Hello! My name is Susan Floyd, and I am an Archivist with the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The main focus of my work is processing state records and the occasional historical manuscript collection. I am also the accessions archivist, responsible for working with both state agency records managers and private donors to accession records for the state archives, and the legislative records specialist, with primary responsibility for legislative records transfers. Additionally, my work involves some reference support in our archives reading room, some internal and external training, and some outreach, including special events and participation in local, state, and regional archives-related public events and our archival professional associations. I’m a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists and am hoping to complete my SAA Digital Archives Specialist certification this September. I also serve on committees for two local organizations, the Austin Archives Bazaar and the Austin Book Arts Center.
I was previously a Graduate Intern at the Harry Ransom Center. Over the course of my two-year appointment, I worked to make more of the Center’s vast holdings accessible through the Digital Collections portal, including the Center’s Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning Correspondence (now viewable through Baylor University’s The Browning Letters portal). I also provided reference assistance to both on-site and remote patrons, assisted faculty teaching from our collections, and researched and curated small exhibitions. Before that, I was employed at The University of Texas at Austin in various development and academic department positions for six years.
I’m also a sometime-volunteer and always-supporter of the Neill-Cochran House Museum in West Campus. After working as a docent, archives consultant, and graduate research intern, I organized the museum’s 2014 annual exhibition, “West Campus: Evolution of an Austin Neighborhood, 1815-2015,” focusing on this historic area near the UT campus, including the freedmen’s community of Wheatville.
I completed my MSIS at the School of Information at The University of Texas at Austin in May 2015. I also have an MA in the Culture of Modernism from the University of York (UK).
My MSIS Capstone project, supervised by Jennifer Hecker, was titled, “Austin Music Documentation Initiative: Developing and Funding a Collection Aggregation Portal.” This project resulted in a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (HCRR) program grant application sponsored by UT Libraries.
My broader interests include archives and preservation, digital humanities, museum studies, public history, education and outreach, Texana, medieval British codicology, foodways, monuments and memory, modernism, surrealism, graffiti, calligraphy and lettering, book arts, Welsh language and literature, playing tennis and soccer, and finding the perfect cheese enchilada plate.
