About Tamara Gaydos
Tamara Gaydos is a certified archivist with expertise in arrangement, description, and preservation of archival materials and cataloging. She has more than 20 years of experience including staff management; budgeting; strategic planning; archival appraisal and cataloging; research; preservation; and public speaking.
Professional Experience
Outreach Archivist
October 2023-present
Archival Consultant
April 2023-January 2024
Archival Consultant
April 2022-August 2022
Archivist (term)
December 2020-December 2021
Manuscript Librarian
June 2007-June 2020
NHPRC Grant Project Manager
October 2011-September 2013
Processing Assistant
January 2007-June 2007
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends
Communicate with New England Yearly Meeting members to guide the creating, gathering, and transferring of permanent records to the University of Massachusetts Amherst Special Collections
Conduct workshops and consultations with groups on archival best practices
Create and manage archival collection development programs
Create procedures for digital donation
Newbury Town Library Special Collections
Assessed collection to identify what should be deaccessioned
Wrote finding aids for small manuscript collections
Assessed programming and institutional records
Oversaw and supervised one part-time staff member
Lawrence Public Library Special Collections
Assessed collection to identify what should be deaccessioned
Developed a collection policy
Assessed unprocessed materials and help to prioritize processing projects
Oversaw and supervised one or two processing projects
Developed a manuscript processing manual
Haverhill Public Library Special Collections
Arranged, described, and wrote finding aids for manuscript collections.
Created records for archival accessions, collections, and photographs into PastPerfect database to be available online.
Worked with donors to acquire material for Special Collections department.
Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum
Arranged, described, and wrote finding aids for Phillips Library manuscript collections. Cataloged MARC records into online database and uploaded them to OCLC.
Processed new acquisitions including re-housing and cataloging.
Supervised full-time employees, graduate student interns, and volunteers in processing collections.
Developed policies, procedures, and workflows for manuscript processing and wrote processing and cataloging manuals.
Advised Library Director on which manuscript items to accept/purchase.
Visited donors to appraise their collections.
Purchased manuscript items at auction and through dealers.
Assisted patrons in Reading Room on a regular basis.
Implemented ArchivesSpace and contributed to post-migration data cleanup
As part of the NetX onboarding team, created library attributes and reviewed software for suitability to house library digital objects.
As part of the Aeon selection and onboarding team, reviewed and suggested changes to customize the software.
As part of the Library Initiative Team, interviewed vendors for cataloging project, created a cataloging plan, reviewed budget suggestions, and contributed to moving plan. Created standards for vendor cataloging of manuscript material.
Along with the library staff, planned and executed two major moves to new locations.
Phillips Library at the Peabody Esex Museum
Applied for grant, created work plans, hired and supervised Assistant Manuscript Processor, and managed budget.
Arranged, described, and wrote finding aids for collections covered by grant.
Cataloged MARC records into online database and sent them to OCLC.
Produced reports to the granting agency.
Encoded finding aids into EAD.
Customized the display of finding aids in CONTENTdm and uploaded xml files.
Project was finished on time and under budget.
Northeastern University
Assisted in the processing and creation of finding aids of Boston-based social justice and service organizational records (Citywide Educational Coalition, Sociedad Latina, and Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts). This was a grant-funded position.
Education & Expertise
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M.S. in Library and Information Science, May 2004
Concentration in Archives
Simmons College, Boston, MA
B.S. in Languages
Major: Russian
Minor: Business
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
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New England Archivists, member since 2004
Society of American Archivists, member since 2004
Society of American Archivists, Museum Archives section, Recording Secretary, 2015-2017
Academy of Certified Archivists, member since 2012
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“Ghosts of Careers Past” presented at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference Fall Conference, November 2013, Philadelphia, PA
“Ask an Archivist” panelist at Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, August 2015, Cleveland, OH
“Moving, Moving, Moving” panelist at Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, August 2016, Atlanta, GA
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Experienced with ArchivesSpace, Voyager, MARC, OCLC Connexion, CONTENTdm, oXygen, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPress, Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, PastPerfect
Knowledge of EAD, DACS, RDA, XML, LCSH, DCRM(MSS), and AAT
Good reading knowledge of Russian and Spanish