Memory of the Week - Danna C. Bell
Around 2009, I began my career in memory work. A graduate program in History was the entry point. I hadn’t been able to gain experience working in a library or archive prior mostly because it was typical at the time for student labor to be uncompensated. Free labor for a line on a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed CV. This is less the case now, but the demographic consequences of that kind of exchange continue to be felt in the profession. Generations of inequitable practices create a deep hole to escape from.
Anyway. A year or so into my graduate program I learned about the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Internship Program (HNIP), a paid internship program that placed college students from Hispanic backgrounds in Federal agencies throughout the country. I applied and was placed at the National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri and then the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
I went to DC brimming with vocational awe. My initial placement was in the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Program. During my time in TPS I met Danna Bell, a brilliant person and archivist who passed away last week after a brief illness. Danna came to the Library of Congress from the DC Public Library. Later she would serve as President of the Society of American Archivists. Our time working together was short, followed by periodic encounters over the years, typically in the interstitial spaces between conference sessions.
Danna was curious about people. She was curious about me. My background and what I hoped to achieve. She made you feel you were worth something. Beneath the heat shield of the blue collar work ethic I brought to DC I was undeniably intimidated. Exiting an elevator onto Capitol Hill, walking to work bracketed by Congress and the Supreme Court will do that.
Danna made me feel welcome. And the welcoming never stopped. Throughout my career, work would take me to DC and I would run into Danna and Danna was always Danna. She often had a bemused smirk on her face and when we spoke she would tell me how proud of me she was. She was invested in me and cared to share that with me. Her care for me made me a better me.
I give tribute to Danna by trying to be more like Danna. We should all be more like Danna.