Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award: Gailyn Bopp

Gailyn Lehuanani Bopp, a graduate student at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, is a 2016 recipient of the Society of American Archivists' Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award. Established in 1993, 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.

Bopp serves as the president of the SAA student chapter of the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and on executive board of the Nā Hawai’i ‘Imi Loa, which aims to strengthen native Hawaiian presence in the library and information services profession and raise cultural awareness concerning indigenous collections. She also works as a library research para-professional at the Joseph F. Smith Library at Brigham Young University–Hawaii and volunteers at the Hawaiian Historical Society and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai’i Tokioka Heritage Resource Center.

Bopp writes that, “cultural diversity in the archival profession is actually an asset, a gift, one that has power to connect people on so many levels.” In her work, Bopp is committed to making connections between local archives and historical societies, the community, and library and archives students in order to engage the community with its history and to advocate for the value of indigenous cultures and archive practices.