Raquel Flores-Clemons, a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a 2014 recipient of the Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award. The award recognizes minority graduate students of African, Asian, Latino, or Native American descent who, through scholastic achievement, manifest an interest in becoming professional archivists and active members of SAA.
While pursuing her master’s degree, Flores-Clemons has served as an active member of an archive that seeks to identify, collect, and preserve digital and paper records that document the creative process and practices of members of Midwest hip-hop communities. She also works as a volunteer at Figure One Gallery and Exhibition Lab Space, where she organizes and creates metadata for imported and original born-digital oral histories, among other tasks.
“[Flores-Clemons] has shown exceptional interest and dedication to the field of librarianship, archiving, and special collections,” one supporter noted. “She is goal-oriented and focused with a specific area of interest and shows a keen understanding of the importance of maintaining visual documentation of our cultural history.”
Established in 1993, the award honors the late Dr. Harold T. Pinkett, who served with distinction during his long tenure at the National Archives and Records Administration and who was a Fellow of SAA. Also receiving the Pinkett Award this year is Allan Jason Sarmiento, a graduate student at California State University, Sacramento.