Our staff spotlight series continues to shine! We’re featuring recent hires and new roles of staff in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library here at the University of Virginia. Today: meet Molly Fair, our Digital Preservation Analyst.
Molly’s interest in film and independent media led her to pursue a career in archiving and preservation. She is passionate about community archives and documenting histories of radical social transformation. To this end, she co-founded Interference Archive in Brooklyn, New York, a social center and community archive which has been active for over a decade. She likes to spend time making art, gardening, and foraging mushrooms in the wilds of Richmond, where she lives.
What was your first ever job with books or libraries?
As an undergrad student I worked at the Tamiment Library and Wagner Labor Archives at NYU. It contains a vast collection of radical history of the left and international social movements. As a student organizer I even contributed my own materials. It was the first time I understood that archives can come from the grassroots, which shaped my entire career and way of thinking.
What was the first thing you collected as a child? What do you collect now? (oh, c’mon, admit it).
The first things I collected were rocks and shells. Now I still collect rocks and shells! Little has changed.
Hopefully you’ve been roaming Grounds and Charlottesville a bit since your arrival. What’s your favorite new discovery other than Special Collections?
Amanda Greenwood gave me an amazing tour of the historical collections at the Health Sciences Library. It was wild to see the old iron lung they have in the reading room and the books of anatomical drawings.
Tell us what excites you about your job?
I like collaborating and working through complex problems. A lot of people don’t like being down in the weeds, but that’s where I’m most satisfied.
Tell us something about Special Collections or UVA that is different from what you expected.
UVA is such a huge institution, I was not sure if I’d feel lost in the mix. But I’ve met and connected with so many awesome people across departments..
If you could be locked in any library or museum for a weekend, with the freedom to roam, enjoy, and study to your heart’s content, which one would you choose?
Filmmaker Derek Jarman’s former home, Prospect Cottage in the UK. It’s on the Kent shoreline near Dungeness nuclear power station. The terrain is rugged, the weather inclement, and it’s very hard for plants to grow and thrive in that environment- but he still built this amazing garden intermixed with his sculptures. He moved there after he was diagnosed with HIV in the 80s, seeking a place to heal, grieve, rage, and keep creating art up until his death- which I think is really powerful. It is now run by an art trust and open to the public.