Oliver Wendell Holmes Travel Award: Jiarui Sun

Jiarui Sun, who is completing doctoral studies in information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is the 2024 recipient of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Travel Award from the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The award enables international archivists who are training or studying in the United States or Canada to augment their experience by attending the SAA Annual Meeting.

Through ongoing research and collaborative projects, Sun has immersed himself in both the theory and practice of archival studies. His research background includes involvement in multiple projects related to digital recordkeeping, government records, and other archival work on both the municipal and national levels. Portions of Sun’s research have already been published in archival studies journals in China. His current research focuses on archives and migration. This interdisciplinary inquiry is further enriched by his roles as a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Asia Pacific Center and as a graduate assistant at the UCLA East Asian Library. His research on archives and migration has been featured in peer-reviewed publications, presented at conferences, and supported by myriad professional organizations, including the Society of California Archivists, the Society of American Archivists, Beta Phi Mu International Honor Society for Library and Information Science, and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Sun’s engagement with the archival field is manifest not only in his academic accomplishments, but also through his support of emerging professionals in the archival community as a mentor and educator. Sun worked as a teaching assistant for a foundational archival studies course at UCLA, a reviewer for the international journal Archival Science, and contributed to the Archival Education and Research Initiative (AERI), a collaborative effort among academic institutions to support the next generation of archival studies scholars. Support from the Holmes Award to attend the 2024 Annual Meeting will allow Sun to, as he wrote, “gain valuable knowledge and perspectives from fellow archivists, scholars, and community members, thereby enhancing my understanding of diverse approaches within the field.”

Established in 1979, this award honors SAA Fellow and past president Oliver Wendell Holmes, who served in many capacities at the National Archives. Previous award recipients include Samuel Njovana (Zimbabwe), Ricardo L. Punzalan (Philippines), Gerald Chaudron (New Zealand), and Patrick Ansah (Ghana) and Umi Asma’ Mokhtar (Malaysia).