On Monday, I left the DCA office for the last time, ending 10 years as director, 16 years in the archives, and 20 years working for Tufts University. It's hard to know how to process leaving a place after so long, but after a few days to reflect, I know there are a couple of things I will really miss.
First and foremost, my colleagues! The DCA staff is like none other. Smart, creative, dedicated, ambitious - ready to take chances, try new things, and continually move forward. DCA has attained truly remarkable achievements for a very small program: the Tufts Digital Library, dramatically expanded collections and services, and all of this while engaging in research on electronic records and linked data and archives. I've been asked, many times, how we were able to do so much. It's all about the people - staff in DCA, and colleagues across the libraries and the university who gave us space and support to follow where our creativity and ambition took us. What a great place to work! I cannot thank my colleagues enough for making my time at Tufts so exciting, positive, and productive. I'm going to miss you!
And yes, I'll miss our collections, even the quirky ones. Jumbo's tail, icky and not at all photogenic, but the most requested relic of Tufts' history. Transcripts and student records - not sexy, maybe, but vital to documenting the education of so many thousands of Tufts students over more than 150 years. Newsletters from grassroots environmental organizations, documenting communities' struggles for environmental justice. The Early American election data gathered by Phil Lampi and made available through the New Nation Votes project (with the American Antiquarian Society and NEH). And more.
My sentimental favorite is the Melville Munro photograph collection. Munro had an extraordinary talent for composition and capturing light, and while his primary subject was daily campus and student life, he left us thousands of images that both document Tufts and, in many cases, are stunningly beautiful. This image, of Jackson students stitching a service flag during World War I is one I am taking with me to my new job.
What's that new job? I'll be trading in the steady and true brown and blue of Tufts for Cornell's Big Red. Coming to Ithaca? Look me up at the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections!