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Staff Biographies

Senior Managers


Scott E. Casper
Scott CasperScott was appointed the eighth president of the Society in December 2020. A historian of the nineteenth-century United States, he has been associated with AAS for three decades, beginning as a Peterson Fellow in 1990. Before joining AAS he served as dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and as Foundation Professor of history at the University of Nevada, Reno. Scott is the author of Sarah Johnson’s Mount Vernon: The Forgotten History of an American Shrine (2008) and Constructing American Lives: Biography and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (1999), which won the book prize of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing. He is the editor, co-editor, or co-author of seven other books, including A History of the Book in America, volume 3, The Industrial Book (with Jeffrey D. Groves, Stephen W. Nissenbaum, and Michael Winship) and Perspectives on American Book History: Artifacts and Commentary (with Joanne D. Chaison and Jeffrey D. Groves). Scott has received fellowships from the National Humanities Center, Winterthur, and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, among other institutions. He served on the boards of the American Council of Learned Societies, Nevada Humanities, Maryland Humanities, and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance; edited the annual “Textbooks and Teaching” section of the Journal of American History from 2008 to 2018; and was acting editor of The William and Mary Quarterly in 2008-09. Scott has worked extensively with K-12 educators through the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the Center for Civic Education, and the Northern Nevada Teaching American History Project, and he has been on the faculty of Rare Book School since 2017. He holds an AB in history from Princeton University and his MA, MPhil, and PhD from Yale University.

 

Kristen Balash
Kristen is the vice president for finance and administration. She stewards and protects the Society’s finances and oversees the human resources, IT and buildings & grounds departments. She has previously held accounting and business operations positions in a variety of nonprofit organizations as well as the State Library of Massachusetts. Kristen has a MBA in public & nonprofit management from the Boston University Questrom School of Business and a BA in American politics and African & Afro-American studies from the University of Virginia.

 

Lauren B. Hewes
Lauren is the vice president for collections and Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts. She manages and oversees the Society’s acquisition, cataloging, conservation, curatorial and readers' services departments. She is also the Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts and builds and cares for the Society's extensive collections of prints, broadsides, ephemera, and photographs, working with the Center for Historic American Visual Culture (CHAViC), AAS fellows, and outside scholars to make connections between American history and the visual resources of the Society. Lauren has previously held positions at the Print Council of America, the National Park Service, and Shelburne Museum, and she has published widely on American printmaking and portraiture. She has a BS from Ithaca College and an MA in art history from Williams College.

 

Bethany Jarret
Beth is the associate librarian and head of acquisitions. She manages and oversees the Society’s acquisition, cataloging and systems departments, working collaboratively to set priorities, integrate departmental activities, and support the maintenance and sustainability of AAS's integrated library system. She also works closely with the five curators and is responsible for receiving and processing new acquisitions, as well overseeing the management and distribution of collections funds. Before coming to the Society, she was a reference librarian at both Fordham University and Clark University. She holds a BA in anthropology and classical civilization from Fordham University, an MLIS from the University of Rhode Island and a MS in non-profit management from Worcester State University

 

Beth Kopley
Beth serves as the vice president for advancement. Before joining AAS, she directed development programs at institutions such as the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution, the California Institute of the Arts, the Boston Athenæum, and The Newark Museum. She also served on the development teams at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston University, and The New York Public Library. Beth has a BA in history and literature from Harvard College and an MA in the social history of art from the University of Leeds, England.

 

Nan Wolverton
Nan is vice president for programs. She oversees nearly fifty fellowships—both long and short term--annually for AAS. As director of CHAViC she organizes conferences, seminars, workshops, and other programs related to visual culture. She serves on the board of directors for the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH). She previously served as a lecturer in American studies at Smith College. She also served as executive director at Historic Northampton Museum and Education Center and was curator of decorative arts at Old Sturbridge Village. She has worked for museums throughout New England, including the Emily Dickinson Museum and Melville’s Arrowhead. She holds a PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa.

 

Staff

 

Sarah Barnard
Sarah is an acquisitions assistant. In addition to processing purchases and donations, she selects and orders contemporary scholarship relevant to the Society's collections. She has worked at AAS in readers' services and the acquisitions department. She holds a BA in history from Gettysburg College and an MLIS from Simmons University.

 

Brianne Barrett
Headshot of Brianne BarrettBrianne is a library and program assistant. In the readers’ services department, she assists researchers in the reading room, monitors collection material, and helps facilitate virtual visits. She also provides collection support for various programs and seminars and is in charge of handling the rights and reproductions services. She previously worked in the Worcester Historical Museum's library and as a circulation assistant at the Henry Whittemore Library. She holds a BA in English from Framingham State University.

 

Dan Boudreau
Headshot of Dan BoudreauDan has been at AAS since 2013 and is the head of readers' services. He is responsible supervising department staff, managing the reading room and reference desk, as well as aiding readers with their research. He also works with the AAS’s social media team and manages exhibits and displays in the reading room. He holds a bachelor’s degree in humanities and arts from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, with a concentration in American studies.

 

Andrew P. Cariglia
Andy is the head of buildings and grounds and has held this position since 2002. He is directly responsible for the five buildings within our campus, manages two assistant maintenance personnel, and is a member of the buildings and grounds committee. Andy has over twenty five years’ experience within the HVAC/R, plumbing, and sprinkler fields. His past education includes but is not limited to Worcester Technical Institute and The Peterson School of Engineering and holds certificates in related courses of study.

 

 

Ashley Cataldo
Ashley is curator of manuscripts. She is responsible for selecting, cataloging, and making accessible the Society's collection of diaries, correspondence, and other papers. She served as assistant curator of manuscripts for four years and, prior to that, held a variety of positions at AAS, including cataloger of books, reference assistant, and digital expediting assistant. Ashley holds an MA in English from Clark University and has pursued graduate work toward a PhD in history also at Clark University. Ashley has published articles on early American bookbinding, presented on seventeenth-century manuscript culture, and is interested in the intersection of information studies and the environmental humanities.

 

Nick Conti
Nick is the director of information technology. He is responsible for the Society's computer systems, telecommunications, and user support. Nick has been at AAS since 1997, having also worked in the reference and cataloging departments. He has a BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MA from Clark University.

 

Gretta Cox-Gorton
Gretta is a library assistant in readers' services. Under the head of readers' services, she acts as a liaison between readers and materials at AAS both in the reading room and in virtual spaces. Gretta came to AAS from the Worcester Public Library, where she worked for five years in the circulation and periodicals departments, respectively. She has a BA in history from Clark University and an MLIS through the archives management program at Simmons University.

 

Alan N. Degutis
Alan is head of cataloging services. He oversees AAS catalogers in their efforts to bring the Society's holdings under bibliographic control and make them accessible to readers. He works closely with the librarian and the staff of the Acquisitions and Conservation Departments. Alan began working at AAS in 1974. He has a BA in German language and literature from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MSLS from Columbia University.

 

Kristin Donahoo
Kristin is business operations coordinator.

 

Carol Fisher-Crosby
Carol is senior cataloger and authorities librarian. She catalogs rare monographic materials, with a primary focus on those published before 1841. As official liaison to the Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) at the Library of Congress, Carol oversees the Society’s contributions to the LC/NACO Name Authority File, and works to ensure the accuracy of headings traced in all bibliographic records. Carol began her career at the Houghton Library, Harvard University, coming to AAS in 1990 as a member of the acquisitions department. She holds a BA in English from Boston College, and an MLIS from Simmons College.

 

Nathan Fiske
Nathan is the photographer and media producer. He takes all of the photos and videos for AAS. This includes photo orders, headshots, programs, and live streaming. Nathan is in charge of program videos and live streaming along with running the newly built Learning Lab. Nathan has been a professional photographer for over 15 years with a focus on events, portraits, and weddings. His personal artwork has been on display in central Massachusetts including Arts Worcester, Sprinkler Factory, JMAC, & the Fitchburg Art Museum. He studied photography at Fitchburg State University and continued his professional career with his personal photography business.

