Laura Smith
Archivist
Laura Smith has served as an archivist in the UConn Archives since March 1999, overseeing the Business History, Railroad, Labor and Professional Organization collections as well as the Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection. She worked as a Manuscripts Curator at Virginia Tech from 1987 to 1999. She received her M.A. in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her A.B. in History from Kenyon College.
Areas of Expertise
- Archival Reference
- Processing
- Donor Relations Outreach Services
- Web page maintenance
- Social media
- Digital Repository -- ingest and records creation
Recent Works
- "Old Nan" Comes to the End of the Line," Today in Connecticut History, https://todayincthistory.com/2023/09/08/september-7-old-nan-carries-its-last-train-across-the-water/, September 8, 2023.
- Tour of the exhibition "Railroad Maps in the UConn Archives," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkBhB90pNNg. July 1, 2022.
- “Bridgeport Throws Express Train 172 a Deadly Curve,” Today in Connecticut History, https://todayincthistory.com/2021/07/14/july-14-bridgeport-throws-express-train-172-a-deadly-curve/, July 14, 2021.
- “The Era of Streamlined Trains: The New Haven Railroad’s Comet,” one of the exhibition series “25 for 25” highlighting items in the UConn Archives.
- “Women Workers in Connecticut’s Heavy Industry,” one of the exhibition series “25 for 25” highlighting items in the UConn Archive.
- “The World’s First Telephone Directory,” one of the exhibition series “25 for 25” highlighting items in the UConn Archives.
- Speaker at “Virtual Conversations: Fall Edition, 2020,” a conference of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art, September 19, 2020.
- “Wartime Travel May Cause You Inconvenience: How the New Haven Railroad Sought to Mollify Passenger Complaints with The Rider’s Digest During World War II.” Railroad Heritage, Fall 2020 issue, no. 4.
- “The Kid in Upper 4,” Connecticut Explored. Vol. 18, no. 4, Fall 2020.
Professional Affiliations
- Society of American Archivists
- New England Archivists
- Railway & Locomotive Historical Society (member of board of advisors, 2013 to present)
Research Guides