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Gianna is a second year MLIS student at San Jose State University. They are currently the 2025-2026 Rooted and Relational Archives Fellow at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. During their MLIS program, they’ve had the opportunity to garner archival experience at a variety of institutions, including Princeton University Library, San Francisco Public Library, and The Freedom Archives. She would like to share her experience as the 2025 Special Collections Summer Fellow at the Firestone Library, part of Princeton University Library.<\/p>\n
Gianna’s Experience:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\nThis past summer, I was the 2025 Special Collections Summer Fellow at Firestone Library. It was a summer full of learning, professional growth, and mentorship. I am very grateful for all of the people at Princeton University Library who made this such an impactful experience for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBelow are some of the projects that I had the opportunity to work on this summer.<\/span><\/p>\nArchival Processing and Description<\/b>: <\/span><\/span><\/h2>\nI processed several backlogged single-item acquisitions, including <\/span><\/p>\n\n- Ship Surgeon Contract for L’Achilles Voyage Trafficking Enslaved African People, 1792 October 1<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
- Ralph Brush Cleghorn Letter to British Abolitionist Zachary Macaulay, 1883 June 29, 1883 August 24<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
- Margaret Atwood Correspondence, 1981-1993<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
- James McLaughlin Correspondence, 1881-1891<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Processing these items gave me a better understanding of ArchivesSpace and Princeton\u2019s local institutional standards around archival processing. I deeply appreciate the Archival Description and Processing Team\u2019s (ADAPT) recognition of the fact that archival processing is not neutral, and its commitment to the ongoing intellectual and emotional labor of creating archival records that prioritize remediating harmful descriptions and dismantling archival practices grounded in white supremacy and other systems of oppression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Princeton\u2019s Latin American Processing Archivist on bilingual archival description, specifically for the <\/span>Homesteading and Farming Guide for Japanese Migrants to Brazil, 1936<\/span><\/a>, the <\/span>Homesteading and Farming Guide for Japanese Migrants to Paraguay, 1936<\/span><\/a>, and an <\/span>accrual to the Juan Gelman Papers, 1927-2014<\/span><\/a>. It was very meaningful to work on bilingual archival description projects and contribute to increasing accessibility for Spanish-speaking Special Collections patrons.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Photograph](\"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/saasc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/homesteading-771x1024.jpg\")
Figure 1:<\/em> Photograph of a three panel pamphlet written in Japanese on the topic of homesteading in Brazil. (Gianna Brassil, 2025).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI am proud to have collaborated with the Mudd Library Summer Fellow on redescribing two Lenape land deeds within the James Alexander Papers: <\/span><\/p>\n\n- Deed from Waweyjask, Wasckonahtaw, Nieshawand, Toweeckwa, Mansshim and Onackhponqguam to Edward Earle, Jr. for Land in Morris Country, New Jersey, Along the Rockaway River, 1709 November 29<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
- Deed from Tapehow, Rarawakon, Waweyask, Pequacheek, Powas, Nonzacum, Owanamus, and Orewandeca to Edward Earle, Jr. for Land in Morris and Somerset County, New Jersey, Along the Passaick River, 1709 November 29<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Grant and I were<\/span> provided indispensable guidance from members of the archival processing team on how to think through the various spellings of Lenape names in the absence of a naming authority while prioritizing access points and accessibility for patrons. Working with these land deeds was a chilling reminder of how settler colonialism is an ongoing structure, meaning that as long as settlers are occupying the land, settler colonialism hasn\u2019t ended and in fact the land is being continuously colonized at every moment. <\/span><\/p>\nIt reinforced my commitment to working towards Indigenous sovereignty, defined by Nick Estes<\/a><\/span> as the <\/span>\u201cright to live where and how we want in our own homeland because that is the ultimate definition of self-determination and sovereignty, collective independence and autonomy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnother project that I worked on was reprocessing and performing box-level description enhancement on 65 boxes within the <\/span>Story Magazine and Story Press Records, 1931-1999<\/span><\/a>. I utilized folder level metadata generated by the 2023 Summer Fellow in order to improve discoverability of this large portion of the collection. This project gave me experience working with legacy description, rehousing, reappraisal, enhancement projects, and processing a larger amount of material (approximately 30 linear feet).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI also revised 12 biographical notes as a part of the Inclusive Description Working Group\u2019s (IDWG) Terms of Aggrandizement in Biographical Notes project. Per the IDWG\u2019s Guidelines, <\/span><\/p>\nBiography\/history notes are meant to provide information about a collection\u2019s creator that will help researchers understand the context in which records were created; they should not be exhaustive, adulatory narratives that go on at length about the creator\u2019s accomplishments.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Below are some of the projects that I had the opportunity to work on this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n I processed several backlogged single-item acquisitions, including <\/span><\/p>\n Processing these items gave me a better understanding of ArchivesSpace and Princeton\u2019s local institutional standards around archival processing. I deeply appreciate the Archival Description and Processing Team\u2019s (ADAPT) recognition of the fact that archival processing is not neutral, and its commitment to the ongoing intellectual and emotional labor of creating archival records that prioritize remediating harmful descriptions and dismantling archival practices grounded in white supremacy and other systems of oppression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Princeton\u2019s Latin American Processing Archivist on bilingual archival description, specifically for the <\/span>Homesteading and Farming Guide for Japanese Migrants to Brazil, 1936<\/span><\/a>, the <\/span>Homesteading and Farming Guide for Japanese Migrants to Paraguay, 1936<\/span><\/a>, and an <\/span>accrual to the Juan Gelman Papers, 1927-2014<\/span><\/a>. It was very meaningful to work on bilingual archival description projects and contribute to increasing accessibility for Spanish-speaking Special Collections patrons.<\/span><\/p>\n I am proud to have collaborated with the Mudd Library Summer Fellow on redescribing two Lenape land deeds within the James Alexander Papers: <\/span><\/p>\n Grant and I were<\/span> provided indispensable guidance from members of the archival processing team on how to think through the various spellings of Lenape names in the absence of a naming authority while prioritizing access points and accessibility for patrons. Working with these land deeds was a chilling reminder of how settler colonialism is an ongoing structure, meaning that as long as settlers are occupying the land, settler colonialism hasn\u2019t ended and in fact the land is being continuously colonized at every moment. <\/span><\/p>\n It reinforced my commitment to working towards Indigenous sovereignty, defined by Nick Estes<\/a><\/span> as the <\/span>\u201cright to live where and how we want in our own homeland because that is the ultimate definition of self-determination and sovereignty, collective independence and autonomy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Another project that I worked on was reprocessing and performing box-level description enhancement on 65 boxes within the <\/span>Story Magazine and Story Press Records, 1931-1999<\/span><\/a>. I utilized folder level metadata generated by the 2023 Summer Fellow in order to improve discoverability of this large portion of the collection. This project gave me experience working with legacy description, rehousing, reappraisal, enhancement projects, and processing a larger amount of material (approximately 30 linear feet).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I also revised 12 biographical notes as a part of the Inclusive Description Working Group\u2019s (IDWG) Terms of Aggrandizement in Biographical Notes project. Per the IDWG\u2019s Guidelines, <\/span><\/p>\n Biography\/history notes are meant to provide information about a collection\u2019s creator that will help researchers understand the context in which records were created; they should not be exhaustive, adulatory narratives that go on at length about the creator\u2019s accomplishments.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nArchival Processing and Description<\/b>: <\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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