Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award: Allan Jason Sarmiento

Allan Jason Sarmiento, a graduate student in the Capital Campus Public History Program at California State University, Sacramento, is a 2014 recipient of the Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award. The award recognizes minority graduate students of African, Asian, Latino, or Native American descent who, through scholastic achievement, manifest an interest in becoming professional archivists and active members of SAA.

Sarmiento is pursuing a master of arts in public history degree with a concentration in archives and manuscripts and has gained professional experience through working at the California State Archives, the Center for Sacramento History, and the Yolo County Archives, among other institutions. Sarmiento also had a leading role in establishing the Welga! Archives at the University of California, Davis’s George Kagiwada Reserves Library. The archives’ mission is to store and make accessible primary source materials detailing Filipino-American labor history.

Sarmiento’s passion for the archives profession is evident, and he shares that passion with others. “On his initiative, [Sarmiento] reinstated the long-dormant SAA Student Chapter at CSU Sacramento and was elected its president,” one supporter wrote. “He has energized the group of student members to become active in the field by coordinating scholarly, hands-on, philanthropic, and social activities.”

Established in 1993, the award honors the late Dr. Harold T. Pinkett, who served with distinction during his long tenure at the National Archives and Records Administration and who was a Fellow of SAA. Also receiving the Pinkett Award this year is Raquel Flores-Clemons, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.