Langsdale Library is pleased to welcome its new Head of Special Collections, Ben Blake, to the team!
Ben was selected after an exhaustive national search that drew candidates from far and wide. He brings over 12 years of experience working in archives and special collections to the table. Ben comes to UB from the Northeast Ohio Medical University where he worked as university archivist and records manager. He has also held positions as university archivist and head of archives and special collections at the William F. Maag Jr. Library, Youngstown State University; as a reference archivist for the labor archives and research center at San Francisco State University; and as an archivist for the pictorial collections department, Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware.
Ben earned a B.A. in Social Science from Hampshire College, an M.A. in American History from Cleveland State University, and an M.L.I.S. with a concentration in Archives and Records Management from the University of Pittsburgh. At UPitt, Ben served as a graduate research assistant under the prominent archival-science scholar Richard J. Cox. During his assistantship, Ben wrote a graduate paper on the history of labor archives which was successfully nominated by Cox for the Theodore Calvin Pease Award and published in the American Archivist.
Ben will bring a wealth of experience to bear in his new position including collection management, relationship building, exhibit design, successful grant writing, volunteer management, and community outreach. Langsdale Library staff hopes you will join us in welcoming Ben to the university community.
Ben can be reached at bblake@ubalt.edu or 410.837.5047.