2022 STHC Steering Committee Nominations

Thank you to all of our excellent candidates for standing in the 2022 STHC 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 Junior Co-Chair (two-year term)
• Three At-Large Steering Committee Members (three-year terms)

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

Junior Co-Chair Candidate

Chiyong (Tali ) Han
Technical Services Archivist
New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine

Chiyong (Tali) Han is the Technical Services Archivist at the Medical Center Archives at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine. She is responsible for all aspects of collection management including accessioning, arrangement, description, and preservation of archival material. Tali is working on modernizing procedures and implementing a new collection management system, and shares reference, outreach, and other departmental responsibilities. Previously, she was the Archivist and Manager of Library and Archives at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Tali received her dual-M.S. in Library and Information Science and History of Art and Design from Pratt Institute in New York City.

Although relatively new to medical archives and the STHC Section, Tali believes she can bring valuable perspective through the experiences gained in the archival field working as a Lone Arranger for many years. If voted as the Junior Co-Chair, she will actively contribute to the STHC Section through engagement and collaboration with other members of the section, such as continue to build and publish the Resource Portal on the STHC website, a project she collaborated on while serving as a Steering Committee Member. Tali is excited to continue learning about both the opportunities and challenges unique to STHC section members and repositories.

Steering Committee Member Candidates

Member at Large 1

Penny Ahlstrand
Senior Archives Manager
Computer History Museum

Pennington Ahlstrand (she/her or xe/xir) is the Senior Archives Manager at Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Penny has worked primarily in science, technology, and health care archives for over 30 years, often as a contractor/ consultant or grant-funded employee. Penny has been at CHM for a few years in several positions—these days, you’ll find her doing reference and working with colleagues on the new CMS with AI and machine learning. Penny prefers using notes on paper most of the time, so she may be scribbling notes during meetings, or writing down your name when she meets you.

Although I interned doing hospital records and started my professional work in a natural history museum, I have been primarily a tech archivist throughout my career. My experience has been 80% joy + 20% heartbreak. Colleagues often helped me through the hard times. I’d like to serve STHC by fostering a greater sense of community—there’s so much we can do to support one another, and together we can better advocate for our archives.

Member at Large 2

Brittany Contratto
Senior Archivist
Museum of Science, Boston

Brittany Contratto is the Senior Archivist at the Museum of Science, Boston where she oversees the care and management of the Museum’s Archives and records management. She has worked at a variety of archives within cultural heritage organizations in the Greater Boston Area including Boston Children’s Museum, the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center, and the Peabody Essex Museum. Brittany holds a B.S. in Historic Preservation from Southeast Missouri State University, M.A. in Historical Administration from Easstern Illinois University, and M.S. in Library & Information Science with an Archives Management Concentration from Simmons University.

I am excited for this opportunity to be a member-at-large for the STHC section. My interest for the member-at-large position stems from my goal to connect, engage, and support the members of the STHC section. I hope to create opportunities for members to share and learn about practices and experiences across different institutions and organizations that they can bring back to their workplace. Professional growth and learning have always been important to me, and I wish to help other archives professionals with theirs. Following my experiences with archival natural history collections, scientific manuscripts, and institutional records of a science museum, I’m eager to contribute my skill set and aid the members of the STHC.

Member at Large 3 

Madeleine Thompson
Director of the Library and Archives
Wildlife Conservation Society

Madeleine Thompson is the Director of the Library and Archives at the Wildlife Conservation Society. Based at the Bronx Zoo, WCS operates four zoos and an aquarium in New York City, as well as field conservation programs in nearly 60 countries. Madeleine has been with WCS since 2011 and has been an active SAA member during that time. Among her interests is increasing accessibility to scientific research. 

If elected as a Steering Committee Member-at-Large, she intends to support the STHC section by helping to foster connections between STHC members and encouraging involvement from members whose fields have not been as heavily represented in STHC, including natural history and environmental and conservation science. She also hopes to promote advocacy within STHC for SAA’s values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in archival collections, among archivists, and among the communities they serve.