CHICAGO—Bridget Malley, a December 2019 master of Library and Information Science graduate University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, School of Information Studies, is the 2020 recipient of the Theodore Calvin Pease Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The award recognizes superior writing achievements by students of archival studies, and (entries are judged on innovation, scholarship, pertinence, and clarity of writing).
Malley’s paper, Nothing about us Without Us: Documenting Disability History in Western Pennsylvania is a valuable contribution to the professional literature. It considers how appraisal methodology can be applied to collections that are being created and preserved in order to document the history of disability in a specific geographical region. She provides a thoughtful and well-crafted investigation of an effort to better preserve disability history. Bridget gives a detailed account about applying Helen Samuels’ guidance on documentation strategies in a contemporary context. The article both foregrounds and contributes substantially to the societal need to better recognize and document the lives and experiences of individuals with disabilities.
“The very best student papers either seek to seat themselves firmly within a specific ongoing discussion in the archival literature; or they attempt to bring the archival literature to bear on a relatively overlooked aspect of society. This paper does both of these things, and does them extremely well,” noted the nominator.
The paper will be published in the American Archivist Volume 84, Number 1 (Spring/Summer 2021). Established in 1987, the award is named for the first editor of the American Archivist. Past recipients include Emily Larson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and Anna Robinson-Sweet of Simmons College.