Laura Starratt

Head of Processing

Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University

Biographical Statement

Laura earned her MSIS at the University of Tennessee and started her career at the Atlanta History Center. She is currently the Head of Processing at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library where she started as a Manuscript Archivist in 2012.

Candidate Statement

Laura Starratt has been a member of the Society of Georgia Archivists since 2009 when she attended her first meeting and has since served in several leadership positions on the Program, Local Arrangements, Georgia Archives Month, and Mentorship committees. In each of these instances, she incorporated new systems and projects which led to the creation of the GAM Starlight grant, the separation of the Program and Local Arrangement leadership, and the introduction email chain for new members. These projects were done in collaboration with dedicated colleagues, and she will continue to move SGA forward by creating stronger collaborative opportunities with other regional organizations to increase SGA’s impact. Laura has also added to the SGA professional knowledge through presentations and articles including updates to the membership on the work of the mentorship program and with multiple book reviews and an article on audiovisual processing in Provenance. She also has a long leadership history in the Society of American Archivists, starting in 2011, as chair of the Issues and Advocacy roundtable, collaborating within that organization and with regionals across the country in a letter writing campaign against the closure of the Georgia Archives. Most recently, she collaborated with a national group of archivists on a CLIR Pocket Burgandy issue on term labor within the archival profession, researching options for more beneficial options for archivists and archives and conducting a case study on current trends.

Slate of Candidates

The Nominating Committee has slated the following SGA members as candidates for office in the 2025 election:

Vice President / President-Elect

• Laura Starratt, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University
• Lisa Vallen,  Georgia State University Special Collections & Archives 

• Geoff Hetherington, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
  
• John Hogan, Georgia State University Special Collections & Archives
  

• Ashley Shull, Athens Regional Library System
• Kendall Barksdale, Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library

Nominating Committee    Member 1

• Ashley Bennett, Middle Georgia State University      
• Maggie Thomas, Kennesaw State University

Nominating Committee    Member 2

• Katie Twomey, The Portman Archives
  

Program Committee Assistant Chair

• Cathy Miller, Georgia State University's Special Collections and Archives

• Robin Klemm, Georgia Archives