Elizabeth Coup

About Elizabeth Coup

I am an archivist with diverse professional experience, specializing in accurate and appropriate archival description, usability of description, metadata management, and processing supervision. I am currently the Lead Processing Archivist at Houghton Library at Harvard University, working with a variety of unique materials. Directly prior to this, I was a Processing Archivist from 20••••21 and Project Archivist from 20••••19 at Houghton Library, processing oversized flat-file materials, doing large-scale backlog reduction projects, developing archival authority workflows, and carrying out a usability study of archival description. During this period, I produced more than finding aids and bibliographic records representing Houghton collections. From December 2014 to January 2018, I processed more than 10 collections of a wide range of sizes and materials at the Center for the History of Medicine at Countway Medical Library, and continue to work at this institution. I worked directly with the Collections Services Archivist to introduce policies and standards for the integration of EAC-CPF description into our processing practice, and have led multiple discussions and trainings on the topic. I held a simultaneous role at Northeastern University Archives through January 2018. I began my time with Northeastern University as a project intern, creating more than fifty EAC-CPF records for entities involved in their Boston Public Schools Desegregation digitization project. I developed standards, practices, and a usable template for EAC-CPF, tailored not just to the project but to the repository\'s social justice-related mission. In February 2017, I began working at Northeastern as a Project and Archives Assistant, overseeing the development of new metadata creation and maintenance workflows, and carrying these out with a graduate student assistant. Over the course of several months, we edited and updated more than MARC records to meet current institutional standards. Moreover, I have assisted with gaining intellectual control over rare books and unprocessed archival collections. In addition, I continue to work as a staff writer at National Horseman magazine, the oldest publication in the show horse sport.

Experience

1. Interim Head, Manuscript Section

   Houghton Library

   Jul 2022 — Present · Cambridge, MA, US

   I oversee 6-7 full-time archival colleagues handling all aspects of processing, accessioning, single item cataloging, end processing, and collections management. I\'m responsible for maintaining all documentation, updating as necessary to follow current practice, and collaborating across departments to ensure the appropriateness of policies. I lead our reparative description practice at Houghton Library and serve as co-chair of the Harvard-wide Reparative Archival Description group.

Education

• Carleton College

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Art History, Criticism and Conservation

  2002 — 2006

• Simmons College

  Master of Library & Information Science (MLIS), Archives Management

  2014 — 2016

• Carleton College

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Art History

  2002 — 2006

• New York University

  Master of Arts (M.A.), Institute of Fine Arts, History of Art and Architecture

  2007 — 2009

• New York University

  Master's degree, Art History, Criticism and Conservation

  2007 — 2009

• Simmons University

  Master of Library & Information Science - MLIS, Archives/Archival Administration

  2014 — 2017