Tanya Zanish-Belcher

Tanya Zanish-Belcher
Tanya Zanish-Belcher (she/her/hers)
Director of Special Collections & Archives
336-758-5755
Special Collections & Archives

Tanya’s subject areas include: Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies

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In March, 2013, Tanya Zanish-Belcher was named Director, Special Collections and University Archivist for Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She received her B.A. (1983) in History from Ohio Wesleyan University and an M.A. (1990) in Historical and Archival Administration from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She worked as a Special Collections Archivist at the Alabama Dept. of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1989-1994. In 1995, she became the Curator for the Archives of Women in Science and Engineering, located at the Iowa State University Library, and in 1998 was promoted to Head of the Special Collections Department and Head of the University Archives at Iowa State.

Her most recent monograph publication is Perspectives on Women’s Archives (edited, with Anke Voss) for the Society of American Archivists (2013) and she is also the author of “‘A Culture of Concealment’: Revealing the Records of Human Reproduction,” which also appears in Perspectives. Some of her past publications include “Raising the Archival Consciousness: How Women’s Archives Challenge Traditional Approaches to Collecting, Or, What’s In a Name?” Library Trends (Summer 2007), co-authored with Karen Mason and “Pitfalls, Progress and Partnership: Collaboration between Special Collections and Preservation in Academic Libraries,” Collections Management (2006), co-authored with Hilary Seo (Iowa State University).

Zanish-Belcher has given numerous presentations to local and regional groups, as well as professional organizations such as the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) and the Society of American Archivists (SAA). She is a Past President of MAC (2009-2011), a past member of SAA Council (2012-2015), and Past SAA President (2017-2018). She was named an SAA Fellow in 2011, the highest accolade given by the Society.

Publications

  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya, & Voss, Anke. (2013). Perspectives on Women's Archives. Society of American Archivists, 502 pages. #
  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya. (2013). 'A Culture of Concealment': Revealing the Records of Human Reproduction. Perspectives on Women's Archives. Society of American Archivists: Chicago, Illinois.
  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya. (2012). The Archives of Women in Science and Engineering and Future Directions for Oral History: Questions for Women Scientists. Centaurus: An International Journal of the History of Science and its Cultural Aspects, 55(4). #
  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya, & Fiegel, Laurie. (2012). Collaboration between the Iowa State University Honors Program and the Special Collections Department (ISU Library). Past as Portal: Teaching Undergraduates Using Special Collections and Archives. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL): Chicago, Illinois.

Presentations

  • Rutledge, Melde, Ashelee, Gerald, Petersen, Rebecca, Zanish-Belcher, Tanya, & Turner, Finley. (2020, August). The Kingswood K-12 Alternative School Project: Providing Additional Educational Opportunities for Students and Teachers. ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2020, online. #
  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya. (2020, July). Digital Collections and Partnerships: Collaborations at Wake Forest. DH@Wake Summer Institute: From Data to Narrative, Online.
  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya. (2019, June). The CLIR Grant: Documenting the Evangelical Movement in the United States: Digitizing Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Open-Reel Audiotapes at Wake Forest. Association of Librarians and Archivists at Baptist Institutions, Nashville, TN.
  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya. (2019, April). Academic Freedom: The Key Role of Archival Records. University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Libraries' Visiting Scholars Program, Lincoln, NE.
  • Zanish-Belcher, Tanya. (2016, August). Assessing Archives: Case Studies in Using Data as an Advocacy Tool. Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.

Committees & Offices Held

  • Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, Co-chair, Special Collections Interest Group. (July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2021).
  • Society of American Archivists, President. (July 29, 2017 - August 17, 2018).
  • Society of American Archivists, Vice President/President-Elect. (August 2016 - July 2017).
  • Society of American Archivists, Executive Committee (representing Council). (August 2014 - August 2015).
  • Society of North Carolina Archivists, Archives Month Coordinator. (April 2014 - April 2016).

Blog Posts

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