We’re excited to participate in #AskAnArchivist on October 30! Archivists from our locations across the nation are ready to answer your questions on Twitter tomorrow.
We have archivists that concentrate on the history of the National Archives, work with audiovisual materials, declassify documents, textual reference, Presidential materials and more.
This is your chance to find out how archivists came to have these jobs, what they like or dislike, and what they do! No question is too serious or too silly–so find out about FOIA or learn about the invention of the Beach Cart.
The schedule is below, but feel free to tweet us questions ahead of time!
@usnatarchives
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET
Got a question for our Presidential libraries? Tweet a question to
@FDRLibrary, 10-11 am ET
@IkeLibrary
@JFKLibrary
@LBJLibrary, noon to 5 pm ET
@carterlibrary 8:30 am-12:30 pm and 1-3 pm ET
@WJCLibrary 9 am-noon CST
@bush41library 10-11 am CST
Schedule for @usnatarchives
8:30-9 am ET, Steve Greene
Steve Greene is an Archivist and the Special Media Holdings Coordinator for the Office of Presidential Libraries since 2010. Before that, Steve was the AV Archivist for the Nixon Presidential Library. Steve has worked with the Preservation, Processing and Reference Service on Stills, Sound Recordings and Moving Images at the Presidential Libraries for over 15 years.
9-9:30 am ET, Amber Forrester
Amber Forrester is an Archivist in NARA’s National Declassification Center, where she has worked for four years. She spends her days working with NARA’s classified holdings and living the NDC motto: “Releasing all we can, protecting what we must.” Amber holds an MLS in Archives & Records Management from the University of Maryland and a BA in American Studies and History from Case Western Reserve University.
9:30-10 am ET, Rebecca Collier
Rebecca Collier is a Supervisory Archivist of the Textual Reference Archives II Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD. She has worked in reference at NARA for over 29 years. Her unit assists the public daily and responds to requests concerning many topics including diplomatic, labor, commerce, treasury, National Park Service, American Red Cross records as well as military unit records during the 20th Century (especially WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War) and various intelligence agencies. She has a Master of Arts in History from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Ohio Northern University.
10-10:30 am ET, Jessie Kratz
As Historian of the National Archives, Jessie promotes the history and importance of the agency. She regularly writes articles and blog posts, and gives talks on Archives history. Before becoming Historian, Jessie worked at the Center for LegislativeArchives from 2000 to 2013 where she created publications and exhibits that highlighted Congress’s role in American history. Jessie has an M.A. from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
11-11:30 am ET, Joseph Keefe
Joseph P. Keefe is an Archives Specialist and Reference Team Lead and Social Media co-coordinator with the National Archives Northeast Region-Boston and has worked for the National Archives for over 10 years. He began his National Archives career in the Federal Records Center where he worked in both research and the transfer of records into the facility. He moved to the archives in 2006 in his current position as an Archives Specialist. Joseph has a bachelor’s degree in History from Framingham State University in Framingham, Massachusetts, and a MA in American History from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
1-2 pm ET, Alan Walker
Alan is an archivist in Textual Processing at Archives II. He works with records of civilian Federal agencies, including those of the National Archives itself. He loves photography and worked with our photographic holdings in the Still Pictures unit here at the Archives for many years. Alan received his M.A. in History from George Mason University.
2-3 pm ET, Christina Jones and Ketina Taylor
Ketina Taylor started with the National Archives in 2000 in the Still Picture Unit in College Park, Maryland. In 2005, she was promoted to archivist and moved to the State Department Reference Team and eventually the Civilian Records Processing Team. In 2007, Ketina accepted a position for the future George W. Bush Library, and in 2012, she was transferred to the National Archives at Fort Worth.
Christina Jones is atextual reference Archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, MD. She specializes in Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other law enforcement federal agency records.
3 pm ET, Gerald Ford Presidential Library
Elizabeth Druga and Stacy Davis will be available to answer questions. Elizabeth Druga is an archives technician at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She works with textual and AV collections. Stacy has been an archivist at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library since 2003. She participates in a wide variety of activities, including textual reference, accessioning, managing the Library’s digitization program, processing and description of collections, and supervising the Library’s work-study students. She started her National Archives career as an intern at the John F. Kennedy Library and later worked for the Still Pictures department at the National Archives in College Park.
3:30 pm ET, Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library
Jason Schulz, supervisory archivist; Meghan Lee-Parker, archivist; and Carla Braswell, archives technician, will be available to answer questions.
4:30 pm ET (1:30 pm PDT) Sue Karren
Sue has been with the National Archives for 28 years and is now the director of the National Archives at Seattle. Previously she also worked in the Chicago and Washington, DC, offices and often says, “Come see what we’re saving for you!” Sue has a Master’s degree in 20th-century military history but after 25 years in Seattle thinks of herself as a Western history generalist.
Presidential Libraries
@FDRLibrary, 10-11 a.m.
Deputy Director and Supervisory Archivist Bob Clark will be answering questions. He has worked at the FDR Library since 2001
@LBJLibrary
Liza Talbot is a digital archivist at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, TX, where her reference responsibilities include questions about President Johnson and politics, speeches, and science. She also works to make the LBJ Library’s holdings–especially the spectacular photo, audio, and video collections–available on the web for everyone to use. Liza has a BA in History and English from Oberlin College and an MSIS in Archives and Digital Libraries and from the University of Texas, and she is very interested these days in Public History on the web; she created the LBJ Time Machine blog (http://lbjlibrary.tumblr.com/) to experiment with telling stories in new ways.
@CarterLibrary
8:30-10:30 am, 1:30-3 pm ET, Ryan Rutkowski is an archivist at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. At the Carter Library, he processes records, responds to research requests, and assists the AV Archivist with her projects. In his eight years as an archivist (3 years with Carter), Ryan have developed skills in the areas of archives and records management, exhibit design, policy creation, and historical research and writing. Ryan received his MA in Public History from Loyola University Chicago.
11:30 am-12:30 pm ET, Amanda Pellerin is an archivist at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library working mainly with the foreign relations materials in the collections. Amanda also has responsibilities in digital projects at the Carter Library including the ongoing processing of oral history collections. She has worked in the archival profession for 10 years (4 years with Carter) gaining experience in processing sensitive collections, donor relations, outreach initiatives, and policy development. She has a Masters in Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University and Masters in Library and Information Sciences from Valdosta State University.
@WJCLibrary, 9 am-noon CST
A group of archivists from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library will be available to answer questions: Brittany Gerke, Racheal Carter-Ragan, Jamie Metrailer, Kara Ellis, Kim Coryat, and Whitney Ross.
@bush41library, 10-11 am CST
Michelle Bogart is a certified archivist with an MSIS in archives. She has worked in collecting and administrative archives and has been at the Bush Library for 5 years.