2026-27 NAAS Steering Committee Elections - Meet Your Candidates!

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for participating in the 2026 Native American Archives Section election. 

You will be voting for:

• One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, for a two-year term
• Three Steering Committee members, for a two-year term
• One Secretary, for a two-year term.

Ballots will be managed by SAA staff. Please keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballots open! 

Vice Chair/Chair-Elect Candidates

The following candidate is unning for the Vice Chair/ Chair-Elect position:

Janine Smith University Archivist & Special Collections Registrar - Loyola University, New Orleans

Biographical Statement:

 Janine Smith is Cheyenne River Lakota descendant and an enrolled citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, & Arikara Nation. Growing up, her time was split with family in the greater New Orleans area and on the Qualla Boundary (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians). Janine is the University Archivist & Special Collections Registrar for Loyola University New Orleans. She is responsible for developing and managing collections in the University Archives, maintaining collection records and donor relations, and is actively involved in furthering the Monroe Library’s teaching with primary sources initiative.

 Janine is a Certified Archivist and holds an MLIS from the University of Southern Mississippi and a B.A. in Education from Southeastern Louisiana University. She has previously worked as a supervising archivist, community college librarian, and secondary English teacher. Her professional interests include cultural preservation, oral histories, social justice, information literacy, and raising awareness around issues that affect Native communities. Her personal interests include traveling with her husband and three kids, reading, enjoying live music, and learning to speak Lakota more fluently.

 Candidate Statement:

I've been a member of the Society of American Archivists and involved with NAAS since 2024. I currently serve on the NAAS steering committee and election subcommittee. As someone who lives away from my community, NAAS has been an important space for me to connect with other Native archivists, professionals, and allies. As Vice Chair, I plan to ensure that NAAS continues to support Native communities in their cultural, archival, and data sovereignty needs as well as serve as a safe, collaborative space to educate archivists working with Native collections while upholding the standards of PNAAM. I will aim to increase visibility of the section through various NAAS channels of communication and outreach initiatives to encourage and recruit Native archivists and allies. As Vice Chair, I intend to continue advocating for the needs of our section and to continue fostering a relationship of accountability and reciprocity between NAAS and SAA leadership.

Steering Committee Member Candidates

The following candidates are running for the Steering Committee Member position:

Kara Stewart Acting Digital Archivist, Sappony Digital Community Archives

Biographical Statement:

Kara Stewart, enrolled member of the Sappony crossing the NC/VA border, was a Reading Specialist and Literacy Coach in North Carolina public schools for over twenty years. From 2021-2024, she was part of a Sappony team working under an ANA grant, one objective of which was to collect and digitize files by and about the Sappony. During that term, she became part of the inaugural cohort of the NAAS Indigenous Archival Training program. Inspired and supported by that program, she serves as the tribe’s digital archivist, and has been creating the Sappony Digital Community Archive from the ground up for the collected files at the Sappony tribal center, and reaching out to other North Carolina tribes who may be in a position to create their own tribal archives in an effort to coordinate work and create a North Carolina network of tribal archivists. She has received grants from the State Library of North Carolina and UNC’s American Indian Center for this work following her participation in the IAT program. Stewart’s digital archiving work for the Sappony is driven by her passion to have Sappony history available to educate tribal members and youth, to increase Sappony tribal sovereignty by enabling them to tell their own story and history, and to fulfill a sense of responsibility to previous generations who worked tirelessly to advance the tribe’s standing.

 Ms. Stewart served on the Sappony tribal council from 2006 to 2025, and served many years on the NC State Advisory Council for Indian Education, where she developed teacher training modules for how to teach to and about North Carolina’s Native people, and curated teacher resources on culturally responsive teaching. She has worked with the NC Museum of History, the State Archives of NC and NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources on their educational material about Native people, and has trained, presented and written articles for School Library Journal about Native stereotypes in children’s literature. She currently sits on the NC Museum of History advisory board, the NCDNCR K-12 Education advisory board, is the Secretary of United Tribes of North Carolina and is the Vice-Chair of the NC American Indian Heritage Commission as well as continuing her archival education and work.

 Candidate Statement:

Joining NAAS just a few years ago, I am still learning roles, responsibilities and activities. By becoming a Steering Committee Member-at-Large, I would hope to deepen my knowledge in order to provide support for programs and activities such as the IAT program that was invaluable to my creation of our Sappony tribal archive, and to use my skills, experience and perspective to continue and to expand on the important and meaningful work NAAS members have done for Native people such as the creation and implementation of PNAAM, PINAR and the IAT program. I believe wholeheartedly in the power of Native people working together to achieve a shared vision for NAAS, formed around its mission to educate archivists and function as a source of communication and inspiration for archivists working with Native American collections. Just as I was driven in my education career to educate teachers about Native stereotypes in order that teachers portray Native people accurately and that they do not inadvertently harm Native students by promoting stereotypes and inaccuracies, I am driven to make a difference to Native archives so that they are more responsive to and representative of Native people. In both education and archives, there is a lot of work to do, and to undo. NAAS has certainly been a source of communication, inspiration and support for me, and I offer my assistance in the spirit of giving back to the organization whose mission and work I believe in so strongly.

