Hello! I am Mary, from just outside of Philadelphia, and I am an archivist & Quaker (and often a Quaker archivist), with a passion for organization, preservation, & photography.
I received my undergraduate degree in 2007 in Theatre, with minors in both Creative Writing and Religion from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. My focus in Theatre was Stage Management. During my junior year, I started working at the Quaker & College Archives. I enjoyed my work, and decided to pursue an internship at the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College. It was there that I fell in love with archival and library work.
I went directly to the iSchool at Maryland, and in 2009 I received my Masters in Library Science with a specialization in Archives, Records, and Information Management. In my archives seminar course, my focus was on Quaker Texts and Spiritual Nurture in the Information Age. As a part of my coursework, I also pursued an interest in children's literature. In my children's literature seminar, my focus was on Exploring Quaker Identity in Children's Literature.
During my tenure at Maryland, I worked at the Special Collection in Performing Arts at the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. I also completed a practicum at the American Institute of Physics Neils Bohr Library and Archives (2007), and a summer internship at the National Anthropological Archives (2008).
After graduation, I worked as the Archivist for the Pan-Smithsonian Cryo-Initiative, assessing and appraising the frozen assets at the Smithsonian Institution.
My part of the project was completed in August 2010, at which point I moved back to Philadelphia. I volunteered at the Quaker & Special Collections at Haverford College. I also completed a contract with The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C.
In April 2011, I launched Organize. Preserve. Simplify. as a way to use my organizational skills and archival training to help clients organize family papers, files, and photographs, along with other freelance projects.
In July 2011, I began work as the Microform Assessor at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. I have been completing an inventory of their microform, along with assessing the image quality and physical condition of the film, determining intellectual property, and figuring out whether the films have been digitized by other organizations already.I continue to do work for Organize. Preserve. Simplify. in my non-work hours.
For my full resume, please see the resume link at the top of the page.
