Join our guest host, Allyson Lazar, as she talks with two members of the Library staff about papers they presented at this year’s annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature (AAR/SBL).
Senior Research Archivist Judy Huenneke focused her presentation on Christian Scientist Marietta Webb, including her involvement with segregated churches in Los Angeles in the early twentieth century. Programs Manager Jonathon Eder shared his research on the early sociologist Mary Burt Messer, exploring the dynamics of activism, scholarship, and Christian Science healing in her life and career.
Each year thousands gather at the joint annual meetings of AAR/SBL, to engage with a myriad of topics relating to historical and contemporary religion. This year the Library had the opportunity to present papers through both their Afro-American Religious History Unit and the Women’s Caucus.
Podcast guests
Jonathon Eder is the Library’s Programs Manager. He hosts the Seekers and Scholars podcast, which includes many episodes focused on the intersection of women’s studies and religion. With a background in media, exhibit development, and religious studies, he has presented papers at the American Academy of Religion, as well as the New England Museum Association.
Judy Huenneke is the Library’s Senior Research Archivist. She graduated from the School of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University. She also completed a second master’s in history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, with a thesis on Louisiana slave owner, colonizationist, and reformer John McDonogh. Her work currently focuses on researching the history of the Christian Science movement, from its nineteenth-century beginnings to the present day.
Guest Host
Allyson Lazar comes to the Library with a background in the museum field. She serves as Senior Manager of Research and Collections, where she has the pleasure of engaging with archivists, records managers, researchers, editors, transcribers, transcription verifiers, encoders, and digital historians—all working to manage and provide access to a rich archival collection.
