Curator of Special Collections and Librarian
University of Virginia Libraries, April 2012-present
- With co-curator provide leadership and oversight to overall collection development. Review, revise, and implement collecting strategy for purchases and gifts in all areas and formats excluding University Archives. Primary responsibility for literature, book arts, and manuscripts.
- Curate exhibitions for three gallery spaces
- Develop in-person and online outreach programs based on the library’s collections
- Support instruction program through class visits and faculty consultations
- Provide specialized reference and research services
- Participate in development initiatives including donor relations and grant projects
Cline Curator of Literature
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, 2006-2012
- Interpret British and American Literature collections for researchers, students, faculty and the general public through reference and public services
- Work with the Director to develop and implement a coordinated plan for building the British and American Literature collections through purchases and gifts
- Curate physical and online exhibitions, develop related publications and programs
- Build working relationships with authors, collectors, professional organizations, university colleagues, supporters of the HRC, and the general public
- Serve as liaison to Department of English and teach occasional English courses. Appointment: Lecturer in Department of English.
Education
| 2010-2011 | Partial M.L.I.S., School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin (withdrew 2012 for move to Virginia) |
| 2004 | Ph.D., English and American Literature, Stanford University, September 2004
Dissertation: “Reading in Four Dimensions: The Poetics of the Contemporary Experimental Book” |
| 1997 | M.A., English, University of Colorado, Boulder |
| 1991 | A.B., English, Harvard University |
| 1987 | Graduated Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA |
Print publications
“Frank Shay’s Greenwich Village: Reconstructing the Bookshop at 4 Christopher Street, 1920-1925” in The Rise of the Modernist Bookshop: Books and the Commerce of Culture in the Twentieth Century (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2015).
“Selections from Small Special Collections.” Mimeo Mimeo 8. Special issue: “Curators’ Choice” (2013).
“Mediating DFW: Observations on his Archive at the Harry Ransom Center” in The Legacy of David Foster Wallace (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2012).
“The Writer and his Lawyer: James Joyce, Morris Ernst, and Ulysses” in Other People’s Books: Association Copies and the Stories they Tell (Chicago: The Caxton Club, 2010).
“Reading Finlay’s Booklet Poems,” for The Present Order: Writings on the Work of Ian Hamilton Finlay (Marfa, TX: Marfa Book Company/Impossible Objects, 2010).
“Encyclopedic Novelties: On Kenneth Goldsmith’s Tomes” in Open Letter: A Canadian Journal of Writing and Poetry 12.7 (Fall 2005).
“Judging a Photobook by its Cover: Langston Hughes and Roy DeCarava’s The Sweet Flypaper of Life” in Ampersand: The Journal of the Pacific Center for Book Arts (November 2005).
“Variations on the Theme of the Palimpsest.” The Visual-Narrative Matrix: Interdisciplinary Collisions and Collusions. Ed. Graham Coulter-Smith. Southampton, England: Southampton Institute, 2000: 41-48.
Blog Posts
Selected posts for the Small Library blog, Notes from Under Grounds:
“Scarlet Letters from the Backlog” (October 2013)
“Curating Yoko Ono” (September 2013)
“This Just In: An Artist’s Book from Codex” (March 2013)
“How to Make Miniature Book Mounts: An Amateur’s Guide” (March 2013)
Posts for the Ransom Center blog, Cultural Compass:
“A Glimpse into J. M. Coetzee’s Bound Drafts: Life & Times of Michael K.” (October 2011).
“Ronald McDonald Swims to Cambodia: A First Glimpse of Spalding Gray’s Notebooks.” (November 2010)
“Corporal Dashiell Hammett’s The Battle of the Aleutians: A Graphic History, 1942-1943.” (April 2010)
“Infinite Possibilities: A First Glimpse into David Foster Wallace’s Library.” (March 2010)
“J. D. Salinger at the Harry Ransom Center.” (February 2010)
“Curator’s Choice: Among 200 Poe Objects, This One Stands Out.” (December 2009)
Digital Initiatives
Notes from Under Grounds: The Blog of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. Posts appear weekly. Project creator and content manager. UVA. 2012-present
The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia, 1920-1925. Interactive online exhibit with custom interface and back end. 320 items. Lead curator (team of 6 students), overall project manager, and web designer. HRC. 2013.
