Eight individuals are now among a list of 170 Fellows, the highest individual honor annually bestowed by SAA for outstanding contributions to the archives profession.
Retired archivist George Bain spent his entire career in Ohio, working for 10 years in the Local Government Records Program for the Ohio Historical Society (State Archives), and for 20 years as head of the Robert E. and Jean R. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections at Ohio University Libraries, where he retired in 2007. At Ohio University, he was lauded for his “holistic view of archives” and for “opening up the profession” to his students and younger colleagues. Bain’s interests and service are vast and varied. He served for eight years as editor of SAA’s Performing Arts Roundtable newsletter, and for 28 years also has worked tirelessly with colleagues in SAA’s Reference, Access and Outreach Section, coaxing, leading, encouraging—and living outreach. “Any archivist in Ohio will tell you that Archives Month is celebrated because of George Bain,” said one of his nominators. “Even after his so-called retirement, George took on the Preserving the American Historical Record, or PAHR, bill as a cause—and successfully got Ohio Congressmen as sponsors. For his entire career, George put others first.” Bain is a regular contributor to local, regional, and national archival periodicals. His analysis of state archival law, from his days as a government records archivist, is described by one colleague as a “milestone” document in telling the story of state archives in the United States.
Kaye Lanning Minchew, executive director, Troup County Historical Society and Archives, developed the institution into a model local government records repository and local history program. In 2008, the SAA Council honored the Troup County Archives with its Exemplary Service Award, and by doing so also recognized Minchew’s work. Within the state of Georgia, she was a founding member of the State Historical Records Advisory Board and served in many positions for the Society of Georgia Archivists, the Georgia Historical Society, and the Georgia Records Association. At the national level, she was “the driving force” in the founding of SAA’s Local Government Records Roundtable and assumed leadership positions in the Government Records Section. She also served on the Academy of Certified Archivists’ Board of Regents and on the Government Archivists and Record Administrators’ Board of Directors. She co-chaired the Council of State Archivists’ national local government records project, “Closest to Home.” NAGARA chose Minchew to testify before a Congressional committee in 2010 in favor of NHPRC’s reauthorization. One of her nominators wrote, “one would not describe [Kaye] as an imposing physical presence. But the package you get—recognizable immediately upon working with her in any capacity—is a tenacious and passionate advocate on behalf of the historical record.”
Timothy Murray, head of special collections, University of Delaware, is one of the preeminent voices speaking for special collections, and more particularly for literary manuscripts in the nation. A member of SAA since 1983, Murray has attended more than 25 annual meetings. His strength rests in his ability to share his expertise and create interesting and arresting programs for the membership. He has served on SAA program committees, the Publications Board, and chaired the Manuscripts Repositories Section and the Privacy & Confidentiality Roundtable. Most recently he served as co-chair of the ACRL/SAA Joint Statement on Access to Research Materials in Archives and Special Collections Libraries Task Force. Murray is a frequent contributor to publishing and lecturing on the issues of acquisition and collection development, access to collections, preservation, ethics, privacy, and the other legal questions relating to literary manuscripts. Another nominator commented that, “Tim’s subject expertise ranges across all aspects of literary archives management and [that] he has had a demonstrable impact on contemporary practice in this field.”
Janice Ruth, assistant chief of the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress, has been leaving her mark on the archival profession for 25 years. She is the first woman to hold her current position at the Library of Congress, a role in which she has improved the description of the holdings. Ruth is widely recognized for her role in the development of Encoded Archival Description (EAD). She participated in the formative meetings in Berkeley, Calif., and Ann Arbor, Mich., in the 1990s to define the technical underpinnings of the standard; served as lead editor for written documentation and the Tag Library; and because of her superb writing skills and clarity of expression, was selected by the other developers to explain EAD structure and the tagging of finding aids in what are viewed as seminal pieces of professional writing. When she secured the adoption of EAD in the Library of Congress, she helped assure the future of online research. One of her nominators stated, “Janice was an absolutely critical piece of the process and EAD would not have achieved the success it did without her contributions.” Ruth has been advancing the work of SAA for two decades. She has served on the Committee on Archival Information Exchange, and as member and co-chair of the Program Committee, and on the C.F.W. Coker Award Committee.
Bradley Westbrook, digital archivist/metadata librarian at the University of California, San Diego, has more than 20 years of experience working with the breadth of cultural memory. His experience encompasses bibliographic materials and art collections, sound recordings, and photographs. In addition to his current position at UC, San Diego, he also serves as archives analyst for the ArchivesSpace planning project. For the past several years, Westbrook has worked as project manager on Archivists’ Toolkit. Among Westbrook’s contributions to the profession are leading workshops on Archivists’ Toolkit, Digital Preservation Management, and Digital Preservation Metadata, as well as 20 publications and numerous conference presentations. His service on SAA committees and to other archival groups further demonstrates his commitment to the profession. I believe that Brad is a model digital archivist,” said one of his nominators. “Even when working with traditional formats, Brad’s knowledge of technology has allowed him to make significant contributions to the profession.”
Deborah Wythe, head of digital collections and services at Brooklyn Museum, began her career teaching music, but quickly expanded to cataloging music, then arranging and describing music-focused archival collections within museums. Her numerous national and international conference presentations have examined the challenges of digitization, automation, and automated access for museum archives. Within SAA, she has served on the Annual Meeting Task Force, the Committee on Educational and Professional Development, as chair of the Museum Archives Section, and on the Publications Board. A prodigious writer, Wythe contributed five chapters to, and also took on the challenging task of serving as editor of, the second edition of Museum Archives: An Introduction (SAA, 2004). As one of her nominators stated, “If publications play an instrumental role in the vitality of SAA and the archives profession, then Deb has struck all the right chords through her versatile work on the Museum Archives book and on the Publications Board.”
Julia Marks Young, director of the Archives and Records Services Division at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, has made her imprint as a leader in the profession through a variety of positions. She currently is president of the Council of State Archivists as well as on its Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER) Project, a member of the steering committee of a three-state (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama) Archival Training Collaborative, the Mississippi Digital Library Advisory Committee, and the Mississippi Cultural Alliance. Young is an acknowledged expert on disaster preparedness and recovery and on coordinating stewardship and use of cultural patrimony. She is widely recognized for co-authoring with Frank Boles the game-changing article, "Exploring the Black Box: The Appraisal of University Administrative Records" (The American Archivist, Spring 1985). It laid out the particulars and nuances of what would later be called microappraisal. For SAA she has served as Editor of The American Archivist, chair of the Acquisition and Appraisal Section, member of the Trusted Archival Repository Program Task Force, and a frequent conference presenter and workshop instructor.
Tanya Zanish-Belcher, associate professor and special collections department head at Iowa State University, has served the archival profession in numerous capacities. She has assisted the State Historical Society of Iowa as a gubernatorial appointed member of the Iowa Historical Records Advisory Board. As a consultant with the Technical Assistance Network for one of its grant programs, her advice helped organizations design projects that met standards, received funding, and were successfully implemented. Zanish-Belcher has made more than 30 professional presentations at a variety of venues. Within SAA she has chaired the Nominating Committee and chaired or co-chaired the Membership Committee, the Women’s Collection Roundtable, Reference and Access Section, Committee, the Oral History Section, and the Science, Technology, and Healthcare Roundtable. “Tanya’s service to SAA has been dedicated and able, has been continuous over a dozen years, and has taken place at all levels along the leadership chain,” noted one of her nominators. Zanish-Belcher has contributed articles to a variety of professional periodicals and is currently under contract with SAA to co-edit the Women’s Archives Reader. She currently serves as president of the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC.