Fernanda Perrone, archivist and head of the exhibitions program for Special Collections and University Archives, will be inducted later this month as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) during an awards ceremony at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists in Anaheim, California. The distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed on individuals by the SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions to the archives profession.
A distinguished archivist with over 30 years of experience, Perrone earned a PhD from Oxford University, where she focused her research on women’s education. This laid the groundwork for her professional focus on women’s history throughout her career. She has spent her decades-long career at Rutgers University Libraries, beginning as an assistant in the manuscript department at SCUA and eventually earning a full professorship. Since 2003, she has served in her current role of archivist and head of the exhibitions program.
Perrone’s career has been marked by significant contributions to the archival profession, particularly in documenting underrepresented groups, mentoring emerging archivists, and fostering international collaborations. In her position at Rutgers, she has developed diverse subject expertise in women’s history, gender studies, the history of Rutgers, and the history of westerners in Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Her work curating and promoting the William Elliot Griffis Collection, which documents the experience of Westerners in Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has led to the development of international partnerships. Through her outreach, a group of scholars who studied Korean materials in the Rutgers collections discovered a set of unique photographs. Due to the destruction of many rare historical objects during the Korean War, photos like these represent an important cultural recovery. This discovery led to a collaboration with the National Archives of Korea to digitize the recovered photographs. Currently, Perrone is co-authoring an edited volume entitled Rutgers Meets Japan: A Trans-Pacific Network of the Late Nineteenth Century. For the book, coming out from Rutgers University Press this year, she invited scholars in art, history, and Asian studies to analyze the early transnational relationship between Rutgers University and Japan.
Perrone is particularly recognized as an expert on the archives of women’s religious communities. Her scholarly output includes numerous publications on women’s religious education, state-level voting rights history, and women artists’ archives, with notable works such as The Douglass Century: Transformation of the Women’s College at Rutgers University and On Account of Sex: Women’s Suffrage in Middlesex County, New Jersey. In 2013, she contributed a chapter to Perspectives on Women’s Archives (SAA). Her chapter, as well as the book, has spanned disciplines to reach historians, librarians, and other scholars thinking about the effect and importance of women’s archives. Her broad impact is also evident through her international and interdisciplinary speaking engagements: from New Jersey and Texas state and regional historical associations to MARAC and SAA to the Universities of Keio and Rikkyo in Tokyo, Japan.
Speaking about Perrone’s work, one supporter wrote that she has an “unwavering dedication to researching, preserving, and advocating for the archival record of women. She has remained steadfast in her commitment to ensuring that SAA recognizes and includes women’s experiences in the historical record.” Another supporter remarked, “Dr. Fernanda Perrone represents the best that the archival profession has to offer. She is a leading figure who unselfishly gives her time and energy to promote her profession.”
