Theodore Calvin Pease Award: Tam Rayan

Tam Rayan, who recently conferred their doctoral studies at the University of Michigan School of Information and is an incoming Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto Faculty of Information, is the 2026 recipient of the Theodore Calvin Pease Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). Established in 1987, the award recognizes superior writing achievement by a student of archival studies, and entries are judged on innovation, scholarship, pertinence, and clarity of writing.

At the intersection of archival studies, cultural heritage studies, and anthropology, their research investigates the tangible and intangible preservation practices used by communities and memory institutions in response to forced displacement, settler colonialism, and repression. In particular, they examine how Palestinians and other diaspora communities make sense of cultural heritage preservation within violent conditions and how they mobilize their own epistemologies in defiant acts of resistance. Their work is published and forthcoming in Across the Disciplines, Archival Science, and Archivaria. 

Rayan’s paper “It’s the Weight of That: Silence as Testimony and Evidence in Palestinian Storytelling” considers testimonial omissions left by survivors of atrocities, arguing for the need to transition from a model that sees silence as absence to a model that considers silence as a unique form of witness. Through intergenerational storytelling in Palestinian communities in Southeastern Michigan, Rayan pushes the boundaries of what the archives profession considers evidence and displays innovation in its focus on the Palestinian diaspora experience, which is rarely discussed in archival literature. The complex argument is backed by clear writing, extensive research, and an excellent reconsideration of archival theory.

This award honors Theodore Calvin Pease, the first editor of American Archivist, the journal of the Society of American Archivists. As such, Rayan’s paper will be published in American Archivist 90, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2027). Recent recipients include Merrion Dale of the University of North Texas and Sony Prosper of the University of Michigan School of Information.