There are now 174 Fellows among SAA’s membership of more than 4,900.
Meet the class of 2007 SAA Fellows:
R. JOSEPH ANDERSON has worked for the American
Institute of Physics since 1993, and is now director of the
Niels Bohr Library and associate director of the Center for
the History of Physics. He is currently directing a major
study to document the history of physicists in industry,
funded by the National Science Foundation, the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission, and the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In addition, Anderson
administers a grant program he established that funds the
processing and description of records relating to physics
and allied sciences. The program has awarded approximately
40 grants of up to $10,000 each.
Prior to his current position, Anderson was the director
of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia.
He has also worked on the Contemporary Medical Care
and Healthy Policy Collection at Yale University, as well
as the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In each of his
positions, Anderson has worked to document traditionally
under-documented areas, with a focus on inter-archival
cooperation.
Anderson has served on SAA’s Nominating Committee,
Manuscripts Section, and the Science, Technology, and
Health Care Roundtable. He is active in regional archival
and history organizations, participated in the Cooperation
on Archives of Science in Europe project, and served on
the Technical Committee of the International Union for
the History and Philosophy of Science.
“Perhaps his greatest accomplishment, however, has
been to take the archival programs at the Center for the
History of Physics, which already stood as a model for all
discipline-based history centers, and make them better,”
remarked presenter Peter Hirtle of Cornell University. “In
all that he does, and in his own unique low-key and effective
manner, Joe works to foster collegiality for the betterment
of the profession and the documentation of his
selected fields.
One of LAURIE A. BATY’s nominators referred to her as“a tireless advocate for preserving the nation’s cultural heritage.”
Baty is the senior director of Museum Programs at the
National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, D.C. She
worked in historical interpretation at the Chesapeake & Ohio
Canal National Historic Site and at the Fort McHenry National
Monument and Historic Shrine, was a post-master’s Fellow
at the International Museum of Photography at the George
Eastman House, a program officer at the National Historical
Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), and deputy
director of collections at the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum.
Baty has contributed her expertise to several organizations
by serving as a consultant, judge, reviewer and panelist for the NHPRC; the National Endowment for the Humanities;
the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the Jewish
Historical Society of Maryland; and for National History Day
programs. In addition, she has authored numerous articles
and served as editor of the Daguerreian Annual.
Baty’s colleagues cite her influence as the chair and chairelect
of the Visual Materials Section from 2001 to 2003, and
as the editor of Views, a newsletter for SAA’s Visual Materials
Section. “For over 18 years, Laurie guaranteed that a beacon
in the visual materials world stayed strong because of her
dedication and enthusiasm to publish up-to-date visual materials
information,” said Wilda Logan of the National Archives
during her introduction. Baty has been an instructor for SAA’s
workshop “Administration of Photographic Collections” for 15
years, as well as a lecturer for a graduate course in “Visual
and Sound Materials” at the University of Maryland. She also
worked as an editorial assistant on A Glossary of Archival and
Records Terminology (SAA, 2005).
JANE KENAMORE, a partner in the archive and library
consulting firm of Kenamore and Klinkow in Chicago, was
presented the Fellows’ plaque by Richard Pearce-Moses of the
Arizona State Library. He recalled a former SAA president recommending
her because, “Her voice is valued in and outside
the profession as a quiet and effective moral leader by those
dealing with high-level policy issues…and also by the rank-andfile
who deal day-to-day with fundamental issues of archives
management and archival service. Her insight and good sense have been forces for a balanced approach that recognizes the
way things are, but looks forward to the future.”
She began her career as an archivist at the Rosenberg
Library in Galveston, Texas, in 1976, where she was named
head of Special Collections in 1985. At the Rosenberg she
co-edited (with Michael E. Wilson) Manuscript Sources in the
Rosenberg Library and (with Uri Haller) Cartographic Sources
in the Rosenberg Library, both published by Texas A&M
University Press.
Kenamore relocated to Illinois in 1998 to become the
archivist at the Art Institute of Chicago. A year later she
joined the staff of SAA as its Education Officer. From 1995
to 1997 she worked in the archives of the American Medical
Association. Since 1997, she has been an archives consultant
in Chicago. Kenamore has served SAA in a variety of leadership
capacities, including as a Council Member from 1999 to
2001 and as a member of the Committee on Education and
Professional Development, Program Committee, Nominating
Committee, and the Committee on Automated Records and
Techniques. She is a past president of the Society of Southwest
Archivists and a former board member of the Academy of
Certified Archivists.
Pearce-Moses wrapped up his acknowledgment with: “Jane is much more than a professional who processes collections
and manages archival programs. She is, at heart, an
educator. Her verve, sense of humor, and dedication to the profession
bring all who meet her the desire to become the best
archivists they can be.”
