F. Gerald Ham Scholarship: Catherine L. Miller

Catherine L. Miller, a graduate student in the Master of Archival Studies program at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, is the 2013 recipient of the F. Gerald Ham Scholarship. The award offers $7,500 in financial support to a graduate student in his or her second year of archival studies at a U.S. university. Scholarship selection criteria include the applicant’s past performance in his or her graduate program in archival studies as well as faculty members’ assessment of the student’s prospects for contributing to the archives profession.

In awarding the scholarship to Miller, the Award Committee was impressed by the quality of her writing and the critical thinking behind it. In her well-reasoned paper “Archival Appraisal—How Memories Are Made,” Miller analyzed the importance and challenges of archival appraisal, endorsing this function as the “heart” of the archival endeavor.

The committee also was impressed with the remarks from Miller’s references, who characterized her as creative, intellectually curious, enthusiastic, and willing to go beyond the assigned task. One reference noted that Miller “truly is one of the finest professionals I have been associated with.”

The award was created in 1998 by SAA Fellow, past president, and longtime member F. Gerald Ham and his wife Elsie.