Waldo Gifford Leland Award: Ilaria Scaglia and Valeria Vanesio

Ilaria Scaglia, senior lecturer in modern history at Aston University, UK, and Valeria Vanesio, lecturer in the Department of Library Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta, are the 2025 recipients of the Waldo Gifford Leland Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) for their work as editors of the collection Archives and Emotions: International Dialogues Across Past, Present, and Future, published by Bloomsbury in 2025. The award is given for writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the fields of archival history, theory, and practice.

Archives and Emotions is a landmark piece written together by archivists and historians to investigate the many ways in which emotions have and continue to influence archival history and practice. Building on the “emotional turn” in the study of history and the humanities, this impressively edited volume brings together a wide range of contributors from numerous countries, traditions, and types of archives to explore how emotions and affect shape the construction and management of archives, as well as the individuals and communities that engage with them. The cover is meant to reflect this: it is an original work of art made specifically for the book by Nunzia Spadolino, who dubbed the piece “Pagine di Emozioni.”

With excellent, accessible writing, this volume is a welcome addition to the literature on archives in the humanities, bringing archival practitioners and theorists to the conversation. The book’s willingness to engage with contemporary currents of historical and archival thought, including critical archival studies and notions of radical empathy, trauma-informed practice, and ethics of care in archives, demonstrates an admirable level of diligence and attention. One reviewer celebrated the authors and editors for “bringing new dimension and understanding to important conversations happening in the field” in a way that makes archivists feel “truly seen.”

Established in 1959, the Waldo Gifford Leland Award is named for one of North America’s archival pioneers and SAA’s second president. Past recipients include Eira Tansey for A Green New Deal for Archives (CLIR, 2023), James Lowry for Disputed Archival Heritage (Routledge, 2022); and Jason Lustig for A Time to Gather: Archives and the Control of Jewish Culture (Oxford University Press, 2021).