Welcome Nichole Manlove, Archives Assistant!

Nicole Full Size

Cranbrook Archives welcomes our newest team member, Nichole Manlove, in the role of Archives Assistant. Nichole received her undergraduate degree in Advertising from Michigan State University and a Master of Library and Information Science degree and Graduate Certificate in Archival Administration  from Wayne State University. Prior to Cranbrook, Nichole most recently worked as a Project Archivist at the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, where she helped preserve, arrange, describe, and make accessible a wide range of archival collections. Nichole has also held several interesting internships and volunteer positions with the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Institute of Arts Research Library and Archives, and the Detroit Historical Society Collections Resource Center.

From costume design sketches, 19th century correspondence, and papers of civil rights leaders to broadcast video recordings, student scrapbooks, and architectural drawings of major area firms, Nichole has pretty much seen it all. This wealth of experience will be invaluable in her role at Cranbrook Archives, where she’ll be assisting with the care, management, and discovery of our collections. Nichole is quickly absorbing Cranbrook’s history and our Archives operations in her first few weeks. She’s already deep into arranging and describing a complex collection, and is also working on populating our new collection management system to greatly improve patron access. We are happy to have her and look forward to great things!

Deborah Rice, Head Archivist

Welcome Deborah Rice, New Head Archivist!

I am quite thrilled to announce that we have an outstanding new Head Archivist (and future Kitchen Sink blogger), Deborah Rice. Let me take this opportunity to introduce her to the readers of the Kitchen Sink Blog.

Deborah has over seventeen years of experience as a professional archivist. For the past fifteen years, she has been working in Detroit at Wayne State University with the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.  At Wayne she not only served as a Collection Archivist, Technical Services Archivist, and Audiovisual Archivist, but also the Interim Assistant Director—all of which are invaluable experience for her work here at Cranbrook. Prior to her work at Wayne, she was the Archivist for the Detroit Institute of Arts Research Library & Archives.

Deborah holds a BA in Art History from the University of Michigan and an MLIS degree (Master of Library and Information Services) and Archives Administration Certificate from Wayne State University. Equally important is what you will find to be her warm and engaging personality, and her sincere desire to engage audiences and help us make Cranbrook Archives a welcoming environment for our on-campus visitors and a digitally accessible resource for an even broader public worldwide.

In her first weeks here, Deborah has been off to a running start learning about Cranbrook history, getting a lay of the land and our extensive archival holdings, meeting with a potential donor in Lansing, and helping Cranbrook staff and our many outside researchers in our endless stream of research requests.

While there will be many opportunities to meet Deborah later this fall, her first official public event will be the Center’s gala fundraiser on Saturday, September 21: “A House Party at Cranbrook: History in the Making.”  The event, which focuses this year on the nearly 80-year journey of Cranbrook Archives, will include tours of three campus locations that have been, are, and hopefully will be important to the Archives future.  These include the current Reading Room where Deborah will be sharing with you some of the Archives’ hidden treasures.

We are grateful that Deborah made the decision to take the same journey that our founders made in 1904, traveling up Woodward Avenue from Detroit to Bloomfield Hills.  You can look forward to new blog posts from her very soon!

Greg Wittkopp, Director, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research

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