Christina M. Bleyer, PhD, College Librarian, AVP for Libraries & Digital Learning, Director of Special Collections and Archives, Watkinson Library

Christina Bleyer, PhD is College Librarian, Associate Vice President of Libraries and Digital Learning and Director of Special Collections and Archives, Watkinson Library at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She also serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Archival Organization. Her research is focused on human rights, ethics, and the role of emotions in the constitution of the person, the community, and memory especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to securing several grants to collect oral histories from the Hartford community, Dr. Bleyer serves as the Principal Investigator for The Watkinson Library’s recently awarded Modern Endangered Archives Program Grant to digitize the Lloyd Best Archive in Trinidad and Tobago. In March of 2020, Dr. Bleyer was awarded an Andrew W. Mellon-Rare Book School Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion and Cultural Heritage. Her most recent publication is a forthcoming article in the Visual Resources Association Bulletin entitled, “Toward a Decolonial Archival Praxis: Digitizing the Lloyd Best Archive in Trinidad and Tobago” co-authored with Amanda Matava. Her publication co-authored with Patricia Garcia, “Speaking for Ourselves: Teaching Borderlands/La Frontera through Primary Materials” appears in Teaching Gloria Anzaldúa: Pedagogy and Practice for Our Classrooms and Communities. University of Arizona Press, 2020.

Eric Johnson DeBaufre, PhD, Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian

Before he became a librarian, Eric Johnson-DeBaufre received his Ph.D. in English and taught 16^th and 17^th century British literature at several liberal arts colleges and universities. He joined Watkinson Library in 2019 where he wears several hats—rare books curator, cataloger, instructor, and preservationist. He loves old typefaces and is still searching for the Sancho Panza who will help him fulfill his quixotic dream of opening a type foundry in Hartford.

Eric Stoykovich, PhD, College Archivist and Manuscript Librarian

Eric Stoykovich has been part of the Watkinson Library for over five years, after working at the University of Maryland’s Special Collections, the Library of Congress, and Fold3/Ancestry. Eric earned a B.A. in history from Brown University and an M.L.S. from the University of Maryland. He has been a Certified Archivist since 2013. He frequently reviews archival history monographs for a variety of professional journals, including American Archivist, Archeion, and Archivaria. His co-authored chapter in the forthcoming book, Teaching Text Technologies and Critical Bibliography Among the Disciplines, will be published in 2025.

Casey Machenheimer, MLS, Special Collections and Archives Librarian for Public Services, Research, and Outreach

Casey Machenheimer joined the Watkinson Library in January 2024. She received her B.A. in English from Ohio University in 2019 and her M.L.S. with a specialization in Rare Books and Manuscripts from Indiana University in 2023. Prior to coming to the Watkinson, she has worked in both special collections libraries and public libraries. In her current role, her focus is facilitating user access to materials, working directly with students, and finding new ways to promote opportunities and services in the Watkinson Library.

Barbara Sternal, MA, Art Collection Manager

Barbara Sternal began working at the Watkinson Library in 2022 as the Bicentennial Processing Archivist to assist in projects related to Trinity College’s Bicentennial celebration in 2023. She transitioned to Art Collection Manager in 2024. She has a B.A. in History from Boston College and an M.A. in Public History from Central Connecticut State University. She is an experienced collections professional and has worked with various archival and museum collections at a number of institutions. She is also a multilingual world-traveler with an interest in photography.