Our Team

Project Lead

Diana Marsh

Dr. Marsh is an Assistant Professor of Archives and Digital Curation in the College of Information Studies and an affiliate faculty in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Marsh’s research asks how new technologies and decolonizing movements are changing the ways heritage institutions share information with communities and the public. Her work draws on qualitative and ethnographic methods to better understand the discovery and use of archival collections – particularly for the communities represented in them. She explores what might drive the organizational change needed to increase public and community access to collections and provide more ethical models of stewardship in colonial repositories.

Her current research focuses on discovery, use, and access for Native American and Indigenous communities, based on projects undertaken at the American Philosophical Society and the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives. Her recent work has appeared in The American Archivist, Archival Science, Archivaria, and Archival Outlook. Her book, From Extinct Monsters to Deep Time: Conflict, Compromise, and the Making of Smithsonian’s Fossil Halls, was published in 2019 with Berghahn Books.

Graduate Students

Lydia Curliss

Lydia Curliss is a PhD student at the iSchool at UMD and member of the Nipmuc Nation (Massachusetts). Her research interests include Indigenous knowledge, archival collections, accessibility, ethical care of Indigenous collections, and community based archival and research practices. She is interested in researching the infrastructures of Tribal community archives, and rematriation of archival collections back to Tribal communities. She has been involved in various projects focused on Indigenous collections, communities, and access, including the Stolen Relations Project at Brown University and Reclaiming Heritage (a project funded by the Omohundro Institute, in conjunction with the American Antiquarian Society). She holds both a MLS and MIS from Indiana University, and a BA in Geology from Oberlin College.

Amanda Sorensen

Amanda is a second-year PhD student within the UMD iSchool. Prior to starting the PhD program, Amanda completed her MA in anthropology with a museum studies focus at the University of British Columbia. She also worked as an Anne Ray Intern at the School for Advanced Research from 2019-2020 and as a Graduate Fellow at the National Museum of Natural History. In addition to supporting the Indigenizing SNAC project, Amanda will be working with Diana and CoPAR leadership (the Council for Preserving the Anthropological Record) on projects relating to anthropological archival materials. She will also continue working with another research team within the iSchool, which is studying scientific data rescue and recovery. For her future dissertation work, Amanda hopes to study cultural heritage database systems and how software companies developed these interfaces.

Ia Bull

ᎠᏴ ᎢᏯ ᎪᎳᏄ ᏦᏓᎳᏁᎯ ᏓᏆᏙᎠ, ᏥᏄᏓᎴ ᏥᏎᎩᏳᏍᏗ ᏥᎦᏚᏩᎩ ᏥᎾᏥᏃ. ᏌᎶᎵ ᎤᎾᏓᏢ ᏂᎦᏘᏲ ᎠᏆᎨᎵ ᎠᏂᏌᎰᏂ ᎨᏟᏙᎯᏃ. ᏓᏫᏍᎦᎵᎯ ᎠᎴ ᎤᎭᎸᏂᎯ ᏧᏂᎦᏴᎵᎨ ᎢᏳᎵᏍᏔᏅ ᎠᏎᏃ ᏓᎵᏆ ᎠᏆᏛᏏᏙᎸᎢ. Ia Bull is a 1st year Ph.D. student at UMD iSchool and a member of Natchez and Gaduwagi Indigenous communities. They are working with Dr. Marsh on the Indigenize SNAC project as a Research Assistant. They are also a lead developer of the Natchez Indigital community archive project. Ia finished their MLIS with a focus in Archive Management from the University of Oklahoma Fall 2020 and BA in Cherokee Language Revitalization at Northeastern State University in 2018. They have worked at the Gilcrease Museum Helmerich Center Library/Archive and Digitization Departments, collaborated on the Mapping Tahlequah History project, and interned at the Cherokee Heritage Center Archive, and American Philosophical Society. Their long-term research goals include finding ways to assist language and cultural revitalization efforts with Information studies.

Indigenous Advisory Board

Tiffany N. Chavis

Tiffany N. Chavis, MSW, MLIS, LCSW-C (Lumbee) is the Health Literacy Librarian for the Network of the National Library of Medicine, Region 1, which is located at the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) Health Sciences and Human Services Library. As the Health Literacy Librarian, her focus is on outreach and education. In this role, she fosters partnerships, coordinates outreach efforts, and provides education programming for the region focused on consumer health, patient education, and health literacy. She is also currently working as a co-curator for the virtual exhibition, Safety in Numbers: Portraits of East Baltimore’s “Reservation,“ which will be on the Baltimore Reservation website. She previously worked part-time for the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery Special Collections at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) to assist with processing the Ashley Minner Collection and planning the Community Digitization Day at the Baltimore American Indian Center in Baltimore, MD. Tiffany graduated with her MLIS in December 2021 from the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). Before pursuing her MLIS degree at the iSchool at UMD, she was practicing as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW-C) for over a decade. In 2004, she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and a minor in Women’s Studies from UMBC. In 2006, she completed her Master’s Degree in Social Work, with a focus on both clinical social work and management and community organizing, at the University of Maryland Baltimore. During her career as a social worker, she practiced in various areas, including mental health, medical, substance use, child and adolescents, homelessness, case management, program management, outreach, forensics, etc.

Tiffany was born and raised in Baltimore City, is part of the Lumbee (American Indian) community, and still lives in the Baltimore area. She enjoys outdoor activities, knitting, reading, music, travel, and spending time with family and friends.

Kimberly Toney

Kimberly Toney is a member of the Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc and the Inaugural Coordinating Curator of Native American and Indigenous Collections at both the John Hay Library at Brown University and the John Carter Brown Library. Previous to her work at Brown University, Kim was Head of Readers’ Services and Director of Indigenious Initiatives at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. Kim’s research interests include language and cultural reclamation, particularly within her Nipmuc community, equitable access to libraries and archives, and community-centered scholarship and engagement.

Selena Ortega-Chiolero

Selena Ortega-Chiolero is Rarámuri (Tarahumara). She is the Museum Specialist for Chickaloon Village Traditional Council (CVTC) where she is responsible for the CVTC Tribal Collections and Archives that house the history and cultural expressions of the Ahtna Dene of Chickaloon Native Village. Selena supports the Tribe’s work in cultural site preservation, cultural tourism, and repatriation. She holds degrees in Art History and Asian Studies from California State University, Sacramento, professional certifications in Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Tourism from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and George Washington University, and is currently working towards her Masters of Fine Arts in Cultural Administration from IAIA. Selena is also a 2021-2023 Fellow in the University of Virginia Rare Book School’s Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage. As Board President for Museums Alaska and Vice-Chair for the Native American Archives Section of the Society of American Archivists, she continues to dedicate her time towards helping to reframe the understanding and practices of cultural heritage ownership, management, and access so that it acknowledges Indigenous identity, lifeways and knowledge systems.