Archival Studies fellow named

The 2024 Humanities Undergraduate Program in Archival Studies and Practice (HUPASP) fellow is Alexa Rose, a second-year, first-generation college student majoring in History while also studying Linguistics and Cultural Management. She has previously engaged in research for National History Day and the Oregon Undergraduate Research Symposium. Her research has included the impact of travel and tourism on cultural sites and the role of photographers in changing the social policies of 20th-century America. She is a 2023–24 First-Year Interest Group assistant and an editor for the Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal. 

a light-skinned woman with long dark blonde hair, wearing dark rimmed glasses is smiling at the camera“Living in a rural town with a population of 630 and a library that doubled as City Hall, borrowing materials from partner libraries was a natural occurrence,” says Rose. “Many communities, including my own, rely on resource sharing as rural institutions typically have lower operating budgets and difficulties maintaining adequate staffing. This awakened my interest in assisting the daily function of my local library and led me to pursue archival work. My community has a large collection of items reflecting the rich history of Indigenous communities and remnants from the Oregon Trail. The HUPASP Internship will provide the opportunity to gain experience from an institution whose Special Collections and Archives exceed the capacity of my local library and from which, I believe, I will learn a tremendous amount.”

In winter term Rose will be enrolled in LIB 409/509: Archival Theory and Practice, an introduction to the theory and practice of archival arrangement, description, and preservation of material such as personal papers, institutional records, photographs, electronic records, and other unpublished material. Utilizing skills gained in class, Rose will begin the practicum portion of her fellowship in spring—processing and organizing an archive to make it available for scholars. 

The Oregon Humanities Center offers the HUPASP fellowship and internship (now in its second year) in collaboration with UO Libraries Special Collections and University Archives.