American Heritage Center Director Bridget Burke submitted her resignation to accept a position as Associate Dean for Special Collections at the University Libraries at University of Oklahoma. Her last day at the AHC is December 8, 2017. We have greatly enjoyed having Bridget lead the AHC and we are sorry to see her leave. We wish Bridget all the best in her new position at University of Oklahoma. Congratulations Bridget!

UW Dean of Libraries Ivan Gaetz will serve as Interim Director of the AHC. The AHC will also be conducting an external review with peer archival professionals during the Spring 2018 semester to determine future directions.

The AHC is excited to be working with UW Dean of Libraries, Ivan Gaetz, as Interim Director. Ivan is a gifted administrator and he will be a skilled leader during this transition. The UW Libraries is one of our go-to collaborators, making Ivan a good fit to guide the AHC during this transitional period.

The AHC also warmly welcomes a visit by our peers in the archival profession to help guide our future direction. This external review will support the American Heritage Center in fulfilling our mission and vision statements and our forthcoming strategic plan. We feel this is a perfect time to host a group of archival professionals who can look at our current structure and let us know what is working well and where we can improve to better serve the University community, the people of Wyoming, scholars, and the general public.

The American Heritage Center is considered one of the top non-governmental archival repositories in the nation. In 2010, the AHC received the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of American Archivists. One of the highest honors in the archival field, this award is given to an institution that has “provided outstanding service to its public and has made an exemplary contribution to the archives profession”.

Providing outstanding public service to all remains our highest priority through this transition.