Women's Collections Section 2018 Ballot

Meet our wonderful slate of candidates for the 2018 WCS election! The two individuals receiving the most votes will serve as Co-Vice Chairs during 2018-2019 and as Co-Chairs of the section in 2019-2020.

Danielle Butler

Biography

I am currently an archivist at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, a department of the Central Arkansas Library System, in Little Rock, Arkansas. I completed an undergraduate degree in History at Ouachita Baptist University in 2014 and completed a masters degree in Public History at UA Little Rock in 2016. I became a Certified Archivist in 2016. I previously served as project archivist for a CLIR Digitizing Hidden Collections Grant and as project archivist for a Japanese American Confinement Sites digitization grant.

Statement of Interest

I currently serve as board secretary of the Arkansas Women’s History Institute and am an active member of women’s advocacy organizations including the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County and the American Association for University Women. Because of my involvement in these organizations, I have gained a unique perspective on how they create and manage their records. This perspective will help me aid the section in learning how to better collect and preserve these records. I have a heart, and personal research interest, in women’s history and would love to extend that to helping to further promote the research and use of female focused archival collections. If given the opportunity to serve on the committee, I believe that my educational background as a historian, as well as my community involvement, would be a valuable addition to the section’s leadership.

Valencia Johnson

Biography

My name is Valencia L. Johnson and I am the Project Archivist for Student Life at Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library. I earned my MA in Museum Studies from Baylor University and passed the ACA examination last year. In conjunction with professional development, in my personal journey of self-improvement I look for opportunities to learn and collaborate with others. As a member of the Archives for Black Lives in Philly group, I’m involved with community archiving and examining the archival field’s description practices from a racial lens. 

Statement of Interest

It was because of this work and how I identify as a black woman, I began thinking of how and when we describe women in collections especially when they are linked to notable men or when they have multiple underrepresented identities. At times our naming conventions obscure the contributions and subject matter related to women in collections. I would love the chance to work with a group that aims to uplift the narratives of women. This is why I would like to be considered for Vice Co-Chair of the SAA Women’s Collections Section.

Michelle Peralta

Biography

Michelle Peralta is currently serving as the John Foster Dulles Archival Fellow at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, and is finishing her last class towards completing her MLIS degree from San Jose State University's School of Information. Previously, she earned a BA in humanities and an MA in history from San Diego State University, where she wrote her thesis on women priestesses and patronage during the Roman Empire. A former instructor, Michelle served as the archivist at the Escondido Public Library for two years, was an intern at the University of San Diego special collections and archives, and worked with the community archives, Lambda Archives of San Diego. She is also a member of the Archives and Archivists of Color section and the Women in Archives section. 

Statement of Interest

I strive to make archives more just, equitable, and inclusive, and I believe that part of this work means creating spaces and platforms for underrepresented communities to shine. Therefore, if given the opportunity to join the section's leadership, I would look to create opportunities for community and resource sharing, for examining current practices and workflows in order to make them more just and representative, and for developing strategies to increase visibility and discoverability of women's collections. I am excited and eager to take on these responsibilities and more, and look forward to working with the membership to grow the section in the coming years. 

Derek Webb

Biography

I am Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist at Mississippi University for Women, where I’ve been since 2012. Previously I was the Library Specialist in the Medieval Institute Library at the University of Notre Dame, and I received my MLIS from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 2010. I am also a member of the 2019 Program Committee, a past president of the Society of Mississippi Archivists, and part of the Archives Leadership Institute’s 2017 cohort. As a lone arranger and my institution’s first archivist in 20 years I work closely with librarians and faculty to build a student-centered repository at a university that is coeducational since 1982 but maintains its historical mission of academic and leadership development for women.

Statement of Interest

I document the lives of collegiate women every day at a small archives, and am making efforts to address underdocumentation of diverse communities within our university. I love the increasing recognition in our field of the need to be more intersectional in our documentation strategies and I want to help carry that momentum forward. There is much more work to be done, more relationships to build, more partnerships to forge. As Vice Co-Chair I would like to find ways to facilitate documentation and discovery of women’s collections of all kinds, and empower not just large archives but also smaller ones to build and “get the word out” about their collections.