About Me

I am Head of Special Collections and Archives at Clemson University, where I oversee rare books, manuscripts, and institutional records and support research, teaching, and public engagement through archival collections.

My work as an archivist is grounded not only in preserving the past, but in examining how archives shape the histories they contain. I am interested in how collections are formed, interpreted, and mobilized, particularly when they document contested or unconventional subjects.

My research examines spiritualism, media, and belief in the modern period, with a particular focus on how ideas about the unseen—spirits, psychic phenomena, and alternative religious practices—circulate through print culture and are preserved in archives.

I recently finished writing a book on Maurice Barbanell, editor of Psychic News and a central figure in twentieth-century British spiritualism, and his spirit guide, Silver Birch. My work examines Barbanell’s role in shaping modern spiritualist discourse, the relationship between mediumship and media, and the cultural tensions surrounding belief and skepticism.

In addition to my research, I am active in the archival profession through leadership, teaching, and collaboration with students and researchers. My work also includes public-facing scholarship through talks, podcasts, and writing, aimed at making archival research and its interpretive possibilities more widely accessible.

Through my work, I explore how archives not only preserve the past, but shape how belief, experience, and the unseen are understood and remembered.