SAA is excited to announce the release of Radical Visions: New Perspectives on Special Collections Curatorship, edited by Jillian Cuellar and Agnieszka Czeblakow.
Curatorial practice plays a key role in determining the research direction and priorities of an archives and special collections library. In this provocative collection of case studies, conversations, personal reflections, and research findings, Cuellar and Czeblakow invite readers to consider curatorial practice from radical new perspectives. Taking an expansive view of curatorial work, Cuellar and Czeblakow ask: How do curators strategically shape and advance a vision? What informs their choices and influences their interpretations? How are curators guided by the values, ethics, and priorities of their parent organizations, the profession, the communities they serve, and their own lived experiences?
The book’s diverse group of contributors explores definitions of the curator’s role in contemporary archives and special collections libraries, examines current trends and trajectories in curatorial practice, and offers both practical and theoretical guidance for professionals who inhabit or aspire to curatorial roles. They propose new understandings of curatorial work as inherently relational and rooted in care, offering concrete examples from a variety of perspectives.
Written for a broad general audience, this book is essential reading for cultural memory heritage workers and anyone else who wishes to engage in a more generous model of curatorial practice. It is available for purchase now in print and e-book formats. Learn more about Radical Visions in the SAA bookstore.
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