The American Archivist Publishes Alex H. Poole’s Research on African American Archivists in the Twentieth Century

The work of Alex H. Poole, PhD, an assistant professor of information science at Drexel University's College of Computing & Informatics (CCI), was recently published in the fall/winter 2017 issue of The American Archivist.

Harold T. Pinkett
Dr. Harold T. Pinkett; Historic Photograph File of National Archives Events and Personnel
His article, "Harold T. Pinkett and the Lonely Crusade of African American Archivists in the Twentieth Century,” follows Harold T. Pinkett (1914–2001), the first African American archivist employed by the National Archives, to be named an SAA Fellow, to edit The American Archivist, and to serve on SAA Council.

Poole illuminates how archivists such as Pinkett pioneered the first conversations about diversity and inclusivity in the field and establishes the long-standing devotion of African American archivists to collections and documentation.

Poole was previously published in the spring/summer 2017 issue of The American Archivist for an article that focused on ways to recruit, retain and mentor archivists of color. In 2017, he was elected vice-chair/chair-elect of the Archival History Section of the SAA, to the Steering Committee of the Archival Educators Section, and to the SAA Graduate Archival Education Subcommittee. 

In addition to diversity and inclusivity, Poole’s research interests include digital curation, digital humanities, and archives and records. He recently received the 2017 Bob Williams History Fund Research Award from the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) for his paper, "'Could my dark hands break through the dark shadow?' The North Carolina Negro Library Association's War on Information Poverty in the Long Civil Rights Movement, 1935-1955" (Library Quarterly, forthcoming). 

His work has also been published in Journal of the Association of Information Science and Technology, Digital Humanities Quarterly, Journal of Documentation, Archival Science, and Information and Culture.

In This Article

Related News


Contact Us

Have a question? We’re eager to talk with you.

Contact Us