Description
Written by Tanya Zanish-Belcher
Advocate. Role model. Strategic thinker. Teacher. I am honored to introduce Tamar Chute, one of our newest SAA Fellows. As her nominators said in their letter “Tamar exhibits a collaborative spirit, an intrinsic dedication to outreach, and a commitment to promoting the value and accessibility of the archival record that make her the admired leader, expert, and mentor that she is.”
Tamar has written multiple articles, essays, and publications on archival management, data curation, student record keeping, and teaching with primary sources. She co-authored the Teaching with Primary Sources module which served as SAA’s first One Book, One Profession program (2016).
As an archives advocate, Tamar has been actively engaged in raising the profile of the University Archives for the Ohio State University community during its sesquicentennial, within the Big Ten Academic Alliance, and in SAA’s College and University Archives Section. Her contributions are wide-ranging, from presenting on OSU history, curating the Carmen collection documenting stories of the marginalized, to teaching in the Kent State Graduate Archives program. As an SAA leader, Tamar has connected archivists to guidelines, resources, and collaborative ideas, enabling them to better meet the challenges they face in documenting higher education.
Partnering with primary founder Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, Tamar played a strong leadership role in Project STAND, the national initiative documenting underrepresented communities’ engagement in social justice activism. Tamar has been a member of the Dictionary of Archival Terms Working Group for nearly a decade. SAA recognized her contributions with two of its highest honors: an SAA Council Resolution Honoring Project STAND (August 2019) and an SAA Council Exemplary Service Award Honoring the Dictionary Working Group (August 2020).
Please welcome Tamar as an SAA Fellow—who, as one of her nominators described her, is—“unfailingly committed to the archival enterprise…she embodies the professionalism, dedication, and passion for the field that are critical attributes of an SAA Fellow.”