My current research explores the intersection of social justice, radical empathy, and archival practice, particularly related to Chicanx and disability histories hidden within archival collections. Recent published works and works in progress include: a co-authored training module (book-length) for archivists who wish to re-examine privacy and access issues in archives, in order to better serve under-represented communities; a research paper documenting on how archival descriptive practices have perpetuated stigmatization of and harm to individuals with Down Syndrome; a case study for how archives can support socially engaged art, modeled on CU Boulder's Los Seis de Boulder Sculpture Project; and another case study presenting a practical, holistic model for locating and evaluating archival collections with access and use restrictions. I also write about the photographic history of the nineteenth-century American West frontier in unpublished archival sources. In particular, I focus on issues of White supremacy, racism, and colonialism in photographs of Indigenous communities that were taken by White photographers employed by the federal government in the Pacific Northwest.
keywords
archives management, photographic history of the American west, Chicano/a/x and Latino/a/x history in Colorado, diversity equity and inclusiveness in archives, social justice in archives, disability in archives, Down Syndrome, privacy and confidentiality in archives, archives practice and art creation/education
