Reflections on a Summer in Firestone Library

By Gianna Brassil

My months as the 2025 Special Collections Summer Fellow at Firestone Library were full of learning, professional growth, and mentorship. I am very grateful for all of the people at Princeton University Library who have made this such an impactful experience for me. 

Here are some of the projects that I had the opportunity to work on this summer:

Public Services:

Many thanks to everyone who patiently taught me the ropes of working in the reading room; special shout outs to AnnaLee Pauls and Charles Doran. I learned how to use Aeon circulation software, assist researchers in retrieving patron requests, and best practices for handling material. Under the guidance of Adrienne Rusinko, I responded to reference questions via LibAnswers, providing research consultations and reference snapshots to virtual patrons. I worked with Emma Sarconi to select objects from the Special Collections that speak to the history of the town of Princeton for the Experience Princeton newsletter in an effort to broaden departmental outreach efforts. I created a LibGuide on the Inclusive Description Working Group (IDWG), a working group made of ADAPT members and Library IT professionals. My LibGuide explains IDWG’s goal of describing archival materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections Princeton University Library manages, and includes relevant resources and information on IDWG projects.

Archival Processing and Description:

Under the mentorship and supervision of Amy C. Vo, I processed several backlogged additions to the Princeton University Library Single Item Acquisitions (C1771) collection, including Ship Surgeon Contract for L’Achilles Voyage Trafficking Enslaved African People and Ralph Brush Cleghorn Letter to British Abolitionist Zachary Macaulay, Margaret Atwood Correspondence, and James McLaughlin Correspondence. Processing these items gave me a better understanding of ArchivesSpace and Princeton’s local institutional standards around archival processing. My experience with the Archival Description and Processing Team reminded me of the fact that archival processing is not neutral, and bolstered my 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. 

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Enid Ocegueda on bilingual archival description, specifically for the Homesteading and Farming Guide for Japanese Migrants to Brazil, 1936, Homesteading and Farming Guide for Japanese Migrants to Paraguay, 1936, and an accrual to the Juan Gelman Papers, 1927-2014. It was very meaningful to work on bilingual archival description projects and contribute to increasing accessibility for Spanish-speaking Special Collections patrons. 

I am proud to have collaborated with the Grant Stroud, the Mudd Library Summer Fellow, on redescribing two Lenape land deeds within the James Alexander Papers (C0024): Deed from Waweyjask, Wasckonahtaw, Nieshawand, Toweeckwa, Mansshim and Onackhponqguam to Edward Earle, Jr. for Land in Morris Country, New Jersey, Along the Rockaway River and 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. Faith Charlton and Phoebe Nobles provided indispensable guidance 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’t ended and in fact the land is being continuously colonized at every moment. It reinforced my commitment to working towards Indigenous sovereignty, defined by Nick Estes as the “right 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.”

Another project that I worked on was reprocessing and performing box-level description enhancement on 65 boxes within the Story Magazine and Story Press Records (C0104). I utilized folder level metadata generated by 2023 Summer Fellow Megan Bardis 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). 

I revised 12 biographical notes as a part of the Inclusive Description Working Group’s (IDWG) Terms of Aggrandizement in Biographical Notes project. Per the IDWG’s Guidelines, “Biography/history notes are meant to provide information about a collection’s 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’s accomplishments.” These biographical notes had been identified as containing biased language that aggrandizes individuals. My revisions ensured that the biography note accurates reflects what is in its respective collection while refraining from aggrandizing terms that were disproportionately applied to descriptions of wealthy white men. 

Annalise Berdini trained me on Born Digital processing workflows, which I utilized when processing a USB in the Cuban Writers Protest and Dissent (C1196) collection that contained email files from Professor José F. Buscaglia-Salgado pertaining to the demands of scholars, intellectuals, and artists for changes in the official doctrine of the Cuban Revolution laid down in a speech by Fidel Castro. I also gained experience processing optical media such as CDs and removable magnetic media such as Floppy Disks using KyroFlux. 

Curatorial Work:

Under the supervision of Molly Dotson and Mireille Djenno, I became familiar with collection connoisseurship and exhibition curation. I conducted catalog searches and compiled an object list based on Professor Arabindan-Kesson’s syllabus for a course titled “Museums and Medicine.” I had the opportunity to observe an object review session for the upcoming exhibit on René Char, celebrated French poet known for his involvement with the French Resistance during World War II. 

With guidance from Emma Sarconi, Deborah Schlein, and Mireille Djenno, I created a Digital Princeton University Library (DPUL) exhibit titled Elsine-i S̱elās̱e: Dictionaries of the Arabo-Persian World which showcases a sampling of material from Princeton University Library’s Department of Special Collections that reflect the vibrant linguistic ecology of the Ottoman Empire. Featured items include Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic dictionaries, glossaries, and language workbooks. These materials speak to the importance of language learning and translation as a part of the flow and diffusion of knowledge across the Ottoman Empire and the Arabo-Persian world at large.

Under the supervision of Mireille Djenno, Andrea Immel, Donald Thornbury, Hilary Murusmith, and Jenn Meyer, I created an inventory of 153 items that make up a previously unprocessed collection on language learning in the late Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Utilizing my skills in Turkish and Arabic, I matched the dealer’s inventory with the physical items, taking note of each item’s title, statement of responsibility, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, extent, dimensions, illustrations, languages, binding, and matching PUL MMSID and OCLC number. I individually foldered each item with provisional folder numbers. This project improved the collection’s inventory metadata and rehoused the materials in folders. 

Finally, I am grateful for all of the people across the entire library system that took the time to meet with me individually and share more about their work: Deborah Schlein, Lauren Williams, Ellen Ambrosone, Will Clements, Thomas Keenan, Fernando Acosta-Rodriguez, and Valencia Johnson. 

Future Plans:

I’m very excited to share that this year, I will be the Rooted & Relational Archives Fellow at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College. The Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College is a university-based research institute whose mission is to produce, facilitate, and disseminate interdisciplinary research about the experiences of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. and to collect, preserve, and provide access to archival and library resources documenting the history and culture of Puerto Ricans. As the Rooted & Relational Archives Fellow, I will gain practical work experience in areas such as reparatory and bilingual description, community-oriented practices and spaces, and enrichment and diversification of the archival record.