Draft:Diana Marsh

Archivist and Museum Curator From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diana Marsh is an Assistant Professor of Archives and Digital Curation at the iSchool and an affiliate faculty in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park.[1] As of 2026, classes she is currently teaching includes Anthropology/American Studies, Introduction to Museum Scholarship, and Introduction to Archives and Digital Curation.[2]

Diana Marsh at the Unsung Heroes of the Bureau of American Ethnology Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in 2019.

Marsh's research focuses on the methods heritage institutions implement to decolonize archival collections related to Native American and Indigenous communities.[3] At the forefront of Marsh's research is the ethical management of colonial collections, alongside community discoverability and access to said resources. As of 2021, Marsh resides in Takoma, Washington, D.C., on the traditional lands of the Piscataway and Nacotchtank peoples.[4]

Education

Diana Marsh received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts, with a concentration in Photography and a double major in Cultural Anthropology, from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Jersey in 2009.[5] Marsh went on to complete a Master of Philosophy in Social Anthropological Analysis, with a focus on Museums and Heritage, at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 2010.[6] In 2014, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.[7] During Marsh's time at the University of British Columbia she was a Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow in Museum Anthropology and researched Smithsonian fossil exhibits for her dissertation project.[8]

Career

Employment

Diana Marsh's first professional appointment was in 2014 with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

In 2015, Marsh joined the American Philosophical Society as an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellow. In this role Marsh drew upon archival collections to co-curate Gathering Voices: Thomas Jefferson and Native America and lead curation of Curious Revolutionaries: The Peales of Philadelphia.[8]

Two years later, Marsh joined the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives (NAA) at the National Museum of Natural History as a Postdoctoral Fellow and led a National Science Foundation founded project on the use of the NAA's collections.[9]

Marsh was hired by the University of Maryland in 2020 and is currently employed there. Besides teaching, Marsh is a founding member of the Center for Archival Futures (CAFe).

Professional Organizations

Marsh is an active member of the Society of American Archivists and has previously served as the Chair of the Native American Archives Section. She is currently appointed to the SAA’s new Archival Repatriation Committee.[10]

Research Projects

Diana Marsh is leading projects that explore the use of Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC) to address “archival diaspora” and improve search capabilities. She is also collaborating with Katrina Fenlon on a National Science Foundation funded project focused on promoting ethical access to anthropology’s analog archives. This work complements ongoing efforts with Ricardo Punzalan to revitalize the Council for the Preservation of Anthropological Records (CoPAR).[11]

Current and past research projects at the University of Maryland's College of Information, for which Marsh has served as principal or co-principal investigator.[12]

Publications

Marsh has published numerous pieces of scholarship on museum anthropology and digital curation. Notable journals include: The American Archivist, Archival Science, Archivaria, Archival Outlook, and Museum Anthropology.

Book Chapter
  • Marsh, Diana, Moriarty, Peyton, Myers, Elena, and Bell, Joshua A. 2023. "Media Technologies and Salvage Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution: An Exploration of Archival Documents and Museum Power Relations." In U.S. Museum Histories and the Politics of Interpretation: Never Neutral. Schiavo, Laura, editor. 81-103. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003263616.
Journal Article
  • Marsh, Diana E., St. Andre, Selena, Wagner, Travis, and Bell, Joshua A. 2023. "Attitudes and uses of archival materials among science-based anthropologists." Archival Science, 23 355-379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-023-09411-z.
  • Marsh, Diana E., Bell, Joshua A., Greene, Candace S., and Turner, Hannah. 2021. "Bridging anthropology and its archives: an analysis from the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives." Anthropology Today, 37, (2) 19-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12643.
  • Marsh, Diana E., Leopold, Robert, Crowe, Katherine, and Madison, Katherine S. 2020. "Access Policies for Native American Archival Materials in the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution." Case Studies on Access Policies for Native American Archival Materials, 3 1-32. https://doi.org/10.13016/RTBR-X1KW.
  • Isaac, Gwyneira, Marsh, Diana E., Osorio Sunnucks, Laura, and Shelton, Anthony. 2019. "Borders and Interruptions: Museums in the Age of Global Mobility, Mexico City, 7-9 June 2017." Museum Worlds, 7, (1) 182-199. https://doi.org/10.3167/armw.2019.070112.
  • Marsh, Diana E., Punzalan, Ricardo L., and Johnston, Jesse A. 2019. "Preserving Anthropology's Digital Record: CoPAR in the Age of Electronic Fieldnotes, Data Curation, and Community Sovereignty." The American Archivist, 82, (2) 268-302. https://doi.org/10.17723/aarc-82-02-01.
  • Punzalan, Ricardo, Marsh, Diana E., and Cools, Kyla. 2017. "Beyond Clicks, Likes, and Downloads: Identifying Meaningful Impacts for Digitized Ethnographic Archives." Archivaria, 84 61-103.
  • Marsh, Diana E. 2016. "Trace Ethnography, Affect, and Institutional Ecologies in the Distributed Records of a Plaster Model." Museum Anthropology, 39, (2) 111-129. https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12119.
  • Marsh, Diana E., Punzalan, Ricardo L., Leopold, Robert S., Butler, Brian, and Petrozzi, Massimo. 2016. "Stories of impact: the role of narrative in understanding the value and impact of digital collections." Archival Science, 16, (4) 327-372. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-015-9253-5.
  • Marsh, Diana E. 2015. "c?sna??m, the city before the city. Exhibits at the Museum of Vancouver, the Musqueam Cultural Education Resource Center, and the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada. January 21, 23, and 25, 2015 to present." Museum Anthropology, 38, (2) 170-178. https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12094.
  • Marsh, Diana E. 2015. "Reassembling the social life of a Medicine Man: Reassessing otherness, agency and authorship in the Wellcome archives." Journal of Material Culture, 20, (2) 211-245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183515578977.
  • Marsh, Diana E., Punzalan, Ricardo L., and Leopold, Robert S. 2015. "Studying the Impact of Digitized Ethnographic Collections: Implications for Practitioners." Practicing Anthropology, 37, (3) 26-31. https://doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.26.
Book
  • Marsh, Diana E. 2019. Extinct Monsters to Deep Time : conflict, compromise, and the making of Smithsonian's fossil halls. New York: Berghahn Books. In Museums and Collections, 11. In a 2023 OTTRS Speaker Series at the University of Maryland, Marsh has also discussed sections of Extinct Monsters to Deep Time.[13]
Book Review
  • Regouby, Lynnette and Marsh, Diana E. 2016. [Book review] "Curating Gathering Voices." Anthropology News, 57, (5), e59-e60. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-3502.2016.570524.x.
  • Marsh, Diana E. 2014. [Book review] "Imagine Africa with the Penn Museum. Exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Philadelphia. September 18, 2011-present." Museum Anthropology, 37, (2), 172-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12067.
  • Marsh, Diana E. 2013. [Book review] "Narrating Objects, Collecting Stories: Essays in Honour of Susan M. Pearce. Sandra H. Dudley, Amy J. Barnes, Jennifer Binnie, Julia Petrov, and Jennifer Walklate, eds. new york: routledge, 2012. 282." Museum Anthropology, 36, (2), 161-163. https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12039.

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI