Brenda S. Banks Travel Award: Janine Smith

Janine Smith, university archivist and special collections registrar at Loyola University New Orleans, is the 2024 recipient of the Brenda S. Banks Travel Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). Created in 2017, the award honors SAA Fellow and Past President Brenda S. Banks, who co-founded the SAA Archivists and Archives of Color Section. The award, which recognizes individuals of color who are employed in archives and show interest in becoming active members of SAA, provides attendance to the 2024 SAA Annual Meeting, as well as a complimentary one-year membership in SAA.

A Cheyenne River Lakota and an enrolled citizen in the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, Smith holds an MLIS and graduate certificates in archives and special collections from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is also a certified archivist through the Academy of Certified Archivists. As the university archivist, her primary tasks include creating and organizing all records and documentation relating to the collections, acquisitions, reference, emergency preparedness and planning, teaching, and serving as a liaison to departments and on the DEI Committee. She has recently given presentations at the New Orleans Information Literacy Collective Forum, The Louisiana Library Network Users Conference, and the Society of Southwest Archivists Annual Meeting on the topic of land acknowledgments and how to make them actionable and impactful to Indigenous peoples instead of performative. Additionally, Smith is currently the editor and publications committee chair for The Southwestern Archivist, a publication of the Society of Southwest Archivists.

Of her work giving presentations, she writes, “I am most proud of this work as it is important to garner support for Native communities and one of the ways in which I can give back to my people.” The SAA Awards Committee was impressed by Smith’s enthusiasm for involvement with SAA and her ongoing pursuit of knowledge and desire to reciprocate it.