Awarded The Daniel and Katharine Kyes Leab Exhibition Award, Online Exhibitions Category, American Library Association, 2013
Gallery interactive media projects: Touch-screen page-turner of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road notebook and Elihu Vedder’s folio Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám; interactive annotated scroll manuscript of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Domain of Arnheim”; iPod sound stations in On The Road with the Beats. Content developer. HRC, 2008-2009
eComma interactive online variorum edition of five versions of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Implementation supervisor for exhibition gallery and website. HRC. 2009
Physical Exhibitions
Who was the first woman to…: Pioneers on the Path to Gender Equity at the University of Virginia. Portable panel exhibition for Global Women’s Leadership Forum, UVA. Fall 2017.
The University of Virginia in 100 Objects. 100 Objects at 16 venues across the university grounds. Lead curator-person team. UVA. 2017-2018.
Faulkner: Life and Works. 150 items. Lead Curator, 4-person team. UVA. Spring, 2017.
The Aviator: Remembering James Rogers McConnell, A Centennial Exhibition. 50 items. Curator. UVA. Spring 2017
Shakespeare by the Book: Four Centuries of Printing, Editing, and Publishing. 150 items. Lead Curator for 3-person team. UVA. 2016. For the month of October 2016 this exhibition included the Folger Shakespeare Library’s traveling exhibition, “First Folio: the Book that Brought us Shakespeare.”
Who Shall Tell the Story? Voices of Civil War Virginia. 150 items. Co-curator, 5-person team. UVA. 2014-2015
Charles Smith / Abstraction. 30 items. Curator and preparator. UVA. 2014
Magazines Unbound: Periodicals as Art, 1940-1980. 28 items. Curator and preparator. UVA. 2013
Drawn from Life: Collecting Cartoons and Caricatures. 40 items. Curator and preparator. UVA. 2013
Collecting American Histories: The Tracy W. McGregor Collection at 75. 150 items. Planning Committee. UVA. 2013
The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia, 1920-1925. 160 items. Curator. HRC. 2011
From Out that Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe. Joint exhibition with the U.Va. Small Special Collections Library. 200 items. Co-curator, 3-person team. HRC. 2009
The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West. 240 items. Lead curator, 2-person team. HRC. 2009
On the Road with the Beats. 320 items. Curator. HRC. 2008
Norman Mailer Takes on America. 200 items. Co-curator. HRC. 2006
Teaching and Student Supervision at the University of Virginia
15-20 UVA class visits taught or assisted annually. 2012-present
Regular supervision of graduate student curatorial assistant, 10-20 hrs/week. Intensive supervision of general curatorial work and exhibitions. 2013-2017
Multiple-session exhibition instruction for Cori Field’s undergraduate course, “Global Black Girlhood,” resulting in 18-item student-curated exhibition, Fall 2016.
Multiple-session exhibition instruction for Elizabeth Turner’s graduate student independent study on sources for Jacob Lawrence’s Struggle Series, resulting in 10-item student-curated exhibition, Spring 2016.
Multiple-session instruction for Ed Triplett’s undergraduate course, “The Virtual Museum,” project on digital photogrammetry of Chinese Seal collection, spring 2015.
Visiting instructor in Matthew Kirchenbaum and Naomi Nelson’s course “Born-digital Materials in Special Collections,” 2017, 2014.
Visiting instructor in Johanna Drucker’s course “Modern Art of the Book,” 2016, 2015.
Selected Teaching and Student Supervision at The University of Texas
20-25 UT class visits taught or assisted annually. 2006-12
Regular supervision of 1-2 HRC Graduate Interns as assistant exhibition curators. 2007-12
Directed students in graduate seminar “Graphic Design & Literary Text” (Professor Janine Barchas) in curating small exhibition, “Primp My Book: The Customized Reading Experience.” 2011
Mentor. Graduate Mentor Program, University of Texas School of Information. 2010-2011
Supervisor. HRC Undergraduate Honors Intern Program. 2008-2011
Supervisor. Capstone Survey of Bieber Collection of Early American Poetry and Songsters, Rebecca Smyrl, School of Information. 2009
Supervisor. Graduate Independent Study on Finnegans Wake and Book History, Molly Hardy, Department of English. 2009
Prospectus Exam Committee, Victorian Literature, Ingrid Devallier, Department of English. 2008
Instructor. Semester-long Senior Seminar, “Poems in Process: Books and Manuscripts at the Ransom Center,” Department of English. 3 units. Fall 2007
Selected Press and Public Presentations
Presenter, “Live tour of UVA’s Miniature Book Collection.” Facebook live session, University of Virginia main Facebook Page, October 2017.
