Former CCA employee Markie Repp joins the Archives and Special Collections team as a library technician.
Courtesy | LinkedIn
Mossey Library has hired a new library technician to assist in Archives and Special Collections.
Markie Repp joined the library in April and will assist with cataloging, sorting, and archiving and help with exhibits and collections. She was previously the director of operations for external affairs at Hillsdale College, where she worked with the Center for Constructive Alternatives.
“The college has a wealth of archival documents and artifacts that I think is pretty incredible for a small college,” Repp said. “Something I want to do and enjoy doing is preserve history. By preserving it, we can teach it and share it with others, which I think is very important as people attempt to rewrite or erase history.”
Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Lori Curtis said the college archives contain multiple collections, such as the papers of Winston Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert and Hillsdale documents ranging from board minutes to official publications.
Although Repp studied history, she worked as a nurse for 12 years before joining External Affairs in 2020. She said she loves ancient European and American history.
“History is what I love and what I’ve always loved,” she said. “I’m a huge Ulysses S. Grant fan and I found out the other day we have a Grant letter, so that was pretty awesome. I haven’t seen it, but maybe someday.”
Repp said she also likes the college’s rare books and has collected some books herself.
“I do have an 1868 book on Grant and his vice president at the time, Schuyler Colfax, and I have a mid-1800s book on George Washington.” she said. “One of my prized books is a first edition book about the Titanic sinking in 1912.”
Curtis said the library created Repp’s position because the archives department needed extra assistance. When Curtis joined the library in 2020, the archives were mostly unorganized.
“I had worked up an organizational plan, and being assigned to do this, and everything else, I didn’t make as much progress as I would like,” Curtis said. “Markie is going to help me get organized.”
Library Director Maurine McCourry said having a professional archivist is crucial for ensuring archival materials are properly stored and used.
“Markie has a graduate degree in history, and having her on staff will allow Lori to focus more on developing, promoting, and using the collection in classes, with Markie overseeing the day-to-day work of student assistants and a lot of the physical processing of materials,” McCourry said.
Curtis said one of her current projects is digitizing old Winona yearbooks and Collegian editions. She said she also hopes to display more of the college’s collections, but that space is limited.
“We need a museum, we need an art gallery,” Curtis said. “There’s so many collections that I would love to be able to bring and get organized, digitize what we can, so folks know what’s here. I just need a bigger building.”
McCourry said she believes Repp will help Archives and Special Collections sort through all the material.
“I think most people, when they think of a small college, don’t necessarily think about the historical items that we have, and I think the amount of collections the college has — documents, artifacts, and otherwise — is significant and very exciting,” Repp said. “I very much look forward to working with these items.”
