Jennifer Snyder is the Oral History Archivist at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art where she oversees more than 2,500 audio and video interviews. Started in 1958, the Archives’ Oral History Program continues to be an active, successful initiative; it is the largest collection of recordings about American art anywhere in the world. Work in this role has included overseeing the large-scale digitization of over 4,600 analog recordings, improving the tracking and workflow of in-progress interviews, supervising interns, project management, and making archival materials freely available online. Jennifer believes strongly in knowing and sharing history and diversifying the voices of those whose story would typically get told.  Jennifer earned her MLS from the University of Maryland and enjoyed a career as a processing archivist before finding her way to oral history. She also spent three years working as a cheesemonger, which has served her well in her "customer service" roles. Jennifer has presented at the Society of American Archivists and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, and is a frequent guest speaker for undergraduate and graduate courses.

Blog Posting

• Snyder, Jennifer. 2012. "Morris Louis: Looking Through the Eyes of Love." Smithsonian Collections Blog http://si-siris.blogspot.com/2012/10/morris-louis-looking-through-eyes-of.html. 2012
• Snyder, Jennifer. 2012. "Ray's Displays: The Thoughtful Displays of Ray Eames." The Primary Source/The Blog Washington, DC: Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Nov 26, 2012. https://www.aaa.si.edu/blog/2012/11/ray%E2%80%99s-displays-the-thoughtful-displays-of-ray-eames. 2012
• Snyder, Jennifer. 2010. "Digitization Diary: Speaking of American Art." The Primary Source/The Blog Washington, DC: Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Jun 9, 2010. https://www.aaa.si.edu/blog/2010/06/digitization-diary-speaking-of-american-art. 2010
• Stolen Moment 2009

Presentation

• Lets Give 'Em Something to Talk About: Oral History in the Digital Age, Chair, Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting 2013
• Digitizing Oral Histories for Preservation at the Archives of American Art, Speaker, Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference 2011
• DC Home Movie Day, Speaker, Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference 2008
• Progress and findings on the WWII materials in the Fox Movietone Newsreel Collection at the Library of Congress, Speaker, Orphans Film Symposium 2005
• Snyder, Jennifer. 2008. DC Home Movie Day - Audiovisual Collections and Local History [presentation]. Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, November 7, 2008. Washington, D.C..
• Snyder, Jennifer. 2011. Digitizing Oral Histories for Preservation at the Archives of American Art [presentation]. Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, May 7, 2011. Alexandria, VA.
• Snyder, Jennifer. 2013. Lets Give 'Em Something to Talk About: Oral History in the Digital Age [presentation]. Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting, August 17, 2013. New Orleans.
• Snyder, Jennifer. 2006. Progress and findings on the WWII materials in the Fox Movietone Newsreel Collection at the Library of Congress [presentation]. Orphan Film Symposium, March 24, 2006. Columbia, SC.

Frequent guest speaker for undergraduate and graduate courses.

Frequent guest speaker for undergraduate and graduate courses.