September 19, 2011

Archivist of the US as Constitution Day Speaker

In honor of Constitution Day, Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero will give a lecture entitled "Secrecy and Democracy" on Monday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Buchner Hall of the Alumnae/i House.  This event is sponsored by Goucher's Office of the President and the Library's Brooke and Carol Peirce Center for Undergraduate Research in Special Collections. 

Ferriero, the first librarian to be appointed Archivist of the United States, earned a bachelor's and master's degree in English literature from Northeastern University and then a master's degree in library and information science from Simmons College. He then served as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of New York Public Libraries, working with a team to reorganize the New York Public Library system by integrating its four research libraries along with its 87 branch libraries to form what is now not only the largest public library system in the U.S., but one of the largest research libraries in the world.

Today, Ferriero oversees the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and is the head of the National Declassification Center which works to make government documents more accessible and available by revamping the classification and declassification system.

The Constitution Day initiative aims to encourage observance of the signing of the United States Constitution. Goucher College honors this milestone in American history this year by recognizing the important role the preservation and organization of federal documents has played in the past and continues to play in shaping our nation's history.


The event is free and open to the public, but tickets must be reserved in advance at www.goucher.edu/tickets.