 

Babette Gehnrich
Babette Gehnrich is the chief conservator. She is responsible for the preservation of the Society’s collections and works closely with library staff. She received her training in book/paper conservation and hand bookbinding in Berlin, Germany, and the Centro del bel Libro in Switzerland. Prior to joining the AAS staff in 1989, she held the position of assistant book conservator at Yale University.

 

Rebecca Giguere
Rebecca is an acquisitions assistant and assistant cataloger. In the acquisitions department, she processes new materials from gifts and purchases and assists with the management of government publications. In the cataloging department, she contributes to a wide variety of activities designed to improve access to the Society's collections. Rebecca began her career at AAS as a part-time cataloging assistant while pursuing her MLIS degree. She previously worked in the technical services department of the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons as a student assistant. She holds a BA in history from the University of Rhode Island and an MLIS from Simmons University.

 

Vincent Golden
Vincent is the curator of newspapers and periodicals. He provides reference service to the collection as well as builds and improves access to it. Vince also works with the other curators towards collection development and coordination of multi-collection projects. He was formerly the special collections/reference librarian at the Paul V. Galvin Library at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and worked in the office of Special Collections Administration for several years at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He received his MSLIS from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

 

Christine Graham
Christine Graham is the associate curator of graphic arts and the Society's registrar. She is responsible for creating records for the graphics collection, which includes maps, prints, photographs and ephemera. She is also in charge of managing the loans of AAS material to other institutions. Christine also creates the content for the Society's Instagram and Facebook accounts. She began her career at AAS as an intern while getting her BA in art history from Framingham State University. She holds an MA in museum studies from Harvard University.

 

Joseph Haebler
Joe is a receptionist at the front desk. He taught U.S. history at Shepherd Hill Regional High School in Dudley, Mass., where he also coached baseball, hockey, soccer, and gymnastics. Joe has served in a number of public offices in Charlton, Mass., including library trustee and chair of the library building committee. Joe has also worked at Old Sturbridge Village. He holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts and an MA from Assumption College.

 

Kathleen M. Haley
Kathleen is the information systems librarian. She is responsible for managing the automated system for cataloging and acquisitions and for maintaining the Society's online catalog. She also works on developing other internal databases at the Society, such as the Clarence database of newspaper holdings. Outside of the Society, she served as a data management consultant for the EMINA database of Egyptian mummies in North America. Kathleen began her career in the library at Old Sturbridge Village followed by work at the Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library before coming to AAS in 1995. She holds an MLIS from the University of Rhode Island and a BA from Wesleyan University.

 

Amy Jordan
Amy Jordan is a cataloger for AAS collections. She works to describe and facilitate access to the Society’s collections and provides catalog orientation sessions to incoming researchers. Previously, she worked as the collections services librarian at Greensboro College, while also serving as an instructor for the college's freshmen orientation program. She holds a BFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MLIS from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

 

Michaela Koller
Headshot of Michaela KollerMichaela is the program operations assistant. She is responsible for managing fellow housing at the Society’s three fellows' residences, as well as providing logistical support for AAS programming. She holds a BA in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MA in landscape archaeology from the National University of Ireland Galway.

 

Amanda Kondek
Amanda is the programs coordinator. She manages the logistics of virtual and hybrid programming. She has been at AAS since 2017, previously as the digitization coordinator, managing the workflow of AAS collection material to be scanned by our digital partners. Amanda holds a BA in history from the College of the Holy Cross.

 

Marissa Maynard
Headshot of Marissa MaynardMarissa is the library and archives conservator. Marissa helps to ensure that collections are not only preserved but also usable by researchers, working closely with library staff to prioritize and assess conservation needs. Prior to joining AAS, Marissa worked at the Cleveland Museum of Art as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in photograph conservation. Marissa has also worked in the conservation lab of libraries including the Indiana State Library and Syracuse University Special Collections. Marissa has a Master of Art Conservation (MAC) degree, specializing in paper and photograph conservation from Queen’s University. She also holds an MA in art history from Syracuse University and a BA in chemical microscopy from North Central College.

