About the Bloggers

Fynnette first joined the National Archives and Records Services (NARS) in 1974 when she worked as an intermittent employee in the Central and Microfilm Reading Rooms.  Most of her career was spent at NARA working with electronic records in the Machine Readable Branch, which became the Center for Electronic Records, and then eventually the ERA Program, where she served as the ERA Change Management Officer, 2002-2007.  Fynnette has a B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of Maryland. She retired in 2007, took a short break to live overseas, then returned to NARA as a contractor providing support to NCAST.

Three things about Fynnette:

1. I love baseball and opera, a strange combination and am a rabid Redskins fan
2. I take dance three days a week for mental relaxation
3. I am a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists

Jill joined the staff at NARA in 2004. She is NARA’s Social Media Manager and chairs the agency-wide Social Media Working Group. She has a Master of Library Science degree in Archival Administration and a Master of Arts in United States History from the University of Maryland. She graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts in English and French Studies.

Three things about Jill:

1. I was editor of my high school newspaper.
2. I spent a semester in Paris during college and loved it, but I was ready to come home at the end.
3. I first met my husband while I was working behind the reference desk in the University of Maryland Hornbake Library and he came in to research a manuscript collection.

John has worked at NARA since January 2003, and currently serves as a genealogy specialist in the Research Support Branch at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. He lectures and publishes frequently about the variety of federal records available for family history research. John earned a Master of Arts in American History from the Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Gettysburg College.

Three things about John:

1. I am a mega-Civil War buff, and have even done reenacting for awhile.
2. I like to read a good Charles Dickens novel.
3. When I was really young, my first career aspiration was to be a mountain man like Robert Redford in the movie “Jeremiah Johnson.”

Kate joined NARA in July 2008 and currently serves as the Digitization Process Development Specialist within the Special Media Preservation Division (soon to be Digitization Services). Basically, she works with processes and workflows related to increased automation and standardization. She is the current co-chair of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Preservation Committee as well as the co-chair of the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) subgroup on technical metadata. Kate received her undergraduate degree in medieval literature from Columbia University in New York and her MBibl from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Three things about Kate:

1. I’ve been charged by a baboon, rhino and elephant but not all at the same time.
2. I don’t like ice cream or coffee.
3. My first job was sorting envelopes by zip code in the non-air conditioned attic of a Brooklyn convent. It was a very long summer.

Katherine joined NARA in 1996 and currently works in the Research Support Branch at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. She answers researcher’s questions by email and in person. She also lectures frequently on beginning genealogy records held by NARA. Katherine has a Master of Arts degree in European History from The George Washington University and a Master of Arts degree in History from Pittsburg State University in Kansas. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from Boston University.

Three things about Katherine:

1. When I was 14, my family lived in Paris, France. This was the beginning of my love for all things historical.
2. I am a big Red Sox fan.
3. I have two cats who have trained me well.

Kristen joined the Policy and Planning Staff at NARA in 2007.  On the Social Media Team, she  works on digital outreach projects like the Our Archives wiki.  Kristen has a Master of Library Science degree in Archival Administration from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts in Historic Preservation from Mary Washington College.

Three things about Kristen:

1. I love visiting architectural salvage yards to find materials for my endless craft projects.
2. I’m on a mission to locate every farmers’ market in my home county.
3. My husband and I have two dogs who love to chase deer but will never, ever be fast enough to catch one.

Mark joined the staff at NARA in 1991. As an archives specialist working in NCAST (NARA Center for Advanced Systems and Technologies), he works with computer scientists and engineers from supercomputing centers, other government agencies and universities to see what technologies are coming over the horizon that might be useful to NARA. He has a Masters of Public History degree from Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois, Springfield). He graduated from MacMurray College with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science.

Three things about Mark:

1. I was the photographer for my high school newspaper.
2. I spent an academic year in Ireland as a Senior Fulbright Scholar teaching archivists and archival graduate students at University College Dublin about electronic records.
3. I am a fan of the team that has won more world championships than any other U.S. football team – THE GREEN BAY PACKERS!

