Interview with Brenda Gunn (May 27, 2022)

A recorded interview with captions between Sam Smith and Brenda Gunn, CO-PI for the On These Grounds Project and Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and Preservation and leads the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library.

This interview with Gunn highlights her journey to working in archives and special collections, her commitment to archival ethics of care, and understanding the conditions and contexts of secondary and vicarious trauma in archives and special collections. Archival description, particularly as it relates to the On These Grounds Project, as well as the architecture of archives and special collections, and radical empathy are discussed. Gunn also discusses the impact the events of August 11 and 12, 2017 (the white supremacist rally and violence) had on the library, library staff, UVA, and Charlottesville communities as the 5th year anniversary approaches.