Candidate Elections 2019: NAAS Steering Committee

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2019 Native American Archives Section election. Please take some time to review their candidate statements and get to know them so you can make an informed choice.

You will be voting for:

• One Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (two-year term); and
• Three Steering Committee members (two-year terms).

Ballots will be managed by SAA staff through Survey Monkey; keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballot opens! 

Vice Chair/Chair-Elect Candidates

The following candidates are running for the Vice Chair/Chair-Elect (or Co-chair) position:

Rose Buchanan, MLIS
Archives Specialist, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Bio: Rose Buchanan is an Archives Specialist in the Archives 1 Reference Section at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, DC. In this position, Rose provides on- and off-site reference to researchers interested in NARA’s holdings, focusing particularly on historical records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other civilian agencies. She previously worked in NARA’s Innovation Hub, where she helped researchers digitize records for inclusion in NARA’s online catalog. As a NARA intern in 2014, Rose collaborated with a national team of NARA archivists on the agency’s award-winning “American Indian Records” web pages, and she now serves as the content editor and publisher for the Archives 1 Reference Section’s web pages. Rose earned her Master’s in Public History from North Carolina State University and her Master’s in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her academic research focuses on the information-seeking behaviors of archival users interested in Native American collections and the role that Indigenous archives play in challenging inaccurate and stereotypical views of Indigenous peoples.

Statement: Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of serving NAAS as a Steering Committee member and co-editor of the section’s case studies series on access policies related to Native American collections. I have been amazed and heartened by the work that the section has done in this time, from developing the case studies series to sponsoring workshops on community collaborations to achieving SAA’s endorsement of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials (PNAAM) in August 2018. Through these efforts, the section has raised awareness—both within and outside of SAA—of the importance and value of Native American archives, and sparked conversations about culturally sensitive and appropriate practices in institutions that had not previously considered these issues. These accomplishments are a testament to the sustained advocacy of the entire section over many years and the ongoing commitment to collaboration that section members, community activists, and many others have shown in their day-to-day work with Native collections.

Yet, while we can and should celebrate these achievements, I also recognize that there is more work to be done. If given the opportunity to serve the section as Vice Chair, I hope to expand our cases studies series to better reflect the depth and diversity of experiences related to PNAAM, its adoption, and its implementation. Specifically, I plan to work with the section to seek out and facilitate more case studies from tribal archivists, collections managers, and community members. I also hope to develop resources for educators to incorporate these case studies more easily into their curricula so that burgeoning professionals learn, from the beginning, best practices for culturally responsive care and use of Native American collections. Finally, as part of NAAS’s mission to foster communication about issues related to Native American archives, I hope to continue conversations begun over the past two years about ways in which non-tribal institutions—and government archives in particular—can balance appropriate and respectful stewardship of Native-related collections with commitments to public transparency and open access. I have been honored to serve NAAS as a Steering Committee member and hope to continue contributing to the section’s work in meaningful ways.

Steering Committee Member Candidates

The following candidates are running for the section steering committee:

Sara Guzman, MLIS
Reference Archivist, Arizona State Archives & Public Records

Bio: Y á’át’ééh! My name is Sara Guzman. I am from the Red House Clan; born for the Mexican people [from south of the border]. My maternal grandfather is from the Towering House Clan. My paternal grandfather is from Mexico. I was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. In 2010, I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Design & Production and Art History from Arizona State University. In 2015, I earned a Master of Arts in Information Resources & Library Science and a Certificate in Archival Studies. Since then I have been working in archives professionally in the Metro Phoenix area.

 Statement: As a Diné-Chicana LIS professional and Knowledge River Scholar, I am dedicated to integrating diverse perspectives in the management and curation of archival collections. In graduate school my studies focused on the theoretical integration of indigenous perspectives in the management of library and archival collections pertaining to information created by indigenous peoples. Particularly, I am deeply concerned with how information institutions present, interpret, provide access to and use culturally sensitive records. As tribal nations retain their own governments, lands, religious practices and lifeways, information created by these political bodies should be private, and ultimately controlled at every level by their respective nation. My professional objective is to bridge the gap between institutional policy and indigenous rights, by providing methods to resolve situations where information domains of individuals and institutions collide with the rights of tribal nations. This is why I want to run for a seat on the SAA, NAAS Steering Committee. Thank you !

Julia Hause, MLIS
Archivist, Agua Caliente Cultural Museum

Bio: Julie Hause joined the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum in early 2019 and is currently assisting with the planning and development of a new museum facility that will open in 2020. Prior to working at ACCM, Julie received her MLIS from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) in 2009 and worked as a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Touro University Nevada (Henderson, NV) for seven years. After deciding to pursue a career in community archives, Julie completed a Post-Master’s Certificate in Archival Studies at UCLA in 2018. Over the past two years, she has worked on archival projects with several community organizations, including the Sisters of Social Service, the Cathedral City Historical Society, and the Salton Sea History Museum.

Statement: If elected to serve on the NAAS Steering Committee, I would be especially interested in working on strategies to introduce the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials to smaller cultural heritage organizations, such as historical societies, that do not necessarily have professionally trained staff. From my experience, smaller organizations often lack awareness of NAGPRA or PNAAM, but many have materials relating to tribal communities. As a member of the Steering Committee, I would like to discuss how NAAS can expand its reach beyond the professional community to encourage all types of cultural heritage organizations to adopt more culturally sensitive practices and develop relationships with Native communities.

Nicole Topich, MLIS
Archivist and Specialist Collections Librarian, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Bio: Nicole Topich has been the archivist and special collections librarian at SUNY Upstate Medical University since June 2017. She has previously worked at a variety of archives and libraries over the past eleven years, including Harvard University for four years as the archivist for the Performance of Politics project, the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, the Friends Historical Library, the Clinton Presidential Library, the Library of Congress, and the University of Pennsylvania. She received a Master in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in History from Swarthmore College. Her professional service positions include the J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award Subcommittee and the Native American Archives Section Steering Committee for the Society of American Archivists and the Mentoring Subcommittee and the Scholarship Committee for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference.

Statement: From being on the steering committee of NAAS over the past two years, I have seen how it has transformed into being an extremely active and productive section of SAA, and I hope to continue contributing to the amazing work of this committee because of its importance as a resource and discussion forum. The webinars, publications, and social media efforts have greatly expanded the impact of the committee, which was critical after the SAA endorsement of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials last year. I am running for the steering committee again in order to sustain this momentum and increase the outreach and presence of the committee at regional archives meetings, related conferences, and in library science programs while continuing to offer many new resources through the NAAS website and case studies.