Mary joined NARA in the summer of 2009 at the Mid-Atlantic location in Philadelphia, and is now a part of the Social Media Team in College Park, MD. She recently graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and English, and is currently studying for her Master of Library Science degree in Archival Administration at the University of Maryland.

Three things about Mary:

1. Gettysburg, Pa is one of my favorite places to visit– it has everything from battlefields and reenactments to quaint shops and restaurants.
2. I have been involved with track and field since middle school, and I threw the hammer in college (think: a nine pound metal ball on a wire swinging around your head!).
3. I’m a BIG Phillies phan!

Meredith D. joined NARA in the summer of 2009 and currently works on the Social Media Team in College Park, MD.  She is pursuing her Master of Library Science degree in Archival Administration from the University of Maryland, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science and Economics from Gettysburg College.

Three things about Meredith:

1. I was a competitive swimmer throughout high school and college.
2. I enjoy camping, hiking, and generally being outdoors. My favorite vacations are active ones.
3. My father and I are both graduates of Gettysburg College. I learned to appreciate history (and battlefields) at an early age.

Meredith S. joined NARA in 2008 and worked as a program analyst in the Information Security Oversight Office. She currently works with the Digital Strategies and Services Staff at NARA.  She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Political Science from Gettysburg College.

Three things about Meredith:

1. I really enjoy learning about birds and wildlife.
2. I served in the Peace Corps in Samoa.
3. For two summers in college, I worked at the Crayola Factory.

Rebecca joined the NARA staff in 1997. She currently manages the Digitization and Description Team. Before joining the ARC staff in 2004, Rebecca worked for NARA’s Mid-Atlantic Region in Philadelphia where her job included working with researchers, overseeing the Region’s volunteers, and teaching workshops on genealogy. Rebecca graduated from Dickinson College with a Bachelors of Art degree in History and from Northeastern University with a Masters of Art degree in History with a concentration in Historical Agencies and Administration.

Three things about Rebecca:

1. My father, a history teacher, passed along his love of history to me at a young age.
2. I lived in England for a year.
3. I love to learn about quirky things from NARA records such as efforts during World War II to make shoes out of bacon rind.

Rita joined NARA in 2000 as an Archives Specialist (Appraisal) in the Lifecycle Management Division. She currently works in NARA’s Center for Advanced Systems and Technologies (NCAST).  For 20 years prior to NARA, Rita worked at the National Gallery of Art.  She earned a Master of Library Science degree with a focus on Archives, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art and Art History, both from the University of Maryland. Rita is the current President of the National Archives Assembly.

Three things about Rita:

1.   I am a native Washingtonian.

2.   The NARA shuttle passes by my (now-defunct) high school, the Academy of Notre Dame, taken over by Gonzaga High School, located next to the Federal Register.

3.   My book, “Images of America: Filipinos in Washington DC” includes references to NARA records from RG-350 and RG-407.

Susan is the Director of Access Programs at NARA.

I found my way from a dairy farm in Street, Maryland, to a Paleolithic cave site in southern Greece and a Masters degree in Classical Archaeology, to the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis, and eventually to the National Archives, with a few other stops in between.

I have also had a circuitous career at NARA. I have worked at the front end of the records life cycle – the Washington National Records Center, in records management policy in both the Office of Regional Records Services and the Policy and Planning Staff, and in program management with the Modern Records Programs and now Access Programs in the DC area. In Access Programs we provide the “intellectual control” over records in all formats by organizing and describing them, manage the “physical control” by tracking the records and undertaking basic preservation actions, and we provide reference services through our research rooms and correspondence.

I have limited experience with blogging — so be kind! I feel I represent a lot of records-people of a “certain age” who haven’t been terribly interested in social media but have a sneaking suspicion it might be important. I also like cats.

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