“Every year, it seems, the Committee on the Selection of
Fellows is inevitably surprised when several, or all, of the nominees
are found to not already be Fellows,” noted Steve Hensen
of Duke University, when introducing ROBERT SIDNEY
MARTIN. “Taking nothing at all from this year’s selection, or
from the cadre of existing Fellows, I would like to paraphrase
George Orwell and observe that some are more ‘Fellow’ than
others. I believe that is certainly the case with Bob.”
Martin is a professor of library science at Texas Woman’s
University. Hensen noted that Martin has “always been the
most effective of leaders,” in his previous positions as director
of a special collections library at Louisiana State University; a
state librarian in Texas; and “granter” of government grants at
the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute
of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS). Martin was named by
President Bush to be director of IMLS in June 2001. He served
in the post for four years, during which time IMLS distributed
more than $860 million in grants to enhance access to cultural
resources in the nation’s museums and libraries. In 2005, he
was awarded the SAA Council Exemplary Service Award for
his support of the profession.
Martin has also held leadership positions in the American
Library Association and the Association of College and
Research Libraries. Martin’s supporters refer to his wide influence
in “extending and integrating archival issues among librarians,
museum curators, and academics about documentation,
preservation, scholarly communication, electronic records,
and access.”
CHRISTINE WEIDEMAN has served in a series of positions
in the Manuscripts and Archives Division at Yale
University, most recently as deputy director and currently
as its interim director. “In her two decades as a professional
archivist, Chris has written seminal articles and presented
innovative and pragmatic papers that have contributed
heavily to archival discourse; she has led several successful
SAA committees and sections; and she has served as
a superlative mentor to multiple early-career archivists
who have gone on to make their own mark on the field,”
remarked Sue Hodson of The Huntington Library.
Weideman’s research and work on streamlining processing
via minimal standards is well respected in the
profession. Her recent articles include “The Buckley Stops
Where: The Ambiguity and Archival Implications of the
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” co-authored
with Mark Greene in Privacy and Confidentiality Perspectives (SAA, 2005), and “Accessioning as Processing” in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of American Archivist. It can be found
in SAA’s Privacy and Confidentiality Reader.
Weideman has served as chair of SAA’s Manuscript
Repositories Section, a member of the 2000 Program
Committee, and co-chair of the 2004 Program Committee.
Hodson concluded her tribute: “Like the Yale bulldog, Chris
brings a purposeful tenacity to her work, yet she usually
shies away from the limelight. Indeed, her unassuming
manner makes her instantly approachable to young professionals
looking for a role model.”
JOEL F. WURL is a senior program officer in the division
of Preservation and Access at the National Endowment for
the Humanities in Washington, D.C.
He began his career in 1981 as archivist at the
University of Toledo. Four years later he joined the
University of Minnesota’s Immigration History Research
Center, where he served until 2006 as head of Research
Collections and then associate director. One of his supporters
wrote, “He has thrived in the emotion-laden world of
immigration and is respected by archival colleagues who
could charitably be called ‘the competition.’ How does
one move so effortlessly between organizations of Slovaks,
Finns, Italians, Poles, Greeks, Czechs, Estonians, Latvians,
and Arabs?”
He has written, edited, or co-authored more than 25
publications about archives administration and immigration
research. His service on 35 advisory committees,
boards, and panels has brought him in contact with groups
such as Elderhostel, the Ironworld Discovery Center,
the Minnesota League of Women Voters, the Somali
Community Documentation Project, and the Center for the
Documentation and Preservation of Houses of Worship.
Tim Ericson, senior lecturer emeritus at the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, concluded his tribute to Wurl
with the comment: “His sensitivity toward the feelings
and perspectives of others makes him a strong supporter
of diversity within SAA, a wise advisor, and a calm voice
in difficult discussions. As one supporter wrote, ‘Joel is
someone who I would gladly hold up to non-archivists
as a model and ambassador of our profession.’"
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Criteria and Selection Committee
The Committee for the Selection of SAA Fellows evaluates nominees on the following criteria: appropriate academic education and professional and technical training; a minimum of seven years professional experience in any of the fields encompassed in the archival profession; writing of superior quality and usefulness in advancing SAA objectives; and contributions to the archival profession through work in and for SAA.
As specified by the SAA constitution, election as Fellow is by 75 percent vote of the Committee for the Selection of SAA Fellows. The committee consisted of the five immediate past presidents of SAA—Randall Jimerson
(chair), Timothy L. Ericson, Steven Hensen, Peter Hirtle, and Richard Pearce-Moses—and three Fellows selected by Council—Sara Sue Hodson, CA, Wilda Logan, and Patrick M. Quinn.
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