Preserve like an archivist
Elaine Stomber ’89, P’17,’21 is as much a part of the College’s history as the College is of hers.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAQUAN ALSTON
“The reason I am where I am today is because of Lafayette,” says Stomber, co-director of Special Collections and College Archives (SCCA), and College archivist.
Stomber, who majored in English and art, began her training as an undergraduate research assistant managing Lafayette’s historical image collection. The College offered her a role in 1989—project archivist on the College’s Marquis de Lafayette collections, working alongside her mentor (and now-retired College archivist), Diane Windham Shaw.
After later stints as archivist at the American Philosophical Society Library and The Cloisters (a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Stomber returned to her alma mater in 2000. The opportunity to manage the papers of artist Howard Chandler Christy and Sen. Jeanette Reibman, plus the master print collection of artist Helen Frank, she says, was one of the best in her career—because it confirmed that the annals of Lafayette history are precisely where her passion lies.
Named Lafayette’s third archivist in 2017 and co-director of SCCA in 2023, Stomber stewards the College’s most precious artifacts and historical memories. “I’m fortunate to be able to share the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years about the institution with our community and the world,” she says.
Here, she dives into what it means to be a keeper of institutional memory.
Artifacts are for hands-on learning
Stomber oversees three major collections at Lafayette: rare books, manuscripts (personal papers of individuals like the Marquis de Lafayette), and the College Archives (institutional records). One thing she loves about her job, she says, is partnering with faculty to integrate these primary resources into classroom teaching and learning.
“There’s nothing like students seeing physical artifacts firsthand and using that information as part of their research,” she says. “It’s an experience they just can’t get from Google.” More and more faculty, she adds, are designing assignments around SCCA resources that aren’t digitally published—specifically because they’re not searchable via the internet or AI.
“In these cases, students have to directly engage with the materials to complete the assignment,” Stomber explains. “This presents great opportunities for collaboration and experiential instruction.”
Lafayette is a global source of knowledge
Stomber is also tasked with ensuring Lafayette’s resources can be accessed beyond the campus community. “Researchers around the U.S. and world are using our collections,” she says. “Digitization is key to sharing them widely and reaching a larger audience.”
The Lafayette Digital Repository (LDR) currently houses 21,015 works. She explains they are working to enhance Lafayette’s digital photograph collection; historical College publications like the Commencement program and The Melange will also become available and searchable in the LDR by the end of the Bicentennial year.
Bicentennial ready
One of the highlights of her role is developing exhibitions and programming around Lafayette’s Bicentennial. As a participant in the Bicentennial Planning and Management Group, chair of the Academic Affairs Task Force for the Bicentennial, and member of the Scientific Committee for the Archives Nationales exhibition in Paris in 2026, Stomber has been instrumental in the historic commemoration.
In Skillman Library, for example, Stomber has installed three exhibitions that tell the College’s 200-year story. (They are on display throughout 2026.) During the Bicentennial Kickoff, she created a pop-up exhibit with some of Lafayette’s most valuable treasures, which will make their way to the National Archives of France in the spring for a larger overseas exhibition. “This was the perfect opportunity for those who are unable to travel to Paris to see our Marquis de Lafayette collections as well as some of the earliest records of the founding of the College,” Stomber says.
Improving campus culture for the future
As archivist for the Lafayette College Queer Archives Project, Stomber is dedicated to documenting the voices of underrepresented groups in the College archives, improving campus climate, and contributing to LGBTQIA+ studies at Lafayette. She’s also an active member in the Lafayette Libraries’ working group for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
It’s important for any institution, she explains, to look back and preserve the stories of previous generations. “We can learn from our mistakes and successes,” she says. “It empowers us to make critical changes for not only the current generations, but also those to come.”