Interviewee, “The William Faulkner Collection,” C-SPAN Book TV / Cities Tour, Charlottesville, 2017.
Speaker, “One Day UVA: Faulkner: Life and Works.” 2017
Moderator of faculty panel and presenter, “One Day UVA: Shakespeare by the Book,” 2016.
invited speaker, “The First Folio.” English Speaking Union, Charlottesville, 2016.
Moderator. “Major Twentieth-Century Figures in Literature and Art.” Panelists Lesley Lee Francis and Nancy Princenthal. Virginia Festival of the Book. Charlotteville, VA. March 2016.
Instructor: “Artists’ Books in Accordion Form.” Single-session class. Virginia Arts of the Book Center, March 2016.
Gallery talk on accordion books. “Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books II,” exhibition, CitySpace Gallery. Virginia Festival of the Book. Charlottesville, VA. 2015.
Moderator. “The Artist Book: Meaning through Structure and Form.” Panelists Mary Austin, Jack Ginsberg, Anne Kalmbach, Ruth Rogers. Center for Book Arts/ MoMA Colloquium, “Collecting Artists’ Books.” Museum of Modern Art, New York. 2014Moderator. “Building an Author’s Platform.” Panelists Gigi Amateau, Jane Friedman, Bethanne Patrick. Virginia Festival of the Book. Charlottesville, VA. 2014.
Invited panelist. “The Codex is Not the Only Book: The iPad, the Poet, and the Artist.” Virginia Festival of the Book. Charlottesville, VA. 2013.
Gallery talk. “Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books,” exhibition, Virginia Arts of the Book Center. Virginia Festival of the Book. Charlottesville, VA. 2013
Interviewee, subject of back page essay. Jennifer Schussler, “A Portal to 1920s Greenwich Village.” New York Times Sunday Book Review (September 4, 2011).
Emcee. “Consider the Archive: An Evening of David Foster Wallace.” HRC. 2010
Invited panelist. Symposium: “Alice in Wonderland.” Alley Theater, Houston, TX. 2010
Emcee. A Tribute to J.D. Salinger. HRC. 2010
Interviewee. The Genius of Omar Khayyám. 60-minute documentary film, BBC Four. 2010
Interviewee. Regarding Ransom Center exhibition The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West, International News item, BBC Persian.2009
Organizer and Emcee. “Shakespeare’s Sonnets: 400th Anniversary Marathon Reading.” Poetry on the Plaza, HRC. 2009
Interviewee. Regarding archival recordings of Allen Ginsberg in Austin. 8-minute segment. The Best of KUT: 50 Years. KUT Radio, Austin. 2009
Interviewee. Regarding The Persian Sensation: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West. 1-hour program. Aelli Unleashed. KUT Radio Online. 2009
On-stage interviewer. An Evening with Anne Waldman. HRC. 2008
Guest. “Documenting Writers’ Lives: What Should Be in the Archives?” With novelist Michael Cunningham, Biographer David Marr, and presenter Ramona Kaval. 5-minute segment. The Book Show. Australian Broadcasting Company Radio. 2008
Academic and Professional Conferences
Invited panelist. “Digital Frost.” Modern Language Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia. 2017.
Invited discussion leader. “Mixing Hands-On with Do-Not-Touch,” session on Special Collections instruction. RBMS Conference, Coral Gables, FL. 2016
Seminar organizer and moderator. “Tips for Working with Elderly Donors.” RBMS Conference, Berkeley, CA. 2015
Invited discussion leader. “On the Ground and In the Cloud: Instruction with Physical and Digital Materials.” RBMS Conference. Las Vegas, NV. 2014
Panel Moderator. “The Fate of the Book: Transformers.” Annual Symposium of the Texas Institute for Literary and Textual Studies. University of Texas, Austin. 2012
Discussion co-convener. “The Horror! The Horror!: E-Books in Special Collections,” RBMS Preconference, San Diego. 2012
Seminar co-organizer. “Researching Artists’ Books: The Next Fifty Years,” RBMS Preconference, San Diego. 2012
Seminar co-organizer. “Collaborative Exhibitions,” RBMS Preconference, Philadelphia. 2010
“University Students and Faculty as Exhibition Collaborators: The Rubáiyát, 2009.” RBMS Preconference, Philadelphia. 2010
Invited Roundtable Participant. “Modernist Studies, the Library, and Research Education.” Modernist Studies Association Conference, Vancouver. 2010
Seminar Participant. “Modernism and the Book Trade.” Modernist Studies Association Conference, Tulsa. 2006
“Collected Works: Interpreting Massive Book Sculptures.” Material Cultures and the Creation of Knowledge Conference, University of Edinburgh Centre for the History of the Book, Edinburgh, Scotland. 2005
“Detached Thoughts on Books, Non-Books, and Deviance.” Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Philadelphia. 2004
“The Disappearing Modernist Book: Marianne Moore and the Library.” Modernist Studies Association Conference, Houston. 2001
“Joseph Cornell’s Emily Dickinson Boxes: Rethinking the Books and Pages of Modernism.” Modernist Studies Association Conference, Philadelphia. 2000
“Variations on the Theme of the Palimpsest in Tom Phillips’ A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel.” The Visual / Narrative Matrix Conference, Southampton Institute, England. 1999
Archival Processing
Accession all manuscripts and archival materials I acquire, both gifts and purchases, in ArchivesSpace. 2016-present. UVA.
