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The Meet Your Steering Committee Series allows the section membership to better get to know the Committee. For more entries, click here. As an added bonus, you can view Tiffany’s first blog post at this link.
Tiffany Cole is Special Collections Archivist at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. In her role at JMU, Tiffany manages all aspects of collection processing including new and legacy arrangement and description. Tiffany also assists with collection development, reference, outreach, and instruction. She earned her MA in public history from JMU. She has been a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists since 2018 and earned SAA’s Arrangement & Description certification in March 2020. In addition to SAA, Tiffany is an active member of MARAC.
I’ve always been drawn to the “vibe” of college and university archives. Perhaps it’s the frenetic pace of the academic year balanced with a slower paced summer to focus on other projects.
How did you get your start in academic archives and why have you stayed?
While pursuing my MA in public history at James Madison University, I worked as a graduate assistant in Special Collections – the very same Special Collections where I am now the archivist. I processed collections, transcribed oral histories, and assisted researchers. That experience was my first exposure to academic archives and while I have worked at other places since then including a plantation estate/historic house museum, I’ve always been drawn to the “vibe” of college and university archives. Perhaps it’s the frenetic pace of the academic year balanced with a slower paced summer to focus on other projects. There are so many appealing aspects of working within a university system: our researchers are diverse and include faculty, staff, students, community members, and independent researchers; and at my particular institution, we have a well-rounded collecting scope to document the university’s rich history as well as the history of the local community.
What is your favorite and least favorite item in your collection? Why?
My favorite collection at any given moment is typically the collection I’m currently processing. The same goes for our printed material. Our new acquisitions are always very exciting. That said, our collection of more than 130 oral histories documenting the Shenandoah National Park, specifically the displacement of the communities that resided on the Blue Ridge Mountains prior to the park’s creation, is my forever favorite. The narrators discuss a wide range of topics beyond just the creation of the park. The collection is a great resource for researchers interested in foodways, folklore and folklife, religion, genealogy, traditional music, and more! As for least favorite, I plead the fifth.
How has your position or repository changed since 2020?
More flexibility. While my actual position hasn’t changed significantly since 2020, my place of work now encourages flexible work schedules and telecommuting in ways that didn’t seem feasible pre-2020. Additionally, our staff has increased and continues to grow in the areas of public services, instruction, and digital archives. So while our folks still wear a lot of hats, we’re starting to wear fewer of them.
What is your favorite way to keep up with the archives field?
Archives Twitter is always good for the most recent archives news, trends, and scholarship. Zoom fatigue aside, I’ve really appreciated the ways professional organizations have provided opportunities virtually for continuing education and professional development in recent years. I always enjoyed in-person conferences pre-pandemic so I’m really looking forward to SAA in Washington, D.C. this summer!
The Academic Archivist 