Elizabeth Botten Lecture: What is an Archives?, Oct. 29

Wed. October 29, 4:45-5:45 p.m., Glendening Annex

Elizabeth Botten lecture: What is an Archives?: Some Things I Have Learned from 26 Years of Reading Other People’s Mail

Elizabeth Botten ‘99 (art history and English) will share the history and work of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art and highlights from her more than two decades of experience as a reference specialist. The talk will conclude with images and stories of some of her favorite items among the 30 million in the Archives’ collections. 

Bio

Botten is a reference specialist at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art where she works on the team providing public access to more than 6,500 collections. In addition to being editor of the Archives of American Art Blog, Elizabeth is the co-founder of the Archives’s usability program and has served as interim social media manager. Her exhibition Artists & Their Models received favorable coverage in outlets including Hyperallergic, The Washington Post, and NPR’s Morning Edition.

In addition to speaking at conferences for the Society of American Archivists and the Art Libraries Society of North America, she has co-authored academic articles on web usability and social media. Her writing on topics as varied as the San Francisco Artists’ Soap Box Derby, rare children’s books, and artist remembrances can be found in the Archives of American Art Journal, Smithsonian Magazine, and the Hoosac Institute Journal. Elizabeth earned a B.A. from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 1999 with a double major in art history and English.  Botten is an Artist House visiting scholar.