Fernanda Perrone Named SAA Fellow

Fernanda Perrone, archivist and head of the exhibitions program for Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries, was inducted as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) during an awards ceremony at last week’s 89th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists in Anaheim, California. The distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed on individuals by the SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions to the archives profession.

“Dr. Perrone's achievement exemplifies the scholarly excellence and interdisciplinary impact of the research contributions made by our library faculty,” said Consuella Askew, vice president for university libraries and university librarian.

A distinguished archivist with over 30 years of experience, Perrone holds a doctorate in history from Oxford University, where she focused her research on women’s education. This laid the groundwork for her professional focus on women’s history throughout her career. She has spent her decades-long career at Rutgers University Libraries, beginning as an assistant in the manuscript department at Special Collections and University Archives and eventually earning a full professorship. Since 2003, she has served in her current role of archivist and head of the exhibitions program.

Adriana Cuervo, director of Special Collections and University Archives for Rutgers University Libraries, described Perrone as “a prolific author, publishing several books and articles in addition to her everyday reference, instruction, and collections-related responsibilities.” Cuervo added, “I am delighted to see her commitment to preserving and amplifying women's voices in the archives being recognized by her induction to the 2025 class of SAA Fellows.”

Perrone’s career has been marked by significant contributions to the archival profession, particularly in documenting underrepresented groups, mentoring emerging archivists, and fostering international collaborations. In her position at Rutgers, she has developed diverse subject expertise in women’s history, gender studies, the history of Rutgers, and the history of westerners in Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Her work curating and promoting the William Elliot Griffis Collection, which documents the experience of Westerners in Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has led to the development of international partnerships. Through her outreach, a group of scholars who studied Korean materials in the Rutgers collections discovered a set of unique photographs. Due to the destruction of many rare historical objects during the Korean War, photos like these represent an important cultural recovery. This discovery led to a collaboration with the National Archives of Korea to digitize the recovered photographs. Currently, Perrone is co-authoring an edited volume entitled Rutgers Meets Japan: A Trans-Pacific Network of the Late Nineteenth Century. For the book, coming out from Rutgers University Press this year, she invited scholars in art, history, and Asian studies to analyze the early transnational relationship between Rutgers University and Japan.

Perrone is particularly recognized as an expert on the archives of women’s religious communities. Her scholarly output includes numerous publications on women’s religious education, state-level voting rights history, and women artists’ archives, with notable works such as The Douglass Century: Transformation of the Women’s College at Rutgers University and On Account of Sex: Women’s Suffrage in Middlesex County, New Jersey. In 2013, she contributed a chapter to Perspectives on Women’s Archives (SAA). Her chapter, as well as the book, has spanned disciplines to reach historians, librarians, and other scholars thinking about the effect and importance of women’s archives. Her broad impact is also evident through her international and interdisciplinary speaking engagements: from New Jersey and Texas state and regional historical associations to MARAC and SAA to the Universities of Keio and Rikkyo in Tokyo, Japan.

Perrone said her interest in women’s history was ignited as an undergraduate at McGill University. She described one aha moment when she discovered that English philosopher John Stuart Mill’s wife, Harriet Taylor, had contributed to Mill’s writing. Surprised at how Taylor’s role had been overlooked in her intellectual history class, Perrone chose to write a paper on her. “Although I didn’t get a good grade and the professor dubbed it ‘boring,’ I was hooked on women’s history,” Perrone said.

Perrone, who has served as an SAA mentor to other archivists, said her induction as a fellow inspired her to sign up as a mentor again this year. “I hope I can encourage others to continue documenting the role of women in history,” she said.