Authors

Edna Bastien-Wennerlind

Edna Bastien-Wennerlind was a Student Technician in the Special Collections Division from October 2008 to August 2009.  During that time, she completed a major project to reorganize the map collection in order to facilitate the retrieval of material, as well as to identify priority items in need of cataloging and/or preservation treatment.  She also performed extensive research, compiling biographical and historical information to assist in the enhancement of catalog records and other descriptions of rare books, manuscripts, scrapbooks, and ephemera from the Pacific Northwest Collection.  She joined the King County Library System as a librarian in July 2009.

Nicole Bouché

Nicole Bouché served as the Curator of the Pacific Northwest Collection of the Special Collections Division from 2005 through 2009.  Effective October 19, 2009, she became Director of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.  In parting, she wished all success to this enterprise, which was begun during her tenure with the University of Washington Libraries.

Chery Kinnick

I joined Special Collections in August 2009, having served as a supervisor for the University of Washington Natural Sciences Library for 20 years. Special Collections is a good career fit, based on my appreciation of history, research, and old things, in general. In 1998, I earned a degree in history at the UW, and completed a UW Extension certificate program in Genealogy and Family History in 2006. From 2006-2008, I studied with Dr. Lorraine McConaghy, lead historian for Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry, while participating in the MOHAI’s Nearby History writing and research seminars. This experience led to my co-authoring Snoqualmie Pass (Arcadia Publishing, 2007), as well as the publication of a 350-page family history.

Originally from the San Francisco East Bay, I have called the Seattle area as home for the past 30 years, with 14 of those spent in the Cascade Mountains at Snoqualmie Pass, a local ski resort. I currently live in Snohomish County, and when I am not working, commuting, or doing research, my interests include Norwegian-American pioneer history, genealogy, gardening, nature, blogging, and being a member of the Nearby Norwegians, a small Seattle-based writing support group.

Helice Koffler

I have been the Manuscripts and Special Collections Materials Cataloging Librarian with the University of Washington Libraries since February 2008.  As a member of the Monographic Services Division, I am responsible for the cataloging of print, archival, manuscript, and visual materials for the Special Collections Division.  Although a proud native New Yorker, I have bounced back and forth between the East Coast and the Pacific Northwest several times since receiving my undergraduate degree (Art history and English) and a Masters of Art in English literature from Hunter College of the City University of New York, so there must be something about the region that draws me here.  Along the way, I also earned another Master’s degree from the Palmer School of Library & Information Science, Long Island University and became a Certified Archivist.

I have worked at a variety of libraries, archives, and museums over the years.  Prior to returning to Seattle, I was a cataloger and archivist on the Wilson Processing Project, a multiyear grant-funded project to process archival materials from the collections of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.  The performing arts, particularly ballet and musical theatre, continue to be major interests of mine and I can discuss the merits of the New York City Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet with equal facility (try me!).

During 2009 I also will be serving as a member of the RLG Social Metadata Working Group, so you may find some of the issues which that group is exploring creeping into these blog posts as well.

Blynne Olivieri

Blynne Olivieri worked in Special Collections as a Student Specialist from June 2006 to August 2009. In that capacity she wrote and designed a website featuring visual arts holdings which document the European exploration, discovery, and settlement of the Pacific Northwest. She also served as a Curatorial Assistant for the Pacific Northwest Collection performing various duties: accessioning and processing archives, co-curating exhibitions, reviewing materials for purchase, designing teaching sessions, and assisting with donor relations.

Jessie Sherwood

I started working in Special Collections this fall as a cataloging assistant. I do bibliographical and biographical research for the Pacific Northwest Collection and historic children’s books from the Book Collections. In my spare time, I am working toward another degree, and researching and writing about the Middle Ages.

Jeni Spamer

I joined UW Special Collections Division as Accessioning Specialist in April 2008. Before migrating to Seattle from Ann Arbor in August of 2007, I spent nearly ten years attending and working for the University of Michigan. In 2005, I entered the School of Information, receiving a Master of Information Science degree in 2006. During this program, I gained valuable experience with an internship at the Archives of Michigan, where I discovered that my love of “old stuff” could actually shape itself into a career!

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, also from UM, with a senior thesis entitled “Paradoxes of Pleasure and Pain: Kierkegaard, Postmodernism, and the Horror Film.” During and between degrees, I worked as an Information Consultant with a dormitory library and the Campus Computing Sites, as Lending Specialist for UM Libraries’ Interlibrary Loan department, as a Student Assistant in the Labadie Collection (Special Collections) and as Information Resources Specialist for the Social Work Library.

I’m interested in the ways archival management is (and isn’t) transforming with the digital age. Outside work, I enjoy photography, film, cooking, reading, admiring fonts, and writing old fashioned letters.