 

Alicia Murphy
Alicia is the serials cataloger. She works to enhance access to the Society's newspaper and periodical collection by creating catalog records for new and uncatalogued materials and by improving existing records. Alicia has been at AAS since 2014, previously as an assistant cataloger. She has a BA in anthropology from Franklin Pierce University and an MA in museum anthropology from Columbia University.

 

Ana Pietrewicz
Ana Pietrewicz is a library digitization assistant. She works with the digital expediting department to supply paged materials and help the digitizing of AAS collections go smoothly. Prior to joining AAS, she held internships with the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and GBH News. Ana recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a BA in Journalism, where she was the editor of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. She is pursuing an MLIS from Simmons University.

 

Elizabeth Watts Pope
Elizabeth is curator of books and digitized collections. Her goal is to connect people to their history by providing access to printed and digitized sources, especially focusing on under-documented groups. Elizabeth promotes, makes accessible, and builds upon the strengths of the Society’s unparalleled collection of early American books and pamphlets. She works closely with digitization partners to make AAS collection material as widely available as possible. Her previous position at the Society was as the head of readers' services; prior to that she worked in acquisitions at AAS and in the archives at the Dodd Center at the University of Connecticut. She has an MA in history from the University of Connecticut.

 

Jackie Penny
Jackie is the graphic designer. She is responsible for promoting programs and designing visuals as well as layout for the Society’s publications. Jackie has been at AAS since 2004, having also worked in the readers' services and graphic arts departments. She has an MLIS from Simmons College and an MA in English from Clark University.

 

Danielle Pickett
Danielle is the assistant director of advancement. She raises funds for the Society's general operations from generous contributors. She is a Worcester native who has served on nonprofit development teams across the country, including the All May See Foundation at University of California, San Francisco, Friends of the High Line in New York, and Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding Program in Massachusetts. She has a BA in Urban Studies from New York University and an MS in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from City College of New York.

 

Wayne Stepanauskas
Wayne serves as the development assistant for advancement. Before joining AAS, he held several roles in development operations and research at Clark University, Becker College, and the Worcester Art Museum, among others. He holds a BS from Worcester State University and a MEd from Anna Maria College.

 

Caroline Stoffel
Caroline is the online services librarian. She is responsible for the maintenance and development of the website. She also manages the digital expediting department and the Clarence project, a catalog of item-level newspaper holdings. At AAS Caroline has previously cataloged broadsides and worked in the readers' services department. She has an AB from Mount Holyoke College and an MLS from Simmons College.

 

Lisa Sutter
Lisa Sutter is an assistant in the acquisitions department. She manages modern periodicals and works closely with the rest of the acquisitions team to process gifts and purchases. Her career started in nuclear medicine and then later took a turn towards books and history. Before coming to the Society, she worked at the Gale Free Library.

 

Amy Tims
Amy is the cataloging initiatives librarian. She supervises Cataloging Camp, an initiative whereby the Society provides access to previously un-cataloged collections through the creation of brief catalog records, and oversees discrete projects related to AAS cataloging. She works closely with the head of cataloging to facilitate access to the Society’s collections and she serves on national committees of the Rare Book and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. Her first cataloging position was at the Kinsey Institute, and prior to joining the AAS staff she also worked at the Lilly Library at Indiana University, Bloomington. She holds a BA in classics and history from Southwestern University and an MLS from Indiana University.

 

Jennifer Trently
Jenn is the executive assistant to the president. She provides direct support services to the president including scheduling, logistics, correspondence, and organization. Jenn has extensive experience from her previous roles in operations, marketing, and customer service.

 

Laura E. Wasowicz
Laura is curator of children’s literature. She assists researchers in accessing relevant titles from the AAS Children’s Literature collection and acquires and catalogs additional titles for the collection. She also promotes the collection through lectures, articles, and the Nineteenth-Century American Children’s Book Trade Directory database. Before coming to AAS in 1987, Laura worked at the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute. She has a BA in history from Rockford College, an MA in library science from the University of Chicago, and an MA in History from Clark University.

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