Soon after I finished my MLIS at the University of Pittsburgh, I began my job as an archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. My primary responsibilities include meeting with visitors who wish to donate documents, memoirs, and oral histories, and answering letters and e-mail from other prospective donors. I also do some reference work, cataloging, and create finding aids.

The classes I took at the University of Pittsburgh, which I have found to be of greatest benefit to me in my day-to-day activities were taught by Richard Cox. These courses included Archives and Manuscripts Management, Archival Appraisal, and Arrangement and Description. If your interests are in the area of Archival Studies, I recommend speaking with Richard Cox about enrolling in these classes as well as any other Archives courses offered at the University of Pittsburgh.

When I was looking into graduate programs, I researched the schools that had specializations in archival studies - the only one that I applied to was Pitt. The education that I received was strong both theoretically and practically. My coursework continually reflected the current trends, challenges, and archival best practices. The experience I gained at Pitt has given me the background skills and knowledge that I have consistently applied to my daily activities. The Archives program at Pitt has an academic reputation that is recognized throughout the archival community. Not only did I take advanced coursework that helped me professionally, but I also made personal and professional connections with faculty and peers that have endured beyond the program.

I am currently working as an archivist with History Associates Incorporated in Rockville, MD.  Contracted as an archivist within the National Library of Medicine’s Digital Manuscripts Program, I process the papers of Nobel-winning scientists and internationally renowned medical pioneers.  I also serve as the processing team coordinator for the program, overseeing the work of three other archivists and an assistant archivist.  Although this position engages most of my workweek, I do contribute to other contracts for HAI, whether it be conducting records surveys or writing portions of proposals.  All in all, my current job keeps me extremely active!

My position with HAI requires a variety of skills such as transitioning quickly from one type of archival environment to another, surveying records to develop processing plans and other assessments, and performing all manner of tasks from preservation photocopying to metadata entry.  The Pitt program more than prepared me for the rigors of this kind of work.  The practical experience I gained from coursework in representation, preservation, and digitization is an absolute must for the modern archivist.  On any given day I could be called upon to scan documents, address preservation concerns such as mold or damage, or encode a finding aid in EAD – or all of the above.  Thanks to my Pitt education, I can perform all of these tasks with ease.

More importantly, the comprehensive theory-laden curriculum equipped me with a knowledge-base that allows me to move seamlessly between institutions and from one type of task to another.  I had entered Pitt with three years of practical experience, but the theory provided the sound basis I needed to be able to put that experience to use on a wider scale.  Since graduation I have had the opportunity to start an archives from the ground up for two different institutions.  The missions of each institution could not have been more different, yet my understanding of archival principles allowed me to craft archival programs tailored for each one.  I wrote policies and procedures for the maintenance of these archives, something I could not have done before my time at Pitt.

But for everything I gained from the Pitt program, the most important principle I came away with was that I need to keep learning in order to succeed in this profession.  The role of the archivist is changing constantly, and we must be capable of adaptation.  I strongly believe that Pitt instilled in me that capability: since graduating, I have been an archivist in a college archives, a specialized library, a private foundation, and now a for-profit company.  Who knows where I will end up next?  As a Pitt grad, I am not the least bit worried.