Rebecca Bramlett Joins SCRC as Curator
Rebecca Bramlett recently joined the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) as a curator. In this role, she will collaborate across the Libraries and the University’s schools, colleges and units to integrate, interpret and promote the use of primary sources and collections—particularly those from the twentieth century to the present—across the University’s curriculum, research and interdisciplinary scholarship. Her responsibilities will include curating exhibitions in SCRC spaces, supporting programming such as mini-seminars, contributing to digital collections initiatives and teaching with special collections materials to foster active, hands-on learning for students.
Bramlett comes to the Libraries from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries, where she served as the Instruction & Outreach Archivist in the Department of Distinctive Collections. There she led instruction sessions on rare collections and designed activities to promote community engagement with special collections materials. Previously, as the Special Collections Librarian at Carleton College, she was responsible for collection development, teaching and outreach with the rare books collection.
Bramlett holds a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago, a Master of Library & Information from Florida State University and was a 2023 M.C. Lang Fellow in Book History, Bibliography, and Humanities Teaching with Historical Sources from Rare Book School.
Regarding her appointment, Bramlett stated: “SCRC does important work in stewarding and sharing the historical record through their instruction and outreach. I’m excited to bring my passion for special collections to SCRC and use my expertise in experiential, hands-on learning to share our collections with the SU and broader Syracuse community.”
The SCRC’s twentieth-century primary sources encompass significant collection areas, including Activism and Social Reform, Architecture and Industrial Design, Artists, Painters and Sculptors, Broadcasting History, Illustration, Printing and Publishing, Photography and Photojournalism, Pulp Literature and Science Fiction, Radicalism in the Arts, Recorded Sound and Music, and Science and Medicine. These collections provide a substantial foundation for Bramlett’s curatorial work. As Curator, she will continue to advance a reparative approach to collection development by seeking materials and documenting individuals, groups, and events that are underrepresented in the SCRC’s collections.