Fellow: Meredith Evans

Meredith Evans, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum, will be inducted as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) during an awards ceremony at the Annual Meeting of SAA in Chicago, IL. The distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed on individuals by SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions to the archives profession.

Evans, who holds PhD in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has over twenty-five years of management and leadership experience. In addition to her doctorate, Evans earned a master of arts in public history from North Carolina State University and a master of arts in public history from Clark Atlanta University. She began her professional career as curator of printed materials in archives and special collections at the Robert W. Woodruff Library, where she collaborated with Boston University and the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center on a Mellon grant to process and digitize the papers and books of Morehouse College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Collection. Evans then became the director of the special collections research center at the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library at George Washington University and later worked as the associate university librarian for special collections and digital programs at the J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In 2015, Evans became the director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, where she collaborates with numerous stakeholders to create successful, engaging programming.

Evans’s dedicated and innovative leadership has shaped many careers and archival projects. Her work on advancing digital preservation, web archiving, and racial justice in the archives profession has been particularly influential. She was instrumental in the creation of Documenting Ferguson, a collaborative project from Washington University Libraries in St. Louis that aims to preserve the local and national history around the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. This project, as well as the Documenting the Now project, have been foundational for the establishment of similar endeavors to ensure activism around racial justice is represented in the archives. Evans has also provided her expertise on numerous advisory boards. Throughout her career, she has served on the DocNow Advisory Board at Washington University, the RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage board, the Board of Visitors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and many others. More recently, Evans served as an inclusivity consultant to the newly developed robotics archives at Carnegie Mellon University. Her invaluable insights led the team to a more collaborative and pragmatic approach managing the complexities of a multimodal robotics collection.

Within SAA, Evans has had a profound impact. She has served on the SAA Foundation Board of Directors, the A*CENSUS II Working Group, and the Committee on the Selection of SAA Fellows. In 2018, Evans became the 74th president of SAA. While terms typically last a single year, Evans stepped up to fill the role for a second term when the vice president/president-elect had to resign for professional reasons. Under her leadership, SAA facilitated numerous open conversations around archivists for Black Lives, instituted the practice of writing a DEIA statement for those seeking SAA Positions, implemented the A*CENSUS II, and much more. These diverse initiatives continue to have an impact, and many of them have been integrated into the Society’s DEIA work plan.

Evans has also been a guide for many other members of the archival profession. She has served as a mentor through SAA’s Mentoring Program and provided encouragement to other members seeking to serve in leadership capacities. As one supporter noted, “I would not be where I am today, were it not for the wise counsel, support, and friendship of Dr. Evans. I have no doubt that there are other archivists who would say the same thing.” Another supporter added, “She demonstrated genuine care and dedication, offering thoughtful advice tailored to my professional growth. Dr. Evans has consistently gone above and beyond to assist me, always making herself available despite her busy schedule.”