Christina Bleyer came to Trinity College on June 1 as the new director of special collections and archives at the Watkinson Library. Bleyer, who brings to Trinity a wealth of knowledge and experience managing special collections, served most recently as the head of special collections and senior archivist for the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.
Bleyer’s notable achievements include securing grants to make collections discoverable through digitization and the creation of a “virtual museum” to showcase archival material. She also is the principal investigator on a Latin American Materials Project grant, “Digitizing the Los del Valle Oral History Collection,” and a Latin Americanist Research Resources Project grant, “Illuminating the Genaro Garcia Collection through Digital Preservation and Metadata Collection.”
Suzanne Aber, vice president for information services and chief information officer, said Bleyer brings fresh perspectives to the Watkinson. She added, “Christina has the perfect blend of skills needed to manage, preserve, and develop the college archives and special collections, with the passion and warm personality necessary to engage with our students and faculty in making the Watkinson materials relevant to their research and academic studies.”
Bleyer earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where until 2016 she managed the institution’s manuscript collections. Fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and German, she also has a reading knowledge of Latin, French, and Russian. Bleyer received a B.A. in philosophy from Loyola University in New Orleans and a B.A. in Russian language and literature from Tulane University.