Sabrina Moore ’23 Keeps History in the Present as an Archivist
By Judith Kelliher
Sabrina Moore ’23 had her sights set on a work-study position as an assistant in the Springfield College Archives & Special Collections when she was still in high school. When she came to campus to take a tour on February 27, 2019, she made it a point to meet with Jeffrey Monseau, the College archivist, and to review the archives in person.
Moore learned about the College’s archives when she was doing research on Springfield College. She knew she wanted to be an archivist and sought a school with the resources to support her aspirations. Moore, who chose to major in History, had a superficial understanding of the archives until she visited campus in person.
“I was eager to gain experience in the archival field and potentially have a competitive edge over other candidates for graduate school and job applications once I graduated with my bachelor's degree,” said Moore, who has been working as an archives technician for the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo in the Bronx, N.Y. “The SC archives was a fantastic place to work, so much so, that I worked there for an entire summer and based my master’s capstone at New York University on the Daniel R. Smith Papers collection. And I consider Jeff to be one of my favorite people on Earth.”
Monseau taught Moore a great deal about the realities and struggles of working in an archive. And other opportunities during her undergraduate studies, such as a for-credit internship at the Lyman Merrie Wood Museum in Springfield, Mass., during her senior year, exposed her to learning different collection management software.
Moore also credits the Making History Public course in fall 2021, taught by Ian Delahanty, associate professor of History, as giving her an advantage in working with archival materials in a different way. In the course, students in the class planned a museum exhibit about the Black student protests at Springfield College in 1969-70.
“Up until that point, my job would be to preserve things…having to create an exhibit, with all these different parts, using archival materials of various mediums, learning how to engage the public about history, and working with community members on the project, prepared me greatly for future positions,” she said. “It allowed me to advertise myself as someone that understood both sides of archival work at a young age.”
Outside of that course, Moore held a position as a student researcher for the same exhibit project in which she wrote content for text for display panels, labels, and an accompanying short documentary film. She also created a display case in the College’s museum featuring yearbooks, historical photographs, and documents related to the student protests in 1969-70 and 2020. She was ultimately asked to present the project at The Council of Independent Colleges’ Humanities Research for the Public Good Workshop in Baltimore, Md., which she did in April 2022.
“This opportunity allowed me to gain experience working on exhibitions and developing my public speaking skills, as I would also represent the project in panels and as a docent for other classes,” Moore said.
While at Springfield College, Moore also minored in Public History and Museum Studies, Philosophy, and Business Management.
At her job at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Moore preserves glass plate negatives of early 20th-century tropical research expeditions in British Guiana (now Guyana). Her role typically involves four main components: cleaning, rehousing, metadata creation, and digitization. She also spends time working on blog posts about her experiences with the collection.
“As the child of Guyanese immigrants, this project holds special significance for me, allowing me to utilize my own knowledge and expertise to accurately and ethically describe the materials,” she said.
Starting in mid-December 2025, Moore began a two-year, grant-funded position as a project archivist with the Staten Island Museum in New York City, working to rehouse and inventory its archival materials.
When Moore reflects back on her time on Alden Street, she notes that following the lack of in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the Black Lives Matter protests, she made the decision to become more involved in the campus community, and specifically to provide students in the African diaspora “with a space on campus.”
From her sophomore to senior year, she served on the Executive Board of the College’s Black Student Union (BSU), in which Moore held the positions of vice president for two years and co-president (with Paris Lizana) in her final year.
“Being part of BSU was terrific, and it taught me a great deal about time management, advocacy work, and leadership. I was part of many amazing projects, including an overnight program to host accepted BIPOC students, with the assistance of the John M. Wilson Center and the Admissions office,” Moore said. “I also wanted to celebrate the fact that I created the logo and most of the promotional material, and that I learned a lot about graphic design.”
Among other opportunities on campus, she served as vice president of the History Club all four years. As a member of the Honors Program, she feels she grew as an individual and scholar through the resources provided, such as mentorship, seminars, and out-of-classroom experiences.
And if you ask Moore to name one of her favorite memories of Springfield College outside of academics, she would say this: “Watching movies with my friends Katie, Alana, and Gabby every Friday in a dorm while eating fast food.”
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