Susan von Salis papers

Susan von Salis was an archivist at the Schlesinger Library and the first Curator of Archives at the Harvard Art Museums. Von Salis was born in White Plains, New York, the daughter of Gaudenz and Jane von Salis. Raised in New Jersey, she graduated from West Morris Mendham High School (Mendham, NJ) in 1975 and earned her Bachelor's degree at Smith College in 1979. After working for several years in the building trades as a plumber and carpenter, von Salis resumed her education and earned a Master's degree in the History: Historical Agencies and Administration Program at Northeastern University in 1987. A year earlier she began her career as an archivist at the Schlesinger Library, first as a manuscripts processor (1986-1997), Archivist/Information System Administrator (1997-2003), and Director , Library Digital Iniative (2001-2003). In 2003, von Salis became the first Curator of Archives at the Harvard Art Museums, a position she held until her death from cancer in 2012. As one colleague rememembered von Salis,"Susan was a mainstay of archival organizations. Within two years of joining New England Archivists she began serving as Membership Secretary (1988– 1993), continued as a board member (1994-1997), then served on or chaired two task forces, and was still a member of the Outreach Committee at the time of her death. NEA gave her its Distinguished Service Award in 2011. She was on the program committee for SAA's 2009 meeting and had been active in several sections or roundtables, including the Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable, over the years"http://files.archivists.org/groups/museum/newsletter/current/pdfs/MAS_newsletter_Winter_2013.pdf.