Josephine Forman Scholarship: Joanna Chen

Joanna Chen is the 2014 recipient of the Josephine Forman Scholarship. The $10,000 scholarship provides financial support to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival science, encourages students to pursue careers as archivists, and promotes the diversification of the American archives profession.

Chen, who is now pursuing a master of library and information science degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered her passion for archives while working at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, where she processed collections, created finding aids, researched for exhibitions, led workshops, and provided reference for diverse communities.

One supporter noted that Chen is “deeply and reflexively engaged in thinking about the archival field and ways to increase its diversity. At the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, she translated and gave tours in Taiwanese and Mandarin, reached out to the Chinese-American community, and created an exhibit on African American liberators.”

She continues her professional work while she pursues her degree at UCLA, working as an archive assistant at the Ralph J. Bunche Center Archive to process and create finding aids for special collections focused on African American Studies.

The Josephine Forman Scholarship was established in 2010 by the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church and is named for Josephine Forman, who served as archivist for eighteen years at the Southwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.