Briana Gutierrez Kemmerling Technical Services Librarian, The Henry Ford

Biographical Statement:

Briana Gutierrez Kemmerling is a recent graduate with a Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan School of Information, specializing in Digital Archives, Library Science, and Preservation. She also holds a graduate certificate in Museum Studies and is currently the Technical Services Librarian at The Henry Ford where she previously held the role of NAGPRA Assistant Coordinator. Her work focuses on ethical collections stewardship, repatriation and digital data sovereignty. Her graduate research explored archival decolonization, decolonizing research methods and institutional non-compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Her passion for preserving cultural heritage and community access drives her commitment to responsible stewardship and collaborative repatriation efforts.

Candidate Statement:

I would like to nominate myself for a Steering Committee role with the Native American Archives Section (NAAS). In my current role as the Technical Services Librarian at The Henry Ford, and through my previous work as NAGPRA Assistant Coordinator, I have seen the importance of thoughtful description, respectful access practices, and sustained institutional commitment. My commitment to this work is also personal. I serve on the Coalition for the Collective Stewardship of Philippine Ancestral Remains (C4CSPAR), a newly formed group within my own community that advocates for transparency, Indigenous sovereignty and ethical returns. That experience continues to shape my understanding of the emotional, cultural, and ethical responsibilities involved in stewardship, return, and community centered decision making.

My research and professional interests center on rethinking archival systems that have historically caused harm or excluded Indigenous ways of knowing. I am particularly interested in the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM) and Principles in Indigenous Archival Repatriation (PINAR) and how they can guide daily archival decision making as well as ethical returns. I hope to build meaningful relationships and learn from Native professionals. I also aim to contribute to NAAS by supporting conversations, resources, and initiatives that help give archivists and communities the tools they need to approach this work with care, responsibility, and a deeper awareness of community priorities. As someone early in my career, I would bring curiosity, dedication, and a willingness to learn in hopes of becoming a better ally and leader. I value collaboration and would be grateful for the opportunity to support NAAS in its work. 

Kara (Kay Rene) Price Co-Founder, Ennake (Muscogee Creek)

Biographical Statement:

Kay René Price (she/they, Mvskoke) is an Afro Indigenous information professional living and working on the ancestral homelands of the Wichita, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Osage. Kay's interdisciplinary work spans records and information governance, post-colonial cultural preservation, library and information science, and content strategy and communications, all aimed at answering one question: How can modern technologies support the preservation of contemporary descendant and Indigenous communities for future generations?

Kay holds an MLIS and certificate in Strategic Management of Digital Assets and Services from San José State University, where she was also a Bridging Knowledge scholar. Her archival work includes NAGPRA training through the Intensive NAGPRA Summer Training and Education Program (INSTEP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and project liaison work with the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM). She is also the co-founder of Ennake (Mvskoke for "relative"), a community archive focused on preserving the collective memory of contemporary Mvskokvlke.

Candidate Statement:

To be a Member-at-Large means to not only support NAAS and its activities but also support the professionals involved by amplifying their voices.

As an information and marketing professional, I learned how to turned lived experiences into opportunities for advocacy. My work as an Access and Outreach Librarian, for example, positioned me to advocate for my community college library and archive by reminding the college and the surrounding community of what we provide beyond our physical collection and instruction. By humanizing our library through digital and print channels, our library and archive garnered support that translated into more patrons, more programming, more sources, and most importantly, more recognition of our role in supporting the college's mission and vision.

As a Member-at-Large, with an interest in social media management, I want to adopt the same strategies to increase awareness around what NAAS members do-- not just in SAA, but in their own communities too. I look forward to bringing that perspective, and my communications experience, to support the section's work. 

Secretary Candidate

The following candidate is running for the Secretary position:

Tsinnijinnie Russell Digital Archivist - National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Biographical Statement:

My name is Tsinni Russell and I am Diné and Bilagáana. I was raised in Grand Junction, Colorado and moved to Denver, Colorado in 2013. I graduated from CU Denver with a bachelor’s in history as a Daniels’ Fund scholar and from the University of Alabama with a master’s in library and information studies as a member of the Archival Studies Social Justice Master’s Scholarship program. I started my first job in archives (and libraries) in May 2022 as an Archival Assistant in the Special Collections & Archives department at the Denver Public Library and moved on to become a Digital Archivist with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition in August 2024.

On a personal note, I enjoy long walks on Colorado beaches and candlelit dinners. More seriously, I have been an avid cyclist for many years and have found community through bikes across the country via bikepacking and competing in messenger competitions. I’m an omnivore in my media diet, I enjoy watching and reading things across all genres without much quality control. I’ve been lucky in love and have been with my wife for over eleven years (married for six). I probably read the news too much, watch too much basketball, and should call my mom more often.

Candidate Statement:

As an archivist I have worked to approach description and community engagement with an empathetic and culturally aware approach. The archival record has been historically one-sided, and I believe that archivists have an important responsibility to shift the historical and contemporary narratives away from harmful stereotypes and inaccuracies by updating existing records and continuously updating best practices to prevent future harm. I believe this is achieved by employing an approach that centers communities represented in records and diversifying the field by empowering non-white professionals and respecting their inherent strengths and perspectives when approaching archival records.

I believe in the power of a connected community. I believe that means finding ways to work toward shared goals without agreeing all the time. I appreciate non-hierarchical approaches to leadership and rotating positions of responsibility to build out a group’s power and effectiveness. I think the Secretary position offers a great opportunity to build more connections for the community and that the secretary plays a key role in communications. Taking minutes and sending out notes is an important task for keeping members connected and involved in NAAS. I am new to the position but am I willing to learn and accept criticism where I fall short. My goal would be to maintain and develop consistent and accurate communication channels so that members can be as involved as they want and contribute where it feels meaningful. 

Good luck to all our candidates!!