Liz Beckman is a processing archivist working as part of the Hopkins Retrospective Project team. She is passionate about broadening access to archival resources and increasing the number and types of voices reflected in the archival record. Before coming to Hopkins, she worked as the Manuscripts and Archives Librarian at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She began working at Mason as the Processing Coordinator in 2014. Prior to this she had a variety of archives-related internships in Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh, PA.
Allison Seyler is a public historian and archivist who has worked in a variety of institutions from a large state agency to a small museum, to a local library, and an academic library of a research university. She is currently the Program Manager for Hopkins Retrospective at the Johns Hopkins University. She earned both a B.A. in History and French and an M.A. in Public History at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
Allison leads the Hopkins Retrospective team as they engage in institutional history research, archival processing, and outreach. She founded the Reexamining Hopkins History Initiative which encourages and supports research by students, faculty, and staff geared towards illuminating inequities of the institution’s past. She is committed to investigating the university’s history in a way that is transparent and communicative, sharing records with the community that relate to the legacies of slavery at Johns Hopkins University and forging a path forward that involves repair. Additionally, Allison directs the Hugh Hawkins Fellowship Program and conducts oral history interviews with FLI (first generation and/or low income) students and other members of the community like staff, alumni, and faculty. Allison teaches both graduate and undergraduate students how to use and interpret primary sources, aiming to demystify and make the university archives more accessible. She is committed to helping folks rediscover ordinary peoples’ lives through the archival record and revealing to all how deeply relevant the past is to both the present and future.
Education
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
- 2012 – M.A., Historical Studies, Public History
- 2010 – B.A., History, French
Professional Experience
- 2018-Present, Hopkins Retrospective Program Manager, Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University
- 2016-2018: Archivist, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum
- 2012-2016: Research Archivist, Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Project, Maryland State Archives
- 2013-2016: Circulation Assistant, Baltimore County Public Library