Biography

Barbara Truesdell is the assistant director of the Center for Documentary Research and Practice (CDRP), and the program administrator for the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism. She received her Ph.D. in Folklore and American Studies from IU in 1996. Dr. Truesdell administers both Centers’ projects, events, and grants. She updates the social media posts and website for the CDRP, and the website for Visible Evidence, a community of documentary scholars and creators. She manages the CDRP’s Oral History Archive, which was founded in 1968. She fills patron requests, accessions new collections, and provides guidance on oral history best practices to faculty, students, community groups, and organizations undertaking their own oral history projects. Each semester, she mentors a graduate student from the Department of Information and Library Science to gain experience working in the archive in a for-credit internship. She was one of the original stakeholders in the IU Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative (MDPI), and a founding member of the IU Bicentennial Oral History Project (BOHP).