Noah Geraci, who is pursuing a master of library and information science degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is the 2015 recipient of the F. Gerald Ham and Elsie Ham Scholarship. The award offers financial support to a graduate student in his or her second year of archival studies at a US university. Scholarship selection criteria include the applicant’s past performance in his or her graduate program in archival studies as well as faculty members’ assessment of the student’s prospects for contributing to the archives profession.
In addition to his strong academic record, Geraci impressed the Award Committee with his excellent writing skills and dedication to applying community-based archival frameworks to records and collections related to mental illness. The committee commended Geraci’s thoughtful analysis of a collection in the Getty Research Library that contains drawings and manuscripts by individuals living in a psychiatric hospital in Peru.
Cementing the committee’s decision was Geraci’s extensive paid and volunteer work experiences, which include work with the Freedom Archives, Books Beyond Bars, and the Digital Library Program at UCLA.
One recommender commented that Geraci is “without doubt one of the standout students in his cohort . . . a superb student and personally inspiring individual who is facile in translating what he learns in the classroom . . . into practice.”
The award was created in 1998 by SAA Fellow, past president, and longtime member F. Gerald Ham and his wife Elsie.