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Maria Isabel Molestina-Kurlat, Morgan Library and Museum
Bio:
Maria Isabel Molestina-Kurlat is the Reader Services Librarian in the Sherman Fairchild Reading Room of The Morgan Library & Museum. She has been working in libraries since 2001 and began working with special collections of rare books, manuscripts, and archives in 2007. Her focus is on provenance research of 20th century works of art. As part of her core responsibilities, her daily work involves researching and answering reference queries about the Pierre Matisse Gallery, Paris Review and Morgan Archives. For the past three years, she has served as project manager for the re-housing of large portions of the Pierre Matisse Gallery Archives, as well as the creation of new catalog records and the digitization of hundreds of autograph manuscripts. She is also interested in the Morgan family genealogy, as well as in the history of the library and J. Pierpont Morgan’s collecting practices, but especially in Morgan’s various homes and properties. She is currently processing the papers of art historian John Russell, New York Times art critic and close friend of Pierre Matisse, son of Henri Matisse. Last December, she joined LACCHA’s Spanish Translation Team, a project dedicated to translating SAA’s informational brochures from English into Spanish.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language & Literature with a concentration in Romance Languages and a Master in Library Science from the City University of New York.
Statement:
It is with great pleasure and immense enthusiasm that I would like to nominate myself for the position of Junior Co-Chair currently available at LACCHA. I am not new to the archives profession, but only joined SAA a few years ago. I started becoming more active in SAA last December when LACCHA was looking for volunteers to participate in a translation project. I am extremely excited to join this initiative because I am truly devoted to the Spanish language as a writer, translator, interpreter, and as an archivist, of course! I would love to continue my service in SAA on LACCHA’s Steering Committee.
Leah Rios, University of Texas at San Antonio
Bio:
Leah Rios is the Processing Archivist for the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The project is funded by a two-year NHPRC Grant that includes processing the records, digitizing the audiovisual material, and performing community outreach for one of the largest and oldest non-partisan and non-profit Latino voter participation organization in the United States.
Leah is a member of the Society of Southwest Archivists and received her Master’s in Library and Information Science with a certificate in Archival Studies from the University of Arizona. She was a Knowledge River scholar, a graduate program for training librarians and information specialists with a focus on Latino and Native American cultural issues. During her graduate studies, Leah worked at UA Special Collections, UA Museum of Art Archives, the Center for Creative Photography, and the Library of Congress.
Statement of Interest:
I respect the amazing work that LACCHA continues to accomplish every year and I am excited with the opportunity to become more involved. As the Online Communications Liaison I hope to continue the blog and increase our readership, continue highlighting archivists in our field, as well as recognize diverse collections that have recently been acquired or processed. Lastly, I plan to continue keeping members informed of any important news, announcements, or interests.
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