About

I am the Assistant Curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts at Harvard’s Houghton Library. I help develop and steward our collections from 1800 to the present day, teach classes, provide advanced reference services, curate exhibitions, and give tours for visitors.

Education

M.A. in Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies, Harvard University

M.L.I.S. in Archives Management, Simmons University

B.A. in Russian Studies and Political Science, Stetson University

Other Publications

“A Look at Anthropodermic Bibliopegy: On Megan Rosenbloom’s Dark Archives” book review in the Los Angeles Review of Books, March 2021.

“Giving Dr. Zhivago Another Chance” book review in The LARB Banned Books Reader, September 2020.

“Christine Jacobson on Anthony Grafton’s Inky Fingersbook review for Book Post, July 24, 2020.

“Giving Doctor Zhivago Another Chance” book review for the Los Angeles Review of Books, March 2020.

Little Women: Greta Gerwig’s Love Letter to the 19th-century Novel” article for Perspectives on History, March 2020.

“The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Autobiographical Home” post for Archives Unboxed, March 2020.

Interviews and Outreach

“Belle of Amherst 2.0 (feat. Emily D)” interview with Lian Parsons for Harvard Gazette, December 2021.

“A 21st-Century Emily Dickinson Finds a Home in the Archives” interview with Jennifer Schuessler for the New York Times, December 2021.

“How the Pandemic Inspired Even More People to Join Bookclubs” interview with Nylah Burton for Shondaland, September 2021.

“Page Through The Diaries Of Louisa May Alcott At Harvard’s Houghton Library Archives” interview with Jenn Stanley for WBUR Boston, December 2019.

“Bright Young Librarians: Christine Jacobson” interview with Nate Pedersen in Fine Books and Collections Magazine, October 2019.

“The Soviet Children’s Books That Broke the Rules of Propaganda” interview with Sarah Laskow for Atlas Obscura, November 2018.

Stephanie Sandler: The Russian Avant Garde’s Enigmatic Misfit, Elena Guro interview with Stephanie Sandler for Houghton Library’s Houghton75 Podcast, May 2017.

Blog Posts

    Projects

    Ongoing Digital Humanities Project: Working Women of the East: Uncovering Soviet Attitudes toward Women in the New Multi-Ethnic Empire.

    Upcoming Talks and Conferences

    Talk:  Invisible Labor Made Visible: Women Bibliographers in the Novels of Barbara Pym—Barbara Pym Society North American Conference on March 16th, 2021.

    Talk: Working Women of the East: An experiment in Radical Digital Access—ASEEES, Panel on “Periodical Translation: Soviet Journals and the Mediation of Cultural Exchange,” on November 15th, 2020.

    Memberships

    Service: 

    • Serves on the Storytelling Council for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (2020-present)

    • Founder and convener of Harvard’s Critical Librarianship for Special Collections Reading Group (2020-2021)

    • Harvard Library Copyright First Responder for Houghton Library collections (2019-present)

    • Serves on the Membership and Professional Development Committee of RBMS (2021-present)

    • Serves on the Committee on Libraries and Information Resources and the Subcommittee on Education and Access of ASEEES (Association for Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies) (2021-present)

    • Co-editor of “In Our Libraries Column” for the journal Slavic and East European Information Resources (2020-present)

    • Serves as a mentor in the ASEEES Exploring Career Diversity Program (2021-present)

    • Founder and convener of the Bookish Book Club, an international virtual book club for reading books about books (2020-present)


    Membership:

    • Rare Book and Manuscript Section of ALA (RBMS)

    • Society for History, Authorship, and Publishing (SHARP)

    • Bibliographic Society of America

    • Association for Slavic and Eastern European Studies (ASEEES)

    • Ticknor Society

    • Barbara Pym Society

    Christine Jacobson

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