“Sunwise Turn Bookshop Records,” Preliminary inventory, 2006. HRC. Recent large addition means this inventory has been superceded by new record.
“Harold Billings Correspondence with Jonathan Williams,” Preliminary inventory, 2006. HRC.
Service and Professional Activities
2015-present Edward R. Stettinius Award Committee, University of Virginia
2017 Search Committee, Executive Director of Advancement, University of Virginia Library
2016 Search Committee, Instruction Librarian, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
2015-present ArchivesSpace Implementation Team, UVA Library
2014-present Digital Collection Building Commitee, UVA Library
2012-present Attend Miniature Book Society Annual Grand Conclave as representative of McGehee Miniature Book Collection, UVA Library,
2012-present Collections Committee co-convener, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
| 2013-2014 | Virgo Services Committee, University of Virginia Library |
| 2006-12 | Post-1950 List Committee (writers for whom HRC collects all first editions), HRC |
| 2006-12 | Research Fellow Selection Committee, HRC |
| 2009-12 | Grants Committee, HRC |
| 2010-12 | Chair. Exhibition Awards Committee, RBMS |
| 2008-12 | Exhibition Awards Committee, RBMS |
| 2011-12 | 2012 Conference Program Planning Committee, RBMS |
| 2011 | Digital Collections Steering Group, HRC |
| 2010 | Search Committee, Digital Collections Librarian, HRC |
| 2008-09 | Aeon implementation committee and staff trainer, HRC |
| 2008-10 | Advisory Committee, Joynes Reading Room, Honors Program, University of Texas |
| 2008 | Graduate Intern Selection Committee, HRC |
Employment History
| 2004-06 | Post-Doctoral Fellow. Program in Structured Liberal Education, Stanford |
| 1998-2004 | Graduate Instructor and Teaching Assistant. Stanford Department of English |
| 1998-2000 | Librarian. Briggs Library, Stanford Department of English |
| 1995-97 | Assistant. Department of Preservation, University of Colorado Libraries |
| 1995-97 | Graduate Instructor and Teaching Assistant. U. of Colorado Department of English |
| 1994-95 | Used bookseller. Trident Bookstore, Boulder, CO |
| 1992-94 | Used and new bookseller/ buyer. Pegasus Bookstores, Berkeley, CA |
| 1991-92 | Customer service representative. Little, Brown Publishers/Time Warner Books, Waltham, MA |
| 1989-91 | Reference and Circulation Assistant. Loeb Music Library, Harvard University |
Awards
2017 Outstanding Faculty Speaker Award, University of Virginia Office of Engagement
2017 Grant recipient with co-applicant Holly Robertson, University of Virginia Bicentennial Office, for “The University of Virginia in 100 Objects,” $135,000
2013 The Daniel and Katharine Kyes Leab Exhibition Award, Online Exhibitions Category, American Library Association
2012, Nominee for Best Museum Exhibition, Austin Critics Table Awards, “Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia.”
2008, Nominee for Best Museum Exhibition, Austin Critics Table Awards, “On the Road with the Beats.”
| 2002-03 | Colin Higgins Memorial Dissertation Fellowship |
| 2002 | Stanford University Graduate Research Opportunity Grant, Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry |
| 2001-02 | Stanford Humanities Center Geballe Dissertation Fellowship (year-long residency) |
| 1999 | Stanford University Centennial Teaching Assistant Award |
Professional Memberships
Rare Books and Manuscript Section (RBMS), Association of Research Libraries (ACRL), American Library Association (ALA), 2006-present
