Meet the Archivist

Chloe Tomasso ‘25 and Simone Endress ‘24

Christina Kasman, College Archivist at SLC

Last year, a student descended the library stairs to the archives holding a small piece of paper. They were looking for Christina Kasman, the head archivist. It was nearing the end of the year, and the student had been cleaning out their dorm room closet when they found a note inside of their wall. It was written by a former student, whom there seemed to be no way to track down. The student was bringing the note to be archived. Kasman recalls this letter: “It was about how the person lived in this dorm room and how they made bad decisions…and how they should think about it. It was a little sad, but also it wasn’t written that long ago. It could’ve been written over the summer. We don’t know.” Though this note sticks out in Christina’s mind, ultimately she was not able to accept it because there was no way to assure its authenticity. Kasman is thorough in her review of materials.

Kasman has been working at Sarah Lawrence since 2019, previously holding the position of Access Services Supervisor before accepting the opportunity to work in the archives in the winter of 2021. She smiles broadly as she shows us around the archives. Though Kasman did not work as an archivist until her time at Sarah Lawrence, she specialized in archives and special collections while working for her Library Science degree. She did archival work, primarily in special collections, at the Yale Club of New York City and Historic Hudson Valley. She has always enjoyed hands-on learning and experiencing things up close and personal.

Kasman explains that every day is different working in the archives. During the school year, she provides research consultations to students working on projects and assists with outside requests from researchers seeking information for things such as academic papers and news reports. Over the summer, she processes and organizes materials in the collections to prepare for any research requests for the following school year. “I learn something new every day…there’s always something new I can share with somebody,” she says. 

Another interesting thing about working in the archives, Kasman explains, is coming across fascinating pieces of Sarah Lawrence history. Getting to see who taught at the college is a highlight for her. “Lots of people taught here as guest faculty members like writers such as June Jordan. And they maybe didn’t have a tenure career, but they taught here over time. So that’s always interesting [to see] who comes up.”

Some unattributed Emmys in the archives storage room

Recently, Kasman has been working on an oral history project. “We did [a recording] with Leda Canino in the class of 1952…You hear her talk about walking through the wisteria arbor and falling in love and, thinking about that in the context of, like, students don't change that much. You know, when you're at that age, it's like a really important formative time in your life and that's the same regardless of what the context is.” Some of these oral histories are available as podcasts, like Canino’s, and some are available to listen to or read transcripts of in the archives.

Students who want to contribute to the archives in any way are more than welcome to. “I’m really looking to get the student experience,” she tells us. “Students create the character of the college. Administrators administer the college, and students are the soul of the college. So, I have a system in place where students can submit directly to the archive through the Student Life Preservation Project. If you have a photo or a particular poem you wrote, just something that you want to preserve and put in the archive…Not just students, but researchers at large are interested in what the student experience is like at any given time.” If you have something you’d like to submit, you can always visit the archives in the lower level of the library or email Christina.

When Kasman isn’t archiving, she enjoys cooking and reading. Her current top three favorite books are Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, The Once and Future King by T.H. White and Adam Bede by George Eliot.