Theodore Calvin Pease Award: Bridget Malley

Bridget Malley, a December 2019 master of Library and Information Science graduate, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, School of Information Studies, is the 2020 recipient of the Theodore Calvin Pease Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The award recognizes superior writing achievements by students of archival studies, and (entries are judged on innovation, scholarship, pertinence, and clarity of writing).

Malley’s paper, "Nothing about Us Without Us: Documenting Disability History in Western Pennsylvania," is a valuable contribution to the professional literature. It considers how appraisal methodology can be applied to collections that are being created and preserved in order to document the history of disability in a specific geographical region. They provide a thoughtful and well-crafted investigation of an effort to better preserve disability history. Bridget gives a detailed account about applying Helen Samuels’ guidance on documentation strategies in a contemporary context. The article both foregrounds and contributes substantially to the societal need to better recognize and document the lives and experiences of individuals with disabilities.

“The very best student papers either seek to seat themselves firmly within a specific ongoing discussion in the archival literature; or they attempt to bring the archival literature to bear on a relatively overlooked aspect of society. This paper does both of these things, and does them extremely well,” noted the nominator, Amy Cooper Cary, head of Special Collections and University Archives at Raynor Memorial Libraries, Marquette University. Malley's paper will be published in American Archivist Volume 84, Number 1 (Spring/Summer 2021).